Playing to win

NEW YORK -- The race begins at 9 a.m. the day after Labor Day, as parents speed-dial the city's elite nursery schools in hopes of just getting an application.

Siblings and legacies often get first priority for admission. Church or synagogue affiliations help at some schools. And, like many things in New York, getting in may depend a lot on who you know.

Reports last week that former Wall Street analyst Jack Grubman may have elevated his rating of AT&T stock so Citigroup chief Sanford Weill would help Grubman's twins get into a top nursery school show how cutthroat admissions can be among the city's privileged.

The prize -- admission to the 10 or so best schools in the city for 2- and 3-year-olds -- is perceived as the first step to the best kindergarten, the best college, the best connections.

The children "are really with New York's best and brightest," said Victoria Goldman, author of The Manhattan Directory to Private Nursery Schools, a book in its fifth printing. "It never hurts to rub elbows with the right ones."

The odds for admission are often 10 to 1 among the applicants, comparable to top Ivy League colleges. Money and fame don't always matter: Woody Allen's child attends the 92nd Street Y nursery school along with Grubman's children, but Madonna made the newspapers in 1999 when she didn't win admission for daughter Lourdes.

Parents describe the process as an anxiety-inducing, time-consuming scramble to best position their child for success.

"There's this sort of mania that gets drummed up," said Elizabeth Harrison, who applied to six schools for her daughter, Charlotte. "Whether it's the 92nd Street Y ... or whatever school it is, it's the school that everyone thinks they have to get their kid into to get them into Harvard."

Making connections

Some parents join playgroups that act as feeders to the best nursery schools. Others hire consultants, or provide recommendation letters from the rich and well-connected.

Once children are enrolled, some parents offer expensive prizes, such as Oscar tickets and European vacations, to be auctioned at school fund drives.

Still, reports last week of Grubman's e-mail boasts seemed to take the competition to a new level.

Weill acknowledged that he intervened on behalf of Grubman and that Citigroup had pledged $1 million to the 92nd Street Y, but he denied those steps were in exchange for Grubman's upgrade of AT&T, whose chief executive sits on Citigroup's board. Grubman said his claim, made in an e-mail to a friend, was nothing more than "an extended, invented story."

"No child is guaranteed admission," 92nd Street Y spokeswoman Alix Friedman said Saturday. "Every child goes through the same thoughtful, careful evaluation process."

Parents and officials at other schools insist that while competition is fierce, admissions are not based on contributions.

"I have never been offered a contribution in exchange for admission," said Lydia Spinelli, in her 20th year as director of the Brick Church School.

Brick Church members get preference, although the school had to change its admissions policy recently to make sure members are active for at least two years. Too many parents began joining just to win school admission.

School officials there and elsewhere say they're searching for a mix of boys and girls, ages 2 1/2 to 5, from diverse backgrounds. Some speak up to three languages already and are taught by teachers with master's degrees in early childhood education.

Officials say they offer 10 percent to 15 percent of students financial aid at the schools, where annual tuitions can top $15,000.

They discourage parents from applying undue pressure to get their children admitted.

"The parents have to learn -- this is not like positioning yourself to get a huge contract," said Cynthia Bing, head of the school advisory service at the Parents League of New York, a group that helps families navigate the application process.

The Parents League puts out a newsletter with a timeline for the preschool admissions process. Applications and tours occur in the fall, with deadlines from Nov. 1 to Dec. 15 and application fees of up to $50.

Goldman says that when it comes to quality, the names don't mean everything. There are about 300 nursery schools in the city, she says, and most are excellent.

Both her children went to a less competitive nursery school that people haven't heard of, and they moved on to "top-tier Manhattan schools. They did just fine."