Customer Reviews

The Manhattan Family Guide to Private Schools: Fourth Edition

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Very useful for the addresses and contact names
and numbers at each school.

Otherwise the book provides the stereotyped
image associated with each school. Mixed in you
will find Zagat style sentence fragment gushings.
"Many" readers will find it "tacky" and "annoying"
representing a " nose pressed up against the window"
point of view.

Better to just invest the time and visit the schools.

You can read this book and get just as horrified. The authors give lots of practical information in one central place, but stop short of telling what we really need to know. What does acceptance REALLY entail? What sort of student flourishes at each school? Does actual merit count for anything, or is it all just luck, appearance and connections? Also they are inconsistent with their descriptions of the schools~ for example they describe a sports or music program at one school, but don't even mention those programs or lack thereof at others. All in all,buying this one of the many necessary evils to raising a child in NYC if you are not fortunate enough to have connections.

The descriptions are inconsistent; it seems the researchers were a bit lazy and simply took what they were given from the different schools. Not very useful.

As a parent who has been through the Manhattan private school interview route, I have to say my only regret is buying this book. It might be handy if you want to read details about ERBs and a definition of an independent school, but you just don't need this guide! Our daughter got into most of the schools we applied for--ergo we had lots to choose from. And in the end, we returned the book to B&N because it's not even a comprehensive guide! (It doesn't purport to be, but then, what's the point? You may as well do your own internet research based on location or some other criteria.) Furthermore, the information for each school in the book is not consistent. Some of them go on and on and on, and others only get a page and a half. Bizarre. Pointless.