Power Case Studies

How to make sure your toddler gets into the Harvard class of 2024.

 

1. Call Beacon Hill nannies right away!

They’ll ensure Junior’s cared for by a college-educated au pair who shuns TV and speaks only in complete sentences.

2. Camp out for sandbox-side seating at the Clarendon Street playground.

Future wheelers and dealers will benefit from mingling with the Google heirs and hedge-fund spawn who frequent this Back Bay tot lot.

3. Shop at Lester Harry’s.

If your toddler’s togs don’t include an Anaïs & I ruffle jacket today, how do you expect her to be a thought leader a few decades hence?

4. Enroll your little one at the Spruce Street Nursery School.

This downtown preschool is impossibly exclusive, but promises endless childhood joy — and probable admission to a must-attend elementary school.

5. Do whatever you must to get your kid into the Park School …

Your kid gets a great education — and you rub elbows with the glitterati.

6  … Followed by one of these high schools.

A hard-core, classical education is still adored in the Harvard admissions office. That means Roxbury Latin for the boys and Dana Hall for the girls. — Rachel Slade

Next page: How to beat a pesky criminal charge

Illustrations by Kagan Macleod