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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Scan this busy thread of area private school parents and count how often BIM is mentioned.

It won't take long.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1043497.page

It’s irrelevant

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Scan this busy thread of area private school parents and count how often BIM is mentioned.

It won't take long.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1043497.page

It’s irrelevant

The target market for a business is irrelevant? That's a novel business strategy.

[Anonymous]

DCUM message boards should be part of a private school's "business strategy"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCUM message boards should be part of a private school's "business strategy"?

Hundreds of parents trying to pick a school for their kids read these boards voraciously. So unless a school lives under a rock, yes. This is where their potential customers are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCUM message boards should be part of a private school's "business strategy"?

I really don’t understand why a former employee spending so much time defaming her former employer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM message boards should be part of a private school's "business strategy"?

I really don’t understand why a former employee spending so much time defaming her former employer

Maybe they want to give potential new parents the complete picture at BIM, not just the PR spin from the admissions office. Why wouldn't a school or any organization be willing to own up to everything that has happened there since it opened? Aren't they asking parents to trust in their integrity? Why hide stuff like current enrollment numbers?

[Anonymous]

I think DCUM doesn't like it b/c it's a hard school and their kids couldn't cut it. It's a solid education. My kids couldn't cut it but their best friends go and love it.

[Anonymous]

OMG BASIS lady you need to stop. There are more than one of us on here who know who you are IRL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OMG BASIS lady you need to stop. There are more than one of us on here who know who you are IRL.

I have seen posts from several different former employees here filling people in on the facts about BIM. But if you feel you need to threaten personal retribution against someone based on what they say (and you don't really have a clue who writes what here), that says far more about you than it does about them. Also reflects on the parent cohort at the school.

Well done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think DCUM doesn't like it b/c it's a hard school and their kids couldn't cut it. It's a solid education. My kids couldn't cut it but their best friends go and love it.

Any evidence that links any DCUM poster to anyone who left BIM for that reason beyond "you think" so you made it up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM message boards should be part of a private school's "business strategy"?

I really don’t understand why a former employee spending so much time defaming her former employer

Maybe they want to give potential new parents the complete picture at BIM, not just the PR spin from the admissions office. Why wouldn't a school or any organization be willing to own up to everything that has happened there since it opened? Aren't they asking parents to trust in their integrity? Why hide stuff like current enrollment numbers?

You can find accurate updated current enrollment numbers from ParentSquare

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think DCUM doesn't like it b/c it's a hard school and their kids couldn't cut it. It's a solid education. My kids couldn't cut it but their best friends go and love it.

Interesting

[Anonymous]

We live in McLean and know several kids who switched over to Basis. I have toured several times - before the school even opened, when they first started accepting students and recently.

Basis McLean is like a private TJ and has mostly very smart rich Asian kids. The kids we know who go there are far smarter than the kids who we know who chose Potomac, Langley, Flint Hill, Landon and the other suburban privates. I don’t doubt that Basis has the best academics around.

I have athletic boys and the lack of sports is a dealbreaker for us. Extracurriculars seem lacking unless you are only interested in STEM. The school gives a ton of homework. Class sizes also seem too small. I know it is a new school but the graduating class has only 30-40 kids. That is too small in my opinion.

While the school is not a good fit for our family, it may work for a super smart kid who is not athletic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM message boards should be part of a private school's "business strategy"?

I really don’t understand why a former employee spending so much time defaming her former employer

Maybe they want to give potential new parents the complete picture at BIM, not just the PR spin from the admissions office. Why wouldn't a school or any organization be willing to own up to everything that has happened there since it opened? Aren't they asking parents to trust in their integrity? Why hide stuff like current enrollment numbers?

You can find accurate updated current enrollment numbers from ParentSquare

No, ParentSquare has many BASIS staff people throughout their network. Maybe the school could just publish an accurate number on its home page like other schools.

But that would break their rules about keeping all information and plans Top Secret. Parents are supposed to invest in a black box on faith.

[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.

Toured Basis McLean when it opened and have seen other Basis campus — there’s potential, but the McLean outpost has clear issues despite boosters like the parent above. The real point is that the Niche rankings are joke. It is not really “commendable” to improve “year over year” with criteria that clearly can be gamed via self-reporting and meaningless inputs like what colleges students *apply to* — not get accepted to — points for applying to lots of reach schools?!?! Great indicia of a top school (fwiw some top school affirmatively dissuade students from applying to too many reaches). Niche also seems to have a pay-to-play element to it: https://www.niche.com/about/partnerships/#schools — “… Upgrade to Premium to motivate users to drive more applications, visits, and inquiries.” Wonder how that impacts results and commendable year over year ranking improvement?

What makes Basis McClean’s ranking even more laughable is that it is ranked #4 in the entire DMV. Higher, among others, than St. Albans, Maret, Holton, and Potomac: https://www.niche.com/k12/search/best-private-high-schools/m/washington-dc-metro-area/

That speaks even more to a suspect ranking system than ranking among a small sampling of Virginia privates.