how does BASIS work?

[Anonymous]

I find this entire thread to be fascinating about BASIS and all of the non-BASIS parents recalling about how they were NMSF or whatnot it high school. Really? You are still living off your high school accolades? I know plenty of kids where I grew up that did amazing on their PSATs or other standardized tests but have done nothing with their lives. Same with people that spent tons of money on Ivy education with absolutely no better of a career or financial position than I have in my late 40s (I got a merit scholarship to a top 100 university for undergraduate and similar for graduate school).

I’m a parent of a BASIS student and I take it (and every school!) with a grain of salt. I like the academics, our kid participates in some school clubs/activities and does additional sports/music outside of school. It’s not perfect, but all of this obsession on NMSF and Ivies is bonkers. There is life outside and beyond both!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find this entire thread to be fascinating about BASIS and all of the non-BASIS parents recalling about how they were NMSF or whatnot it high school. Really? You are still living off your high school accolades? I know plenty of kids where I grew up that did amazing on their PSATs or other standardized tests but have done nothing with their lives. Same with people that spent tons of money on Ivy education with absolutely no better of a career or financial position than I have in my late 40s (I got a merit scholarship to a top 100 university for undergraduate and similar for graduate school).

I’m a parent of a BASIS student and I take it (and every school!) with a grain of salt. I like the academics, our kid participates in some school clubs/activities and does additional sports/music outside of school. It’s not perfect, but all of this obsession on NMSF and Ivies is bonkers. There is life outside and beyond both!

I do not understand why you send your kid to a school like BASIS if you have this attitude. BASIS is the epitome of “only academics matter.”

[Anonymous]

The dyed in the wool boosters on BASIS threads are clearly middle school parents. By the time HS rolls around, the argument that BASIS knocks it out of the park academically for a school that can't offer selective admissions is weak, since by 9th grade each student in the cohort could have been culled several times over, after 6th, 7th and 8th grades.

I work as a private admissions counselor, with BASIS DC clients. I sense growing concern among HS parents of top students that changing times in elite college admissions doesn't bode well for BASIS as long scoring high on multiple APs by the end of junior year remains the bedrock of the students' experience. PSAT success is probably neither here nor there, but the overall trend is clear: BASIS DC will need something of a reboot to continue to fulfill its mission of Ivy Plus admissions success. There's talk of the franchise hiring a HoS from outside the system in the hopes of making the HS experience more competitive in the Ivy Plus rat race. The current HoS seems to have done a fine job in making the MS experience a better-rounded one, but that's about it.

[Anonymous]

This high school parent would have no complaints if the current HoS went as long as his replacement was responsive to parent concerns about recent changes in college admissions.

[Anonymous]

What can Basis do to change the admissions to elite colleges? Serious question.

I mean, every high school in America is facing declining Ivy odds. The DC privates (I have a kid at one of them) are also 100% facing this decline. Kids that make it in are either hooked (URM, legacy, VIP, athlete) or they go ON THEIR OWN and do something spectacular outside of school (a talent, research, national competition winner, etc).
It's no different for kids at Sidwell or NCS--grades, test scores, etc are no longer enough. This isn't a problem that any school can solve.

What is the problem is if parents still live under the paradigm that an Ivy spot can be had on grades, test scores and rigorous curriculum alone and are choosing a high school based on this. You choose high school (whether it is Sidwell, Basis, etc) because of what the school teaches your kid and their experience at the school. In 2023 you will always be disappointed if you think that a high school can get you a leg-up for an elite college admission.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What can Basis do to change the admissions to elite colleges? Serious question.

I mean, every high school in America is facing declining Ivy odds. The DC privates (I have a kid at one of them) are also 100% facing this decline. Kids that make it in are either hooked (URM, legacy, VIP, athlete) or they go ON THEIR OWN and do something spectacular outside of school (a talent, research, national competition winner, etc).
It's no different for kids at Sidwell or NCS--grades, test scores, etc are no longer enough. This isn't a problem that any school can solve.

What is the problem is if parents still live under the paradigm that an Ivy spot can be had on grades, test scores and rigorous curriculum alone and are choosing a high school based on this. You choose high school (whether it is Sidwell, Basis, etc) because of what the school teaches your kid and their experience at the school. In 2023 you will always be disappointed if you think that a high school can get you a leg-up for an elite college admission.

I agree. I chose BASIS for my kid because I know my kid would actually enjoy the experience, and she does. I know most kids wouldn't like it, which is why I like that most people leave. That means most (but not all) of the kids that remain are kids that actually like being there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What can Basis do to change the admissions to elite colleges? Serious question.

I mean, every high school in America is facing declining Ivy odds. The DC privates (I have a kid at one of them) are also 100% facing this decline. Kids that make it in are either hooked (URM, legacy, VIP, athlete) or they go ON THEIR OWN and do something spectacular outside of school (a talent, research, national competition winner, etc).
It's no different for kids at Sidwell or NCS--grades, test scores, etc are no longer enough. This isn't a problem that any school can solve.

What is the problem is if parents still live under the paradigm that an Ivy spot can be had on grades, test scores and rigorous curriculum alone and are choosing a high school based on this. You choose high school (whether it is Sidwell, Basis, etc) because of what the school teaches your kid and their experience at the school. In 2023 you will always be disappointed if you think that a high school can get you a leg-up for an elite college admission.

+1 to this. BASIS parents are going to be disappointed if they think there is some magic fix to the fact that Ivy etc. admissions are more and more a lottery among (seemingly) equally qualified applicants (I say seemingly because I think an "A" at BASIS means more than an "A" at a lot of other schools- yet the two straight A students go into that same lottery for an Ivy spot). Be happy you are at a school with top notch academics - your kid is getting a great education!

[Anonymous]

This thread is so weird. I have a 10th grader at Basis. I am not and have never been under any delusions that Basis will be the key for Ivies. My kid is not legacy, not URM, and will not be a recruited athlete. Due to geographic diversity preferences at ivies, it will be tough for any non legacy /URM/recruited athlete from DC to get in.

If my kid ends up being a NMSF, it will be due to my kid's abilities and any test prep we do. Basis wouldn't be a factor, nor would any other school.

My kid only has around 1 hour of homework per day, so there's still plenty of time to pursue ECs. My kid is into a fringe sport that was never going to be offered at a regular high school. If my kid were too bogged down with schoolwork to do any ECs, or they wanted to participate in an activity that would have much better opportunities elsewhere, then I would move my kid to a regular school.

Comparing Basis to magnet schools in different counties or to expensive private schools is absurd. If the Basis kids lived somewhere else or were wealthy, they'd probably attend a different school. How is that even a question or issue?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: What can Basis do to change the admissions to elite colleges? Serious question.

I mean, every high school in America is facing declining Ivy odds. The DC privates (I have a kid at one of them) are also 100% facing this decline. Kids that make it in are either hooked (URM, legacy, VIP, athlete) or they go ON THEIR OWN and do something spectacular outside of school (a talent, research, national competition winner, etc).
It's no different for kids at Sidwell or NCS--grades, test scores, etc are no longer enough. This isn't a problem that any school can solve.

What is the problem is if parents still live under the paradigm that an Ivy spot can be had on grades, test scores and rigorous curriculum alone and are choosing a high school based on this. You choose high school (whether it is Sidwell, Basis, etc) because of what the school teaches your kid and their experience at the school. In 2023 you will always be disappointed if you think that a high school can get you a leg-up for an elite college admission.

They can modify it so that students aren’t required to cram 4 years of HS into 3 years so that students actually have time to do extracurriculars on their own outside of school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is so weird. I have a 10th grader at Basis. I am not and have never been under any delusions that Basis will be the key for Ivies. My kid is not legacy, not URM, and will not be a recruited athlete. Due to geographic diversity preferences at ivies, it will be tough for any non legacy /URM/recruited athlete from DC to get in.

If my kid ends up being a NMSF, it will be due to my kid's abilities and any test prep we do. Basis wouldn't be a factor, nor would any other school.

My kid only has around 1 hour of homework per day, so there's still plenty of time to pursue ECs. My kid is into a fringe sport that was never going to be offered at a regular high school. If my kid were too bogged down with schoolwork to do any ECs, or they wanted to participate in an activity that would have much better opportunities elsewhere, then I would move my kid to a regular school.

Comparing Basis to magnet schools in different counties or to expensive private schools is absurd. If the Basis kids lived somewhere else or were wealthy, they'd probably attend a different school. How is that even a question or issue?

+1. My kid goes to BASIS because my kid likes the school. Sending him to a school where he's miserable just to try to get into an Ivy is stupid. I live in DC so I'm not sending him to a suburban public school, but I can afford to send him to private, and we toured private schools before he went on to BASIS for HS, because I wanted the choice to be his. He said he wanted to be at BASIS. I know he's going to do his best at the place he feels happiest, so BASIS is the place we sent him. That's the most a parent can do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: What can Basis do to change the admissions to elite colleges? Serious question.

I mean, every high school in America is facing declining Ivy odds. The DC privates (I have a kid at one of them) are also 100% facing this decline. Kids that make it in are either hooked (URM, legacy, VIP, athlete) or they go ON THEIR OWN and do something spectacular outside of school (a talent, research, national competition winner, etc).
It's no different for kids at Sidwell or NCS--grades, test scores, etc are no longer enough. This isn't a problem that any school can solve.

What is the problem is if parents still live under the paradigm that an Ivy spot can be had on grades, test scores and rigorous curriculum alone and are choosing a high school based on this. You choose high school (whether it is Sidwell, Basis, etc) because of what the school teaches your kid and their experience at the school. In 2023 you will always be disappointed if you think that a high school can get you a leg-up for an elite college admission.

They can modify it so that students aren’t required to cram 4 years of HS into 3 years so that students actually have time to do extracurriculars on their own outside of school.

Why do you assume that Basis kids spend more time on homework than kids at other schools? My 10th grader spends maybe an hour on homework every day. They got a 3.95 GPA and a 5 on their AP exam last year. It sounds like most kids at Sidwell or other top privates spend around 3 hours per day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: What can Basis do to change the admissions to elite colleges? Serious question.

I mean, every high school in America is facing declining Ivy odds. The DC privates (I have a kid at one of them) are also 100% facing this decline. Kids that make it in are either hooked (URM, legacy, VIP, athlete) or they go ON THEIR OWN and do something spectacular outside of school (a talent, research, national competition winner, etc).
It's no different for kids at Sidwell or NCS--grades, test scores, etc are no longer enough. This isn't a problem that any school can solve.

What is the problem is if parents still live under the paradigm that an Ivy spot can be had on grades, test scores and rigorous curriculum alone and are choosing a high school based on this. You choose high school (whether it is Sidwell, Basis, etc) because of what the school teaches your kid and their experience at the school. In 2023 you will always be disappointed if you think that a high school can get you a leg-up for an elite college admission.

They can modify it so that students aren’t required to cram 4 years of HS into 3 years so that students actually have time to do extracurriculars on their own outside of school.

Huh? You don't think the Ivy bound kids at Montgomery Blair and Sidwell aren't working their butts off too?

I have a kid in high school at NCS and she always gets 3-4 hours of homework per night. The Thomas Jefferson kids are easily doing this much on route to their 15+ APs.
The kids who make it into the Ivies from any of these other schools are working just as hard (if not harder) than the Basis kids. There are kids in each cohort that can to this academic work and balance a crazy amount of stuff outside of school.
My NCS daughter has a small handful of girls in her class who could run a small country outside of school. They are super, super smart, organized and efficient. They don't sleep. They are the ones at the top of the class and they're the ones
getting the tiny handful of unhooked Ivy spots.

What is no longer happening is Ivy admissions for those kids who just do the classwork and get the As. You need to be able to balance and excel at the something else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: What can Basis do to change the admissions to elite colleges? Serious question.

I mean, every high school in America is facing declining Ivy odds. The DC privates (I have a kid at one of them) are also 100% facing this decline. Kids that make it in are either hooked (URM, legacy, VIP, athlete) or they go ON THEIR OWN and do something spectacular outside of school (a talent, research, national competition winner, etc).
It's no different for kids at Sidwell or NCS--grades, test scores, etc are no longer enough. This isn't a problem that any school can solve.

What is the problem is if parents still live under the paradigm that an Ivy spot can be had on grades, test scores and rigorous curriculum alone and are choosing a high school based on this. You choose high school (whether it is Sidwell, Basis, etc) because of what the school teaches your kid and their experience at the school. In 2023 you will always be disappointed if you think that a high school can get you a leg-up for an elite college admission.

They can modify it so that students aren’t required to cram 4 years of HS into 3 years so that students actually have time to do extracurriculars on their own outside of school.

Huh? You don't think the Ivy bound kids at Montgomery Blair and Sidwell aren't working their butts off too?

I have a kid in high school at NCS and she always gets 3-4 hours of homework per night. The Thomas Jefferson kids are easily doing this much on route to their 15+ APs.
The kids who make it into the Ivies from any of these other schools are working just as hard (if not harder) than the Basis kids. There are kids in each cohort that can to this academic work and balance a crazy amount of stuff outside of school.
My NCS daughter has a small handful of girls in her class who could run a small country outside of school. They are super, super smart, organized and efficient. They don't sleep. They are the ones at the top of the class and they're the ones
getting the tiny handful of unhooked Ivy spots.

What is no longer happening is Ivy admissions for those kids who just do the classwork and get the As. You need to be able to balance and excel at the something else.

I didn’t say they couldn’t, I said the students shouldn’t be required . Bravo to your kids that can complete all of their homework in an hour. It’s taking my 6th grader about an hour (or more when they get extra math packets) to complete homework so I’d only expect it to get more intense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is so weird. I have a 10th grader at Basis. I am not and have never been under any delusions that Basis will be the key for Ivies. My kid is not legacy, not URM, and will not be a recruited athlete. Due to geographic diversity preferences at ivies, it will be tough for any non legacy /URM/recruited athlete from DC to get in.

If my kid ends up being a NMSF, it will be due to my kid's abilities and any test prep we do. Basis wouldn't be a factor, nor would any other school.

My kid only has around 1 hour of homework per day, so there's still plenty of time to pursue ECs. My kid is into a fringe sport that was never going to be offered at a regular high school. If my kid were too bogged down with schoolwork to do any ECs, or they wanted to participate in an activity that would have much better opportunities elsewhere, then I would move my kid to a regular school.

Comparing Basis to magnet schools in different counties or to expensive private schools is absurd. If the Basis kids lived somewhere else or were wealthy, they'd probably attend a different school. How is that even a question or issue?

+1. My kid goes to BASIS because my kid likes the school. Sending him to a school where he's miserable just to try to get into an Ivy is stupid. I live in DC so I'm not sending him to a suburban public school, but I can afford to send him to private, and we toured private schools before he went on to BASIS for HS, because I wanted the choice to be his. He said he wanted to be at BASIS. I know he's going to do his best at the place he feels happiest, so BASIS is the place we sent him. That's the most a parent can do.

+1. I could have written this. In fact, I had to check the date to make sure I didn't (with a few changes for anonymity). The school has its problems for sure. But check out a sporting event that includes BASIS and you will see the current high school community is pretty incredible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is so weird. I have a 10th grader at Basis. I am not and have never been under any delusions that Basis will be the key for Ivies. My kid is not legacy, not URM, and will not be a recruited athlete. Due to geographic diversity preferences at ivies, it will be tough for any non legacy /URM/recruited athlete from DC to get in.

If my kid ends up being a NMSF, it will be due to my kid's abilities and any test prep we do. Basis wouldn't be a factor, nor would any other school.

My kid only has around 1 hour of homework per day, so there's still plenty of time to pursue ECs. My kid is into a fringe sport that was never going to be offered at a regular high school. If my kid were too bogged down with schoolwork to do any ECs, or they wanted to participate in an activity that would have much better opportunities elsewhere, then I would move my kid to a regular school.

Comparing Basis to magnet schools in different counties or to expensive private schools is absurd. If the Basis kids lived somewhere else or were wealthy, they'd probably attend a different school. How is that even a question or issue?

+1. My kid goes to BASIS because my kid likes the school. Sending him to a school where he's miserable just to try to get into an Ivy is stupid. I live in DC so I'm not sending him to a suburban public school, but I can afford to send him to private, and we toured private schools before he went on to BASIS for HS, because I wanted the choice to be his. He said he wanted to be at BASIS. I know he's going to do his best at the place he feels happiest, so BASIS is the place we sent him. That's the most a parent can do.

+1. I could have written this. In fact, I had to check the date to make sure I didn't (with a few changes for anonymity). The school has its problems for sure. But check out a sporting event that includes BASIS and you will see the current high school community is pretty incredible.

Same. My kid really likes BASIS. Is it for everyone? Probably not, but who cares. 5th grade was great, and the focus on executive functioning + academics was a great transition from elementary to middle school for THIS KID. 6th grade is going really well. I'm not sure it would be the right fit for my second kid, but they are in 3rd grade, so I don't have to think too hard about it yet. But honestly, this debate into it being the perfect gateway to the Ivy League seems really silly. It's just a school, and we like it because it works for my kid.