Phillip Lim’s chic handbag will play a staring role at one Valley school
Every private school has its own signature style. What could be more definitive than a handbag to showcase one’s personal style? After checking in with our well-placed sources at various schools, here are some of the hottest designer handbags that we hear will be fixtures on the arms of some of LA’s chicest moms.
Of course, well-to-do moms at several elite schools will be seen carrying the same uber-hot brands like Celine. At other schools, edgy moms will be setting their own trends with lesser known and new designers. Either way, its fun to watch as morning drop-off becomes the catwalk. After all, nothing glams up a pair of Lululemon yoga pants faster than a Celine Tote. Me? I’m still carrying my gorgeous Reed Krakoff from 2012…can it go another season? We’ll see. It has a lot of competition from the Celine bag and a Prada I’ve got my eye on.
See our collaboration with LA’s favorite social site, The Daily Truffle for a campus by campus list of “It bags!”
Tote it! This Goyard tote bag will be seen at lots of private schools around town.
There’s still time to be a kid. Our recent family vacation to D.C. My daughter and a family friend on a canoe, West River, MD.
Best. Essay. Ever. Humorist Hugh Gallagher’s brilliant and funny admissions essay for a writing contest and possibly for NYU, his alma mater. I re-read it every once in a while. It’s one of my favorites because it makes me laugh out loud and reminds me to take a step back and try not to get caught up in the pressure many of us feel to ensure that our kids achieve and over-achieve. -Christina
HOW I GOT INTO COLLEGE By Hugh Gallagher
Essay Question: In order for the admissions staff of our college to get to know you, the applicant, better, we ask that you answer the following question: are there any significant experiences you have had, or accomplishments you have realized, that have helped to define you as a person?
Gallagher ‘s Essay:
I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently.
Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row.
I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty-Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru.
Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants.
I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, I am the subject of numerous documentaries. When I’m bored, I build suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical appliances free of charge.
I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don’t perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have been caller ‘number nine’ and have won the weekend passes. Last summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat .400.
My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children trust me.
I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed several covert operations for the CIA. I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. The laws of physics do not apply to me.
I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid. On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I have made extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a toaster oven.
I breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin. I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis.
Gorgeous front garden at Montessori Shir-Hashirim Preschool
I’ve written about the role preschool directors play in private elementary school admissions. I’ve talked about how I truly appreciated Elena Cielak at Montessori Shir-Hashirim, who helped us get my daughter into Willows, Oakwood and Wildwood, the three schools where we applied.
But, Elena’s job wasn’t easy. The line at her door during peak admissions season was long and she was fielding phone calls from anxious parents all day long. I met with Elena once formally and several times in the preschool hallway. She suggested schools for us to tour, steered us away from schools she didn’t think were right for our child and assured us we’d get in. She was right. But, Elena is one of a select few preschool directors who are able to navigate the rocky waves of admissions on behalf of all her families each year. She had visited many of the top-tier schools and was known by admissions directors. Some preschool directors aren’t interested in playing that role, preferring to let families go it alone. Others send most of their kids to public school and are uniformed about private school admissions. They are also unconnected from the all-important admissions directors.
Making sure your preschool director is your ally, not your adversary during admissions is key to a successful admissions outcome.
Here are a few ways to ensure preschool director is an ally during admissions:
1. Find out whether he/she is well-connected with schools that interest you by asking director and talking to other parents. If your preschool director knows the admissions director at schools where you’ll be applying, let her know early. She will be able to mention that to the school the next time she talks to the admissions director. If your director isn’t familiar with a school(s) you like, ask if she’d be willing to go on a tour to see the school and get to know the staff.
2. Understand that your preschool director knows your child and may have strong opinions about the right school for him/her. Respect the director’s opinion and tour some of the schools she suggests. Ask why she feels so strongly about a particular school for your child. If there are a lot of kids applying to a school that year, ask her to be candid about your chances (in other words, will she advocate for your kid).
3. If there has been tension between you and your preschool director, try to clear the air before you start asking her to fill out admissions forms. Being on good terms is essential to this process.
4. Realize that no matter how much you want something, it may not be possible. A lot of preschool directors won’t advocate for a family for a specific school. There are many reasons for this, including she may have other families in mind for that school or she just doesn’t think your child will do well there.
5. Build a relationship early with your preschool director. Let her know you’re aiming for private school. Get involved with the school, get to know her, volunteer, try to stay calm when things go wrong at school (it is almost inevitable that little things will happen at preschool to upset you or your child…try to remain even tempered).
6. Your preschool director is balancing a lot of complicated requests, jockeying parental interests and school politics (hers and the elementary school(s). She is likely trying to determine the best fit for each kid, the chances they will get in and make sure everyone gets a spot somewhere so nobody is shut out. This doesn’t mean she’s your adversary, it means she has a lot of interests to fulfill on behalf of a lot of families at her preschool. Her preschool’s reputation is important to her. Placing your child is important and so is pleasing powerful admissions directors at top elementary schools. She will also want to make sure that if she advocates strongly for your child at a specific school, you really want to attend if your child is accepted. Nothing will upset her more than a family who begs and pleads for her to help them get into a competitive school, only to turn it down.
7. Be cautious about what you say to your preschool director and other parents. If you know a board member at a competitive school, no need to broadcast that fact. Tell your preschool director only if you like the school. If you don’t plan to apply there, don’t play that card because you may find yourself being pushed to apply to the school based on the connection to a board member.
8. In Beyond The Brochure we include a copy of the detailed form your preschool director fills out for school’s where you’re applying. You don’t see her answers to the form’s questions, but you want to do everything possible to make sure your family and child are portrayed positively. That doesn’t mean perfection. She will be honest. But, you control whether you pay your tuition on time and volunteer at the school.
Don’t miss a thing! Like Beyond The Brochure on Facebook
Much controversy has ensued over the idea of offering subsidized loans for preschool for middle-income families in NYC (middle income can mean $200K/year in NYC) (Slate) and a super-snarky take on the issue in Jezebel
We The People documentary chronicles controversial new charter school law in Los Angeles public school, called the Parent Trigger Law. (The Daily Beast)
An amazing, touching article on Friday by my friend and former neighbor at Cal Berkeley, Kurt Streeter. Kurt chronicles the first year of a Cal Freshman from South L.A. Spoiler alert: This may make you cry. (LA Times)
In case you missed it, from our Facebook page this week:
Here’s an open letter to an admissions director written on the San Francisco schools blog, The SFK files. It’s funny and I think a lot of us can relate to it.
Hi. You might remember me from the school tour or the two open houses we attended? Or, you might remember us from parent social, Q & A panel at school or our interview (which you were 35 minutes late to)? Maybe you even remember us from our daughter’s play date or perhaps our application and essays ring a bell? I am hoping that you do remember us from at least one of the seven events we attended to learn about your school.
You were so nice and welcoming at the time. I guess that’s your job – a sort of sales person, per se. Gosh, you even sent us a holiday card and a thank you card. I was beginning to feel like this was the start of something beautiful. I sent you emails, you responded. I left you messages, you called us back.
