2023 Niche results: Basis McLean #1 in VA in 3 categories: best private HS in VA, best college prep…

[Anonymous]

Very strong academics. Basis kids are learning two grades ahead of most privates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very strong academics. Basis kids are learning two grades ahead of most privates.

Saint Stephens Saint Agnes is better than Basis

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very strong academics. Basis kids are learning two grades ahead of most privates.

Saint Stephens Saint Agnes is better than Basis

As are many other schools (for most kids). This is just a Basis self-promotion marketing thread, but everyone on this site knows to take whatever is said here with a giant heaping tablespoon of salt. I'm sure there's a few kids who are well-suited to it, but would wager that given the choice about 90% of families if given the choice to send their kids here vs. a top private in the area would make the other choice (and that would likely be the better choice for their kid). But Basis has its niche... the self-promotion just gets a bit tiresome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very strong academics. Basis kids are learning two grades ahead of most privates.

Saint Stephens Saint Agnes is better than Basis

As are many other schools (for most kids). This is just a Basis self-promotion marketing thread, but everyone on this site knows to take whatever is said here with a giant heaping tablespoon of salt. I'm sure there's a few kids who are well-suited to it, but would wager that given the choice about 90% of families if given the choice to send their kids here vs. a top private in the area would make the other choice (and that would likely be the better choice for their kid). But Basis has its niche... the self-promotion just gets a bit tiresome.

Their niche consists mostly of jamming as much material into kids as early as possible to be regurgitated in endless rounds of tests. For example, no one questions if middle schoolers should be reading Julius Caesar or Macbeth when they are emotionally unequipped to grasp the language or the themes. Just do it to say we did it! Rah rah!

It's a one-trick pony with dubious value for the actual kids unless you like driving them hard 24/7.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very strong academics. Basis kids are learning two grades ahead of most privates.

Agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very strong academics. Basis kids are learning two grades ahead of most privates.

Agree.

LOL, do they pay you more per minute that one of your comments is the most recent one in the thread?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone take Niche seriously? Seems like ridiculous clickbait.

Yes absolutely: BASIS parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very strong academics. Basis kids are learning two grades ahead of most privates.

Saint Stephens Saint Agnes is better than Basis

As are many other schools (for most kids). This is just a Basis self-promotion marketing thread, but everyone on this site knows to take whatever is said here with a giant heaping tablespoon of salt. I'm sure there's a few kids who are well-suited to it, but would wager that given the choice about 90% of families if given the choice to send their kids here vs. a top private in the area would make the other choice (and that would likely be the better choice for their kid). But Basis has its niche... the self-promotion just gets a bit tiresome.

Their niche consists mostly of jamming as much material into kids as early as possible to be regurgitated in endless rounds of tests. For example, no one questions if middle schoolers should be reading Julius Caesar or Macbeth when they are emotionally unequipped to grasp the language or the themes. Just do it to say we did it! Rah rah!

It's a one-trick pony with dubious value for the actual kids unless you like driving them hard 24/7.

Macbeth and Caesar are torturous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very strong academics. Basis kids are learning two grades ahead of most privates.

Saint Stephens Saint Agnes is better than Basis

As are many other schools (for most kids). This is just a Basis self-promotion marketing thread, but everyone on this site knows to take whatever is said here with a giant heaping tablespoon of salt. I'm sure there's a few kids who are well-suited to it, but would wager that given the choice about 90% of families if given the choice to send their kids here vs. a top private in the area would make the other choice (and that would likely be the better choice for their kid). But Basis has its niche... the self-promotion just gets a bit tiresome.

Their niche consists mostly of jamming as much material into kids as early as possible to be regurgitated in endless rounds of tests. For example, no one questions if middle schoolers should be reading Julius Caesar or Macbeth when they are emotionally unequipped to grasp the language or the themes. Just do it to say we did it! Rah rah!

It's a one-trick pony with dubious value for the actual kids unless you like driving them hard 24/7.

Macbeth and Caesar are torturous.

They can be fascinating explorations of the human psyche, history, and all kinds of things for people who can grasp the concepts. But not 11- and 12-year olds. The moral ambiguity of murder is kind of beyond them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very strong academics. Basis kids are learning two grades ahead of most privates.

Saint Stephens Saint Agnes is better than Basis

As are many other schools (for most kids). This is just a Basis self-promotion marketing thread, but everyone on this site knows to take whatever is said here with a giant heaping tablespoon of salt. I'm sure there's a few kids who are well-suited to it, but would wager that given the choice about 90% of families if given the choice to send their kids here vs. a top private in the area would make the other choice (and that would likely be the better choice for their kid). But Basis has its niche... the self-promotion just gets a bit tiresome.

Their niche consists mostly of jamming as much material into kids as early as possible to be regurgitated in endless rounds of tests. For example, no one questions if middle schoolers should be reading Julius Caesar or Macbeth when they are emotionally unequipped to grasp the language or the themes. Just do it to say we did it! Rah rah!

It's a one-trick pony with dubious value for the actual kids unless you like driving them hard 24/7.

Macbeth and Caesar are torturous.

They can be fascinating explorations of the human psyche, history, and all kinds of things for people who can grasp the concepts. But not 11- and 12-year olds. The moral ambiguity of murder is kind of beyond them.

If your 11 or 12 year struggles with this level of reading they don’t belong at a school like BIM and would probably be more comfortable at a lower ranked school with less of a focus on academic rigor.

[Anonymous]

Fetch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very strong academics. Basis kids are learning two grades ahead of most privates.

That alone does not mean the academics are strong or the school is better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very strong academics. Basis kids are learning two grades ahead of most privates.

Agree.

True.

Weird reading the aggressively negative comments here. A lot of the most caustic posts seem to be by former BIM teachers that were fired for incompetence. I guess this is how they spend their time now since they can’t get another job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very strong academics. Basis kids are learning two grades ahead of most privates.

Agree.

True.

Weird reading the aggressively negative comments here. A lot of the most caustic posts seem to be by former BIM teachers that were fired for incompetence. I guess this is how they spend their time now since they can’t get another job.

Agreed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very strong academics. Basis kids are learning two grades ahead of most privates.

Saint Stephens Saint Agnes is better than Basis

As are many other schools (for most kids). This is just a Basis self-promotion marketing thread, but everyone on this site knows to take whatever is said here with a giant heaping tablespoon of salt. I'm sure there's a few kids who are well-suited to it, but would wager that given the choice about 90% of families if given the choice to send their kids here vs. a top private in the area would make the other choice (and that would likely be the better choice for their kid). But Basis has its niche... the self-promotion just gets a bit tiresome.

Their niche consists mostly of jamming as much material into kids as early as possible to be regurgitated in endless rounds of tests. For example, no one questions if middle schoolers should be reading Julius Caesar or Macbeth when they are emotionally unequipped to grasp the language or the themes. Just do it to say we did it! Rah rah!

It's a one-trick pony with dubious value for the actual kids unless you like driving them hard 24/7.

Macbeth and Caesar are torturous.

They can be fascinating explorations of the human psyche, history, and all kinds of things for people who can grasp the concepts. But not 11- and 12-year olds. The moral ambiguity of murder is kind of beyond them.

If your 11 or 12 year struggles with this level of reading they don’t belong at a school like BIM and would probably be more comfortable at a lower ranked school with less of a focus on academic rigor.

None of the BIM kids can read these works on their own at that age and have much of a clue what all the symbolism means. Then move on to the themes and ambiguities behind the ambition and the violence, and they have even less of a clue. That's not where middle schoolers liver or experience at all.

If you think 99% of them are now Shakespearean experts, you live in rah-rah fantasyland. Perfect for a BASIS parent.