Not really, but it’s helpful to know the myths and realities of the admissions process

With 1.4 million school-aged children, New York City has the nation’s biggest public school system, the densest concentration of private schools, and admissions competition for the under-5 set so intense that it has inspired satirical novels and critically-acclaimed documentaries—while bewildering and frustrating countless parents. Each year, rumors and misinformation about the availability of spots and what it takes to get into certain schools only make matters worse.

To help guide you through the city’s various admissions processes, here’s an overview of recent trends in admissions for nursery school and both public and private kindergarten, along with answers to common questions and helpful resources.

NURSERY SCHOOL

The good news: If you apply to enough private preschools—and your list goes beyond the most competitive schools—you are likely to get in somewhere. (This is not the case with public pre-K, which is only offered to 4-year-olds, and has recently seen an increase in applications.)

Gina Malin of the Parents League, a nonprofit group supported by independent schools and member families, advises parents to contact “10 schools to get eight applications,” but adds that “this isn’t a hard and fast number.” If you have twins or live in a family-heavy neighborhood like the Upper East Side, you should probably add a few more schools to the list.

As you are forming your list, it’s especially important to contact the schools (or visit their websites) and note their systems for giving out applications (i.e. website, phone call or lottery). Get out your calendar: many schools only give out applications on the day after Labor Day (and the most popular ones often run out by midday), while other schools offer applications more freely in the course of the fall.

Take note of the minimum age of entry at schools that interest you, as well as the age at which the school has the most openings. Manhattan has more programs that start closer to or at age 3 than those that start at age 2, but the number of schools offering classes for 2-year-olds has expanded greatly in recent years. Some schools that start at age 2 may take most of their students at that age, whereas other schools with 2-year-old programs might have a greater share of their students starting at age 3.

If you do not receive any preschool acceptances or if you have moved to the city too late to apply, you can call the Parents League to find schools with openings. Executive director Kathy Shea says the number of parents who are rejected from all the preschools they apply to is “not huge” and “they pretty much get placed somewhere.”

Looking ahead? Parents may have an unfounded fear that only the “right” preschool will guarantee entry to a good private kindergarten. Wendy Levey, founder and director of Epiphany Community Nursery School, says that on the contrary, “ongoing schools are trying to take children from a variety of programs,” an assertion backed by private schools reports. At the same time, if parents applying to nursery school think they are likely to be applying to private school in a few years, they should inquire about a nursery school’s track record for placing children in private school to ensure that it’s a school with experience in ex-missions and has positive relationships with a lot of private schools.

To read the full article at New York Family magazine click here.

Kelvin Natural Slush.

It is way too early to be thinking about the summer. It’s mid-April—taxes are behind us, Memorial Day looms far off on the horizon and you can’t walk past a garden in bloom without stopping to exclaim, like a 4-year-old, “Flowers! Pretty!” No way is it time to think about the summer yet.

But. There’s a fine line between spring and summer, especially in New York, where the one can notoriously blend into the other in the blink of an eye. This week saw an uncomfortable preview when the temperature spiked on Monday to a near-record high, and even on steadier days, the midday sidewalks feel positively equatorial.

There’s a fine art to this slippery semi-season. You can’t leap right into summer standbys; there are a solid four months of real heat ahead, and anything you start doing now will be worn threadbare by Labor Day. Though we’re champing at the bit to unpack the sandals and shorts, that way madness lies. You must save yourself somewhere to slide to when August humidity turns the subway into the world’s most unpleasant rainforest—then and only then can you bust out the flip-flops and eat pints of Ben & Jerry’s with your head in the freezer.

Right now, even frozen treats should be refined, delicate, virtuous; a minor thrill in your spring-cleaned day, still healthy and light—the cherry blossom to August’s overblown gardenia.

The drinks from the Kelvin Natural Slush Co. (various locations, find them daily at @kelvinslush or this Sunday, April 22 at the Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market Gourmet Food Truck Bazaar, 39th Street & 9th Avenue) are Vendy Award-winning Slurpees that come in flavors actually found in nature. More reasonable beverage than gut-busting dessert, their ginger, citrus or tea slushes are all perfect for sipping on an afternoon stroll. If you’re feeling feisty, add one of their fruit or herb mix-ins for a grownup version of Coldstone Creamery’s candy-coated free-for-all. Caramelized pineapple in the spicy ginger base is a match made in tropical heaven; add basil for an unexpectedly sophisticated kick.

The Soft Serve Fruit Company (1371 3rd Ave., at 78th St., or 25 E. 17th St., at Broadway, www.softservefruitco.com) is just what its name implies, to shockingly good effect. It’s just fruit, water and cane sugar, but the texture they get out of their magic machines is light years from that time you tried to make “instant ice cream” by pulverizing frozen bananas in your food processor, shorting the engine in the process. For everyone who’s ever cursed sorbet for being too icy and hard to scoop, this is a revelation. Banana is the most treat-like, especially when topped with crushed pretzels and warm peanut butter or maple syrup (yes, it’s natural, but I never said it was virtuous), but mango and strawberry are simply delightful, no adulteration needed.

A proper Italian affogato is a perfectly respectable adult diversion, no kid’s bribe wrapped in classy packaging. OK, so it’s gelato, only a tiny linguistic step away from ice cream. But it’s a dainty portion of the stuff that is drowned in a shot of espresso, less blowsy than a Starbucks Frappuccino and far more satisfying. At Maialino (2 Lexington Ave., betw. 22nd St. and Gramercy Park, www.maialinonyc.com), a Roman-styled trattoria perfect for leisurely lunches or a midday pick-me-up, the gelato is fior di latte, sweet milk, and the espresso is dark and rich. Dawdle over this with a tiny silver spoon, watching the opposing textures merge and meld into a third while gazing upon the gated glory of Gramercy Park.

Enjoy these now while your sanity lasts and you can still appreciate something more flavorful and interesting than the blunt-force frozen trauma of a Mister Softee cone. After all, those spring blossoms are already dropping fast—didn’t somebody once say something about gathering rosebuds while ye may? This is definitely what he meant.