Best private schools in NYC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Be careful scheduling appointments at Trinity. I have heard that they are very difficult about rescheduling, to the point of being kind of rude about it. It is one thing to say they are booked solid and don't have availability, but they refuse to even consider it, even with lots of notice.

Also untrue in my experience. We had to reschedule for a very unexpected (and obviously last minute) funeral. They were very accommodating on short notice.

There is no perfect school, but part of the problem with this process is the rumor mill and hearing from people who might have, let’s call it, sour grapes. Talk to parents who are *in* the schools if possible. Everything else creates noise and chatter and it spun me in circles and didn’t end up being helpful at all. If it’s your bff telling their story, fine. Everything else maybe take with a grain of salt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trinity parent who wore normal clothing (pants, flats, sweater) for both our k tour and interview. Did not interview with head of admissions (Jennifer) or associate head of admissions (was Drew, is now Jaclyn). Unconnected and got lucky.

The couple we toured with was outwardly flashy, dad was pompous and talked over everyone and argued with his wife and tried to dismiss her questions. They probably thought we were the odd ones, but we never saw them again.

Wow, unconnected? Nice. Any tips

Luck. Honestly. My kid is very bright, but NYC is filled with very bright kids. I am confident that many applicants would have checked the same boxes and been equally successful in the school.

I wish I had meaningful tips. Be yourself. Be kind. Hope that your 4/5 year old has a good day on that visit. Know why the school is of interest to you and why you think your child would be a good fit and communicate that well. We focused a lot on the lower school experience at every school because it felt impossibly hard to predict who our kid would be in middle or high school. That is all I've got.

The rest is just luck.

This makes me feel good. We're unconnected. We have a very bright kid (also a 2nd rounder at Hunter). We didn't interview with Jaclyn or Jennifer though both had really kind responses to our thank you notes as both were at our kid's 2nd playdate. Our tour was wild though. Other family was kind. We asked a bunch of questions as we went through but the tour guide was really enthusiastic and shared so much and introduced us to so many teachers that the whole thing actually lasted a little over 2 hours. It was so thorough!

I thought the only interviewers were Jennifer or Jacklyn. There’s a third? Were you able to get feedback from the second play date? We’ve gotten no feedback at all from Trinity

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Be careful scheduling appointments at Trinity. I have heard that they are very difficult about rescheduling, to the point of being kind of rude about it. It is one thing to say they are booked solid and don't have availability, but they refuse to even consider it, even with lots of notice.

Also untrue in my experience. We had to reschedule for a very unexpected (and obviously last minute) funeral. They were very accommodating on short notice.

There is no perfect school, but part of the problem with this process is the rumor mill and hearing from people who might have, let’s call it, sour grapes. Talk to parents who are *in* the schools if possible. Everything else creates noise and chatter and it spun me in circles and didn’t end up being helpful at all. If it’s your bff telling their story, fine. Everything else maybe take with a grain of salt.

Also untrue in our experience. We’re super flexible about scheduling

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trinity parent who wore normal clothing (pants, flats, sweater) for both our k tour and interview. Did not interview with head of admissions (Jennifer) or associate head of admissions (was Drew, is now Jaclyn). Unconnected and got lucky.

The couple we toured with was outwardly flashy, dad was pompous and talked over everyone and argued with his wife and tried to dismiss her questions. They probably thought we were the odd ones, but we never saw them again.

Wow, unconnected? Nice. Any tips

Luck. Honestly. My kid is very bright, but NYC is filled with very bright kids. I am confident that many applicants would have checked the same boxes and been equally successful in the school.

I wish I had meaningful tips. Be yourself. Be kind. Hope that your 4/5 year old has a good day on that visit. Know why the school is of interest to you and why you think your child would be a good fit and communicate that well. We focused a lot on the lower school experience at every school because it felt impossibly hard to predict who our kid would be in middle or high school. That is all I've got.

The rest is just luck.

This makes me feel good. We're unconnected. We have a very bright kid (also a 2nd rounder at Hunter). We didn't interview with Jaclyn or Jennifer though both had really kind responses to our thank you notes as both were at our kid's 2nd playdate. Our tour was wild though. Other family was kind. We asked a bunch of questions as we went through but the tour guide was really enthusiastic and shared so much and introduced us to so many teachers that the whole thing actually lasted a little over 2 hours. It was so thorough!

I thought the only interviewers were Jennifer or Jacklyn. There’s a third? Were you able to get feedback from the second play date? We’ve gotten no feedback at all from Trinity

There’s a whole team. I think currently 5ish people who do parent interviews. We didn’t interview with any of the people you’re “supposed to” (Jennifer or Drew was the lore) and got in.

https://www.trinityschoolnyc.org/meet-our-team-grades-k-4

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think if you are missed on school visit and they want to see you

Ours is at a UPK. Everyone has been very nice to us throughout the process. We get nice responses to thank yous. Both our tour and interview went twice as long. Everyone was nice at the diversity night event. After her playdate the admissions team said nice things to us. We'll see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Be careful scheduling appointments at Trinity. I have heard that they are very difficult about rescheduling, to the point of being kind of rude about it. It is one thing to say they are booked solid and don't have availability, but they refuse to even consider it, even with lots of notice.

Also untrue in my experience. We had to reschedule for a very unexpected (and obviously last minute) funeral. They were very accommodating on short notice.

There is no perfect school, but part of the problem with this process is the rumor mill and hearing from people who might have, let’s call it, sour grapes. Talk to parents who are *in* the schools if possible. Everything else creates noise and chatter and it spun me in circles and didn’t end up being helpful at all. If it’s your bff telling their story, fine. Everything else maybe take with a grain of salt.

My friends scheduled then a day or two later (over a month out) found out they had a conflict with an event at their kid's school - this was an academic conflict. Reached out to Trinity and were told policy says no rescheduling. You would think a school would be understanding of school conflicts? Nope. The easier answer would be "sorry, fully booked, we will let you know" but they just said we won't even consider it. Not cool. I think this was around 2021 or 2022 so maybe they have learned their lesson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trinity parent who wore normal clothing (pants, flats, sweater) for both our k tour and interview. Did not interview with head of admissions (Jennifer) or associate head of admissions (was Drew, is now Jaclyn). Unconnected and got lucky.

The couple we toured with was outwardly flashy, dad was pompous and talked over everyone and argued with his wife and tried to dismiss her questions. They probably thought we were the odd ones, but we never saw them again.

Wow, unconnected? Nice. Any tips

Luck. Honestly. My kid is very bright, but NYC is filled with very bright kids. I am confident that many applicants would have checked the same boxes and been equally successful in the school.

I wish I had meaningful tips. Be yourself. Be kind. Hope that your 4/5 year old has a good day on that visit. Know why the school is of interest to you and why you think your child would be a good fit and communicate that well. We focused a lot on the lower school experience at every school because it felt impossibly hard to predict who our kid would be in middle or high school. That is all I've got.

The rest is just luck.

This makes me feel good. We're unconnected. We have a very bright kid (also a 2nd rounder at Hunter). We didn't interview with Jaclyn or Jennifer though both had really kind responses to our thank you notes as both were at our kid's 2nd playdate. Our tour was wild though. Other family was kind. We asked a bunch of questions as we went through but the tour guide was really enthusiastic and shared so much and introduced us to so many teachers that the whole thing actually lasted a little over 2 hours. It was so thorough!

I thought the only interviewers were Jennifer or Jacklyn. There’s a third? Were you able to get feedback from the second play date? We’ve gotten no feedback at all from Trinity

There’s a whole team. I think currently 5ish people who do parent interviews. We didn’t interview with any of the people you’re “supposed to” (Jennifer or Drew was the lore) and got in.

https://www.trinityschoolnyc.org/meet-our-team-grades-k-4

We met with Marcy, but Jennifer approached us with something small and light after the playdate and Jaclyn emailed nice small feedback after our thank you. We included all of them on our correspondence as we know our kid interacted with all of them. No idea. We're not connected so we know the chances are slim.

[Anonymous]

My daughter got into one of the top 3 schools at middle school and they only accepted about 4-8 kids at the 6th grade entry point. Spoke to all the parents and not one set was connected. I think that is much more of a myth than you’d think!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter got into one of the top 3 schools at middle school and they only accepted about 4-8 kids at the 6th grade entry point. Spoke to all the parents and not one set was connected. I think that is much more of a myth than you’d think!

Interested to know which are top 3 schools in your opinion ?

[Anonymous]

I assume they mean girls schools because for coed one of them admits zero kids and one of them admits 50 kids so 4-8 would narrow it down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trinity parent who wore normal clothing (pants, flats, sweater) for both our k tour and interview. Did not interview with head of admissions (Jennifer) or associate head of admissions (was Drew, is now Jaclyn). Unconnected and got lucky.

The couple we toured with was outwardly flashy, dad was pompous and talked over everyone and argued with his wife and tried to dismiss her questions. They probably thought we were the odd ones, but we never saw them again.

Wow, unconnected? Nice. Any tips

Luck. Honestly. My kid is very bright, but NYC is filled with very bright kids. I am confident that many applicants would have checked the same boxes and been equally successful in the school.

I wish I had meaningful tips. Be yourself. Be kind. Hope that your 4/5 year old has a good day on that visit. Know why the school is of interest to you and why you think your child would be a good fit and communicate that well. We focused a lot on the lower school experience at every school because it felt impossibly hard to predict who our kid would be in middle or high school. That is all I've got.

The rest is just luck.

Thank you. We don’t know at families at Trinity. Everything has gone well so far but feel like an outsider. Guess we will see

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trinity parent who wore normal clothing (pants, flats, sweater) for both our k tour and interview. Did not interview with head of admissions (Jennifer) or associate head of admissions (was Drew, is now Jaclyn). Unconnected and got lucky.

The couple we toured with was outwardly flashy, dad was pompous and talked over everyone and argued with his wife and tried to dismiss her questions. They probably thought we were the odd ones, but we never saw them again.

Wow, unconnected? Nice. Any tips

Luck. Honestly. My kid is very bright, but NYC is filled with very bright kids. I am confident that many applicants would have checked the same boxes and been equally successful in the school.

I wish I had meaningful tips. Be yourself. Be kind. Hope that your 4/5 year old has a good day on that visit. Know why the school is of interest to you and why you think your child would be a good fit and communicate that well. We focused a lot on the lower school experience at every school because it felt impossibly hard to predict who our kid would be in middle or high school. That is all I've got.

The rest is just luck.

Thank you. We don’t know at families at Trinity. Everything has gone well so far but feel like an outsider. Guess we will see

You’re welcome to ask me questions if you’re applying for k. My oldest isn’t in upper school yet, so I can’t speak to that process or experience, but happy to share.

If you applied for k, did you talk to parents at the Open House? The diversity event? You don’t need to know anyone, I promise! I just found that asking current parents at every school that interested is very helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I assume they mean girls schools because for coed one of them admits zero kids and one of them admits 50 kids so 4-8 would narrow it down.

Yes, top girls’ schools is what we meant. We are well aware that there are plenty of coed schools such as Horace Mann, Trinity and Riverdale that are considered superior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter got into one of the top 3 schools at middle school and they only accepted about 4-8 kids at the 6th grade entry point. Spoke to all the parents and not one set was connected. I think that is much more of a myth than you’d think!

Interested to know which are top 3 schools in your opinion ?

Top three schools in my opinion are:
Horace Mann
Trinity
Brearley

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter got into one of the top 3 schools at middle school and they only accepted about 4-8 kids at the 6th grade entry point. Spoke to all the parents and not one set was connected. I think that is much more of a myth than you’d think!

Interested to know which are top 3 schools in your opinion ?

Top three schools in my opinion are:
Horace Mann
Trinity
Brearley

Stuy
Bronx Science
Hunter