Friends vs Grace Church

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were surprised to get a rejection from both Friends and Grace (K). Are we alone here?

waitlisted @ friends over here and rejected from grace so ur not alone. we didn't fc either so wasn't a surprise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To be fair they can’t accept everybody.

Anonymous wrote:We were surprised to get a rejection from both Friends and Grace (K). Are we alone here?

I think there is an impression that non-TT schools basically take pretty much everyone, but this definitely isn't the case. I know a very smart, nice kid from a very strong feeder who was rejected for HS at one of these schools. I don't know what their admissions rates are. In another thread someone noted that Packer publicly discloses theirs and they reject more than they accept. So there are no guarantees in this process, and Friends and Grace in particular are likely just getting more difficult to get into.

I'm not sure why there would be that impression. All these schools get tons of applicants and for HS Packer, Friends and Grace all take around 40-45. I'm sure they are all rejecting way more than they are accepting. These schools are getting more popular with families that live farther downtown and/or don't want an intense pressure cooker or the drama that sometimes comes with the TT schools.
I also think Grace is probably pretty difficult to get into for K. It's very popular among rich downtown types. There are a lot of celebrity kids at Grace.

Generally agree. And for HS they are pulling from all over - I think both have a lot of kids from Brooklyn, UWS, UES, and elsewhere.

I'm not saying the assumption that everyone will get in is correct - I agree that it is inaccurate. But there are those who think it is true - I've heard parents say "oh, if my kid doesn't get into SHSAT, there are lots of private schools that would be happy to take my money so I will make some phone calls." I don't think they are referencing these specific schools, but a lot of people are misguided about the process.

[Anonymous]

grace has lots of siblings and young families. super super popular for downtown people.

[Anonymous]

Grace is like Hansel - it's so hot right now.

[Anonymous]

I have no data but I think both schools are retaining more kids than before. Grace's high school has now been around for a while so more people are comfortable keeping their kids there. And the desire to send your kid uptown for HS is less than it used to be. Plus why put your kid through the misery of ISEE and applying if you are happy where you are?

[Anonymous]

We chose Grace over Friends. Friends was our first choice going into the admissions cycle, but after attending all the events, it seemed cold and we weren't fans of all the wokeness. Grace felt like a much warmer community. We are not a religious family, so at first we were a bit concerned about that with Grace, but after speaking to many families they corroborated that they are not a religious school (not affiliated with the church anymore), do not push any religion, and have many faiths as well as no faith families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We chose Grace over Friends. Friends was our first choice going into the admissions cycle, but after attending all the events, it seemed cold and we weren't fans of all the wokeness. Grace felt like a much warmer community. We are not a religious family, so at first we were a bit concerned about that with Grace, but after speaking to many families they corroborated that they are not a religious school (not affiliated with the church anymore), do not push any religion, and have many faiths as well as no faith families.

Grace has a fairly sizeable Jewish population (as does Friends). I think they feel very comfortable and the school goes out of its way to welcome everyone. It has "chapel" which definitely can have a religious feel but I don't think Jesus is mentioned. I believe the Head of School is actually ordained but again, he is excellent and there is generally a separation of church and state. I have asked Jewish friends at both schools and they were satisfied with how they handled October 7 - some schools (such as LREI) were less graceful in how they handled that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We chose Grace over Friends. Friends was our first choice going into the admissions cycle, but after attending all the events, it seemed cold and we weren't fans of all the wokeness. Grace felt like a much warmer community. We are not a religious family, so at first we were a bit concerned about that with Grace, but after speaking to many families they corroborated that they are not a religious school (not affiliated with the church anymore), do not push any religion, and have many faiths as well as no faith families.

Glad I'm not the only one who felt that way about Friends. Went to HS open houses and both Friends and Grace and they couldn't have been more different. The Friends OH really left a bad impression and we didn't love our admissions interviewer. The Grace interactions were a lot warmer. I did find the Grace HS building to be a little sterile. I actually didn't love the facilities at either school but Friends may have a slight edge in that regard.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have any information on busing from the UES down to Friends? I know there is a DOE bus, but how long is the commute and what time does the bus pick-up in the morning (approximately)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We chose Grace over Friends. Friends was our first choice going into the admissions cycle, but after attending all the events, it seemed cold and we weren't fans of all the wokeness. Grace felt like a much warmer community. We are not a religious family, so at first we were a bit concerned about that with Grace, but after speaking to many families they corroborated that they are not a religious school (not affiliated with the church anymore), do not push any religion, and have many faiths as well as no faith families.

Glad I'm not the only one who felt that way about Friends. Went to HS open houses and both Friends and Grace and they couldn't have been more different. The Friends OH really left a bad impression and we didn't love our admissions interviewer. The Grace interactions were a lot warmer. I did find the Grace HS building to be a little sterile. I actually didn't love the facilities at either school but Friends may have a slight edge in that regard.

I actually liked the Grace HS facilities - new building and clean. Also liked that the HS is in a separate building from the LS/MS. Funny, we did not like our admissions interviewer at Friends either.

[Anonymous]

This may sound bad but I see Romy Mars’ social media and wonder if that’s the norm for recent Grace grads.

[Anonymous]

1. Why are you following her social media? That is kind of creepy.
2. She is definitely the exception to the rule at Grace. There are a fair number of celeb kids but most of them are down to earth.
3. Grace is becoming more academic at the HS level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We chose Grace over Friends. Friends was our first choice going into the admissions cycle, but after attending all the events, it seemed cold and we weren't fans of all the wokeness. Grace felt like a much warmer community. We are not a religious family, so at first we were a bit concerned about that with Grace, but after speaking to many families they corroborated that they are not a religious school (not affiliated with the church anymore), do not push any religion, and have many faiths as well as no faith families.

Glad I'm not the only one who felt that way about Friends. Went to HS open houses and both Friends and Grace and they couldn't have been more different. The Friends OH really left a bad impression and we didn't love our admissions interviewer. The Grace interactions were a lot warmer. I did find the Grace HS building to be a little sterile. I actually didn't love the facilities at either school but Friends may have a slight edge in that regard.

I actually liked the Grace HS facilities - new building and clean. Also liked that the HS is in a separate building from the LS/MS. Funny, we did not like our admissions interviewer at Friends either.

Grace HS has pros and cons. Agreed that it is nice that it is separate from the lower school, yet close enough. It is fairly newly renovated, which is nice. It is a converted office building so some of the rooms are oddly shaped and because there is basically one stairway it can get a bit chaotic. There is also no auditorium so the gym does very heavy lifting in terms of usage. Since it is relatively newly renovated, science labs and art rooms are generally very nice.

Our Friends interviewer was average. We had better, we had worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. Why are you following her social media? That is kind of creepy.
2. She is definitely the exception to the rule at Grace. There are a fair number of celeb kids but most of them are down to earth.
3. Grace is becoming more academic at the HS level.

Don’t follow her, but follow Sofia Coppola and her posts have across my feed before. Her Instagram account has hundreds of thousands of followers, it’s not like she’s keeping things private.

Anyways, good to hear that level of showiness and partying is not the norm at Grace.

[Anonymous]

That’s so funny because I had the same conversation about her as a Grace grad with a friends! There’s at least two of us weirdos out here worrying about keeping our kids down to earth.