Meant to say 30 juniors above. 44 sophomores. |
A snapshot is not a trend. A trend is derived from multiple sets of data from different years, hence the idea of change year over year. That's just reading tea leaves for your preferred outcome. There were more juniors and seniors in spring 2020. What is the trend there? |
I read those numbers to say the school can enroll freshmen but not keep them. And a school that has significant transfers by senior year is a red flag. |
I’d be more curious to know how many student the current class of seniors had when they were freshman. Was it close to the same 25, or was it close to the current freshman class of 50? The snapshot you provide could show general growth of the school or could show a 50% attrition rate between 9th and 12th. No way to know without having more data from the past few years at least. |
Ok, take the current year numbers for what you will. I know I’m not about to keep a time series of the student enrollment by grade every year for the next 3 years (seriously, who does). I will just say that the current senior class is about the same as when they were freshmen. Don’t know the exact number since I don’t keep records of this stuff. But the larger freshman and sophomore classes this year are definitely a new thing compared to last year and the year before last. |
You can be sure that management does, but clearly data is a prized secret in that building. Nothing will really tip the balance until you hear that they are willing to invest in building out the second half of the building and delivering the facilities that were promised over and over to parents in the early days to enjoy just a few years after opening. Isn't it eight years for BIM now? |
Personally, I’d strongly consider your zoned public for the combination of strong academics and social experiences. BIM would prepare a student academically, but maybe not socially which is important too. DJO is much more of a traditional HS experience which I think would prepare students better overall for independence, but is academically lighter. |
O’Connell is what you make of it. A strong, academically-minded student can absolutely take rigorous classes that will challenge them. A student can also easily skate by in the middle of the pack. |
BIM high school is growing because of the change in TJ admission criteria which impacted the current junior class and below. Many capable kids who did not get into TJ turn to BIM, which started the upward trend in class size. |
The O’Connell families completely soiled themselves at today’s WCAC baseball playoff game. I’ve never seen such bad sportsmanship in 20 years of youth sports. Physically confronting the umps after the game? Wow. |
BIM. |
BIM is not for everyone. It's academically strong, so not every student can survive. For the kids who look for advanced learning, they will thrive here. My kid enrolled in middle school and using his own word, he felt that he found his people, people who care about study. For people who can't understand this, as far as I know, most students like the school. There are a lot of kids who do outside sport club. |
We are a new BIM family this year, with a kid who entered as a freshman. I posted earlier in this thread too. Our kid looked at most of the VA private schools including O'Connell. He picked BASIS because he clicked with the students on his shadow day, and he loved the small class size. We've been thrilled with the school, and especially with the teachers. It sounds like BIM had a bumpy start a few years ago, and I am sure the pandemic situation didn't help. We haven't experienced any of what has been posted to this thread though. The HOS and admissions staff answered all of my questions honestly when we went through the application process last year. We didn't have any surprises once our kid enrolled, so I don't think there is any great conspiracy. (FWIW- The high school kids use the other side of the building sometimes for small group work, so not sure what the mystery is there?) The seniors have started posting to their Insta page, so you can find the matriculation info firsthand-- so far, Harvard, Stanford, Duke, Rice, GW, UVA, and Virginia Tech. BIM also released all the school acceptances to their blog, with a picture of the senior class. They aren't trying to hide that the 2024 graduating class is small, but the grades in the pipeline are progressively getting bigger. My kid hasn't heard of anyone who isn't coming back next year for 10th grade, and he said there have been quite a few prospective students shadowing their 9th grade classes over the past few weeks. I agree with the PP who speculated that the change in the TJ admissions system has helped BASIS a lot-- it is a similar type of student population, and the randomness of the new TJ essay test is resulting in many students getting rejected from TJ who would have been admitted in the past. |
The changing TJ admissions policy saved BIM's bacon because it created a pool of BIM-type grinder students who needed a landing spot, which BIM was eager to offer. Without that, who knows if they would have kept the doors open. The other half of the building is the SAME SIZE as the current school. It was supposed to be completely finished out with great facilities once the school reached the right enrollment. Never happened, even though they pay rent on it. No full-size-auditorium, sports halls, etc. The day they announce that project, you'll know that BIM is doing more than just scraping by and trying to inch up the ladder. |
It seems there are more anti-BIM trolls than so-called BIM trolls . The simple fact is that Basis is not a stand-alone school. It has campuses in different states. NYC has at least two campuses, and they have an excellent reputation.
Again if you are willing to stay away from the good public schools in the area, you probably care about education. Find the school that will work for your kid. |