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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I happen to know that the leadership of the BASIS franchise in Arizona is rethinking their use of senior year as elite college admissions becomes ever more competitive in this country. I've done some budget-related management consulting work for the franchise over a 12-year period.  They're in the process of shifting more teaching resources into 12th grade, starting at several of the Arizona campuses.

We live on CH and went private rather than take a BASIS spot. Half a dozen of the BASIS families whose teens, all of them math stars, were admitted to Ivies in the past few years are friends and/or neighbors. I've never heard any of these parents wax about what an "amazing fit!" BASIS was. I know that they had their real ups and downs in the program over the years, particularly with doing the legwork and paying for competitive ECs. [/quote]

You didn't send your kid to BASIS but you know people who attended BASIS who never said it was a great fit for their kids. Is the idea that since no one you know thought so that anyone who feels that way must be wrong? I don't get it. How does your consulting work make you more of an expert on the actual experience than enrolled kids? I also don't think you are making the case you think you are. You know a bunch of kids who went to BASIS and now attend Ivies, and the conclusion is that...BASIS was a bad fit?

You don't have a kid there so you don't really know whether it was a good fit for your kid or how they felt about attending. I find it just so odd that you chime in to tell parents who are sharing their own experiences that they are wrong. It's strange behavior.

No one (and surely not me) is arguing BASIS is perfect. What I have said is that is a great fit for my kid and several of his friends. I do not understand why that triggers you.
 
P.S. Unrelated to my point above, unless the BASIS folks in AZ are rank morons, your engagement with them included an NDA and non-disparagement clause. You are disclosing non-public information and using that confidential information to disparage the current model. Good luck to any clients that hire you in the future![/quote]  You're shadow boxing, lumping posters together defensively. Months ago, BASIS announced to stakeholders that its going to rework its approach to college counseling on shifting admissions sands.  Not difficult to connect the dots.[/quote]

BASIS "announced to stakeholders"?

Here is what you said before:  "I happen to know that the leadership of the BASIS franchise in Arizona is rethinking their use of senior year ... I've done some budget-related management consulting work for the franchise over a 12-year period."

Were you lying before or lying now?[/quote]

You noticed that too? They went from "super secret consultant inside information" to "everyone knows" without missing a beat. I'd also point out that whether or not BASIS changes the 12th grade model isn't responsive to questions about the building and doesn't in any way change whether it is a good fit, great fit or bad fit for some kids. Lots of things happen before 12th grade. The pressure cooker, test heavy, no BS environment is not going to be altered by changing 12th grade. That's a shiny object to fixate on. It's also not a bad thing to assess your strengths and weaknesses and determine you need to course correct. The people who seem to really have a hatred for all things BASIS want to bash them both for being inflexible and also for changing.

I said it before, I will say it again. The building is suboptimal. No one in their right mind would argue otherwise. [b]The academic approach and school are a great fit for my kid and his friends. These same things are an ok (better than alternatives) fit for some kids. And a terrible fit for other kids.[/b] That last category is both kids who can't keep up with the rigor as well as kids who want to focus on arts and foreign language, neither of which BASIS excels as. [Enter the DCUM posters who will at once argue that I am wrong and it is NOT a great fir for my kid and also that by having the temerity to express my opinion I am hating on people who hate on the school.]   [/quote]

Thank you. OP here. this is really clarifying. So it seems like if the academics are a good enough fit (for math/science inclined kids), all the rest of the cons are worth tolerating. [b]I would also just love to hear some stories that kids like this actually feel happy there, love learning and love going to school -- that the environment isn't completely depressing.[/b][/quote]

You won't get that on DCUM. Have you seen what happened when someone dared mention their kid was really happy there? The BASIS haters descended and told them they were wrong. If you want to know what it is really like at BASIS ask some of the families you know. Most of us will give you the good and bad and be pretty level headed. DCUM is as good a source for reasoned unbiased opinions (and retorts) as Twitter is for civil discourse.[/quote]

I guess thats part of the problem. In real life, I know a handful of families who left BASIS, and I don't know any who stayed. But on the tour, I saw with my own eyes the smiling faces of many high schoolers. I have to say, I didn't see many smiles on middle schoolers. So im trying to figure out whats going on.[/quote]

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