Best private schools in NYC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think among the top tier and most consider Spence, Chapin and Riverdale top tier, college placement are quite similar…but I don’t have all the data.

Horace Mann is not sooooo much more academically rigorous than Spence, maybe a bit more.

+ sport recruitment like squash players from Spence

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think among the top tier and most consider Spence, Chapin and Riverdale top tier, college placement are quite similar…but I don’t have all the data.

Horace Mann is not sooooo much more academically rigorous than Spence, maybe a bit more.

Except for Collegiate and Brearley. They typically stand above the rest on college placement.

[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.

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.

We went to the diversity event and talked to a bunch of the parents in the appropriate affinity group. Everyone was nice. Are you saying this meant something for admissions?

No, I don’t think it matters for admissions. You mentioned that you didn’t know any families at Trinity and felt like an outsider. I wondered if you attended and were able to speak to current parents and if it was helpful at all for you. Not for admissions (like I said, that’s a lot of luck), but to get to know the school more and ask the real questions you have that you might not ask admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, re the rest of your question, I don’t know Poly Prep that well, but from what people have told me I think Avenues is more rigorous than Fieldston. Poly Prep’s curriculum seems pretty aggressive but I don’t know how it works in practice.

Avenues is a weird cult. No one takes it seriously.

Fieldston has its issues and I personally was not a fan but the piling on here is out of control. I know a number of very successful, normal families with smart kids there. Not sure why someone has such a big bone to pick - I am always questioning of people who come on here and just go to town on a school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

We went to the diversity event and talked to a bunch of the parents in the appropriate affinity group. Everyone was nice. Are you saying this meant something for admissions?

No, I don’t think it matters for admissions. You mentioned that you didn’t know any families at Trinity and felt like an outsider. I wondered if you attended and were able to speak to current parents and if it was helpful at all for you. Not for admissions (like I said, that’s a lot of luck), but to get to know the school more and ask the real questions you have that you might not ask admissions.

Everyone was so nice. I noticed that people say so many hoity things about Trinity and I didn't find the actual parents there to be like that at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think among the top tier and most consider Spence, Chapin and Riverdale top tier, college placement are quite similar…but I don’t have all the data.

Horace Mann is not sooooo much more academically rigorous than Spence, maybe a bit more.

Except for Collegiate and Brearley. They typically stand above the rest on college placement.

Brearley and Spence had very similar college placements between 2021-2025 (per their websites). Brearley used to stand out in UB days but it is no longer the case. Other schools caught up.

[Anonymous]

There are multiple people attacking Fieldston here. (I’m one of them but I’m not responsible for the majority of the comments)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think among the top tier and most consider Spence, Chapin and Riverdale top tier, college placement are quite similar…but I don’t have all the data.

Horace Mann is not sooooo much more academically rigorous than Spence, maybe a bit more.

Except for Collegiate and Brearley. They typically stand above the rest on college placement.

Brearley and Spence had very similar college placements between 2021-2025 (per their websites). Brearley used to stand out in UB days but it is no longer the case. Other schools caught up.

Sounds like a Spence mom. Brearley still stands out. It's Trinity, Collegiate, and Brearley at the top. Then the others.

[Anonymous]

So glad I only have boys - too much to keep track of and differentiating the girls schools just adds to the confusion. They all sound the same to me. Best of luck to all of you.

Collegiate has really declined. It used to be incredible. I know several kids/families there and I am very underwhelmed. They will get good exmissions through legacies and wealth. But so many of the kids there are odd.

I used to like Collegiate guys. They had a certain sense of "act like you've been there before" and comfort in their own skin that was appealing. That is no longer the culture. I would not let my kids within a mile of the place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, re the rest of your question, I don’t know Poly Prep that well, but from what people have told me I think Avenues is more rigorous than Fieldston. Poly Prep’s curriculum seems pretty aggressive but I don’t know how it works in practice.

Avenues is a weird cult. No one takes it seriously.

Fieldston has its issues and I personally was not a fan but the piling on here is out of control. I know a number of very successful, normal families with smart kids there. Not sure why someone has such a big bone to pick - I am always questioning of people who come on here and just go to town on a school.

Did someone say Town? GO to Town? Don't be ridiculous, no one gets into Town.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the tier question boils down to two things:

1) How heavily do you weight admissions exclusivity versus academics versus college matriculations; and
2) How many tiers do you want to end up with.

If we're going with three tiers, where TT are the prep school equivalent of Ivies, 2T are other schools that have reasonably competitive admissions, and 3T is everybody else, and we're heavily weighting acceptance rates, you'd probably have to include Riverdale in TT and most of the other non-TT schools mentioned in this thread in 2T.

If on the other hand you have four tiers and you weight academics/matriculations more, 1T would probably be just the canonical quintet of HM/Trinity/Dalton/Brearley/Collegiate, 2T would be Riverdale/Spence/Chapin/St Ann's and maybe Friends or one or two others, 3T would be the academically weakest "name" schools like Fieldston and LREI, and 4T would be the schools that take everyone like BWL and Dwight.

Where would Grace be in this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the tier question boils down to two things:

1) How heavily do you weight admissions exclusivity versus academics versus college matriculations; and
2) How many tiers do you want to end up with.

If we're going with three tiers, where TT are the prep school equivalent of Ivies, 2T are other schools that have reasonably competitive admissions, and 3T is everybody else, and we're heavily weighting acceptance rates, you'd probably have to include Riverdale in TT and most of the other non-TT schools mentioned in this thread in 2T.

If on the other hand you have four tiers and you weight academics/matriculations more, 1T would probably be just the canonical quintet of HM/Trinity/Dalton/Brearley/Collegiate, 2T would be Riverdale/Spence/Chapin/St Ann's and maybe Friends or one or two others, 3T would be the academically weakest "name" schools like Fieldston and LREI, and 4T would be the schools that take everyone like BWL and Dwight.

Where would Grace be in this?

Grace is bottom of Tier 2 or top of Tier 3. It is on par with Friends - not sure if it used to be but it is now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the tier question boils down to two things:

1) How heavily do you weight admissions exclusivity versus academics versus college matriculations; and
2) How many tiers do you want to end up with.

If we're going with three tiers, where TT are the prep school equivalent of Ivies, 2T are other schools that have reasonably competitive admissions, and 3T is everybody else, and we're heavily weighting acceptance rates, you'd probably have to include Riverdale in TT and most of the other non-TT schools mentioned in this thread in 2T.

If on the other hand you have four tiers and you weight academics/matriculations more, 1T would probably be just the canonical quintet of HM/Trinity/Dalton/Brearley/Collegiate, 2T would be Riverdale/Spence/Chapin/St Ann's and maybe Friends or one or two others, 3T would be the academically weakest "name" schools like Fieldston and LREI, and 4T would be the schools that take everyone like BWL and Dwight.

Where would Grace be in this?

Grace is bottom of Tier 2 or top of Tier 3. It is on par with Friends - not sure if it used to be but it is now.

Grace is definitely not more academically rigorous than Fieldston. Grace is way easier to get into.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the tier question boils down to two things:

1) How heavily do you weight admissions exclusivity versus academics versus college matriculations; and
2) How many tiers do you want to end up with.

If we're going with three tiers, where TT are the prep school equivalent of Ivies, 2T are other schools that have reasonably competitive admissions, and 3T is everybody else, and we're heavily weighting acceptance rates, you'd probably have to include Riverdale in TT and most of the other non-TT schools mentioned in this thread in 2T.

If on the other hand you have four tiers and you weight academics/matriculations more, 1T would probably be just the canonical quintet of HM/Trinity/Dalton/Brearley/Collegiate, 2T would be Riverdale/Spence/Chapin/St Ann's and maybe Friends or one or two others, 3T would be the academically weakest "name" schools like Fieldston and LREI, and 4T would be the schools that take everyone like BWL and Dwight.

Where would Grace be in this?

Grace is bottom of Tier 2 or top of Tier 3. It is on par with Friends - not sure if it used to be but it is now.

Grace is definitely not more academically rigorous than Fieldston. Grace is way easier to get into.

Grace has come up in the world a lot lately. Fieldston likely gets a lot of applicants based on its past reputation but the gap has closed. Grace kids are much happier and better adjusted. Top to bottom its exmissions are good but not great but they are improving and if you have a top student they can do very well there with less of the drama at other schools.

Also geographically very desirable.

[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.

I honestly wish I had read something like this before our parent interview. We felt a bit unprepared, and afterward we kept replaying whether we clearly expressed why the school resonated so strongly with us.

The tour and experience events were the warmest we had, hands down. Our tour guide was incredibly kind and warm, and we felt an immediate connection, especially around what our kids are learning. The other family on our tour was also lovely. We’re an unconnected family as well. Thank you for sharing.