Best private schools in NYC?
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Anonymous
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Narrowing down to Friends Seminary, Nightingale or Chapin. With the coed/single-sex factor aside, are there huge differences academically between the three?
We’d probably prefer a co-ed setup but haven’t gotten many specifics from Friends on their academic expectations of kids, teaching style, etc. It seems like the uptown schools are much more open about sharing nuts and bolts of kids’ schoolwork at Open House nights and other events. |
Anonymous
| What grade are you applying for? We applied to Friends for 9th and have friends with kids in the high school. I think the high school is pretty rigorous with a heavy workload but the kids have free periods during the day to get some work done. Chaplin and NBS are both great. I think NBS is maybe a little more easygoing. |
Anonymous
| This was 2 years ago but I loved our Nightingale tour, honestly was more impressed with NBS than Chapin. Girls seemed well adjusted and happy at both schools but was more impressed with Nightingale’s leadership and faculty despite the HOS being male. They are also opening a new sports building and seems they are trying to shake up their relative ranking and move up the ladder over Chapin or Sacred Heart |
Anonymous
I felt the same about Nightingale. We ended up at a co-ed, which was ultimately our preference, but Nightingale was at the top of my list amongst the girls schools. |
Anonymous
My DD is an NBS alum. She had a wonderful experience there. |
Anonymous
We toured Brearley, Chapin and Spence. They all seemed very similar. We really could not pinpoint the cultural differences. |
Anonymous
| Brearley is a lot different from the other two. They want brainy go-getters. The ringers coming in for 9th are 100% competitive and locked-in on the ultimate goal of a TT college slot. Nothing else matters to them. |
Anonymous
Between Chapin and NBS, I think the difference will be in the students themselves. NBS admissions is less competitive, while Chapin only takes academic rockstars at 6, 7 and 9th so it creates a more academically-inclined student body. |
Anonymous
| An important distinction between Chapin and NBS is that NBS takes the ISEE/SSAT while Chapin has their own assessment and uses that exclusively, so if your kid is inconsistent with testing you're getting two lottery tickets instead of one. |
Anonymous
Also depends on the grade, but culturally NBS students often socialize with Columbia Grammar student body which tend to be a socially faster crowd, social media and cell phones pop up earlier than at some of the other schools… |
Anonymous
why do they socialize with them specifically? aren’t they on opposite sides of the city |
Anonymous
My DD graduated NBS in 2022, and this was not true of her experience. They socialized with the other east side schools. I don’t think she knows anyone who went to CGPS. |
Anonymous
My daughter's friends at Nightingale socialize more with other UES schools and boys at Collegiate. I don't know anyone from CG in their social circles (besides one pre-school friend, whom they hardly ever see). If anything, Nightingale seem to be one of the more conservative schools on the tech/phone front. |
Anonymous
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Isn’t NBS a second tier school along the lines of Sacred Heart? The top girls’ schools are Brearley with Spence and Chapin about the same?
What are the cell phone policies at all these schools? Imagine they are all the same, leave with teacher when you come to class, pick up the phone at 3pm? How could they vary? |
Anonymous
Tech policy has turned more anti phone but vary slightly across schools - specifically for junior/seniors. Ask on tours. |