K-8 Regrets?

[Anonymous]

Reading about all the recent admission decisions and seeing lots of people posting about waitlists.
Was wondering are you coming from public to private for 9th? Or from a K-8 private?
We’re waiting for next week admission results for lower elementary school and our first two choices are a k-8 and a k-12. My child isn’t super strong academically (yet) and has some learning challenges so I’m thinking out loud reading these posts that we might want to prioritize the K-12.
Thoughts, regrets if you did a k-8?

[Anonymous]

No regrets with our Catholic K-8. It wasn’t our intent to go to this school to maximize HS admissions but having been in the school and community for a while, I’ve seen learned about the small Catholic schools community and their relationships with certain HS and how willing the school is to go to bat for their students if necessary (to get off waitlists for example).

So def pick a school that has a good relationship with your preferred HS

[Anonymous]

No regrets from our secular K-8. Our school has historically strong outplacement.

We are waiting on March 1 decisions. The two schools that are the best fit for our kid were not even on our radar when he was four years old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No regrets from our secular K-8. Our school has historically strong outplacement.

We are waiting on March 1 decisions. The two schools that are the best fit for our kid were not even on our radar when he was four years old.

Adding that we were thankful to do middle school at a K-8. Great experience for our kid. (Lower school was also strong, but those tough middle school years went relatively smoothly.)

[Anonymous]

No regrets on K-8. There are numerous benefits to that model, especially for middle schoolers. In our view, those benefits outweigh the risks associated with HS placement. Also, it gives your child time to mature and develop as a student before you have to commit to any specific type of HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reading about all the recent admission decisions and seeing lots of people posting about waitlists.
Was wondering are you coming from public to private for 9th? Or from a K-8 private?
We’re waiting for next week admission results for lower elementary school and our first two choices are a k-8 and a k-12. My child isn’t super strong academically (yet) and has some learning challenges so I’m thinking out loud reading these posts that we might want to prioritize the K-12.
Thoughts, regrets if you did a k-8?

If this is your child's profile, then I'd hope you aren't gunning for some super competitive K12 as those tend to be pressure cookers. And if that's the case, going to a strong k-8 currently and learning about your child's needs will only HELP you to land at a good match in 9th grade.

[Anonymous]

Our k-8 is strong and we have always been happy there for our (very different) children on many dimensions - academically, socially, community, outplacement. After leaving for various high schools - none of them are run as well as our k-8 (admin and teaching) and none have the same level of community. Our kids would say the same. Very happy we chose k-8.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading about all the recent admission decisions and seeing lots of people posting about waitlists.
Was wondering are you coming from public to private for 9th? Or from a K-8 private?
We’re waiting for next week admission results for lower elementary school and our first two choices are a k-8 and a k-12. My child isn’t super strong academically (yet) and has some learning challenges so I’m thinking out loud reading these posts that we might want to prioritize the K-12.
Thoughts, regrets if you did a k-8?

If this is your child's profile, then I'd hope you aren't gunning for some super competitive K12 as those tend to be pressure cookers. And if that's the case, going to a strong k-8 currently and learning about your child's needs will only HELP you to land at a good match in 9th grade.

OP here—no we are not looking at pressure cookers. Specifically avoiding those.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our k-8 is strong and we have always been happy there for our (very different) children on many dimensions - academically, socially, community, outplacement. After leaving for various high schools - none of them are run as well as our k-8 (admin and teaching) and none have the same level of community. Our kids would say the same. Very happy we chose k-8.

That’s great! Would you be willing to say which K-8 this is?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reading about all the recent admission decisions and seeing lots of people posting about waitlists.
Was wondering are you coming from public to private for 9th? Or from a K-8 private?
We’re waiting for next week admission results for lower elementary school and our first two choices are a k-8 and a k-12. My child isn’t super strong academically (yet) and has some learning challenges so I’m thinking out loud reading these posts that we might want to prioritize the K-12.
Thoughts, regrets if you did a k-8?

People who tend to be disappointed in k-8 are the ones that have always had Big3 (BigX) aspirations. If this is the main goal (which is not particularly healthy) then there are kids who get shut out at 9th. And for some - they get shut out of their top choice Big 3 but into another. If you truly care about meeting your child's needs and you go to a strong k-8 program - and keep a level head (don't let other strivers suck you into their vortex) - the k-8 will be great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading about all the recent admission decisions and seeing lots of people posting about waitlists.
Was wondering are you coming from public to private for 9th? Or from a K-8 private?
We’re waiting for next week admission results for lower elementary school and our first two choices are a k-8 and a k-12. My child isn’t super strong academically (yet) and has some learning challenges so I’m thinking out loud reading these posts that we might want to prioritize the K-12.
Thoughts, regrets if you did a k-8?

People who tend to be disappointed in k-8 are the ones that have always had Big3 (BigX) aspirations. If this is the main goal (which is not particularly healthy) then there are kids who get shut out at 9th. And for some - they get shut out of their top choice Big 3 but into another. If you truly care about meeting your child's needs and you go to a strong k-8 program - and keep a level head (don't let other strivers suck you into their vortex) - the k-8 will be great.

We are not looking at a big3 or any pressure cooker school. But I keep reading about all these kids getting waitlisted at the catholic schools who have just released their admissions and I didn’t really consider most of those schools to be super competitive (I’m not familiar with the catholic schools and we’re not applying to them). Maybe they’re more competitive than I think but to have 1300 applicants for 300 spots at SJC seems very competitive.

[Anonymous]

We don’t regret doing K-8. Yes, the transition was an adjustment and yes, the high school application process was kind of a pain. But we felt like it was much better to have our kid actively involved in the decision on where they wanted to go to high school, and some of their friends who are preparing to graduate from their current K-12 (having never gone to another school) are seriously stressing about what will happen when they leave. Choose the school that’s best for your kid at the age they are now - if you insist on K-12, there’s no guarantee they won’t want to apply out eventually.

[Anonymous]

We were are very happy with our K-8 (DC attended 6-8 only with similar profile). Great community, DC was able to thrive socially and academically, and now outplacement is proving strong. Best decision we every made for our DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading about all the recent admission decisions and seeing lots of people posting about waitlists.
Was wondering are you coming from public to private for 9th? Or from a K-8 private?
We’re waiting for next week admission results for lower elementary school and our first two choices are a k-8 and a k-12. My child isn’t super strong academically (yet) and has some learning challenges so I’m thinking out loud reading these posts that we might want to prioritize the K-12.
Thoughts, regrets if you did a k-8?

People who tend to be disappointed in k-8 are the ones that have always had Big3 (BigX) aspirations. If this is the main goal (which is not particularly healthy) then there are kids who get shut out at 9th. And for some - they get shut out of their top choice Big 3 but into another. If you truly care about meeting your child's needs and you go to a strong k-8 program - and keep a level head (don't let other strivers suck you into their vortex) - the k-8 will be great.

We are not looking at a big3 or any pressure cooker school. But I keep reading about all these kids getting waitlisted at the catholic schools who have just released their admissions and I didn’t really consider most of those schools to be super competitive (I’m not familiar with the catholic schools and we’re not applying to them). Maybe they’re more competitive than I think but to have 1300 applicants for 300 spots at SJC seems very competitive.

Is Catholic HS your endgoal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading about all the recent admission decisions and seeing lots of people posting about waitlists.
Was wondering are you coming from public to private for 9th? Or from a K-8 private?
We’re waiting for next week admission results for lower elementary school and our first two choices are a k-8 and a k-12. My child isn’t super strong academically (yet) and has some learning challenges so I’m thinking out loud reading these posts that we might want to prioritize the K-12.
Thoughts, regrets if you did a k-8?

People who tend to be disappointed in k-8 are the ones that have always had Big3 (BigX) aspirations. If this is the main goal (which is not particularly healthy) then there are kids who get shut out at 9th. And for some - they get shut out of their top choice Big 3 but into another. If you truly care about meeting your child's needs and you go to a strong k-8 program - and keep a level head (don't let other strivers suck you into their vortex) - the k-8 will be great.

We are not looking at a big3 or any pressure cooker school. But I keep reading about all these kids getting waitlisted at the catholic schools who have just released their admissions and I didn’t really consider most of those schools to be super competitive (I’m not familiar with the catholic schools and we’re not applying to them). Maybe they’re more competitive than I think but to have 1300 applicants for 300 spots at SJC seems very competitive.

If your kid comes out of a K-8 with top grades and no red flags in terms of behavior, they'll have choices. You may not get the top of the competitive heap school, but you'll have good schools to choose from. Kids who are just so-so or struggle academically and/or have behavior challenges may find gaining admission anywhere more difficult. I also think if you are catholic and active parishoners somewhere, applying to places like Gonzaga or Visi from a non-catholic K-8 can give you an edge just because fewer of your classmates will be applying. You still need top grades and no behavior flags, but Gonzaga and Visi want kids from different schools too.