First Program Applicants (Grades K-3)


Admission decisions in the First Program are based on the following:

Grades Kindergarten and 1: group/individual child interview, ERB testing, and school records. Some applicants are interviewed at their own nursery schools.

Grades 2 and 3: individual interview, ERB testing, and school records.

In addition, The Dalton School requires that all families new to the school, applying to the First Program, have an individual parent meeting with the Director of Admissions or another Admissions staff member. Upon receipt and processing of the application, the Admissions Office will schedule this meeting, along with a guided tour of the First Program facility. A cut-off date for receiving applications is in the annual admissions checklist that is included in the admissions materials.

For those whose files are complete by January 15th, Dalton subscribes to the timetable of the Independent Schools Admissions Association of Greater New York (ISAAGNY) for notification of acceptance. As these dates vary from year to year, the Annual Supplement includes the current notification dates. The Dalton School offers First Program Legacy applicants (alumni/ae who graduated from Dalton and applicants with a sibling currently enrolled in the school) an early decision option.

Please refer to the Recommended Timetable for other important application dates.
Tours
Tours are offered for parents and applicants (second and third grades) and for parents only (kindergarten and first grade) on the day the applicant is interviewed at Dalton. If an applicant is interviewed at his or her present school, a separate tour will be offered to parents.
Applications

The deadline for submitting an application is November 13th, 2009.  All applications must be postmarked on or before November 13th in order to be considered for admission. 

Dalton reviews the status of all applications towards the end of the admissions season. If a file is incomplete, the Admissions Office will inform the parents of applicants indicating the information needed to complete the admissions process. We ask parents of First Program applicants to wait until early January to check the status of an application.