We know of families that came to our K-8 for MS in 5th, 6th and then went back to public for HS and loved their schools.

But there were also those who chose to apply out to and attend private HS. I will say it was not usually the pressure cooker private schools for those families.

We also know of a few who went from private MS to a public school for 9th and then back to private for HS in 10th-12th because the child didn't feel their local public was a good fit.

Note all of the below are not uncommon among families that started at our private for MS:

- families who intentionally planned on returning to public HS.

- families that went to public HS as their backup option - having applied to private and magnet but were ok with their local public if not accepted to the private/magnet

- because we don't know of any that ended up at the highly competitive private - I suspect that many of the kids that landed at public HS had also applied to the Big3/Big 5 but didn't get in. Their local HS were MoCo W's. (but note - there genuinely are many that never apply to any private)

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who thinks being a top student at any of the strong local public schools won't be in a pressure cooker environment is kidding themselves, or has a kid who wouldn't have a problem being a top student at any local private school.

The above is 100% true - although I'd say this without judgement. No reason to expect every elementary school parent to understand the competitive nature of HS landscape.

Also true were posts above re publics and AP. The fact is, if your kid will be on track to be a high achiever or in an environment with top academics - it will be pressure. Top publics will have many kids and the AP pressure and that culture spills down even into those kids not competing at the tippy top of grade. The top privates will have some courses that everyone has to take that are not leveled and taught at a high level for everyone (often English, History, Foreign Language).

On the flip side - the HS will depend on whether there is a comfortable place for those kids just below - and it will also depend on the personality of your child to navigate all this "noise". In some schools, kids feel badly if they aren't in the top rung and in some schools it's harder to find options outside of that level of difficulty. But others are a bit more broad (but your kid will still need to feel okay with "where they are").

Anonymous wrote:It's a lot of moving around. If your child is very social and makes friends easily... maybe, but don't do this to a child who is the opposite. Also, the best public high schools are pressure cookers too. My kids never left public and were/are in a pressure cooker school cluster. How can your local middle be so bad if the local high is fine?

Unless you end up in a school that's 6-12, chances are high your kid won't end up in high school with their friends anyway. Private school middle school students tend to disperse across several privates or public magnets (at least in MOCO) around the region. Even some of the K-12 schools have people shift to different high schools to be in bigger schools with different opportunities, etc.

Anonymous wrote:I don't love my middle school public options, so am thinking of applying to Private for my child. I don't love what I hear/read about private US as a pressure cooker and wonder if others move to public for High School? Is this common?

If you got to the private middle school and realized the fit was poor/tuition was unmanageable/commute was horrid? Then sure, that's a reasonable decision. But I wouldn't go through all the work and stress of applying for 6th/7th grade at a K-12 (for example), knowing that we were just going to leave again in a couple years. That just feels like an unnecessary complication to avoid something that may not even be a problem.

My general advice would be to pick a school where you feel good about staying through the terminal grade. If you have a kid who doesn't do well in high pressure environments (my oldest is like that!), there are some K-12 and 6-12 options in the area that could be ideal.

Anyone who thinks being a top student at any of the strong local public schools won't be in a pressure cooker environment is kidding themselves, or has a kid who wouldn't have a problem being a top student at any local private school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't love my middle school public options, so am thinking of applying to Private for my child. I don't love what I hear/read about private US as a pressure cooker and wonder if others move to public for High School? Is this common?

You seem to be thinking that all private upper schools are pressure cookers, which is far from true. A few have that reputation but very many are not.

I’ve heard the opposite. In my area public is a pressure cooker because you’re competing as a senior against 600 other applications to college from your school. And publics tend to have a lot of APs which you are then obligated to take as many as you can to stay competitive. In a private school, that might be more like 80-100 students and fewer APs.

That would depend on your child and your local public school. I personally put my child in private at K because I do not like our public middle and high schools, and I don't see them improving with the way our school board and administration make decisions. If you like your public and your kid wants to switch then it shouldn't be an issue, but at that age they will have an opinion.

Anonymous wrote:I don't love my middle school public options, so am thinking of applying to Private for my child. I don't love what I hear/read about private US as a pressure cooker and wonder if others move to public for High School? Is this common?

You seem to be thinking that all private upper schools are pressure cookers, which is far from true. A few have that reputation but very many are not.

Move to private and then reevaluate for US. Lots of options out there and not all are pressure cookers.

Anonymous wrote:It's a lot of moving around. If your child is very social and makes friends easily... maybe, but don't do this to a child who is the opposite. Also, the best public high schools are pressure cookers too. My kids never left public and were/are in a pressure cooker school cluster. How can your local middle be so bad if the local high is fine?

We did it. Our DC said she wanted to go to public. No regrets.

It's a lot of moving around. If your child is very social and makes friends easily... maybe, but don't do this to a child who is the opposite. Also, the best public high schools are pressure cookers too. My kids never left public and were/are in a pressure cooker school cluster. How can your local middle be so bad if the local high is fine?

I don't love my middle school public options, so am thinking of applying to Private for my child. I don't love what I hear/read about private US as a pressure cooker and wonder if others move to public for High School? Is this common?