Anonymous wrote:BCC is not. Whitman is.

My daughter is a junior at Whitman, and has enjoyed her high school experience a lot so far, much more than my husband did when he attended Whitman back in the day. This comment prompted me to ask her whether she thinks it's a pressure cooker. She said she didn't find it so her freshman and sophomore years, but does now because people are constantly talking about SATs, teacher recommendations, summer internships, etc.

Is this sort of thing what people mean by "pressure cooker", or does it mean something like kids tearing each other down to get ahead? I have not noticed much if any of the latter, but the kids do seem to be pretty anxious about getting into college.

BCC is not. Whitman is.

The pressure comes from the parents who want their kids to be top performers.

I would say it is a lot less than Whitman and at B-CC many of us could afford to live in the Whitman district but decided not to based on the pressure at that school.

I am ok with my kid going to a lower ranked college and not being stressed out. Quality of life is so important at such a young age.

There is a lot of social pressure around money and possessions, in my kids' experience. This is not to say that there aren't less-well-off or whose families can't/won't provide some of the material things that are de rigeur at BCC ... but the pressure is there.

no it is not

BCC IMO is deserving of the fluctuating top school rating HS with VERY involved parents but seems to be less of a helicopter environment than what I've observed with Whitman, RMHS. It can be as intense as the kids want. The IB program there is 'self-selecting' and an IB ready student is a different (not smarter!) kind of student than the typical AP sort and kids pushed into the program flounder. High achieving isn't necessarily defined by academics alone and its top tier rowing club as well as things like cricket, squash, girls' hockey and its music and drama programs let kids find their place. I've had 3 very different kinds of kids graduate from there - one full IB, one full-on AP, one a broad mix: two to Ivies, 3rd to a top-rated specific area of study college.

Not at all. Those students who choose AP and IB courses can choose exactly how heavy a load to carry. Those kids who don't carry as heavy a load aren't looked down upon. There is very little to no competition among peers about grades. If anything, IME, the administration (teachers and counselors) discourage kids from taking a lot of APs, especially in 9th and 10th grade, and even (sadly IMO) for those students who want and are capable of doing more.

We deliberately avoided the RM IB program in favor of BCC specifically to avoid the more labor and time intensive and competitive environment we perceived RMIB to be. DC is glad to have time for other activities like sports even though DC also has an advanced course load.

Hearing about "pressure cooker" high schools and wondering about BCC? For those of you with experience, can you share your child's experience at BCC?