Latin or walls

[Anonymous]

My child goes to latin since 5th grade and is thinking of switching to walls for high school, but is unsure. Can any Latin hs or walls parents give advice?

[Anonymous]

4.0?

[Anonymous]

Well the enrollment deadline passed. Did they get in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child goes to latin since 5th grade and is thinking of switching to walls for high school, but is unsure. Can any Latin hs or walls parents give advice?

Our child with the same choice decided to stay at Latin for these reasons:

He knew many of the teachers and friends were staying

He likes the smaller class sizes - and frankly he needs a bit more push from those teachers to do the work - there is not a lot of place to “hide” at Latin

He is has many varied interests and at Latin he can do all those things…he was worried at walls he would have to “specialize” like choose one sport, etc - that is if he could even make that sports team at walls.

At that time during the pandemic they were not letting students see the school - and that was too much unknown for all of us - there was a general idea that the admin really didn’t care if you took the spot or not and for my 14 year old it was off putting

To be honest it was really hard for ME to press that decline button on MSDC - but at HS it really is the decision of your child (with some heavy influence) He has loved Latin from the start and he really wanted to stay.

We have not looked back and he has had a great time - done so many things - has great friends - learned a lot - honestly there is no wrong choice with those two options.

[Anonymous]

+1 to letting your kid decide. Most people I know who left just wanted a different environment.

[Anonymous]

Walls is increasingly difficult to get in, this past admission cycle they introduced English and math teacher recommendations. Just something to keep in mind.

As someone whose two kids are at two different schools, I can tell you that it can really depend on your specific kid's needs/preferences. My impression is that at Walls you really need to be a self-starter/work independently/thrive on competition. If your kid wants to eat lunches out in the city, is very independent, and self-motivated, I think they'd benefit from Walls. My impression is that Latin has the most dedicated teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Walls is increasingly difficult to get in, this past admission cycle they introduced English and math teacher recommendations. Just something to keep in mind.

As someone whose two kids are at two different schools, I can tell you that it can really depend on your specific kid's needs/preferences. My impression is that at Walls you really need to be a self-starter/work independently/thrive on competition. If your kid wants to eat lunches out in the city, is very independent, and self-motivated, I think they'd benefit from Walls. My impression is that Latin has the most dedicated teachers.

Oh, and you will notice that some kids do leave Latin for high school. You might think that's less competition for your kid, or you might experience FOMO. It depends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child goes to latin since 5th grade and is thinking of switching to walls for high school, but is unsure. Can any Latin hs or walls parents give advice?

Our child with the same choice decided to stay at Latin for these reasons:

He knew many of the teachers and friends were staying

He likes the smaller class sizes - and frankly he needs a bit more push from those teachers to do the work - there is not a lot of place to “hide” at Latin

He is has many varied interests and at Latin he can do all those things…he was worried at walls he would have to “specialize” like choose one sport, etc - that is if he could even make that sports team at walls.

At that time during the pandemic they were not letting students see the school - and that was too much unknown for all of us - there was a general idea that the admin really didn’t care if you took the spot or not and for my 14 year old it was off putting

To be honest it was really hard for ME to press that decline button on MSDC - but at HS it really is the decision of your child (with some heavy influence) He has loved Latin from the start and he really wanted to stay.

We have not looked back and he has had a great time - done so many things - has great friends - learned a lot - honestly there is no wrong choice with those two options.

That makes a lot of sense. For the less than superstar student Latin has always been a great choice. Smaller class sizes for more one on one attention and great kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well the enrollment deadline passed. Did they get in?

Kids get in off the WL for months.

[Anonymous]

There are at least a few families who have kids at both schools. I wonder if there is a way for you to connect with them. I’ve always gotten interesting perspectives from kids who switch or families who have kids at both Latin and Walls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well the enrollment deadline passed. Did they get in?

Kids get in off the WL for months.

OP here. They have gotten in to walls, and we are just deciding if we want to go.

[Anonymous]

My Wall kid's friend is a Latin kid and she loves it and prefers it to Latin. But there aren't many Latin kids in their class.

[Anonymous]

You probably can't go wrong either way. Which is better located for you? I think the student body calibre is higher (more uniformly high performing/studious/well behaved) at Walls but I get the sense that the teachers are (overall) a bit better/more consistent at Latin?