Reply to BASIS attrition after middle school- why?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]No, but they would have had more time to learn and process learning, with AP classes continuing through sr year. They would also have had more time for ECs before sr year.  We hired a college counselor at BASIS in the end and would surely have done the same at JR. [/quote]  +1. Be careful what you wish for. We weren't impressed with the much vaunted college counseling at BASIS. Senior admins didn't attend IvyPlus schools themselves and don't seem to have their heads around what it takes to stand out in a highly competitive field. They don't necessarily get that a bunch of high AP scores and a half baked senior project generally won't be enough if you're aiming high. Our kid's unusual academic and ec interests weren't supported at BASIS but she took a couple Cambridge International AS-Level exams in off beat subjects (marine biology, a language not taught at BASIS or tested by AP) independently, which her counselor discouraged and disparaged. We mostly tuned the counselor out.[/quote]

OK but how would your experience have been better at another DC public school?

DC public schools aren’t stocked with hundreds of IvyPlus-educated counselors eager to guide your snowflake through college admissions, marine biology, and obscure languages.[/quote]

Perhaps better at another public school: not a safe assumption that it won't be.

With the benefit of hindsight, we'd have gone with a different 9th-12th grade option for both of our children, one where four years of high school weren't crammed into three and admins might have been open-minded. Our second kid had a better counseling experience, at J-R, where he was given encouragement and support to study the "obscure language" (not remotely obscure) we speak at home via dual enrollment from the get go, along with a couple other subjects of interest.

Families bound for the BASIS high school might want to know that the strange, amorphous senior year experience isn't necessarily worth it. I see a problem with nobody in the building thinking outside the box about elite college admissions.  The BASIS myopia about achievement is real, meaning that the program isn't for every family where the kid's capable of scoring high on many AP exams. Maybe the school culture will shift for the better under CC. Hope so.[/quote]

Well, you seem bitter about your personal experience but the BASIS seniors getting accepted to Ivy League and other highly ranked colleges seem to be doing fine.[/quote]

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