2009 Twins Nursery School Survey
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I have heard, mostly from Manhattan experts, that a family of twins needs to apply to 10-12 nursery programs to gain entrance. I have also talked to people who "heard about parents of multiples" (urban folklore alert) that didn't get any acceptances to nursery programs. When I inquired further it turns out that they got a space off the waitlist shortly after the acceptances went out.
All of this anxiety seemed out of snyc with what I know about Brooklyn admissions. I wanted to get some data. Last month I ran a survey for the Brooklyn Brownstone Parents of Twins Club. 19 families responded. 1 family was very unhappy with their experience and didn't gain acceptance to a school, but they also didn't answer most of the other questions so it was difficult to get a picture of their situation. All the rest of the 18 families either got an acceptance right away or were taken off the waitlist. The most surprising result was that 14 families applied to 1 to 3 progams and the other four applied to 4 to 6 programs. Only a few families were trying for the occasional independent school. I will be doing this survey every year to continue to collect data, and I hope that we will find out more about the independent schools twin admissions in the future. Nursery school directors love twins. Looking for spots for twins is not the same as looking for two singletons. So POTs, take heart! It is not purely a matter of math. Here are the results:
1. What genders are your twins?
girl/girl, 10 52.6%
girl/boy, 6 31.6%
boy/boy, 3 15.8%
2. What year did your children attend their first year of preschool? 2 skipped
2009, 10 58.8%
2008, 3 17.6%
2007, 3 17.6%
2006, 1 15.9%
3. What age level was your first preschool search? 1 skipped question
Twos, 8 44%
Threes, 5 27.8%
Fours, 5 27.8%
4. How many schools did you apply to? 1 skipped
1 - 3, 14 77.8%
4 - 6, 4 22.2%
5. How many acceptances did you receive? 1 skipped
1, 12 66.7%
2, 4 22.2%
0, 2 11.1%
6. How many schools waitlisted you? 1 skipped
0, 9 50%
1, 4 22.2%
3+, 2 11.1%
7. How long were you on the waitlist before you got two seats? 7 skipped
0 – 2 weeks, 5 41.7%
2 wks – 1 month, 1 8.3 %
1 – 4 months, 2 16.7%
4+ months, 4 33.3%
never got off, 4 33.3%
8. Was the school that your children attended in your top three personal choices?
1 skipped
Yes, 16 88.9%
No, 2 11.1 %
9. Are you happy with their preschool experience?
Yes, 17 89.5%
No, 2 10.5%
10. Where you trying for independent schools?
1 Berkeley Carroll, 1 Brooklyn Friends, 1 ISB, 1 Poly Prep
Of the 2 people who aren’t happy:
1 skipped most questions, never got off the waitlist, didn’t get a top 3 choice
1 was accepted to a top 3 choice
Of the 3 people who got no acceptances:
1 skipped the question
2 were trying for threes programs (08,09):
1 was off the waitlist (3 waitlists) in less than a month, got a top 3 choice and is happy
1 was off the waitlist (2 waitlists) in 1 – 4 months got a top 3 choice and is happy
Of the 3 people who didn’t get a top three choice:
1 skipped almost all the questions except this one, never got off a waitlist and is unhappy
1 skipped the question and is happy with their school
1 was accepted to 1 school, waitlisted at 3 - never got off the waitlist and is happy at their school
Of the 4 families who applied to 4 – 6 schools:
3 were accepted to at least one school
1 that wasn’t accepted, was waitlisted to 3 schools, and was off the waitlist in under a month
Of the 8 families applying to twos programs:
7 got into 1 program
1 got into 2 programs
random gender mix
Of the 5 families applying to threes programs:
2 got into 0 programs, were waitlisted to 2 and 3 programs, got off in under a month and 1 – 4 months, both happy
2 got into 1 program
1 got into 2 programs
Of the 5 families applying to fours programs:
3 got into 1 program
2 got into 2 programs
2 of the 10 girl/girls did not get an acceptance right away but got in off the waitlist
1 of the 3 boy/boys did not get an acceptance, skipped most questions and was unhappy
All of the 6 girl/boys got an acceptance
