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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]People always seem to think that Spence is somehow less rigorous and more hierarchical than Chapin and Brearley, but I’m unsure how true that is - I only have personal connections with Spence. But that was the reputation when I was at Trinity: Spence is for the silly (actually a worse motto which i won’t leave here).

Along time ago that may have been true, but all three seem to be as competitive as the other. I would say still Spence does appear to have a student body which cares marginally more than about status and maybe a small fraction less about academic perfection, but again, I don’t have experience with the other two outside of reputation. I did spent tons of time with Spence girls in the 2000’s since my cousins were there when I was across town, and they all wound up at ivies, if that matters to anyone. And the Spence students I spent time with were uniformly lovely, sophisticated, intelligent, ambitious young women.

Also, Spence does seem to have an incredibly tightly knit community:  their Spence friends are still their best friends, and I can’t really say that about my Trinity classmates. However, I think that may be the case with the girls schools in general. [/quote]

Really? I've never heard anyone think that - if anything, it's the opposite. Chapin was seen as more of a "finishing" school for WASPS. The old (misogynist) adage goes "Brearley girls become doctors, Spence girls marry doctors, and Chapin girls date doctors." [/quote]

Right, that adage is from decades and decades ago, when women went off to bryn mawr or smith to meet a nice yale boy to marry. JD Salinger chronicled it pretty well. It’s quite different now. We all graduated either in the 2000s or the 2010s. For us, and obviously we were silly kids, we considered Spence to be the least academically inclined of the girls schools, but the most socially connected. it makes so little difference, though. Still some of the best schools in the world. [/quote]

All of these schools have evolved with the times while also keeping some degree of their traditions in place. But some very old stereotypes definitely do not hold true anymore.

I speak from firsthand experience as an alum who now sends their kids to one of these TTs. [/quote]

Interesting. I must be stuck in the past! Spence still does strike me as more "modern." Small example - Brearley and Spence have transitioned to having the girls wear graduation gaps and gowns over their white dresses, Chapin still does white gowns. Not a problem - just an observation. Probably just about keeping their traditions. [/quote]

Brearley = Gryffindor
Chapin = Hufflepuff
Spence = Slytherin

the I guess

Nightingale-Bamford = Ravenclaw[/quote]

Brearley= Ravenclaw (most academic)
Chapin: Gryffindor (most well-rounded)
Spence: Slytherin ( a touch mean)
Nightingale: Hufflepuff (least academic)

[/quote]

Agreed, Chapin seems like the only one that would suit both Hermione and Harry - Ron could have gotten in on the sibling policy.

[b]Luna would be a little wacky at Brearley but I could see it in that old UWS academic way[/b]. Cedric, if he were a girl, would be more Nightingale as he seems well-adjusted and less stressed (can't think of any other lead characters in Hufflepuff)

So... based on the characters...

Chapin = Gryffindor (Hermione)
Spence = Slytherin (Bellatrix) 
Brearley = Ravenclaw (Luna) 
Nightingale = Hufflepuff (Cedric) [/quote]

So true. Brearley has always had a funny mix of UES society girls and nerdy daughters of UWS Columbia professors and psychiatrists. [/quote]

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