NCS going downhill?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you pp. I am not a troll. In fact, I have 4 very nice girls who live in my neighborhood who graduated from Swarthmore 2 years ago. They're great. But, I know NCS does hope to get its folks into top Ivies, then schools such as Williams, Duke, Stanford, U of Chicago, Wash U, Amherst...and a few others before even considering Swarthmore. It really is a school for introspective, smart, but sort of nerdy introverted students.

You clearly have not had a child go through the college process at NCS. They absolutely do not push the top Ivies because even at the most competitive schools, most kids are not going to get into the top Ivies. They encourage students to look much more widely and I even had the college guidance counselor specifically mention Swarthmore. Now you can say that a particular school is a good or bad fit for a particular kid but its absurd to say it would be a bad fit for an entire class of girls. I have no idea if Swarthmore really is a school for nerdy introspective kids, but there are certainly nerdy introspective kids at NCS.

Lots of folks opining here who have no idea what they are talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you pp. I am not a troll. In fact, I have 4 very nice girls who live in my neighborhood who graduated from Swarthmore 2 years ago. They're great. But, I know NCS does hope to get its folks into top Ivies, then schools such as Williams, Duke, Stanford, U of Chicago, Wash U, Amherst...and a few others before even considering Swarthmore. It really is a school for introspective, smart, but sort of nerdy introverted students.

You clearly have not had a child go through the college process at NCS. They absolutely do not push the top Ivies because even at the most competitive schools, most kids are not going to get into the top Ivies. They encourage students to look much more widely and I even had the college guidance counselor specifically mention Swarthmore. Now you can say that a particular school is a good or bad fit for a particular kid but its absurd to say it would be a bad fit for an entire class of girls. I have no idea if Swarthmore really is a school for nerdy introspective kids, but there are certainly nerdy introspective kids at NCS.

Lots of folks opining here who have no idea what they are talking about.

DD's a NCS alum, while I'm not a fan of the school, I can totally back you up here. The girls are encouraged to widen their nets. My DD was accepted at a mix of Ivies and SLACs. She didn't know much about Swarthmore, thus didn't visit. However, I've met several Swarties over the years and they're a captivating mixture of brilliant, introverted, and zany...creative geniuses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's a list of colleges that I'd rank "higher" or "lower" (whatever that means) than Swarthmore, in no particular order. No need to debate this endlessly, but let me know if I'm fairly close to the correct assessment ...

Aiming "higher" than Swarthmore: Stanford, Penn, UVa, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Yale, Georgetown, Brown, Chicago, Harvard, Oxford

About the same as Swarthmore: Wesleyan, Colby, Northwestern, Trinity, Vanderbilt, Amherst, Carnegie Mellon, Michigan, NYU, Washington Univ (St. Louis), Edinburgh, Middlebury, Oberlin, Pomona, USC

Aiming "lower" than Swarthmore: Colgate, Tufts, BC, Bowdoin, Dickinson, Haverford, Kenyon, UNC, Tulane, Vermont, W&M, Indiana, Maryland

This list is horrifically inaccurate.
By your logic, USC, NYU and Trinity College are all "higher" than Bowdoin, Tufts, W&M and Haverford.
By your logic, UVA, Georgetown and Cornell are all "higher" than Swarthmore, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Pomoona, Vanderbilt, Amherst and WashU.

No offense or malice intended, but this is shockingly wrong.

[Anonymous]

This is what I don't get: what if an NCS girl WANTED to go to Pitt or Rollins? Would that be so shocking? It's a great state school where DC residents can get pretty close to in state tuition thanks to DC TAG. I find it a little offensive that you say "NCS is going downhill" and then point to the fact that some girls decided to attend "tier 3" (in your mind) schools as evidence. I realize this thread is old but whatever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This list is horrifically inaccurate.
By your logic, USC, NYU and Trinity College are all "higher" than Bowdoin, Tufts, W&M and Haverford.
By your logic, UVA, Georgetown and Cornell are all "higher" than Swarthmore, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Pomoona, Vanderbilt, Amherst and WashU.

No offense or malice intended, but this is shockingly wrong.

OK, why don't you tier then in a less "horrifically inaccurate" or "shockingly wrong" manner?

"No offense intended"? Hm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's a list of colleges that I'd rank "higher" or "lower" (whatever that means) than Swarthmore, in no particular order. No need to debate this endlessly, but let me know if I'm fairly close to the correct assessment ...

Aiming "higher" than Swarthmore: Stanford, Penn, UVa, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Yale, Georgetown, Brown, Chicago, Harvard, Oxford

About the same as Swarthmore: Wesleyan, Colby, Northwestern, Trinity, Vanderbilt, Amherst, Carnegie Mellon, Michigan, NYU, Washington Univ (St. Louis), Edinburgh, Middlebury, Oberlin, Pomona, USC

Aiming "lower" than Swarthmore: Colgate, Tufts, BC, Bowdoin, Dickinson, Haverford, Kenyon, UNC, Tulane, Vermont, W&M, Indiana, Maryland

This list is horrifically inaccurate.
By your logic, USC, NYU and Trinity College are all "higher" than Bowdoin, Tufts, W&M and Haverford.
By your logic, UVA, Georgetown and Cornell are all "higher" than Swarthmore, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Pomoona, Vanderbilt, Amherst and WashU.

No offense or malice intended, but this is shockingly wrong.

This seems really random to me. These are all good schools. I don't see how you would separate them into tiers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's a list of colleges that I'd rank "higher" or "lower" (whatever that means) than Swarthmore, in no particular order. No need to debate this endlessly, but let me know if I'm fairly close to the correct assessment ...

Aiming "higher" than Swarthmore: Stanford, Penn, UVa, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Yale, Georgetown, Brown, Chicago, Harvard, Oxford

About the same as Swarthmore: Wesleyan, Colby, Northwestern, Trinity, Vanderbilt, Amherst, Carnegie Mellon, Michigan, NYU, Washington Univ (St. Louis), Edinburgh, Middlebury, Oberlin, Pomona, USC

Aiming "lower" than Swarthmore: Colgate, Tufts, BC, Bowdoin, Dickinson, Haverford, Kenyon, UNC, Tulane, Vermont, W&M, Indiana, Maryland

This list is horrifically inaccurate.
By your logic, USC, NYU and Trinity College are all "higher" than Bowdoin, Tufts, W&M and Haverford.
By your logic, UVA, Georgetown and Cornell are all "higher" than Swarthmore, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Pomoona, Vanderbilt, Amherst and WashU.

No offense or malice intended, but this is shockingly wrong.

This seems really random to me. These are all good schools. I don't see how you would separate them into tiers.

Strange you omitted Williams from the list. Wonder what they would think of that?

[Anonymous]

Mother of NCS grad here. If you don't like the school, don't send your kid there. I also have a kid at one of the other top-tier private schools in the city and so I have a head-to-head comparison. NCS wins hands-down in every category. The biggest thing for me is that they look at each girl as an individual and bring out the best in her. The teachers really care about these girls, and so does the administration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mother of NCS grad here. If you don't like the school, don't send your kid there. I also have a kid at one of the other top-tier private schools in the city and so I have a head-to-head comparison. NCS wins hands-down in every category. The biggest thing for me is that they look at each girl as an individual and bring out the best in her. The teachers really care about these girls, and so does the administration.

"They look at each girl as an individual and bring out the best in her. The teachers really care about these girls, and so does the administration."

Enough with the bullshit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mother of NCS grad here. If you don't like the school, don't send your kid there. I also have a kid at one of the other top-tier private schools in the city and so I have a head-to-head comparison. NCS wins hands-down in every category. The biggest thing for me is that they look at each girl as an individual and bring out the best in her. The teachers really care about these girls, and so does the administration.

"They look at each girl as an individual and bring out the best in her. The teachers really care about these girls, and so does the administration."

Enough with the bullshit.

Couldn't have said any better!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mother of NCS grad here. If you don't like the school, don't send your kid there. I also have a kid at one of the other top-tier private schools in the city and so I have a head-to-head comparison. NCS wins hands-down in every category. The biggest thing for me is that they look at each girl as an individual and bring out the best in her. The teachers really care about these girls, and so does the administration.

"They look at each girl as an individual and bring out the best in her. The teachers really care about these girls, and so does the administration."

Enough with the bullshit.

Couldn't have said any better!

Fine if you disagree but you have no credibility when you use this kind of language. I'm an NCS Mom who has been very happy with the school. But it isn't for everyone.

I think everyone has made their points and its time to move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mother of NCS grad here. If you don't like the school, don't send your kid there. I also have a kid at one of the other top-tier private schools in the city and so I have a head-to-head comparison. NCS wins hands-down in every category. The biggest thing for me is that they look at each girl as an individual and bring out the best in her. The teachers really care about these girls, and so does the administration.

"They look at each girl as an individual and bring out the best in her. The teachers really care about these girls, and so does the administration."

Enough with the bullshit.

Couldn't have said any better!

Fine if you disagree but you have no credibility when you use this kind of language. I'm an NCS Mom who has been very happy with the school. But it isn't for everyone.

I think everyone has made their points and its time to move on.

I suppose the PPs lack of credibility is the reason why they responded to your post. Yes, move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mother of NCS grad here. If you don't like the school, don't send your kid there. I also have a kid at one of the other top-tier private schools in the city and so I have a head-to-head comparison. NCS wins hands-down in every category. The biggest thing for me is that they look at each girl as an individual and bring out the best in her. The teachers really care about these girls, and so does the administration.

"They look at each girl as an individual and bring out the best in her. The teachers really care about these girls, and so does the administration."

Enough with the bullshit.

People really do get nasty on this board. I agree that the quoted language could sound like a platitude if viewed in a vacuum, but because there are people who insist the opposite (NCS doesn't value the individual; teachers and admin don't care about the individual kids) I think it is quite relevant. NCS reminds me a little of the University of Chicago as an institution -- it really isn't for everyone, but it's great for a lot of kids, outstanding academically, and gets a bad rap more often than it should.

[Anonymous]

Any attrition expected for rising 8th graders in 2013?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mother of NCS grad here. If you don't like the school, don't send your kid there. I also have a kid at one of the other top-tier private schools in the city and so I have a head-to-head comparison. NCS wins hands-down in every category. The biggest thing for me is that they look at each girl as an individual and bring out the best in her. The teachers really care about these girls, and so does the administration.

"They look at each girl as an individual and bring out the best in her. The teachers really care about these girls, and so does the administration."

Enough with the bullshit.

Couldn't have said any better!

You "bullshit" posters don't indicate you have any experience with NCS, so your opinions are ... BS.

I don't have a kid at NCS, so I'm neutral. But reading this forum, the NCS bashing and the Holton boosterism are both over-the-top bizarre. Let's avoid conspiracy theories. But it's fair to say that both have an eery sense of unreality.