LOL, and to imagine that we withdrew our kid from the most preppy school here because he was underchallenged

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-02-11/private-school-parents-confess/

I am so glad I do not live there, although I like to visit

Well reading that at least puts into perspective why so many schools, teachers and parents don't get gifted kids. If they are hearing and dealing with that sort of parental attitude, why will they believe me when I talk about my son?

I must admit that where we live we find this pretty hilarious. On the other hand we don't have a single gt school around

Much of the obsequiousness is spot on.

But, there is a pragmatic reason why some celebrities and high net worth families' kids are admitted - because they can help the school down the road. The majority of the schools' money comes from a very small percentage of alumni and parents. If the rest of the admissions process is fair, then it helps the rest of the student body, many of whom receive partial or full financial assistance.

The social side of this is that the kids of the current elites get exposed to real intellectuals who got in fairly. That has a levelling effect.

Unless a school has > 10% National Merit winners in its graduating class, then it does not have a high component of GT kids, so it cannot be admitting them preferentially. Just a thought.

Hey, I AM from NYC, and I can tell you that this does not even begin to capture the craziness of these parents!

These schools would not touch my excitable, HG kid with a giant pole. I applied thinking one of the school would certainly want such an unusual and (I can say it here) obviously gifted kid. I was really only applying because I knew he needed small classes! What a horror show. The private school application fiasco is what turned me into bronxmom. No longer wanted to be upperwestside mom.

These schools do look for bright kids, but have no interest at all in kids with the issues we are all too familiar with... Even Hunter College Elementary, I've heard, screens for excitability.

Thanks for the laugh. It really is so over the top now a days. I have to say I find it really interesting that my friend's DD had no problem getting in when they moved to NYC from Chicago. She did have to go to a second choice for the first year but still a well known school while they waited to get her back in her original program. But midway through the year they got the acceptance letter for the next year. I will definitely forward the article to my friend and see what her reaction is ... I can already see the eyes rolling. LOL

The funniest for me was reading how the whole kid's life might turn on "one bad day" and the next line says the child's in or entering kindergarten.

Scary. I can almost see myself going down that path in an alternate reality. I did agonize over what preschool to send my son to way back when. We visited five different schools, which was a lot from my point of view. People get caught on the hype rollercoaster and don't know that they have the option of jumping off at any time.