Bishop Ireton vs. SSSAS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the virtual Admissions Open House for SSSAS, we were told 42 students in the incoming 9th grade (representing 2/3 of the class) were new to the school this year. Just double checked my notes! Things must have changed in recent years.

You need to refresh your math skills. The 9th grade has 114 students, 42/114 is 0.368 which is 36.8%, not 2/3 of the class.

Sheesh, really, PP?!

I was simply quoting exactly what the Admissions Director stated, without having personal knowledge of the total number of students in the current 9th grade class. Perhaps he meant to say 1/3 were new students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the virtual Admissions Open House for SSSAS, we were told 42 students in the incoming 9th grade (representing 2/3 of the class) were new to the school this year. Just double checked my notes! Things must have changed in recent years.

You need to refresh your math skills. The 9th grade has 114 students, 42/114 is 0.368 which is 36.8%, not 2/3 of the class.

Sheesh, really, PP?!

I was simply quoting exactly what the Admissions Director stated, without having personal knowledge of the total number of students in the current 9th grade class. Perhaps he meant to say 1/3 were new students.

It is definitely 1/3. This was a big factor for my DD who chose BI over SSSAS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looks like on average 4 graduates a year (out of a typical class of 115) get into an Ivy. Yea, that's worth $45k.

yup and I'll bet on average 2-3 of those are girl's lax players.

I cannot believe I’m on here correcting this because the attacks on St Stephens college list are so ridiculous, BUT…

Around 5% of the graduating class (looking at last 5 years) goes to an Ivy, Stanford, or MIT
Around 10% goes to Williams, Georgetown, John’s Hopkins, and similar top private schools
Around 20-25% goes to UVA, William and Mary, or other top public schools
The rest go to a mix of solid colleges and universities.

No one is going to argue that this compares to Sidwell, where something like 18% of kids go to an Ivy. But not all of us want an academically intense experience for our kids. And of course St Stephens sends more kids to top colleges than a local public school, mostly because the population of kids is richer.

And not all of our kids want Ivy. SSSAS does an awesome job of helping kids find the right college based on fit not name.

+ 1

It’s really not uncommon at independent schools for the college counselor to more or less insist a kid apply early decision to wherever they are a legacy, regardless of what’s best for the kid. They figure it’s ALWAYS better to go to Dartmouth than NYU, for example, even if the kid prefers a large urban school.

St. Stephens really doesn’t do this, which we appreciate. If our kids want to go to the same Ivy I did, great - but the most important thing is that they go to the right school for them, not simply the most “prestigious” school they can get into.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have heard about some of the cliquey social dynamics with the 8th grade class at SSSAS and this is definitely a concern for a potential incoming new student.

This concerns me as we are considering applying. Is it girl cliques or boy cliques? Mean girl behavior? We have a DD…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have heard about some of the cliquey social dynamics with the 8th grade class at SSSAS and this is definitely a concern for a potential incoming new student.

This concerns me as we are considering applying. Is it girl cliques or boy cliques? Mean girl behavior? We have a DD…

+1 DP with a boy that wants to apply for 9th

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have heard about some of the cliquey social dynamics with the 8th grade class at SSSAS and this is definitely a concern for a potential incoming new student.

This concerns me as we are considering applying. Is it girl cliques or boy cliques? Mean girl behavior? We have a DD…

+1 DP with a boy that wants to apply for 9th

I can't speak to this current 8th grade class, but I can tell you that I heard the same thing, on this forum no less, about last year's 8th grade class. A couple of months into the school year, though, and my new freshman DD has not experienced any of that. (That said, having already put two kids thru high school elsewhere I have no doubt these issues exist at all schools; the question is to what extent and the manner in which the school addresses it).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the virtual Admissions Open House for SSSAS, we were told 42 students in the incoming 9th grade (representing 2/3 of the class) were new to the school this year. Just double checked my notes! Things must have changed in recent years.

For my older daughter's class, it was about a quarter newcomers. Classes are much bigger than the 63 students your stats suggest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the virtual Admissions Open House for SSSAS, we were told 42 students in the incoming 9th grade (representing 2/3 of the class) were new to the school this year. Just double checked my notes! Things must have changed in recent years.

You need to refresh your math skills. The 9th grade has 114 students, 42/114 is 0.368 which is 36.8%, not 2/3 of the class.

Sheesh, really, PP?!

I was simply quoting exactly what the Admissions Director stated, without having personal knowledge of the total number of students in the current 9th grade class. Perhaps he meant to say 1/3 were new students.

Sheesh what? You were adamant you were right but in fact you were mistaken and I provided some numbers, that’s all. There is quite a difference between 1/3 and 2/3 of the class being new. I am sorry the school misspoke. There is no need to get upset with me.

For the people asking, yes there is a large group of very mean girls (mainly lax) and their parents aren’t nice either. It sucks. People who deny it arent telling the truth

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the virtual Admissions Open House for SSSAS, we were told 42 students in the incoming 9th grade (representing 2/3 of the class) were new to the school this year. Just double checked my notes! Things must have changed in recent years.

You need to refresh your math skills. The 9th grade has 114 students, 42/114 is 0.368 which is 36.8%, not 2/3 of the class.

Sheesh, really, PP?!

I was simply quoting exactly what the Admissions Director stated, without having personal knowledge of the total number of students in the current 9th grade class. Perhaps he meant to say 1/3 were new students.

Sheesh what? You were adamant you were right but in fact you were mistaken and I provided some numbers, that’s all. There is quite a difference between 1/3 and 2/3 of the class being new. I am sorry the school misspoke. There is no need to get upset with me.

For the people asking, yes there is a large group of very mean girls (mainly lax) and their parents aren’t nice either. It sucks. People who deny it arent telling the truth

Look who’s calling other people mean…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From their Wiki site:

The Middle School, representing grades 6 through 8, has 306 students total with the following breakdown: 97 in Sixth Grade, 99 in Seventh Grade, and 110 in Eighth Grade. The Upper School, representing grades 9 through 12, has 453 students total with the following breakdown: 114 in Ninth Grade, 106 in Tenth Grade, 115 in Eleventh Grade, and 118 in Twelfth Grade.[1]

My freshman was incoming this year from a new school; there were at least 25-30 new kids.

We looked at it and it seemed as if they have higher attrition across the board than other privates, so 1/3rd of 9th grade could well be new if a lot of 8th graders leave

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From their Wiki site:

The Middle School, representing grades 6 through 8, has 306 students total with the following breakdown: 97 in Sixth Grade, 99 in Seventh Grade, and 110 in Eighth Grade. The Upper School, representing grades 9 through 12, has 453 students total with the following breakdown: 114 in Ninth Grade, 106 in Tenth Grade, 115 in Eleventh Grade, and 118 in Twelfth Grade.[1]

My freshman was incoming this year from a new school; there were at least 25-30 new kids.

We looked at it and it seemed as if they have higher attrition across the board than other privates, so 1/3rd of 9th grade could well be new if a lot of 8th graders leave

+2 Lots of kids leave SSSAS for a new high school. When looking for schools at kindergarten, many families like SSSAS better than the local k-8s (ACDS and Burgundy) and have always planned to apply out after 8th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From their Wiki site:

The Middle School, representing grades 6 through 8, has 306 students total with the following breakdown: 97 in Sixth Grade, 99 in Seventh Grade, and 110 in Eighth Grade. The Upper School, representing grades 9 through 12, has 453 students total with the following breakdown: 114 in Ninth Grade, 106 in Tenth Grade, 115 in Eleventh Grade, and 118 in Twelfth Grade.[1]

My freshman was incoming this year from a new school; there were at least 25-30 new kids.

We looked at it and it seemed as if they have higher attrition across the board than other privates, so 1/3rd of 9th grade could well be new if a lot of 8th graders leave

+2 Lots of kids leave SSSAS for a new high school. When looking for schools at kindergarten, many families like SSSAS better than the local k-8s (ACDS and Burgundy) and have always planned to apply out after 8th.

This makes a lot of sense. So, it’s not just “math” that’s involved with the numbers, there are other factors at play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From their Wiki site:

The Middle School, representing grades 6 through 8, has 306 students total with the following breakdown: 97 in Sixth Grade, 99 in Seventh Grade, and 110 in Eighth Grade. The Upper School, representing grades 9 through 12, has 453 students total with the following breakdown: 114 in Ninth Grade, 106 in Tenth Grade, 115 in Eleventh Grade, and 118 in Twelfth Grade.[1]

My freshman was incoming this year from a new school; there were at least 25-30 new kids.

We looked at it and it seemed as if they have higher attrition across the board than other privates, so 1/3rd of 9th grade could well be new if a lot of 8th graders leave

+2 Lots of kids leave SSSAS for a new high school. When looking for schools at kindergarten, many families like SSSAS better than the local k-8s (ACDS and Burgundy) and have always planned to apply out after 8th.

very accurate

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From their Wiki site:

The Middle School, representing grades 6 through 8, has 306 students total with the following breakdown: 97 in Sixth Grade, 99 in Seventh Grade, and 110 in Eighth Grade. The Upper School, representing grades 9 through 12, has 453 students total with the following breakdown: 114 in Ninth Grade, 106 in Tenth Grade, 115 in Eleventh Grade, and 118 in Twelfth Grade.[1]

I have an 8th grader at SSSAS now and it is a gigantic grade and has been oversubscribed since K. As of today the directory says they have 103 students, while the 9th grade has 114 (so a difference of only 11). For comparison, the 7th grade has 94 and 6th has 86. In the past there has been an 8th grade exodus for boarding schools and some of the big Catholic boys schools (like Gonzaga) but I have no idea how many people are applying out. The 8th grade is also very girl heavy, I believe it is about 2/3 girls in the grade.

Also you should talk to some current 8th grade parents re that grade as the majority of them will probably still be there in 9th. There are some strong cliques and other issues that seem to be specific to that grade, I am not sure if it is due to the fact that it is so large for SSSAS or the gender imbalance or what, but everyone knows about it and IMO it's a real problem.

Another 8th grade parent here. Agree w PP about gender imbalance which has been there since lower school and we've had a lot of turnover in the grade due to covid. Admissions could have tried a lot harder to restore gender balance in this class. I'm a boy mom and many boys are looking at boarding school, boys schools, etc.

As to cliques - there are longstanding friendships from kids that have know each other since kindergarten. That's a fact of life at any K-12 school. That doesn't mean that new kids are excluded, but there is shared history among the long-time students which is a feature not a bug.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have heard about some of the cliquey social dynamics with the 8th grade class at SSSAS and this is definitely a concern for a potential incoming new student.

This concerns me as we are considering applying. Is it girl cliques or boy cliques? Mean girl behavior? We have a DD…

Mean girl behavior for certain in several current grades, including 7th & 8th