The talk on Seventh Avenue in Park Slope is about getting into high school.

On Thursday and Friday 8th graders, who applied to the “specialized” public high schools found out whether they got in. As you can imagine, it’s an incredibly stressful day for kids and parents. I believe the letters are distributed at school, which means there’s lots of happy yelping (I got into Laguardia for drama) and just as many sad looks of rejection (I didn’t get into Stuyvesant).

Lots of tears. Lots of disappointment. And sure, lots of hip hip hooray.

Only in New York is getting into pre-school, elementary, middle and then high school like getting into college. Some places you just go to the school in your neighborhood or town.

But that would be way too easy for a city like New York.

Sure there are neighborhood elementary school but after that you’ve got to apply for school. Imagine that. 5th graders actually have to try out, take tests, audition, interview for…6th grade.

I’ve been through the middle school application process twice and the high school process once. So my sympathy is with parents who are going through the hell that it is.

One OTBKB reader wrote in yesterday to say:

I guess this is just my current obsession, but I was surprised to see that you had nothing on the fact that the DOE just sent out the very first round of high school admissions this past week (on Thursday.) It was actually the pre-round, sort of.

The kids who got into the specialized schools heard which specialized school (or schools) they got into, as well as which regular school they got into as well. Those who took the test or went to the Laguardia audition, but did not get a place in a specialized school just got a letter telling them that they would have to wait with everyone else to find out where they were going.

The next round is March 24. (After that, if a kid doesn’t get in, they have to enter the final round! Oy vey!)

We were lucky. Our daughter DID get a place in a specialized school, but then she also got a spot in her top ranked “regular” school, making the decision hard. So we are once again in decision mode.

I really thought that would be over once we heard, but it seems we still have a choice to make! (This WILL end, some day!)

Anyway, this is a gruelling process, which is probably why I’m obsessed by it! I guess I just expected to see something on your blog about it. Anyway, there it is.

I wrote right back with this simple response:

I feel your pain and I’ll be going through it next year when my daughter is in 8th grade. Best of luck.