Manhattan Private School Advisors

Manhattan Private School Advisors is a SCAM. Save your money. Its not worth the $ 20,000 fee, or even $ 500. I’m ashamed to admit we contracted MPSA. The owner, Amanda Uhry, doesn’t help you get into any school. She has no connections, no affiliations and no relationships. Its a lie when she says she can’t speak to any schools on your behalf. She doesn’t care about your family or child or where you actually get into. We met with her ONCE. She sat us down and opened up Victoria Goldman’s Guide to Private Nursery Schools. She simply listed the schools nearby that we showed an interest in. She doesn’t guide you to which school will be best for your child. She never meets with your family or observes your child. She won’t even come to meet you in your home or office. She never followed up with us after admission notifications to see which schools we had been accepted to. All she did was edit some essays, but our essays were good to begin with, so she didn’t help there either.
Amanda emphasizes how incredibly busy she is and how competitive the market is, but has no personal knowledge of the current year’s admissions processes. She’s a great marketer of self. She feeds on your fear of not being able to get into a proper school, when the reality is, if you do the proper research and keep your family’s best interests at heart, something will work out. Amanda pushes a numbers game. She will urge you to apply to as many schools as possible, because that increases your odds of getting in somewhere, anywhere. It doesn’t matter whether or not its the best fit for your child and family. If you get in somewhere, anywhere, she can boast a 100% success rate.
Do your own research. Join the Parents League. Buy the Victoria Goldman book. Know which schools to call the day after Labor Day. Attend all open houses and meetings. There are respectable placement specialists out there who do have relationships with schools who do not cost a fortune. Normal consultation fees cost $ 100-​$ 200. Still expensive, but reasonable. Manhattan Private School Advisors is a farce and I’m shocked that no one else has reviewed it in all these years.