Well, RE (2) above, I have specially heard that they advantage "artsy/intellectual" parents who are not necessary wealth. So if the parents are "artist" couple who cannot necessarily afford private school, they would be advantaged over the couple where the dad works for a hedge fund, say.
That's not consistent with my friends who attend, all of whom are very well off and would have been at the best / most expensive schools in nyc but for their admission. But maybe things have changed.
@anonymous Respectfully, I don't think there is any way possible the staff knew your child's name and didn't know who you were. To the OR who asked, I suggest you bear in mind interview etiquette 101: be nice, be polite, and be responsive and respectful to EVERYONE, "low level assistants" included. Perhaps especially "low level assistants". If you think the way you interact with those folks doesn't get back to decision makers, I suggest you rethink that thought. This isn't specific to any one school -- this is true in any interview environment.
@Anonymous Obviously. This goes without saying. I was responding to OR's comment above that they "use discretion in the 2nd round to select the kind of parents they like." Hunter second round is not a dog and pony show for parents--and there are PLENTY of annoying/overbearing/PITA parents at HCES, so I don't think they make much if any effort to weed them out.
@anonymous If we agree then we also agree that they have a way of assessing families. Of course they do. Just because they can't weed out all PITA parents doesn't mean they haven't culled some of them during the process.
@anonymous I don't think the system is geared to work that way. The reality is that kids from families who can afford private are likely much better prepared to do well - either from life experience, from more intense toddler programs, or from enrichment classes.
@Anonymous I am extremely skeptical about Hunter's 2nd round and what goes on there. The 1st round seems very "objective" with its criteria. However, for the 2nd round, the criteria seems EXTREMELY wishy-washy and completely geared towards Hunter meeting some kind of unstated objective. Not sure why rich parents are favored by the 2nd round, since the 1st round already controls for the IQ.
@anonymous Right. I'm saying who is in the pool at the second round. It's going to be a ton of people who can afford private if they wanted to. As for being skeptical of R2 -- why? There is almost nothing in life that's 100% objective. Sitting here at this moment, I can't think of one admissions or selection process that lacks discretion. And that makes sense to me because once you've confirmed smarts, there are tons of other things that could matter (sex balance, racial balance, geographical balance, age balance, etc.).
@dyedinthewoolNYr Grades don't matter. If she tests well under pressure, that is key. The test is hard - my DC reported that several kids were crying by the end.
@anonymous ITA. And the writing part is really important, grades and scores are not necessarily a good indicator. DC has amazing test scores and grades, but is not a mature writer.
@Anon Yes - the Hunter test is nothing like the state tests. And Hunter doesn't actually care about state test scores anyway - they just use them as a way to winnow the field because they don't have the resources to test 5,000 kids.
Well, RE (2) above, I have specially heard that they advantage "artsy/intellectual" parents who are not necessary wealth. So if the parents are "artist" couple who cannot necessarily afford private school, they would be advantaged over the couple where the dad works for a hedge fund, say.
How exactly does Hunter select the kids in the 2nd round in K. I have heard the following theories:
(1) They use discretion in the 2nd round to boost diversity of the school
(2) They use discretion in the 2nd round to select the kind of parents they like
(3) The 2nd round advantages the kids with the earlier birthdays
How will the ES admissions go?
How are they going to determine who qualifies for HS admissions?
For the ES or HS? My guess is that the ES testing will be the same, but with masks.
HS seems way more difficult - not sure what the plan is there.