Admissions
Students are accepted only from the Manhattan region of New York City, and only at the kindergarten grade. Fifty students are accepted each year, an equal number of boys and girls, from varying backgrounds. Twenty-four students, twelve male and twelve female, are wait-listed to fill any vacancies.
The application process requires the completed application packet sent with a copy of the prospective student's birth certificate, and a $65 money order to cover administrative fees (though a $32.50 fee waiver is granted to students who would be eligible for the free or reduced lunch program in public schools).
Prospective students undergo two rounds of testing, as part of a process to determine a student's eligibility. The first test is a one-on-one assessment with a school-approved child psychologist to administer a modified Stanford-Binet, Fifth Edition test on intellectual reasoning, at a cost of $325. Upon passing with an eligible score, students are then invited to the second round of testing, which involves trained consultants monitoring each student's learning behaviors as they are assigned tasks to complete in both a group session with other hopeful students and an individual session. It is from this session that students are also drawn for the wait-list.
Students are selected based on these observations. All identifying information, such as the student's name and family status, are removed so as to not influence selection by the school's Admissions Committee, resulting in a blind process which precludes a sibling policy that would otherwise give preference to those who already have siblings there or whose parents attended the school. Upon selection, the Administer of Admissions offers acceptance to the twenty-five boys and twenty-five girls recommended by the Admissions Committee, and wait-lists twelve boys and twelve girls, who are used to fill any vacancies arising until the third grade.
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