Little Flower vs Holy trinity vs OLV

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, we've applied to HTS and are very interested, but of course it's hard to get a feel for the school over Zoom. Could you please explain/elaborate on wht the parents are a "mixed bag"?

I’m a NP but will bite. Another poster in this thread described parents as obnoxious. I’d say there is a lot of surface friendliness - you’ll get people smiling and telling you how welcoming the school is. But then you realize that there is a pretty gossipy and clique-ish mom culture. Obviously it’s not everyone - there are families from all over. But there’s a strong inner circle vibe. If you feel like you’d be “in” the circle, or if you won’t mind feeling “outside”, then you’ll be ok.

[Anonymous]

My impression of HTS when we compared it against other similar Catholic k-8s is that you are paying for the location, not academics or stellar facilities. Not sure if would get a lot of discussion if it were located in another neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Deffo OLV. At least you don’t overpay to put Holton or Little Flower ?! on your kid’s CV. And it’s coed thankfully. $/impact is right if not overachieving at OLV. For the $ Holton and Landon want, try for one of the truly great schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it's not as if youre trying to apply to a BIG 3 , im sure youll figure it out OP

tHe BiG tHrEe

In my experience OLV kids could cut it at the Big Three. Less catechism and more focus on essay writing and science would make that even more so. I cannot say the same thing for the Little Flower, I’m sorry. Many OLV families can’t or won’t pay the fees of the Big Three but could get in (unlike some of the others). My advice for anyone in these schools is to mix it up and not do parochial all the way trough. I’ve seen too many kids for whom the psychological consequences reverberate for the rest of their lives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it's not as if youre trying to apply to a BIG 3 , im sure youll figure it out OP

tHe BiG tHrEe

In my experience OLV kids could cut it at the Big Three. Less catechism and more focus on essay writing and science would make that even more so. I cannot say the same thing for the Little Flower, I’m sorry. Many OLV families can’t or won’t pay the fees of the Big Three but could get in (unlike some of the others). My advice for anyone in these schools is to mix it up and not do parochial all the way trough. I’ve seen too many kids for whom the psychological consequences reverberate for the rest of their lives.[/quote]

You had me and I was in agreement until the end. You can’t leave a bomb like that hanging. Care to elaborate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it's not as if youre trying to apply to a BIG 3 , im sure youll figure it out OP

tHe BiG tHrEe

In my experience OLV kids could cut it at the Big Three. Less catechism and more focus on essay writing and science would make that even more so. I cannot say the same thing for the Little Flower, I’m sorry. Many OLV families can’t or won’t pay the fees of the Big Three but could get in (unlike some of the others). My advice for anyone in these schools is to mix it up and not do parochial all the way trough. I’ve seen too many kids for whom the psychological consequences reverberate for the rest of their lives.

Reposting because I messed up the formatting:

You had me and I was in agreement until the end. You can’t leave a bomb like that hanging. Care to elaborate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, we've applied to HTS and are very interested, but of course it's hard to get a feel for the school over Zoom. Could you please explain/elaborate on wht the parents are a "mixed bag"?

I’m a NP but will bite. Another poster in this thread described parents as obnoxious. I’d say there is a lot of surface friendliness - you’ll get people smiling and telling you how welcoming the school is. But then you realize that there is a pretty gossipy and clique-ish mom culture. Obviously it’s not everyone - there are families from all over. But there’s a strong inner circle vibe. If you feel like you’d be “in” the circle, or if you won’t mind feeling “outside”, then you’ll be ok.

The following sounds snarky, but it is meant kindly, with no disrespect at all to HTS

If you were meant for the inner circle, you’d already know it, and likely you would not need to post here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, we've applied to HTS and are very interested, but of course it's hard to get a feel for the school over Zoom. Could you please explain/elaborate on wht the parents are a "mixed bag"?

I’m a NP but will bite. Another poster in this thread described parents as obnoxious. I’d say there is a lot of surface friendliness - you’ll get people smiling and telling you how welcoming the school is. But then you realize that there is a pretty gossipy and clique-ish mom culture. Obviously it’s not everyone - there are families from all over. But there’s a strong inner circle vibe. If you feel like you’d be “in” the circle, or if you won’t mind feeling “outside”, then you’ll be ok.

The following sounds snarky, but it is meant kindly, with no disrespect at all to HTS

If you were meant for the inner circle, you’d already know it, and likely you would not need to post here.

To the PP who asked, the reply above is a great example of the vibe at HTS. “My snark and judgement are meant in the kindest way!”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it's not as if youre trying to apply to a BIG 3 , im sure youll figure it out OP

tHe BiG tHrEe

In my experience OLV kids could cut it at the Big Three. Less catechism and more focus on essay writing and science would make that even more so. I cannot say the same thing for the Little Flower, I’m sorry. Many OLV families can’t or won’t pay the fees of the Big Three but could get in (unlike some of the others). My advice for anyone in these schools is to mix it up and not do parochial all the way trough. I’ve seen too many kids for whom the psychological consequences reverberate for the rest of their lives.

Reposting because I messed up the formatting:

You had me and I was in agreement until the end. You can’t leave a bomb like that hanging. Care to elaborate?

Nothing too bad. One the one hand some studies show that religious education is a positive for mental health. On the other hand being exposed to only one system that strongly influences the curriculum (unlike in some other parochial systems) at the expense of some other skills might not be the best choice for all of the years of schooling because at College typically it’s a lot more diverse. So mixing it up strengthens the person and makes them more rounded is a fair conclusion. There are many though who say that they have a permanent sense of gilt from this school system or that it has affected their ability to form intimate relationships easily. You hear that very often from young adults or even older adults.

Then there’s this guy: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/out-the-ooze/201504/the-macabre-side-growing-catholic TBH some of the OLV assignments we saw were not far off what he describes

We seriously considered it including because we like the values and ultimately decided that we wanted a mix because of wanting coed especially in high school and a bit less of a rigid thinking system throughout.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, we've applied to HTS and are very interested, but of course it's hard to get a feel for the school over Zoom. Could you please explain/elaborate on wht the parents are a "mixed bag"?

I’m a NP but will bite. Another poster in this thread described parents as obnoxious. I’d say there is a lot of surface friendliness - you’ll get people smiling and telling you how welcoming the school is. But then you realize that there is a pretty gossipy and clique-ish mom culture. Obviously it’s not everyone - there are families from all over. But there’s a strong inner circle vibe. If you feel like you’d be “in” the circle, or if you won’t mind feeling “outside”, then you’ll be ok.

The following sounds snarky, but it is meant kindly, with no disrespect at all to HTS

If you were meant for the inner circle, you’d already know it, and likely you would not need to post here.

To the PP who asked, the reply above is a great example of the vibe at HTS. “My snark and judgement are meant in the kindest way!”

Oh my gosh, no! We were *not* inner circle at all, quite the opposite.

Totally not inner circle, just hoping others can profit from my experience. Ie if you go in expecting fellow parents will be your best friends/soul mates forever, well, that might happen. Or it might not.

If you’re willing to focus on your child’s academic and social experiences, that might be more realistic.

Again, apologies to any and all I offended. I can definitely see how my post might have been misconstrued.



I was just

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, we've applied to HTS and are very interested, but of course it's hard to get a feel for the school over Zoom. Could you please explain/elaborate on wht the parents are a "mixed bag"?

I’m a NP but will bite. Another poster in this thread described parents as obnoxious. I’d say there is a lot of surface friendliness - you’ll get people smiling and telling you how welcoming the school is. But then you realize that there is a pretty gossipy and clique-ish mom culture. Obviously it’s not everyone - there are families from all over. But there’s a strong inner circle vibe. If you feel like you’d be “in” the circle, or if you won’t mind feeling “outside”, then you’ll be ok.

The following sounds snarky, but it is meant kindly, with no disrespect at all to HTS

If you were meant for the inner circle, you’d already know it, and likely you would not need to post here.

To the PP who asked, the reply above is a great example of the vibe at HTS. “My snark and judgement are meant in the kindest way!”

Oh my gosh, no! We were *not* inner circle at all, quite the opposite.

Totally not inner circle, just hoping others can profit from my experience. Ie if you go in expecting fellow parents will be your best friends/soul mates forever, well, that might happen. Or it might not.

If you’re willing to focus on your child’s academic and social experiences, that might be more realistic.

Again, apologies to any and all I offended. I can definitely see how my post might have been misconstrued.



I was just

Appreciate you clarifying! I’m the PP who said I would bite on this Q. I think the thing families should know is that there IS an inner circle at the school. That is probably true at all schools but in certain grades at HTS it is felt more than others. That’s not the kind of thing that really bothers me, which is why we are fine keeping our kids there regardless, but if it’s the kind of thing that would bother you as part of the community, then I think it’s important that you know that.

[Anonymous]

We considered all of these + some and chose OLV for the academics. Very strong and I’d put it up against some of the best schools overall in this area. Certainly stood out.

[Anonymous]

There is an inner circle at ALL SCHOOLS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is an inner circle at ALL SCHOOLS

With varying degrees of obnoxiousness. If you are in a school with with mig-grade facilities and mid-grade academics, it is less tolerable IMO.

[Anonymous]

This is a stupid reason but we just couldn’t bring ourselves to enroll non preschoolers in a school named Little Flower. We chose OLV.