Compare and contrast Hackley/Masters/Horace Mann/RCDS
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Anonymous
| Any insight into how these schools compare ? Aside from the boarding aspect. |
Anonymous
Very different schools. Can only speak to RCDS and HM. RCDS pulls from Westchester County/CT and has more suburban feel. HM pulls more from NYC, much more competitive and more diverse. HM is, at least by reputation, the most intense (and most prestigious). of the 4. |
Anonymous
| Agree. HM is the most intense academically. Masters and Hackley have more of a sports focus. HM sports tends to be less intense but has ids who play club sports outside school and therefore happen to be very good, just not trained by HM. |
Anonymous
Not correct, or at any rate any difference isn't material. Horace Mann and Riverdale -- and Fieldston, the third of the so-called hill schools in Riverdale (ie the Bronx) -- each pull principally from Manhattan. Horace Mann is the biggest pressure cooker and probably has the strongest academic reputation, but each of them is considered among the top 20 day schools in the country. Hackley and Masters are in the Westchester and don't generally rank as high. |
Anonymous
Do HM and RCDS board? I only know about Hackley and Masters. Are all the boarders local or are there some boarding 24/7? Friend's son boards at Masters. Fieldston and Riverdale kids seem pretty happy. HM kids seem fairly stressed. Hackley a beast at sports. Masters HoS is supposed to be very good. |
Anonymous
No HM and RCDS do not board. Hackley boards but only during the week, I believe. Hackley is good at sports but does not compare to Brunswick or Greenwich Academy in Greenwich, CT. Brunswick and Greenwich Academy play in the same independent school league as Exeter, Andover, Deerfield, etc. |
Anonymous
| I have DC's at HM and RCDS. Ask me anything. |
Anonymous
When did your DC join HM? How does the workload and testing compare v RCDS? |
Anonymous
Joined HM in Mid. Div. DC homework load varies and there are times when she is up late (Pages of math, annotating text, writing in all subjects). MY DC at RCDS is in lower div. and has abut 20 minutes of HW (plus reading). So, I can't give a true comparison on HW. Both schools have regular tests and some projects. Both use ERB for standardized testing. |
Anonymous
Thanks. Are grades at HM based on homework or testing or a combination of both? What grade is the Hm kid in? Does HM seem competitive/stressful? |
Anonymous
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HW, testing, participation, projects/labs. Grading is pretty specific and outlined in a course syllabus. My DC loves it. Would she love another school too? Maybe. I speak to other parents too, who even consider switching dc's to SHS's, but their DC's don't want to leave. They love it too.
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Anonymous
| HM is in another league from these other places and is not a boarding school. It is not the place for everyone you have to know what you are getting your child into there. |
Anonymous
Agree. FWIW, I have a number of friends who attended HM, lifers as well as starting in 9th. Not one of them sends/sent their DCs to HM. Not one. I have another friend who is pretty much an ed snob and has 2 HM grads and 1 still in the upper school. She pretty much admits it was not the right school for the two grads, even if they were academically successful. Socially it pretty much sucked for them. That said, a bad grade cohort at any school sucks. My DCs were lucky to end up in good grade cohorts, though the one between them is absolutely awful. |
Anonymous
| ^^ and both our DCs were admitted to HM, but the student tour guides seemed so miserable that our kids passed. |
Anonymous
| What was it about the HM environment that caused people to pass on sending their own kids there? |