Legacy Admissions to Manhattan Preschools

That's right--preferential admissions is not just for the Ivy Leagues, anymore.  Those trying to get 4 year-old Winthrop and Emily into exclusive Upper East Side preschools that do business with the Eugenics Records Office Educational Records Bureau sometimes get second chances, even though ERB offers a one-time-only intelligence test (most of the time).  It depends upon, well, certain connections with and commitments to the school, you understand. 

From the NYTimes:

Parents of preschoolers who are applying to New York’s top private schools are now coming face to face with the test universally known as the E.R.B., a nerve-racking intelligence exam made more so because there is no do-over if the child has a bad day.

But for a select few students who do not score well, there is something of a second chance. Admissions consultants, preschools and some private schools acknowledge that a small number of children every year are permitted to undergo another round of intelligence testing to supplement their results on the E.R.B., which stands for the Educational Records Bureau, the organization that administers the test.

The practice is not publicized on schools’ Web sites, and the psychologists who offer the service do not openly advertise it. Nor is it entirely clear what qualifies a child for another test, although those who are children of alumni or have a sibling already at a school are most frequently granted the option, according to consultants and schools.

“It is a suggestion that we sometimes make to those whom are part of our community and are looking for advice,” said Margaret Metz, the director of admissions at the Nightingale-Bamford School on the Upper East Side. Those families are not getting preferential treatment, she said, but simply have access to the school staff that other families do not.

“We would be out of line to extend that kind of advice to a family we don’t know,” she said. . . . .

Do read on!