The Kindergarten Wars: The Battle to Get into America's Best Private Schools (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: feeder nursery schools, kindergarten wars, private school director, New York, Dana Optt, Katie Miller (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Alan Eisenstock, former screenwriter and seven-year member of the board of directors of a private independent elementary school in Los Angeles, provides startling insight into the private school application process. He follows several families across the country from their first school tours to the ultimate nail-biting moment when they open that acceptance--or rejection--letter from a top-pick school. Through interviews with admissions directors, school heads, teachers, educational consultants, and kindergarten tutors, readers learn the hard facts, including: Who gets in and why? Does the right kindergarten really help your child get into the right college? Does ethnic diversity improve a child's chances for being admitted to a top school? And so much more!

About the Author

ALAN EISENSTOCK lives with his wife and children in Pacific Palisades, California.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (September 18, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 044657774X
• ISBN-13: 978-0446577748
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #526,578 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gives True Insight Into Kindergarten Admissions Process, September 17, 2006

By	Emily Glickman "Abacusguide.com Educational C... (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

As a NYC educational consultant who has been helping families get into private school kindergarten since 1999, (I write "families" rather than "children" because the schools judge parents as much as, if not more than, four-year-olds), I can vouch for the original and insightful findings in Eisenstock's book. Eisenstock examines the motives of parents, preschool directors, and continuing school admissions directors. He is the first author to expose the schools' culpability in perpetuating an inhumane process that causes families great stress and sometimes sadness. I was particularly interested in his account of a deluded admissions director who keeps repeating that she acts only "for the kids". In this book, Eisenstock makes it clear that the admissions process is not for the kids at all.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Take this with a grain of salt, November 3, 2006

A Kid's Review

This book concentrates solely - and I do mean solely - on NYC. There are one or two mentionings of other cities in all. If an outsider were looking for a true glimpse into the world of private school applications, they might be satisfied (if they live in NYC, and are white upper-class people). The book could have grown exponentially in quality if the author had bothered to look to a few other cities and met parents of different races, rather than just the one half-Mexican woman he labeled a "diversity" candidate.

The author's outlook on the world seems to be narrower than the list of openings for most of these schools.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars From Kindergarten to the Ivy Leagues!, September 16, 2007

By	J. jones "Book fiend" (Anderson,IN) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book by Allen Eisenstock is a riveting portrayal of the grueling and often cutthroat world of the college...er kindergarten admissions process.
The book tells the story of several families from slightly different backgrounds, and their long and odyssey-like trip from the land of preschool into the nation's best kindergartens.
Eisenstock's book reads in part like a novel, and also like a documentary.
You really feel for the things that the parents go through as they borrow, beg, and steal to get the "best" education for their children, and at the same time you want to wack them over the head and say, "What are you thinking? These are just little children! Where they go to kindergarten, or whose waitlist they are on does not seal their fate for all eternity, you idiots!" There is one part of the book where a mom, who has been trying valiantly to get her daughter into an elite school says, "You can choose where you go to college and high school, but I choose the kindergarten. It's all about me sweetheart."
Makes you want to barf, huh?
If you are trying to get your child into a prominent school, there are some helpful tips to aid you. I don't think that Eisenstock was as thorough in his documenting of parents from different backgrounds as he could have been. It would have elevated the book's value tremendously.
He also should have included schools from a variety of cities from around the country, instead of focusing primarily on New England.