Do parents choose Latin/BASIS over Deal/J-R?

[Anonymous]

+100. JR's rigor has been greater than we expected. They teach more AP subjects than BASIS. From what we've seen, dual enrollment is a much more popular option from J-R than BASIS. They also don't push kids to take all their AP exams by the end of junior year, a saner system. Deal probably isn't worth it unless your kid is a brainy self-starter. We went private for MS.

[Anonymous]

the truth is that the seniors going to Ivies from Basis DC mostly did clubs at Basis ---- what you seem to miss is that colleges are judging you based on what opportunities you had available .....so A JR student who does not get involved much despite all of the seemingly endless clubs and sports will be at a big disadvantage

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re a jerk, PP. The parent above may well have done her due diligence. But it’s not easy for the uninitiated to see through the BASIS hype. From what I’ve observed at BASIS, the UMC seniors who crack MIT, Ivies etc. come from families that pay and hustle like mad to round out their kids’ high school educations. Everybody at BASIS with a super bright and industrious kids can’t swing it. It’s tempting to pretend that a BASIS education alone is enough. It’s not.

Another ignorant response.

[Anonymous]

Wow a school with 1800 students teaches more AP classes than a school with 200 !

Anonymous wrote:+100. JR's rigor has been greater than we expected. They teach more AP subjects than BASIS. From what we've seen, dual enrollment is a much more popular option from J-R than BASIS. They also don't push kids to take all their AP exams by the end of junior year, a saner system. Deal probably isn't worth it unless your kid is a brainy self-starter. We went private for MS.

[Anonymous]

How does JR stack up with other nearby large high schools such as Whitman, BCC, Whitman, Churchill, Richard Montgomery, etc. I think it rates well below all of them in academics and college acceptances not to mention behavior.

Anonymous wrote:Wow a school with 1800 students teaches more AP classes than a school with 200 !

Anonymous wrote:+100. JR's rigor has been greater than we expected. They teach more AP subjects than BASIS. From what we've seen, dual enrollment is a much more popular option from J-R than BASIS. They also don't push kids to take all their AP exams by the end of junior year, a saner system. Deal probably isn't worth it unless your kid is a brainy self-starter. We went private for MS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the truth is that the seniors going to Ivies from Basis DC mostly did clubs at Basis ---- what you seem to miss is that colleges are judging you based on what opportunities you had available .....so A JR student who does not get involved much despite all of the seemingly endless clubs and sports will be at a big disadvantage

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re a jerk, PP. The parent above may well have done her due diligence. But it’s not easy for the uninitiated to see through the BASIS hype. From what I’ve observed at BASIS, the UMC seniors who crack MIT, Ivies etc. come from families that pay and hustle like mad to round out their kids’ high school educations. Everybody at BASIS with a super bright and industrious kids can’t swing it. It’s tempting to pretend that a BASIS education alone is enough. It’s not.

Another ignorant response.

Nobody should be buying this for UMC applicants, regardless of the school.

As has been pointed out, the BASIS seniors cracking Ivies haven't been sticking to the mostly lame ECs offered by the school. No way. We know these kids from all our years at BASIS. Pure fantasy to believe otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the truth is that the seniors going to Ivies from Basis DC mostly did clubs at Basis ---- what you seem to miss is that colleges are judging you based on what opportunities you had available .....so A JR student who does not get involved much despite all of the seemingly endless clubs and sports will be at a big disadvantage

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re a jerk, PP. The parent above may well have done her due diligence. But it’s not easy for the uninitiated to see through the BASIS hype. From what I’ve observed at BASIS, the UMC seniors who crack MIT, Ivies etc. come from families that pay and hustle like mad to round out their kids’ high school educations. Everybody at BASIS with a super bright and industrious kids can’t swing it. It’s tempting to pretend that a BASIS education alone is enough. It’s not.

Another ignorant response.

Nobody should be buying this for UMC applicants, regardless of the school.

As has been pointed out, the BASIS seniors cracking Ivies haven't been sticking to the mostly lame ECs offered by the school. No way. We know these kids from all our years at BASIS. Pure fantasy to believe otherwise.

You know nothing and seem to live in a fantasy world of your own making.

[Anonymous]

you dont have a clue ----almost of all the Basis Ivy kids did mostly school or school adjacent clubs ---

ask me how I know?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the truth is that the seniors going to Ivies from Basis DC mostly did clubs at Basis ---- what you seem to miss is that colleges are judging you based on what opportunities you had available .....so A JR student who does not get involved much despite all of the seemingly endless clubs and sports will be at a big disadvantage

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re a jerk, PP. The parent above may well have done her due diligence. But it’s not easy for the uninitiated to see through the BASIS hype. From what I’ve observed at BASIS, the UMC seniors who crack MIT, Ivies etc. come from families that pay and hustle like mad to round out their kids’ high school educations. Everybody at BASIS with a super bright and industrious kids can’t swing it. It’s tempting to pretend that a BASIS education alone is enough. It’s not.

Another ignorant response.

Nobody should be buying this for UMC applicants, regardless of the school.

As has been pointed out, the BASIS seniors cracking Ivies haven't been sticking to the mostly lame ECs offered by the school. No way. We know these kids from all our years at BASIS. Pure fantasy to believe otherwise.

[Anonymous]

The kids who desire to do a lot of Extracurriculars outside of Basis almost all leave Basis by 10th grade ---

There is simply little time to do them outside of Basis for the vast majority of kids and still keep up the grades

At JR, with lax academic requirements in 9th grade and 10th grade, it is easy to get involved with multiples Ecs

Anonymous wrote:you dont have a clue ----almost of all the Basis Ivy kids did mostly school or school adjacent clubs ---

ask me how I know?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the truth is that the seniors going to Ivies from Basis DC mostly did clubs at Basis ---- what you seem to miss is that colleges are judging you based on what opportunities you had available .....so A JR student who does not get involved much despite all of the seemingly endless clubs and sports will be at a big disadvantage

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re a jerk, PP. The parent above may well have done her due diligence. But it’s not easy for the uninitiated to see through the BASIS hype. From what I’ve observed at BASIS, the UMC seniors who crack MIT, Ivies etc. come from families that pay and hustle like mad to round out their kids’ high school educations. Everybody at BASIS with a super bright and industrious kids can’t swing it. It’s tempting to pretend that a BASIS education alone is enough. It’s not.

Another ignorant response.

Nobody should be buying this for UMC applicants, regardless of the school.

As has been pointed out, the BASIS seniors cracking Ivies haven't been sticking to the mostly lame ECs offered by the school. No way. We know these kids from all our years at BASIS. Pure fantasy to believe otherwise.

[Anonymous]

for all of the crowing about JR, the stats dont indicate the school is all that hot

https://www.instagram.com/jacksonreed2024/

about 5% from 2024 class that posted their college destination went on to highly selective colleges....a lot less than 5% if you count the few hundred that did not post --- many of those did not even go to college

quote=Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The picture of success above isn't different from Deal and JR.

It's a stretch to claim that BASIS is an improvement over the best of DCPS.

I don't think any parent, satisfied or not, is claiming this, but I'm curious what you think the best of DCPS is. SWW or Banneker? It ain't JR. BASIS is a superior choice to many DCPS options, depending on the student and family. JR families may not frequently look to BASIS as an alternative because JR has historically been a known, relatively low risk option. They may also want to avoid all this smoke that people talk so much about. You might say BASIS's picture of success isn't different from JR, but I'm pretty sure 100% of kids from BASIS end up going to a 4-year college. Would be pretty shocked if JR can make that claim. No slight against those who choose CC, military service, work, etc. after HS, but if we're going to do something stupid like link a public HS's worth to the


number of selective college admits they have, then we should also look at the percentage of kids from that school who go to any college. That is BASIS's primary mission. Colleges know the BASIS network is a grind, and kids see the benefit of that come admissions time, relative to their own abilities, talent, resources, etc.

And the point is that top colleges invariably celebrate the "grind," which justifies it? I don't see that. Where is it written that high achievement in high school only pays off if the journey is a grim slog?

Grads from my Ivy willing to interview applicants must be thin on the ground in Arizona because I've been asked to phone interview several dozen in the final days of interview season almost every year in the last decade. I pitched in an interviewed these applicants. I also interviewed around 10 from BASIS DC. None from AZ or DC was admitted.

One of the question interviewers for my Ivy answer on the interview report form is, "Did you enjoy speaking to the applicant?" With BASIS applicants, my answer has generally been, no. As a general rule, these kids barely have a pulse. They mainly wanted to talk about the AP exams they'd aced. By contrast, I've often enjoyed talking to the Walls, Latin and J-R applicants I've interviewed--overall, they seemed to bring more serious and interesting ECs to the table than the BASIS applicants--but none was admitted either. I have no reason to be biased against BASIS applicants. My children now attend public schools in MoCo, where my ex lives.

This anecdote doesn't really back up the actual college admits at this schools (BASIS has far more Ivy admits and T20 admits than Latin).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the truth is that the seniors going to Ivies from Basis DC mostly did clubs at Basis ---- what you seem to miss is that colleges are judging you based on what opportunities you had available .....so A JR student who does not get involved much despite all of the seemingly endless clubs and sports will be at a big disadvantage

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re a jerk, PP. The parent above may well have done her due diligence. But it’s not easy for the uninitiated to see through the BASIS hype. From what I’ve observed at BASIS, the UMC seniors who crack MIT, Ivies etc. come from families that pay and hustle like mad to round out their kids’ high school educations. Everybody at BASIS with a super bright and industrious kids can’t swing it. It’s tempting to pretend that a BASIS education alone is enough. It’s not.

Another ignorant response.

Nobody should be buying this for UMC applicants, regardless of the school.

As has been pointed out, the BASIS seniors cracking Ivies haven't been sticking to the mostly lame ECs offered by the school. No way. We know these kids from all our years at BASIS. Pure fantasy to believe otherwise.

You know nothing and seem to live in a fantasy world of your own making.

BS. PP is correct. It's normal for high SES BASIS families to supplement extensively for ECs by high school, even if students aren't aiming high in college admissions.

The high school offers few serious activities because BASIS doesn't have the budget/fundraising, facilities, critical mass of students or policies to support them.

If you believe the situation to be fantasy, you can't have had kids who went through 8th grade at BASIS. Your family never made the choice to stay or leave for high school related to the EC situation.

[Anonymous]

Nobody's crowing about JR. PP's are making the case that school is better than BASIS boosters tend to claim. JR seniors get offers from the most highly competitive colleges on a par with BASIS, albeit from a much larger class.

[Anonymous]

again people talking with no data or clue about reality / just generalizations they have heard. The Extracurriculars for many high performing seniors are online and available to view if you are interested.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the truth is that the seniors going to Ivies from Basis DC mostly did clubs at Basis ---- what you seem to miss is that colleges are judging you based on what opportunities you had available .....so A JR student who does not get involved much despite all of the seemingly endless clubs and sports will be at a big disadvantage

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re a jerk, PP. The parent above may well have done her due diligence. But it’s not easy for the uninitiated to see through the BASIS hype. From what I’ve observed at BASIS, the UMC seniors who crack MIT, Ivies etc. come from families that pay and hustle like mad to round out their kids’ high school educations. Everybody at BASIS with a super bright and industrious kids can’t swing it. It’s tempting to pretend that a BASIS education alone is enough. It’s not.

Another ignorant response.

Nobody should be buying this for UMC applicants, regardless of the school.

As has been pointed out, the BASIS seniors cracking Ivies haven't been sticking to the mostly lame ECs offered by the school. No way. We know these kids from all our years at BASIS. Pure fantasy to believe otherwise.

You know nothing and seem to live in a fantasy world of your own making.

BS. PP is correct. It's normal for high SES BASIS families to supplement extensively for ECs by high school, even if students aren't aiming high in college admissions.

The high school offers few serious activities because BASIS doesn't have the budget/fundraising, facilities, critical mass of students or policies to support them.

If you believe the situation to be fantasy, you can't have had kids who went through 8th grade at BASIS. Your family never made the choice to stay or leave for high school related to the EC situation.

[Anonymous]

JR parents have some inflated notion that extracurriculars are the key to college admissions for their kids. If so, why do such a small percentage of kids go on to the top colleges? Why does 8% to 10% of every class not go to college?

A few kids doing well out of 500 seniors does not indicate that the massive amount of APs and extracurriculars at JR means much .....all it means that a few upper income non minority kids at JR stand out in a low performing school.

Anonymous wrote:again people talking with no data or clue about reality / just generalizations they have heard. The Extracurriculars for many high performing seniors are online and available to view if you are interested.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the truth is that the seniors going to Ivies from Basis DC mostly did clubs at Basis ---- what you seem to miss is that colleges are judging you based on what opportunities you had available .....so A JR student who does not get involved much despite all of the seemingly endless clubs and sports will be at a big disadvantage

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re a jerk, PP. The parent above may well have done her due diligence. But it’s not easy for the uninitiated to see through the BASIS hype. From what I’ve observed at BASIS, the UMC seniors who crack MIT, Ivies etc. come from families that pay and hustle like mad to round out their kids’ high school educations. Everybody at BASIS with a super bright and industrious kids can’t swing it. It’s tempting to pretend that a BASIS education alone is enough. It’s not.

Another ignorant response.

Nobody should be buying this for UMC applicants, regardless of the school.

As has been pointed out, the BASIS seniors cracking Ivies haven't been sticking to the mostly lame ECs offered by the school. No way. We know these kids from all our years at BASIS. Pure fantasy to believe otherwise.

You know nothing and seem to live in a fantasy world of your own making.

BS. PP is correct. It's normal for high SES BASIS families to supplement extensively for ECs by high school, even if students aren't aiming high in college admissions.

The high school offers few serious activities because BASIS doesn't have the budget/fundraising, facilities, critical mass of students or policies to support them.

If you believe the situation to be fantasy, you can't have had kids who went through 8th grade at BASIS. Your family never made the choice to stay or leave for high school related to the EC situation.

[Anonymous]

When you send your teens to JR to take a full course load of AP classes from 10th or 11th grade, and maybe college classes through dual enrollment as a senior, you don't care what the students who aren't on track to attend competitive colleges are up to. Your student has almost nothing to do with these kids. They pass them in hallways and the cafeteria and that's about it, unless they play sports with them.

There are always trade-offs in choosing schools. We stuck BASIS out for middle school with no interest in staying for high school for a variety of reasons. My eldest fared better in college admissions from JR than the BASIS friends he keeps in touch with who stayed for high school.

[Anonymous]

So you are stating that JR is a phenomenal school for your high performing snowflake and about 25 other kids but overall a low performing school?

Anonymous wrote:When you send your teens to JR to take a full course load of AP classes from 10th or 11th grade, and maybe college classes through dual enrollment as a senior, you don't care what the students who aren't on track to attend competitive colleges are up to. Your student has almost nothing to do with these kids. They pass them in hallways and the cafeteria and that's about it, unless they play sports with them.

There are always trade-offs in choosing schools. We stuck BASIS out for middle school with no interest in staying for high school for a variety of reasons. My eldest fared better in college admissions from JR than the BASIS friends he keeps in touch with who stayed for high school.