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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm surprised at a lot of the comments about New Trier here.  I grew up in Wilmette and went to New Trier, and I get all the benefits and drawbacks of going to a school like that, but honestly the competitiveness, affluenza, preparation for the future, etc. are similar complaints and praises of other high performing suburban high schools in large metro areas.  Bethesda, McLean, and North Arlington are honestly pretty similar.  It's the sort of school that appeals to the sort of people who think that school districts with a great schools score of 10 are the only acceptable options.  The academics are strong, especially the advanced offerings (APs/electives).  There's a lot of pressure to succeed and get into great colleges (a nutty amount of pressure).  Kids study a lot and load up on extracurriculars because the community has a really intense emphasis on education and success.  It's easy to be a small fish in a big pond.  Kids are affluent (with all the entitlement and lack of perspective that comes with that) and it isn't very diverse with regard to race or socioeconomic status.  The towns that feed into NT are largely pretty nice places to live (Wilmette, Winnetka, Kennilworth, Northfield, Glencoe, and a bit of Glenview)--low crime, pretty housing stock, near the lake.

Some people will say "I was so prepared for life from going to new trier!  In comparison Harvard was soooo easy!"  Ok, maybe.  I dunno, I went to a SLAC, and there are plenty of kids who come from schools with rigorous educations whether it is schools like New Trier (in Scarsdale NY, Palo Alto CA, Bethesda, MD, etc.), top tier magnet schools, or private schools.  Actually selective colleges are overrepresented with kids who have educations from competitive places, so I don't know how much of a "leg up" you have.  Others didn't have rigorous educations in high school, but make up for it with drive.

I would probably rather live in Evanston if I were to move back to Chicago because it has a little more of an urban feel and is more diverse.  The schools are also good there, but the scores are lower because there is more socioeconomic and racial diversity.  Some of the westerns suburbs are nice too, but I like having access to the lake.[/quote]

Grew up in Glencoe and Wilmette. Though not for everyone, I echo these sentiments. Good luck. [/quote]

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