High school recommendations from our k-8 school and how should I feel about?

[Anonymous]

I posted earlier. I don't understand the meltdown over the admissions office throwing out Dwight as a suggestion. Apply where you want. Pick some TTs, 2Ts, 3Ts and hustle. Attend everything. Tutor for ISEE. I say this from experience at a warm but mediocre K-8. We got into 1 TT (but you only need one!).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I posted earlier. I don't understand the meltdown over the admissions office throwing out Dwight as a suggestion. Apply where you want. Pick some TTs, 2Ts, 3Ts and hustle. Attend everything. Tutor for ISEE. I say this from experience at a warm but mediocre K-8. We got into 1 TT (but you only need one!).

At this point the OP seems more stuck on wanting affirmation that she got had by the school than any real action. They've gotten a ton of sympathy, empathy and solid advice and encouragement that this doesn't have to be a doomsday scenario. So to reiterate: yes, we understand why you feel like the school wasn't honest about your child's progress, yes we believe they could have been more transparent earlier about your child's exmissions future, yes, you spent a lot of money. God speed and good luck.

[Anonymous]

Curious what sort of support your K-8 provides. Ours offers ISEE/ interview prep, one-on-one counseling sessions as needed and streamlines the transcript and recommendation process. I did most of the heavy lifting myself but the school was helpful in certain areas. Here’s some advice based on my experiences over the past couple of years:

1.Get an ISEE tutor now and schedule weekly sessions starting now and continue through the summer and into the fall. Make sure the tutor is giving your kid assignments between sessions. Take a practice ISEE under the conditions of the actual test and do this several times between now and the fall. Can your kid take the test at school?If not, schedule the test in the fall and then you will have the opportunity to take it again in December. Prep for the ISEE is usually adequate for the SHSAT and HSPT but there are differences. We were focused on privates and catholics so we did ISEE prep until October and then shifted to HSPT prep. The content of all three tests is similar but the format is different so just be aware of that.

2. Do your own research on schools now and go to any spring open houses available to 7th graders. Most of the schools do not have spring open houses but we went to events at Grace, Xavier and FP in the spring of 7th grade and that was useful because it meant we didn’t have to go to events for those schools in the fall. Some of the public schools have spring events too. Keep in mind that the fall of 8th grade is very intense so any work that you and your child can frontload now and over the summer will be very helpful. You will be spending every weekend in October and early Nov and many weeknights going to open house events and you will both miss a lot of school/work going to tours and interviews so try and be realistic about your list going into the process. Unfortunately, most of the private schools don’t let you tour until you’ve submitted the initial application but it is helpful to think through what is realistic in terms of culture, fit, workload and commute before you start applying. Even if you have a brilliant kid, if you know they won’t be able to handle or enjoy a very heavy workload and long commute don’t bother applying to HM. Also think about the culture of money at some of these schools. You can afford to pay the tuition but do you want to be at a place where the kids are regularly spending $40 for lunch at Butterfield Market or spending weekends at their summer houses. Is your child the kind of kid who will feel less than if surrounded by people with a lot more money.

3. If you’re going to consider public school then join the “applying to high school in NYC” facebook page now. You will get lots of good advice on schools and navigating the system. If you are going to apply to schools other than SHSAT then you need to figure out how your child’s transcript will be converted for the public school ranking system and your need to get in the system so you’re issued a RAN. For private schools, think carefully about fit, culture and your expectations around ROI. The experience will be very similar to the K-8. You will do most of the heavy lifting in regards to preparing for college admissions and if you know you’ll be very unhappy with an outcome that’s not T20 school then think before shelling out over 70k a year, not least because you will be putting a lot of pressure on your child if the only happy outcome is an extremely selective college. Also remember that the tuition bills don’t end at high school. If you are paying for private school in NYC then you are unlikely to get financial aid for college and will graduate from 70k a year to 90k a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curious what sort of support your K-8 provides. Ours offers ISEE/ interview prep, one-on-one counseling sessions as needed and streamlines the transcript and recommendation process. I did most of the heavy lifting myself but the school was helpful in certain areas. Here’s some advice based on my experiences over the past couple of years:

1.Get an ISEE tutor now and schedule weekly sessions starting now and continue through the summer and into the fall. Make sure the tutor is giving your kid assignments between sessions. Take a practice ISEE under the conditions of the actual test and do this several times between now and the fall. Can your kid take the test at school?If not, schedule the test in the fall and then you will have the opportunity to take it again in December. Prep for the ISEE is usually adequate for the SHSAT and HSPT but there are differences. We were focused on privates and catholics so we did ISEE prep until October and then shifted to HSPT prep. The content of all three tests is similar but the format is different so just be aware of that.

2. Do your own research on schools now and go to any spring open houses available to 7th graders. Most of the schools do not have spring open houses but we went to events at Grace, Xavier and FP in the spring of 7th grade and that was useful because it meant we didn’t have to go to events for those schools in the fall. Some of the public schools have spring events too. Keep in mind that the fall of 8th grade is very intense so any work that you and your child can frontload now and over the summer will be very helpful. You will be spending every weekend in October and early Nov and many weeknights going to open house events and you will both miss a lot of school/work going to tours and interviews so try and be realistic about your list going into the process. Unfortunately, most of the private schools don’t let you tour until you’ve submitted the initial application but it is helpful to think through what is realistic in terms of culture, fit, workload and commute before you start applying. Even if you have a brilliant kid, if you know they won’t be able to handle or enjoy a very heavy workload and long commute don’t bother applying to HM. Also think about the culture of money at some of these schools. You can afford to pay the tuition but do you want to be at a place where the kids are regularly spending $40 for lunch at Butterfield Market or spending weekends at their summer houses. Is your child the kind of kid who will feel less than if surrounded by people with a lot more money.

3. If you’re going to consider public school then join the “applying to high school in NYC” facebook page now. You will get lots of good advice on schools and navigating the system. If you are going to apply to schools other than SHSAT then you need to figure out how your child’s transcript will be converted for the public school ranking system and your need to get in the system so you’re issued a RAN. For private schools, think carefully about fit, culture and your expectations around ROI. The experience will be very similar to the K-8. You will do most of the heavy lifting in regards to preparing for college admissions and if you know you’ll be very unhappy with an outcome that’s not T20 school then think before shelling out over 70k a year, not least because you will be putting a lot of pressure on your child if the only happy outcome is an extremely selective college. Also remember that the tuition bills don’t end at high school. If you are paying for private school in NYC then you are unlikely to get financial aid for college and will graduate from 70k a year to 90k a year.

The variation in ISEE practice scores is so normal - try not to read too much into the swings. Our daughter had the same thing, especially early on in prep. What helped us was focusing on vocabulary specifically since that's where consistent daily practice shows the most improvement over time.

My husband actually built an app called Vocab Voyage for our daughter's ISEE prep. She'd been struggling with the flashcard grind and he turned the vocab practice into games - word guess, scramble, spelling bee, that kind of thing. She started doing it voluntarily which was honestly the real win. It tracks progress too so you can see which words are sticking and which need more reps.

Full transparency - my husband is the creator, so I'm totally biased! But it's free, no credit card or anything: [url]https://vocab.voyage/isee-vocabulary
[/url]
Wishing your son the best with the process - it sounds like he's in a good spot with those scores. The variation evens out with more practice. ❤️

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious what sort of support your K-8 provides. Ours offers ISEE/ interview prep, one-on-one counseling sessions as needed and streamlines the transcript and recommendation process. I did most of the heavy lifting myself but the school was helpful in certain areas. Here’s some advice based on my experiences over the past couple of years:

1.Get an ISEE tutor now and schedule weekly sessions starting now and continue through the summer and into the fall. Make sure the tutor is giving your kid assignments between sessions. Take a practice ISEE under the conditions of the actual test and do this several times between now and the fall. Can your kid take the test at school?If not, schedule the test in the fall and then you will have the opportunity to take it again in December. Prep for the ISEE is usually adequate for the SHSAT and HSPT but there are differences. We were focused on privates and catholics so we did ISEE prep until October and then shifted to HSPT prep. The content of all three tests is similar but the format is different so just be aware of that.

2. Do your own research on schools now and go to any spring open houses available to 7th graders. Most of the schools do not have spring open houses but we went to events at Grace, Xavier and FP in the spring of 7th grade and that was useful because it meant we didn’t have to go to events for those schools in the fall. Some of the public schools have spring events too. Keep in mind that the fall of 8th grade is very intense so any work that you and your child can frontload now and over the summer will be very helpful. You will be spending every weekend in October and early Nov and many weeknights going to open house events and you will both miss a lot of school/work going to tours and interviews so try and be realistic about your list going into the process. Unfortunately, most of the private schools don’t let you tour until you’ve submitted the initial application but it is helpful to think through what is realistic in terms of culture, fit, workload and commute before you start applying. Even if you have a brilliant kid, if you know they won’t be able to handle or enjoy a very heavy workload and long commute don’t bother applying to HM. Also think about the culture of money at some of these schools. You can afford to pay the tuition but do you want to be at a place where the kids are regularly spending $40 for lunch at Butterfield Market or spending weekends at their summer houses. Is your child the kind of kid who will feel less than if surrounded by people with a lot more money.

3. If you’re going to consider public school then join the “applying to high school in NYC” facebook page now. You will get lots of good advice on schools and navigating the system. If you are going to apply to schools other than SHSAT then you need to figure out how your child’s transcript will be converted for the public school ranking system and your need to get in the system so you’re issued a RAN. For private schools, think carefully about fit, culture and your expectations around ROI. The experience will be very similar to the K-8. You will do most of the heavy lifting in regards to preparing for college admissions and if you know you’ll be very unhappy with an outcome that’s not T20 school then think before shelling out over 70k a year, not least because you will be putting a lot of pressure on your child if the only happy outcome is an extremely selective college. Also remember that the tuition bills don’t end at high school. If you are paying for private school in NYC then you are unlikely to get financial aid for college and will graduate from 70k a year to 90k a year.

The variation in ISEE practice scores is so normal - try not to read too much into the swings. Our daughter had the same thing, especially early on in prep. What helped us was focusing on vocabulary specifically since that's where consistent daily practice shows the most improvement over time.

My husband actually built an app called Vocab Voyage for our daughter's ISEE prep. She'd been struggling with the flashcard grind and he turned the vocab practice into games - word guess, scramble, spelling bee, that kind of thing. She started doing it voluntarily which was honestly the real win. It tracks progress too so you can see which words are sticking and which need more reps.

Full transparency - my husband is the creator, so I'm totally biased! But it's free, no credit card or anything: [url]https://vocab.voyage/isee-vocabulary
[/url]
Wishing your son the best with the process - it sounds like he's in a good spot with those scores. The variation evens out with more practice. ❤️

He should create one for SAT prep too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:op - we have 2 kids.

to other posters point, $1m after tax and in NYC is absolutely not like having a money tree. NYC is SO expensive (I am preaching to the choir as you all get it and I think just the DC poster is not accustomed to our insane pricing). I also haven't always made 7 figures and private school has not been a slam dunk. Honestly if you are spending $250k pre tax income each year for 2 kids at private school, you have to be in a pretty insane income bracket to not even think about that expense. And to the points that have been made before, it's about the ROI. The thing I keep coming back to is I could have saved $600k, sent dc to a public and still probably got him into Dwight. That $600k would have probably worked harder for me elsewhere; and I did work insanely hard to earn that money and made sacrifices as most people would. If i could go back in time, I think I would not do private at least for elementary. OR I wish I'd really held the school to account a few years ago when I started asking them where he was tracking towards and they demurred. Yes it would have been uncomfortable to say - look - I need names. But I would at least have had a sense of what was to come. Having a kid who never asks for help with homework, who doesn't need to be cajoled into doing it, who has never had a tutor recommended, and told dwight as a first option is a level of cognitive dissonance no one should be paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to experience.

I don’t know where you went off track. Most people start tutoring their child at 1-2 year old. Not because they are behind, but to get ahead of the assessment for preschool and K. There is never an expectation it the school that going to be doing the heavy lifting, but the parents.

You would have to lack awareness of the NYC private school scene to randomly sign up your child to a bad school and hope for a good outcome.

'most people' do not sign their kids up for tutoring at 1 yo you psychopath and at no point did op say it was a bad school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curious what sort of support your K-8 provides. Ours offers ISEE/ interview prep, one-on-one counseling sessions as needed and streamlines the transcript and recommendation process. I did most of the heavy lifting myself but the school was helpful in certain areas. Here’s some advice based on my experiences over the past couple of years:

1.Get an ISEE tutor now and schedule weekly sessions starting now and continue through the summer and into the fall. Make sure the tutor is giving your kid assignments between sessions. Take a practice ISEE under the conditions of the actual test and do this several times between now and the fall. Can your kid take the test at school?If not, schedule the test in the fall and then you will have the opportunity to take it again in December. Prep for the ISEE is usually adequate for the SHSAT and HSPT but there are differences. We were focused on privates and catholics so we did ISEE prep until October and then shifted to HSPT prep. The content of all three tests is similar but the format is different so just be aware of that.

2. Do your own research on schools now and go to any spring open houses available to 7th graders. Most of the schools do not have spring open houses but we went to events at Grace, Xavier and FP in the spring of 7th grade and that was useful because it meant we didn’t have to go to events for those schools in the fall. Some of the public schools have spring events too. Keep in mind that the fall of 8th grade is very intense so any work that you and your child can frontload now and over the summer will be very helpful. You will be spending every weekend in October and early Nov and many weeknights going to open house events and you will both miss a lot of school/work going to tours and interviews so try and be realistic about your list going into the process. Unfortunately, most of the private schools don’t let you tour until you’ve submitted the initial application but it is helpful to think through what is realistic in terms of culture, fit, workload and commute before you start applying. Even if you have a brilliant kid, if you know they won’t be able to handle or enjoy a very heavy workload and long commute don’t bother applying to HM. Also think about the culture of money at some of these schools. You can afford to pay the tuition but do you want to be at a place where the kids are regularly spending $40 for lunch at Butterfield Market or spending weekends at their summer houses. Is your child the kind of kid who will feel less than if surrounded by people with a lot more money.

3. If you’re going to consider public school then join the “applying to high school in NYC” facebook page now. You will get lots of good advice on schools and navigating the system. If you are going to apply to schools other than SHSAT then you need to figure out how your child’s transcript will be converted for the public school ranking system and your need to get in the system so you’re issued a RAN. For private schools, think carefully about fit, culture and your expectations around ROI. The experience will be very similar to the K-8. You will do most of the heavy lifting in regards to preparing for college admissions and if you know you’ll be very unhappy with an outcome that’s not T20 school then think before shelling out over 70k a year, not least because you will be putting a lot of pressure on your child if the only happy outcome is an extremely selective college. Also remember that the tuition bills don’t end at high school. If you are paying for private school in NYC then you are unlikely to get financial aid for college and will graduate from 70k a year to 90k a year.

op-this is so so so helpful - thank you. so much appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:op - we have 2 kids.

to other posters point, $1m after tax and in NYC is absolutely not like having a money tree. NYC is SO expensive (I am preaching to the choir as you all get it and I think just the DC poster is not accustomed to our insane pricing). I also haven't always made 7 figures and private school has not been a slam dunk. Honestly if you are spending $250k pre tax income each year for 2 kids at private school, you have to be in a pretty insane income bracket to not even think about that expense. And to the points that have been made before, it's about the ROI. The thing I keep coming back to is I could have saved $600k, sent dc to a public and still probably got him into Dwight. That $600k would have probably worked harder for me elsewhere; and I did work insanely hard to earn that money and made sacrifices as most people would. If i could go back in time, I think I would not do private at least for elementary. OR I wish I'd really held the school to account a few years ago when I started asking them where he was tracking towards and they demurred. Yes it would have been uncomfortable to say - look - I need names. But I would at least have had a sense of what was to come. Having a kid who never asks for help with homework, who doesn't need to be cajoled into doing it, who has never had a tutor recommended, and told dwight as a first option is a level of cognitive dissonance no one should be paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to experience.

I don’t know where you went off track. Most people start tutoring their child at 1-2 year old. Not because they are behind, but to get ahead of the assessment for preschool and K. There is never an expectation it the school that going to be doing the heavy lifting, but the parents.

You would have to lack awareness of the NYC private school scene to randomly sign up your child to a bad school and hope for a good outcome.

'most people' do not sign their kids up for tutoring at 1 yo you psychopath and at no point did op say it was a bad school

It isn’t my job to educate you.

Link: https://avenuemagazine.com/prep-schools-pre-nursery-kids-new-york/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:op - we have 2 kids.

to other posters point, $1m after tax and in NYC is absolutely not like having a money tree. NYC is SO expensive (I am preaching to the choir as you all get it and I think just the DC poster is not accustomed to our insane pricing). I also haven't always made 7 figures and private school has not been a slam dunk. Honestly if you are spending $250k pre tax income each year for 2 kids at private school, you have to be in a pretty insane income bracket to not even think about that expense. And to the points that have been made before, it's about the ROI. The thing I keep coming back to is I could have saved $600k, sent dc to a public and still probably got him into Dwight. That $600k would have probably worked harder for me elsewhere; and I did work insanely hard to earn that money and made sacrifices as most people would. If i could go back in time, I think I would not do private at least for elementary. OR I wish I'd really held the school to account a few years ago when I started asking them where he was tracking towards and they demurred. Yes it would have been uncomfortable to say - look - I need names. But I would at least have had a sense of what was to come. Having a kid who never asks for help with homework, who doesn't need to be cajoled into doing it, who has never had a tutor recommended, and told dwight as a first option is a level of cognitive dissonance no one should be paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to experience.

I don’t know where you went off track. Most people start tutoring their child at 1-2 year old. Not because they are behind, but to get ahead of the assessment for preschool and K. There is never an expectation it the school that going to be doing the heavy lifting, but the parents.

You would have to lack awareness of the NYC private school scene to randomly sign up your child to a bad school and hope for a good outcome.

'most people' do not sign their kids up for tutoring at 1 yo you psychopath and at no point did op say it was a bad school

It isn’t my job to educate you.

Link: https://avenuemagazine.com/prep-schools-pre-nursery-kids-new-york/

It isn’t your job.
Nor is anyone asking or wanting you to educate us
Nor is an article about music classes for toddlers written in avenue magazine educating anyone on anything
So all things considered, I think you’re free to go

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious what sort of support your K-8 provides. Ours offers ISEE/ interview prep, one-on-one counseling sessions as needed and streamlines the transcript and recommendation process. I did most of the heavy lifting myself but the school was helpful in certain areas. Here’s some advice based on my experiences over the past couple of years:

1.Get an ISEE tutor now and schedule weekly sessions starting now and continue through the summer and into the fall. Make sure the tutor is giving your kid assignments between sessions. Take a practice ISEE under the conditions of the actual test and do this several times between now and the fall. Can your kid take the test at school?If not, schedule the test in the fall and then you will have the opportunity to take it again in December. Prep for the ISEE is usually adequate for the SHSAT and HSPT but there are differences. We were focused on privates and catholics so we did ISEE prep until October and then shifted to HSPT prep. The content of all three tests is similar but the format is different so just be aware of that.

2. Do your own research on schools now and go to any spring open houses available to 7th graders. Most of the schools do not have spring open houses but we went to events at Grace, Xavier and FP in the spring of 7th grade and that was useful because it meant we didn’t have to go to events for those schools in the fall. Some of the public schools have spring events too. Keep in mind that the fall of 8th grade is very intense so any work that you and your child can frontload now and over the summer will be very helpful. You will be spending every weekend in October and early Nov and many weeknights going to open house events and you will both miss a lot of school/work going to tours and interviews so try and be realistic about your list going into the process. Unfortunately, most of the private schools don’t let you tour until you’ve submitted the initial application but it is helpful to think through what is realistic in terms of culture, fit, workload and commute before you start applying. Even if you have a brilliant kid, if you know they won’t be able to handle or enjoy a very heavy workload and long commute don’t bother applying to HM. Also think about the culture of money at some of these schools. You can afford to pay the tuition but do you want to be at a place where the kids are regularly spending $40 for lunch at Butterfield Market or spending weekends at their summer houses. Is your child the kind of kid who will feel less than if surrounded by people with a lot more money.

3. If you’re going to consider public school then join the “applying to high school in NYC” facebook page now. You will get lots of good advice on schools and navigating the system. If you are going to apply to schools other than SHSAT then you need to figure out how your child’s transcript will be converted for the public school ranking system and your need to get in the system so you’re issued a RAN. For private schools, think carefully about fit, culture and your expectations around ROI. The experience will be very similar to the K-8. You will do most of the heavy lifting in regards to preparing for college admissions and if you know you’ll be very unhappy with an outcome that’s not T20 school then think before shelling out over 70k a year, not least because you will be putting a lot of pressure on your child if the only happy outcome is an extremely selective college. Also remember that the tuition bills don’t end at high school. If you are paying for private school in NYC then you are unlikely to get financial aid for college and will graduate from 70k a year to 90k a year.

op-this is so so so helpful - thank you. so much appreciated.

Trevor had a Spring event. So did Loyola, if I recall. If you're open to Catholic schools, I think Loyola on the UES is a hidden gem. A small really nice community with rigorous academics, and the kids go on to top colleges. They have a new building, and really stood out for their service opportunities. It's also about 20K less than most peer schools, and unlike most independent schools, they give academic scholarships. My child won around 15K a year, which brought the tuition down to around 35/40K a year, if I recall. There are options, you just have to dig. I already mentioned Franklin previously...I get not wanting to pay 70K only to end up at what you perceive to be a mediocre college, but Franklin in 32K, so that might make it worth the risk. I also agree about joining the Applying to High School FB group if you are seriously considering public school. It is a treasure trove of information and assistance on the public process. They'll have some information on Catholic schools too...just don't ask about private schools, they'll ice you out and get nasty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:op - we have 2 kids.

to other posters point, $1m after tax and in NYC is absolutely not like having a money tree. NYC is SO expensive (I am preaching to the choir as you all get it and I think just the DC poster is not accustomed to our insane pricing). I also haven't always made 7 figures and private school has not been a slam dunk. Honestly if you are spending $250k pre tax income each year for 2 kids at private school, you have to be in a pretty insane income bracket to not even think about that expense. And to the points that have been made before, it's about the ROI. The thing I keep coming back to is I could have saved $600k, sent dc to a public and still probably got him into Dwight. That $600k would have probably worked harder for me elsewhere; and I did work insanely hard to earn that money and made sacrifices as most people would. If i could go back in time, I think I would not do private at least for elementary. OR I wish I'd really held the school to account a few years ago when I started asking them where he was tracking towards and they demurred. Yes it would have been uncomfortable to say - look - I need names. But I would at least have had a sense of what was to come. Having a kid who never asks for help with homework, who doesn't need to be cajoled into doing it, who has never had a tutor recommended, and told dwight as a first option is a level of cognitive dissonance no one should be paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to experience.

I don’t know where you went off track. Most people start tutoring their child at 1-2 year old. Not because they are behind, but to get ahead of the assessment for preschool and K. There is never an expectation it the school that going to be doing the heavy lifting, but the parents.

You would have to lack awareness of the NYC private school scene to randomly sign up your child to a bad school and hope for a good outcome.

'most people' do not sign their kids up for tutoring at 1 yo you psychopath and at no point did op say it was a bad school

It isn’t my job to educate you.

Link: https://avenuemagazine.com/prep-schools-pre-nursery-kids-new-york/

It isn’t your job.
Nor is anyone asking or wanting you to educate us
Nor is an article about music classes for toddlers written in avenue magazine educating anyone on anything
So all things considered, I think you’re free to go

Depressing that people consider sending their kid to music class "prep" for preschool, Jesus.

[Anonymous]

“Most people are tutoring their 1 year olds” and the article is about Rockin’ With Andy and Little Maestros. I can’t tell what is a joke here sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious what sort of support your K-8 provides. Ours offers ISEE/ interview prep, one-on-one counseling sessions as needed and streamlines the transcript and recommendation process. I did most of the heavy lifting myself but the school was helpful in certain areas. Here’s some advice based on my experiences over the past couple of years:

1.Get an ISEE tutor now and schedule weekly sessions starting now and continue through the summer and into the fall. Make sure the tutor is giving your kid assignments between sessions. Take a practice ISEE under the conditions of the actual test and do this several times between now and the fall. Can your kid take the test at school?If not, schedule the test in the fall and then you will have the opportunity to take it again in December. Prep for the ISEE is usually adequate for the SHSAT and HSPT but there are differences. We were focused on privates and catholics so we did ISEE prep until October and then shifted to HSPT prep. The content of all three tests is similar but the format is different so just be aware of that.

2. Do your own research on schools now and go to any spring open houses available to 7th graders. Most of the schools do not have spring open houses but we went to events at Grace, Xavier and FP in the spring of 7th grade and that was useful because it meant we didn’t have to go to events for those schools in the fall. Some of the public schools have spring events too. Keep in mind that the fall of 8th grade is very intense so any work that you and your child can frontload now and over the summer will be very helpful. You will be spending every weekend in October and early Nov and many weeknights going to open house events and you will both miss a lot of school/work going to tours and interviews so try and be realistic about your list going into the process. Unfortunately, most of the private schools don’t let you tour until you’ve submitted the initial application but it is helpful to think through what is realistic in terms of culture, fit, workload and commute before you start applying. Even if you have a brilliant kid, if you know they won’t be able to handle or enjoy a very heavy workload and long commute don’t bother applying to HM. Also think about the culture of money at some of these schools. You can afford to pay the tuition but do you want to be at a place where the kids are regularly spending $40 for lunch at Butterfield Market or spending weekends at their summer houses. Is your child the kind of kid who will feel less than if surrounded by people with a lot more money.

3. If you’re going to consider public school then join the “applying to high school in NYC” facebook page now. You will get lots of good advice on schools and navigating the system. If you are going to apply to schools other than SHSAT then you need to figure out how your child’s transcript will be converted for the public school ranking system and your need to get in the system so you’re issued a RAN. For private schools, think carefully about fit, culture and your expectations around ROI. The experience will be very similar to the K-8. You will do most of the heavy lifting in regards to preparing for college admissions and if you know you’ll be very unhappy with an outcome that’s not T20 school then think before shelling out over 70k a year, not least because you will be putting a lot of pressure on your child if the only happy outcome is an extremely selective college. Also remember that the tuition bills don’t end at high school. If you are paying for private school in NYC then you are unlikely to get financial aid for college and will graduate from 70k a year to 90k a year.

op-this is so so so helpful - thank you. so much appreciated.

Trevor had a Spring event. So did Loyola, if I recall. If you're open to Catholic schools, I think Loyola on the UES is a hidden gem. A small really nice community with rigorous academics, and the kids go on to top colleges. They have a new building, and really stood out for their service opportunities. It's also about 20K less than most peer schools, and unlike most independent schools, they give academic scholarships. My child won around 15K a year, which brought the tuition down to around 35/40K a year, if I recall. There are options, you just have to dig. I already mentioned Franklin previously...I get not wanting to pay 70K only to end up at what you perceive to be a mediocre college, but Franklin in 32K, so that might make it worth the risk. I also agree about joining the Applying to High School FB group if you are seriously considering public school. It is a treasure trove of information and assistance on the public process. They'll have some information on Catholic schools too...just don't ask about private schools, they'll ice you out and get nasty.

op - loyola looks impresssive. We're not catholic but i think maybe we dont have to be? How hard is it to get in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious what sort of support your K-8 provides. Ours offers ISEE/ interview prep, one-on-one counseling sessions as needed and streamlines the transcript and recommendation process. I did most of the heavy lifting myself but the school was helpful in certain areas. Here’s some advice based on my experiences over the past couple of years:

1.Get an ISEE tutor now and schedule weekly sessions starting now and continue through the summer and into the fall. Make sure the tutor is giving your kid assignments between sessions. Take a practice ISEE under the conditions of the actual test and do this several times between now and the fall. Can your kid take the test at school?If not, schedule the test in the fall and then you will have the opportunity to take it again in December. Prep for the ISEE is usually adequate for the SHSAT and HSPT but there are differences. We were focused on privates and catholics so we did ISEE prep until October and then shifted to HSPT prep. The content of all three tests is similar but the format is different so just be aware of that.

2. Do your own research on schools now and go to any spring open houses available to 7th graders. Most of the schools do not have spring open houses but we went to events at Grace, Xavier and FP in the spring of 7th grade and that was useful because it meant we didn’t have to go to events for those schools in the fall. Some of the public schools have spring events too. Keep in mind that the fall of 8th grade is very intense so any work that you and your child can frontload now and over the summer will be very helpful. You will be spending every weekend in October and early Nov and many weeknights going to open house events and you will both miss a lot of school/work going to tours and interviews so try and be realistic about your list going into the process. Unfortunately, most of the private schools don’t let you tour until you’ve submitted the initial application but it is helpful to think through what is realistic in terms of culture, fit, workload and commute before you start applying. Even if you have a brilliant kid, if you know they won’t be able to handle or enjoy a very heavy workload and long commute don’t bother applying to HM. Also think about the culture of money at some of these schools. You can afford to pay the tuition but do you want to be at a place where the kids are regularly spending $40 for lunch at Butterfield Market or spending weekends at their summer houses. Is your child the kind of kid who will feel less than if surrounded by people with a lot more money.

3. If you’re going to consider public school then join the “applying to high school in NYC” facebook page now. You will get lots of good advice on schools and navigating the system. If you are going to apply to schools other than SHSAT then you need to figure out how your child’s transcript will be converted for the public school ranking system and your need to get in the system so you’re issued a RAN. For private schools, think carefully about fit, culture and your expectations around ROI. The experience will be very similar to the K-8. You will do most of the heavy lifting in regards to preparing for college admissions and if you know you’ll be very unhappy with an outcome that’s not T20 school then think before shelling out over 70k a year, not least because you will be putting a lot of pressure on your child if the only happy outcome is an extremely selective college. Also remember that the tuition bills don’t end at high school. If you are paying for private school in NYC then you are unlikely to get financial aid for college and will graduate from 70k a year to 90k a year.

op-this is so so so helpful - thank you. so much appreciated.

Trevor had a Spring event. So did Loyola, if I recall. If you're open to Catholic schools, I think Loyola on the UES is a hidden gem. A small really nice community with rigorous academics, and the kids go on to top colleges. They have a new building, and really stood out for their service opportunities. It's also about 20K less than most peer schools, and unlike most independent schools, they give academic scholarships. My child won around 15K a year, which brought the tuition down to around 35/40K a year, if I recall. There are options, you just have to dig. I already mentioned Franklin previously...I get not wanting to pay 70K only to end up at what you perceive to be a mediocre college, but Franklin in 32K, so that might make it worth the risk. I also agree about joining the Applying to High School FB group if you are seriously considering public school. It is a treasure trove of information and assistance on the public process. They'll have some information on Catholic schools too...just don't ask about private schools, they'll ice you out and get nasty.

op - loyola looks impresssive. We're not catholic but i think maybe we dont have to be? How hard is it to get in?

I also think Loyola is great. You don’t have to be Catholic but it is very small. The Catholics are often overlooked. Dominican Academy is never talked about but their exmissions are about on par with SH but they are under 30k. I know some very smart girls that graduated from DA and are at great colleges and doing well. Regis is wonderful if you’re catholic and very high achieving but Xavier is also very good and you don’t have to be catholic. I know several Jewish families that send their sons there. It’s a great location and very robust in sports, arts and extracurriculars. Very big on developing character and personal responsibility. Community service is required all years and seniors spend every Monday in the last half of the senior year working in direct service for a nonprofit. Better for character development than prestige but good students go on to top schools. We were very impressed with what we saw when we were looking at high schools for our son. To be honest I think all these schools are very good (including Dwight). It’s the price tag that makes it all so fraught.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious what sort of support your K-8 provides. Ours offers ISEE/ interview prep, one-on-one counseling sessions as needed and streamlines the transcript and recommendation process. I did most of the heavy lifting myself but the school was helpful in certain areas. Here’s some advice based on my experiences over the past couple of years:

1.Get an ISEE tutor now and schedule weekly sessions starting now and continue through the summer and into the fall. Make sure the tutor is giving your kid assignments between sessions. Take a practice ISEE under the conditions of the actual test and do this several times between now and the fall. Can your kid take the test at school?If not, schedule the test in the fall and then you will have the opportunity to take it again in December. Prep for the ISEE is usually adequate for the SHSAT and HSPT but there are differences. We were focused on privates and catholics so we did ISEE prep until October and then shifted to HSPT prep. The content of all three tests is similar but the format is different so just be aware of that.

2. Do your own research on schools now and go to any spring open houses available to 7th graders. Most of the schools do not have spring open houses but we went to events at Grace, Xavier and FP in the spring of 7th grade and that was useful because it meant we didn’t have to go to events for those schools in the fall. Some of the public schools have spring events too. Keep in mind that the fall of 8th grade is very intense so any work that you and your child can frontload now and over the summer will be very helpful. You will be spending every weekend in October and early Nov and many weeknights going to open house events and you will both miss a lot of school/work going to tours and interviews so try and be realistic about your list going into the process. Unfortunately, most of the private schools don’t let you tour until you’ve submitted the initial application but it is helpful to think through what is realistic in terms of culture, fit, workload and commute before you start applying. Even if you have a brilliant kid, if you know they won’t be able to handle or enjoy a very heavy workload and long commute don’t bother applying to HM. Also think about the culture of money at some of these schools. You can afford to pay the tuition but do you want to be at a place where the kids are regularly spending $40 for lunch at Butterfield Market or spending weekends at their summer houses. Is your child the kind of kid who will feel less than if surrounded by people with a lot more money.

3. If you’re going to consider public school then join the “applying to high school in NYC” facebook page now. You will get lots of good advice on schools and navigating the system. If you are going to apply to schools other than SHSAT then you need to figure out how your child’s transcript will be converted for the public school ranking system and your need to get in the system so you’re issued a RAN. For private schools, think carefully about fit, culture and your expectations around ROI. The experience will be very similar to the K-8. You will do most of the heavy lifting in regards to preparing for college admissions and if you know you’ll be very unhappy with an outcome that’s not T20 school then think before shelling out over 70k a year, not least because you will be putting a lot of pressure on your child if the only happy outcome is an extremely selective college. Also remember that the tuition bills don’t end at high school. If you are paying for private school in NYC then you are unlikely to get financial aid for college and will graduate from 70k a year to 90k a year.

op-this is so so so helpful - thank you. so much appreciated.

Trevor had a Spring event. So did Loyola, if I recall. If you're open to Catholic schools, I think Loyola on the UES is a hidden gem. A small really nice community with rigorous academics, and the kids go on to top colleges. They have a new building, and really stood out for their service opportunities. It's also about 20K less than most peer schools, and unlike most independent schools, they give academic scholarships. My child won around 15K a year, which brought the tuition down to around 35/40K a year, if I recall. There are options, you just have to dig. I already mentioned Franklin previously...I get not wanting to pay 70K only to end up at what you perceive to be a mediocre college, but Franklin in 32K, so that might make it worth the risk. I also agree about joining the Applying to High School FB group if you are seriously considering public school. It is a treasure trove of information and assistance on the public process. They'll have some information on Catholic schools too...just don't ask about private schools, they'll ice you out and get nasty.

op - loyola looks impresssive. We're not catholic but i think maybe we dont have to be? How hard is it to get in?

You do not have to be Catholic to get in. I'm not sure how competitive it is to get in as it is fairly self-selecting, but it's by no means a pay and you get in kind of place. They do place a lot of emphasis on character and having something you're passionate about. It is indeed small, so your child has to be okay with that, but it breeds a closeness that alums rave about 40 years later. The admissions team is lovely, and I found them very accessible and open.
Xavier is certainly a good alternative for boys too, but MUCH larger and easier to get into. Very sports-centric, and kids come from all over the City, NJ and LI to go there. You might as well throw Fordham Prep in there too if you're open to Catholic Jesuit schools. It's on the campus of Fordham University in The Bronx, and also has a ton of kids from Westchester, so it's a very different vibe from Xavier, but also excellent.
I think you would probably consider it along the lines of Dwight, but the other school my child got a large award to go to was Leman. If I recall it would have brought the tuition down to around 45/50K. It was one of our safety schools, but I actually ended up liking it well enough. Not well enough to spend 70K for, but it was a good back up and with the award I could have talked myself into it.
If you decide to look at public, be aware that your child's grades do matter for non-SHS but selective schools (think Bard, Beacon, Millennium). However your school's grades translate, they won't have a good chance of getting into the top public schools unless the are Tier 1 (this is for selective, non-SHS).