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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t niche based on surveys completed on their website? So you can tell all your employees to fill it out and get students and parents involved to “win?”

Kind of like winning “best of [name of town]” awards, it’s about getting your people to vote for you, bit about a neutral third party evaluating all the options.

No one takes Niche seriously.

Can you name a better site that reviews the privates?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t niche based on surveys completed on their website? So you can tell all your employees to fill it out and get students and parents involved to “win?”

Kind of like winning “best of [name of town]” awards, it’s about getting your people to vote for you, bit about a neutral third party evaluating all the options.

No one takes Niche seriously.

Can you name a better site that reviews the privates?

Pornhub

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t niche based on surveys completed on their website? So you can tell all your employees to fill it out and get students and parents involved to “win?”

Kind of like winning “best of [name of town]” awards, it’s about getting your people to vote for you, bit about a neutral third party evaluating all the options.

No one takes Niche seriously.

Can you name a better site that reviews the privates?

Pornhub

Who do you follow on that site?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Three? Get with the times.

Flint hill apparently has a rep for that. Basis (and their Chinese owners) not so much. Matters to some more than others.

I think we are going to go in a tour of Basis just to see why everyone thinks it’s so awful. The comments on here are beyond ridiculous to an almost farcical level.

If you do, ask them for their exact enrollment numbers for the school and by grade. Somehow, they never appear on their website anywhere. What a coincidence.

They provide grade by grade enrollment numbers to the US Department of Education, so they’re there for anyone whose cares to look. FYI, Potomac and FH do not, which seems sus.

https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pss/privateschoolsearch/school_detail.asp?HiGrade=-1&IncGrade=-1&LoGrade=-1&NumOfStudentsRange=more&SchoolName=in&Search=1&SchoolPageNum=4&ID=A1703643

A bit out of date, huh?

Source: PSS Private School Universe Survey data for the 2019-2020 school year

[Anonymous]

For anyone saying Niche is unreliable, will you say the same thing if the rankings looked different? Did you make the same criticism for last year’s rankings or the year before that? Why does the methodology bother you so much this year? Seems like some people just don’t like the results, like losing at something and then complaining about the rules. People should give Niche the same credibility, as little or as much as it should be (yes, I know it’s imperfect but it’s as imperfect as any other year) as other years when BIM wasn’t ranked at the top. Regardless of absolutely ranking number, the fact it improved so much year over year is commendable.

[Anonymous]

Niche does this as a marketing activity for their website. So it is neither credible nor objective. More or less meaningless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did you read the narrative reviews and the survey response? Basis sounds like a terrible place for a human child.

There is no universe where my DC would be -allowed- to attend Basis McLean. That would be close to child abuse, IMHO. Basis at some other location, maybe, but never at their McLean site.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gretchen, stop trying to make Basis happen!

Totally! School msrketing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t niche based on surveys completed on their website? So you can tell all your employees to fill it out and get students and parents involved to “win?”

Kind of like winning “best of [name of town]” awards, it’s about getting your people to vote for you, bit about a neutral third party evaluating all the options.

Yes. Niche is just a bunch of people filling out surveys---not based on anything concrete and easily manipulated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For anyone saying Niche is unreliable, will you say the same thing if the rankings looked different? Did you make the same criticism for last year’s rankings or the year before that? Why does the methodology bother you so much this year? Seems like some people just don’t like the results, like losing at something and then complaining about the rules. People should give Niche the same credibility, as little or as much as it should be (yes, I know it’s imperfect but it’s as imperfect as any other year) as other years when BIM wasn’t ranked at the top. Regardless of absolutely ranking number, the fact it improved so much year over year is commendable.

Well said.
But don’t waste time with those people.

[Anonymous]

Here are the facts about BASIS Independent McLean:

1) The new Head of School is a huge improvement. He's in his second year now and there's no sign that he's going anywhere. He knows what he's doing and the school is in far better shape than it was as a consequence.

2) It is still, like all of the BASIS schools, very much a testing mill. Your child will graduate with a ton of AP credits and probably be a great candidate to go to a very good (if not elite) school, and will absolutely crush all of their standardized exams probably for the rest of their life.

3) There still not a lot to go on in terms of student life. Clubs are pay-as-you-go and still very fledgling. Athletics are essentially nil. But if you don't really care about that stuff, or if you have outlets for it outside of the school, it can be a great option.

4) Perhaps most importantly - the previous Head of Operations and Interim Head of School, T. A., is no longer employed there. The single biggest upgrade that BIM made was for her to leave - addition by subtraction. She was a very nice lady but an unmitigated disaster as a school administrator.

The bottom line? Send your kid there if you are looking for an excellent, no-frills whatsoever educational experience. If things outside of what goes on in the classroom are important to you, you're best served sending your kid elsewhere.

(I should note, what I wrote here applies almost entirely to the high school. If your kid is heading into 7th grade or below it's actually a really good option across the board for academic advancement.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t niche based on surveys completed on their website? So you can tell all your employees to fill it out and get students and parents involved to “win?”

Kind of like winning “best of [name of town]” awards, it’s about getting your people to vote for you, bit about a neutral third party evaluating all the options.

No one takes Niche seriously.

Can you name a better site that reviews the privates?

Pornhub

Who do you follow on that site?

A DC urban mom

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here are the facts about BASIS Independent McLean:

1) The new Head of School is a huge improvement. He's in his second year now and there's no sign that he's going anywhere. He knows what he's doing and the school is in far better shape than it was as a consequence.

2) It is still, like all of the BASIS schools, very much a testing mill. Your child will graduate with a ton of AP credits and probably be a great candidate to go to a very good (if not elite) school, and will absolutely crush all of their standardized exams probably for the rest of their life.

3) There still not a lot to go on in terms of student life. Clubs are pay-as-you-go and still very fledgling. Athletics are essentially nil. But if you don't really care about that stuff, or if you have outlets for it outside of the school, it can be a great option.

4) Perhaps most importantly - the previous Head of Operations and Interim Head of School, T. A., is no longer employed there. The single biggest upgrade that BIM made was for her to leave - addition by subtraction. She was a very nice lady but an unmitigated disaster as a school administrator.

The bottom line? Send your kid there if you are looking for an excellent, no-frills whatsoever educational experience. If things outside of what goes on in the classroom are important to you, you're best served sending your kid elsewhere.

(I should note, what I wrote here applies almost entirely to the high school. If your kid is heading into 7th grade or below it's actually a really good option across the board for academic advancement.)

Are you working there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t niche based on surveys completed on their website? So you can tell all your employees to fill it out and get students and parents involved to “win?”

Kind of like winning “best of [name of town]” awards, it’s about getting your people to vote for you, bit about a neutral third party evaluating all the options.

No one takes Niche seriously.

Can you name a better site that reviews the privates?

Pornhub

The DC within me laughed hard at this. Well done.

[Anonymous]

Those rankings seem nuts if you go through the top 25. And I say that as a parent at one of the top schools (not BASIS) so I'm not upset with them or anything, they just seem...off.