BASIS high school versus middle school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A BASIS parent just pointed that out above. The analysis that the program can be a dreary grind for kids who don't move on to elite colleges is fair.

That wasn’t a Basis parent. Don’t believe everything you read on DCUM.

This actual BASIS parent believes the dreary grind part.

+1. DC is in middle school and we’re really hoping high school will be at least a little better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You all have too much money to see what’s actually going on.

Temple, Penn, and MSU all offer significant merit discounts, and AP credits act as another form of discount.

And yes, top schools promise to “meet demonstrated need.” But there’s a lot of families in DC with little to no “demonstrated need” who nevertheless can’t stomach the idea of paying an extra $200k for WUSL or Tufts over Penn State.

It's becoming rare for competitive colleges to offer AP credits as discounts in this century. Many competitive colleges have stopped offering AP credit discounts in recent years, to help make ends meet. An incoming student with a high AP score can place into a higher-level class, that's it.

Yes, that’s why I suggested it as one reason a cost-conscious student might choose a lower-ranked school where the APs count for something over a higher-ranked college where they don’t.

Not a great strategy. Better off shooting for bargain top universities in Canada or the UK.

In fact, the list of admissions each year does tend to include at least one school from the UK. Possibly Canada too, but I can’t remember. I always notice because I think it’s smart and would love to give DC a push toward UK schools and am happy that the college counselor seems to have some understanding of how the process works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A BASIS parent just pointed that out above. The analysis that the program can be a dreary grind for kids who don't move on to elite colleges is fair.

That wasn’t a Basis parent. Don’t believe everything you read on DCUM.

This actual BASIS parent believes the dreary grind part.

Then leave.

Bye.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why were the Basis College matriculations so mediocre last year?
I just watched the commencement video.
Most "honors" grads going to places like Temple, Penn State, Michigan State.
Valedictorian to Duke
Salutatorian to NW
Only Ivy admits were Brown (URM), Yale (URM), Yale (kid who had done years of Latin quiz bowl competitions at Yale).
Less than 5% of the class to top 20 schools.

I know that college isn't everything but why take years of AP classes if you're going to end up at Penn State?
You could make it there on much, much less.

BASIS DC has 100% acceptance into 4 year colleges and universities, with an average merit scholarship of $150,000 per student. You clearly grew up in privilege where mommy or daddy paid for college. My guess is that you are now surrounded by similarly situated friends. Were you to venture outside your bubble you'd meet people who are still paying for college and grad school into their 30s and 40s. Ask those people if they could go back in time and borrow less money what they'd do.

P.S. Please don't come back with some revisionist history garbage about how you grew up on a dirt patch in poor rural America. No one who had to pay for their own college education would have viewed matriculations through such a lens.

I'm not the person you're responding to, but I'm here to recommend that you dial back your holier than thou rant. Plenty of us went to college on boatloads of fi aid. I attended an Ivy on a Pell Grant, graduating in the early 90s, when the debt burden for Ivy grads from low-income backgrounds was much higher than it is now.

Something went a bit wrong at BASIS DC in admissions to the very most competitive colleges this past spring. Plenty of chatter in the school community about it.

Who knows if the dip was a blip, or will develop into a pattern. I'm guessing the later. The issues should be discussed, analyzed and addressed, vs. whitewashed with the sort of knee-jerk cheerleading you bring to the conversation.

Not really.

College admissions for the BASIS class of 2022 was one of the strongest ever. For example, the BASIS network has some of the most highly nationally ranked high schools in the country and BASIS DC was the only one where kids were accepted to every single Ivy League college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two kids went to Yale last year from Whitman.

Two kids went to Yale last year from BASIS DC, even though the BASIS senior class size was about 10% that of Whitman and BASIS DC is only about 10 years old (Whitman dates back to 1962).

Seems impressive to me.

Same here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two kids went to Yale last year from Whitman.

Two kids went to Yale last year from BASIS DC, even though the BASIS senior class size was about 10% that of Whitman and BASIS DC is only about 10 years old (Whitman dates back to 1962).

Seems impressive to me.

Disappointed to have read this comment before the one aboce it describing the two BASIS Yale admits' extra hooks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why were the Basis College matriculations so mediocre last year?
I just watched the commencement video.
Most "honors" grads going to places like Temple, Penn State, Michigan State.
Valedictorian to Duke
Salutatorian to NW
Only Ivy admits were Brown (URM), Yale (URM), Yale (kid who had done years of Latin quiz bowl competitions at Yale).
Less than 5% of the class to top 20 schools.

I know that college isn't everything but why take years of AP classes if you're going to end up at Penn State?
You could make it there on much, much less.

BASIS DC has 100% acceptance into 4 year colleges and universities, with an average merit scholarship of $150,000 per student. You clearly grew up in privilege where mommy or daddy paid for college. My guess is that you are now surrounded by similarly situated friends. Were you to venture outside your bubble you'd meet people who are still paying for college and grad school into their 30s and 40s. Ask those people if they could go back in time and borrow less money what they'd do.

P.S. Please don't come back with some revisionist history garbage about how you grew up on a dirt patch in poor rural America. No one who had to pay for their own college education would have viewed matriculations through such a lens.

I'm not the person you're responding to, but I'm here to recommend that you dial back your holier than thou rant. Plenty of us went to college on boatloads of fi aid. I attended an Ivy on a Pell Grant, graduating in the early 90s, when the debt burden for Ivy grads from low-income backgrounds was much higher than it is now.

Something went a bit wrong at BASIS DC in admissions to the very most competitive colleges this past spring. Plenty of chatter in the school community about it.

Who knows if the dip was a blip, or will develop into a pattern. I'm guessing the later. The issues should be discussed, analyzed and addressed, vs. whitewashed with the sort of knee-jerk cheerleading you bring to the conversation.

Not really.

College admissions for the BASIS class of 2022 was one of the strongest ever. For example, the BASIS network has some of the most highly nationally ranked high schools in the country and BASIS DC was the only one where kids were accepted to every single Ivy League college.

But those IVY acceptances were all between 2 kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why were the Basis College matriculations so mediocre last year?
I just watched the commencement video.
Most "honors" grads going to places like Temple, Penn State, Michigan State.
Valedictorian to Duke
Salutatorian to NW
Only Ivy admits were Brown (URM), Yale (URM), Yale (kid who had done years of Latin quiz bowl competitions at Yale).
Less than 5% of the class to top 20 schools.

I know that college isn't everything but why take years of AP classes if you're going to end up at Penn State?
You could make it there on much, much less.

BASIS DC has 100% acceptance into 4 year colleges and universities, with an average merit scholarship of $150,000 per student. You clearly grew up in privilege where mommy or daddy paid for college. My guess is that you are now surrounded by similarly situated friends. Were you to venture outside your bubble you'd meet people who are still paying for college and grad school into their 30s and 40s. Ask those people if they could go back in time and borrow less money what they'd do.

P.S. Please don't come back with some revisionist history garbage about how you grew up on a dirt patch in poor rural America. No one who had to pay for their own college education would have viewed matriculations through such a lens.

I'm not the person you're responding to, but I'm here to recommend that you dial back your holier than thou rant. Plenty of us went to college on boatloads of fi aid. I attended an Ivy on a Pell Grant, graduating in the early 90s, when the debt burden for Ivy grads from low-income backgrounds was much higher than it is now.

Something went a bit wrong at BASIS DC in admissions to the very most competitive colleges this past spring. Plenty of chatter in the school community about it.

Who knows if the dip was a blip, or will develop into a pattern. I'm guessing the later. The issues should be discussed, analyzed and addressed, vs. whitewashed with the sort of knee-jerk cheerleading you bring to the conversation.

Not really.

College admissions for the BASIS class of 2022 was one of the strongest ever. For example, the BASIS network has some of the most highly nationally ranked high schools in the country and BASIS DC was the only one where kids were accepted to every single Ivy League college.

The lack of MIT admissions was a loss, a bunch of kids applied. Where are you getting the every single Ivy League school data? Grapevine?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why were the Basis College matriculations so mediocre last year?
I just watched the commencement video.
Most "honors" grads going to places like Temple, Penn State, Michigan State.
Valedictorian to Duke
Salutatorian to NW
Only Ivy admits were Brown (URM), Yale (URM), Yale (kid who had done years of Latin quiz bowl competitions at Yale).
Less than 5% of the class to top 20 schools.

I know that college isn't everything but why take years of AP classes if you're going to end up at Penn State?
You could make it there on much, much less.

BASIS DC has 100% acceptance into 4 year colleges and universities, with an average merit scholarship of $150,000 per student. You clearly grew up in privilege where mommy or daddy paid for college. My guess is that you are now surrounded by similarly situated friends. Were you to venture outside your bubble you'd meet people who are still paying for college and grad school into their 30s and 40s. Ask those people if they could go back in time and borrow less money what they'd do.

P.S. Please don't come back with some revisionist history garbage about how you grew up on a dirt patch in poor rural America. No one who had to pay for their own college education would have viewed matriculations through such a lens.

I'm not the person you're responding to, but I'm here to recommend that you dial back your holier than thou rant. Plenty of us went to college on boatloads of fi aid. I attended an Ivy on a Pell Grant, graduating in the early 90s, when the debt burden for Ivy grads from low-income backgrounds was much higher than it is now.

Something went a bit wrong at BASIS DC in admissions to the very most competitive colleges this past spring. Plenty of chatter in the school community about it.

Who knows if the dip was a blip, or will develop into a pattern. I'm guessing the later. The issues should be discussed, analyzed and addressed, vs. whitewashed with the sort of knee-jerk cheerleading you bring to the conversation.

Not really.

College admissions for the BASIS class of 2022 was one of the strongest ever. For example, the BASIS network has some of the most highly nationally ranked high schools in the country and BASIS DC was the only one where kids were accepted to every single Ivy League college.

But those IVY acceptances were all between 2 kids.

Wrong

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wasn't alone. I was part of two different groups of parents asking admins for a little funding for extra curriculars parents were financing to the tune of hundreds, even thousands of dollars. The kids involved were representing BASIS at competitions out of state. We weren't given the time of day. Current school is a private.

FWIW this was true at my NYC public magnet as well. (One that one poster frequently mentions as a school BASIS can’t hope to live up to!) Fabulous academic extracurricular options which the school did not contribute to the cost of other than providing a room & allowing them to count towards a teacher’s clubs/extracurricular supervision quota. We fundraised some and applied for grants some and got some fee waivers for individual FARMS-eligible students, but primarily, our parents paid a ton. With limited public school budgets, I don’t think that is that unusual.

Hunter College?

Yup.

[Anonymous]

Can we maybe stick to the original question and not post so much identifying information about specific students and their college acceptances?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why were the Basis College matriculations so mediocre last year?
I just watched the commencement video.
Most "honors" grads going to places like Temple, Penn State, Michigan State.
Valedictorian to Duke
Salutatorian to NW
Only Ivy admits were Brown (URM), Yale (URM), Yale (kid who had done years of Latin quiz bowl competitions at Yale).
Less than 5% of the class to top 20 schools.

I know that college isn't everything but why take years of AP classes if you're going to end up at Penn State?
You could make it there on much, much less.

BASIS DC has 100% acceptance into 4 year colleges and universities, with an average merit scholarship of $150,000 per student. You clearly grew up in privilege where mommy or daddy paid for college. My guess is that you are now surrounded by similarly situated friends. Were you to venture outside your bubble you'd meet people who are still paying for college and grad school into their 30s and 40s. Ask those people if they could go back in time and borrow less money what they'd do.

P.S. Please don't come back with some revisionist history garbage about how you grew up on a dirt patch in poor rural America. No one who had to pay for their own college education would have viewed matriculations through such a lens.

I'm not the person you're responding to, but I'm here to recommend that you dial back your holier than thou rant. Plenty of us went to college on boatloads of fi aid. I attended an Ivy on a Pell Grant, graduating in the early 90s, when the debt burden for Ivy grads from low-income backgrounds was much higher than it is now.

Something went a bit wrong at BASIS DC in admissions to the very most competitive colleges this past spring. Plenty of chatter in the school community about it.

Who knows if the dip was a blip, or will develop into a pattern. I'm guessing the later. The issues should be discussed, analyzed and addressed, vs. whitewashed with the sort of knee-jerk cheerleading you bring to the conversation.

You missed the point. Which, in light of your Ivy privilege, does not surprise. Someone asked about matriculations. Someone like you who doesn't understand finances completely ignored that financial considerations are a major hurdle and part of the decision matrix. To which you replied that...kids should just get Pell grants to go to college. Apparently your ivy degree didn't include "math". Average Pell Grant amount last year was a bit over $4000. Do you want me to do the math for you? Maybe you and another one of your Ivy buddies can get together and work it out amongst yourselves.

The fact that you think it a "knee jerk reaction" that kids might choose college based on scholarships and future financial burden instead of cache is a clear illustration of the point I was making about lack of understanding of how or why kids choose schools.

But my guess is that your apparent overconfidence in your pedigree makes you impervious to self -reflection.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why were the Basis College matriculations so mediocre last year?
I just watched the commencement video.
Most "honors" grads going to places like Temple, Penn State, Michigan State.
Valedictorian to Duke
Salutatorian to NW
Only Ivy admits were Brown (URM), Yale (URM), Yale (kid who had done years of Latin quiz bowl competitions at Yale).
Less than 5% of the class to top 20 schools.

I know that college isn't everything but why take years of AP classes if you're going to end up at Penn State?
You could make it there on much, much less.

Where is this video? I don't see it on Parentsquare

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why were the Basis College matriculations so mediocre last year?
I just watched the commencement video.
Most "honors" grads going to places like Temple, Penn State, Michigan State.
Valedictorian to Duke
Salutatorian to NW
Only Ivy admits were Brown (URM), Yale (URM), Yale (kid who had done years of Latin quiz bowl competitions at Yale).
Less than 5% of the class to top 20 schools.

I know that college isn't everything but why take years of AP classes if you're going to end up at Penn State?
You could make it there on much, much less.

BASIS DC has 100% acceptance into 4 year colleges and universities, with an average merit scholarship of $150,000 per student. You clearly grew up in privilege where mommy or daddy paid for college. My guess is that you are now surrounded by similarly situated friends. Were you to venture outside your bubble you'd meet people who are still paying for college and grad school into their 30s and 40s. Ask those people if they could go back in time and borrow less money what they'd do.

P.S. Please don't come back with some revisionist history garbage about how you grew up on a dirt patch in poor rural America. No one who had to pay for their own college education would have viewed matriculations through such a lens.

I'm not the person you're responding to, but I'm here to recommend that you dial back your holier than thou rant. Plenty of us went to college on boatloads of fi aid. I attended an Ivy on a Pell Grant, graduating in the early 90s, when the debt burden for Ivy grads from low-income backgrounds was much higher than it is now.

Something went a bit wrong at BASIS DC in admissions to the very most competitive colleges this past spring. Plenty of chatter in the school community about it.

Who knows if the dip was a blip, or will develop into a pattern. I'm guessing the later. The issues should be discussed, analyzed and addressed, vs. whitewashed with the sort of knee-jerk cheerleading you bring to the conversation.

Since you're privy to what went wrong, why not share that information with the rest of us? Or are you just going to criticize without any facts to support your statements?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why were the Basis College matriculations so mediocre last year?
I just watched the commencement video.
Most "honors" grads going to places like Temple, Penn State, Michigan State.
Valedictorian to Duke
Salutatorian to NW
Only Ivy admits were Brown (URM), Yale (URM), Yale (kid who had done years of Latin quiz bowl competitions at Yale).
Less than 5% of the class to top 20 schools.

I know that college isn't everything but why take years of AP classes if you're going to end up at Penn State?
You could make it there on much, much less.

BASIS DC has 100% acceptance into 4 year colleges and universities, with an average merit scholarship of $150,000 per student. You clearly grew up in privilege where mommy or daddy paid for college. My guess is that you are now surrounded by similarly situated friends. Were you to venture outside your bubble you'd meet people who are still paying for college and grad school into their 30s and 40s. Ask those people if they could go back in time and borrow less money what they'd do.

P.S. Please don't come back with some revisionist history garbage about how you grew up on a dirt patch in poor rural America. No one who had to pay for their own college education would have viewed matriculations through such a lens.

I'm not the person you're responding to, but I'm here to recommend that you dial back your holier than thou rant. Plenty of us went to college on boatloads of fi aid. I attended an Ivy on a Pell Grant, graduating in the early 90s, when the debt burden for Ivy grads from low-income backgrounds was much higher than it is now.

Something went a bit wrong at BASIS DC in admissions to the very most competitive colleges this past spring. Plenty of chatter in the school community about it.

Who knows if the dip was a blip, or will develop into a pattern. I'm guessing the later. The issues should be discussed, analyzed and addressed, vs. whitewashed with the sort of knee-jerk cheerleading you bring to the conversation.

Since you're privy to what went wrong, why not share that information with the rest of us? Or are you just going to criticize without any facts to support your statements?

My kid dropped out of BASIS so I'm just going to make up facts to hurt the school.