Reply to How Strong is Burgundy Farm Country Day Academically?

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[quote=Anonymous]I had a son at the school from grades 3-8. The speculation that kids below 70th-80th percentile are sought or at least accepted  is interesting, because I was recently told very explicitly by the admissions director that they are looking for an IQ of 120+, which is top 10% on national scales. This came up in the context of a younger son's admission; it was NOT the case and was certainly not explicitly stated as an expectation when my older son was admitted in 2008. I think they have a larger applicant pool now (post financial crisis) and may be getting pickier as a result. It bothers me because it's not consistent with their stated belief in the intrinsic potential of every child.

I loved the LS despite a ton of turnover (medical issues for staff members) and was VERY disappointed in the MS. We were there when the disastrous former head of the MS made a mess of what had been a superb program. One change he made inexplicably survives -- they have mashed English and Social Studies together into Humanities. This is appealing in concept, but the execution has not been great, and my kid was overwhelmed by it. He ended up two years in a row with one big fat C for this double course, and this is a kid who LOVES history.

Like a previous poster, I found the grading in the middle school to be pretty harsh, especially since grades only start in 6th grade. Even after the departure of the horrible head of MS, the tone in the MS was very different from the lower school and my impression is that they are still flailing a little. I am very torn about whether it will be worth it for my younger child.

One advantage -- and it may be decisive for me -- is that if you are transitioning a shy kid from a small private ES, the Burgundy MS program is big enough to provide a varied social experience but still small enough to be a manageable transition en route to public HS. I have no complaints about the experience my child had there. He is articulate, kind, and has a strong sense of social justice -- traits that were important to me. He is confident about dealing directly with authority figures. Talking to a teacher is not intimidating to him. He is also doing extremely well academically in HS despite having earned mostly Bs and Cs in Burgundy's MS.
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