Anonymous
Post 01/18/2026 16:13     Subject: What's the most elite and exclusive K-12 School?
Anonymous wrote:The one where it's impossible for nobodies to get in even if they have a brilliant child?

I thought Brearely but some of my NY friends are saying Dalton?


Roosevelt Highschool
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2026 16:07     Subject: What's the most elite and exclusive K-12 School?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:In fairness, 4yos are hard enough to assess (IQ tests and playgroups being extremely crude/imperfect tools) that “family history of doing well at Trinity” is probably as good a metric as any.


I get why schools consider siblings and legacies, but they shouldn’t replace meaningful assessment or classroom fit. Otherwise schools risk becoming inheritance systems rather than educational institutions. You still want admissions to be about the child, not just the family.


Sibling, legacy, and faculty kids have to pass the same assessments and go through the same process as unaffiliated kids— it’s not any different. The difference is IF they pass, they get the spot. The bar isn’t lower for connected kids.


The bar is much lower for these kids. There is definitely a bar, but it isn't much. With variability depending on the level of connectedness.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2026 16:01     Subject: What's the most elite and exclusive K-12 School?
Anonymous wrote:Sibling, legacy, and faculty kids have to pass the same assessments and go through the same process as unaffiliated kids— it’s not any different. The difference is IF they pass, they get the spot. The bar isn’t lower for connected kids.


Sure, but for a 4 year old "behaves nicely during playgroup" is not a *particularly* high bar, so you're going to end up with a lot of kids above it and have to break a lot of ties within that set.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2026 15:46     Subject: What's the most elite and exclusive K-12 School?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:In fairness, 4yos are hard enough to assess (IQ tests and playgroups being extremely crude/imperfect tools) that “family history of doing well at Trinity” is probably as good a metric as any.


I get why schools consider siblings and legacies, but they shouldn’t replace meaningful assessment or classroom fit. Otherwise schools risk becoming inheritance systems rather than educational institutions. You still want admissions to be about the child, not just the family.


Sibling, legacy, and faculty kids have to pass the same assessments and go through the same process as unaffiliated kids— it’s not any different. The difference is IF they pass, they get the spot. The bar isn’t lower for connected kids.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2026 10:50     Subject: Re:What's the most elite and exclusive K-12 School?
I think that is why some schools officially don’t have sibling policy. One of the TTs my kid goes to had so many siblings and legacies don’t get in.
Anonymous
Post 01/17/2026 21:42     Subject: What's the most elite and exclusive K-12 School?
Anonymous wrote:In fairness, 4yos are hard enough to assess (IQ tests and playgroups being extremely crude/imperfect tools) that “family history of doing well at Trinity” is probably as good a metric as any.


I get why schools consider siblings and legacies, but they shouldn’t replace meaningful assessment or classroom fit. Otherwise schools risk becoming inheritance systems rather than educational institutions. You still want admissions to be about the child, not just the family.
Anonymous
Post 01/17/2026 17:34     Subject: What's the most elite and exclusive K-12 School?
In fairness, 4yos are hard enough to assess (IQ tests and playgroups being extremely crude/imperfect tools) that “family history of doing well at Trinity” is probably as good a metric as any.
Anonymous
Post 01/17/2026 16:30     Subject: What's the most elite and exclusive K-12 School?
Trinity impossible for K mainly because it’s all siblings and legacies but then the class doubles in size for high school. My kids went to two of these schools (not Trinity) and also started later.

By the time it got around to college alot of the highest achieving kids with the best results were not the ones who were there since K. I mean some were, but the point is that there can be better entry points than K for unconnected families.
Anonymous
Post 01/16/2026 13:52     Subject: What's the most elite and exclusive K-12 School?
Anonymous wrote:I looked at the Trinity college acceptance instagram. Mostly Uchicago and Wash U, not as much HYPS. At least 2 of the Princeton kids have connections (faculty and board member). Don’t want to out the kid, but one of the other ones for HYPS entered in 9th grade from public school. Seems like some of the lifers are going to Tulane, northeastern. I have heard that the kids who come in 9th grade are extremely strong compared to the lifers. Anyway this stuff is all cyclical so who knows.


I'm not a Trinity supporter but I think you are underestimating it - this is quite good. Though I know two kids going to Ivies who are both legacies, one of them extremely hooked and the other likely well hooked but I'm less sure. And I see a lot of pretty DEI faces going to top schools as well.
Anonymous
Post 01/16/2026 13:37     Subject: What's the most elite and exclusive K-12 School?
I looked at the Trinity college acceptance instagram. Mostly Uchicago and Wash U, not as much HYPS. At least 2 of the Princeton kids have connections (faculty and board member). Don’t want to out the kid, but one of the other ones for HYPS entered in 9th grade from public school. Seems like some of the lifers are going to Tulane, northeastern. I have heard that the kids who come in 9th grade are extremely strong compared to the lifers. Anyway this stuff is all cyclical so who knows.
Anonymous
Post 01/16/2026 13:25     Subject: What's the most elite and exclusive K-12 School?
I do miss the years Fieldston would get into the NYT once a year due to strife btwn various communities…. Teachers hating on admins; students hating on admins; x community hating on y community;
Anonymous
Post 01/16/2026 10:20     Subject: Re:What's the most elite and exclusive K-12 School?
Anonymous wrote:Do not put top 10 and Fieldston in the same sentence.


Amen - if you're searching for another non-TT school to put in that list there are any number that have a stronger argument for it than Fieldston does. (Poly Prep, Friends, Trevor, NBS, Avenues, Packer, ...)
Anonymous
Post 01/16/2026 09:57     Subject: Re:What's the most elite and exclusive K-12 School?
Do not put top 10 and Fieldston in the same sentence.

Anonymous wrote:I would say the top 10 nyc private schools in no particular order are Collegiate, Spence, Chapin, Brearley, Dalton, Trinity, St. Ann's, Fieldston, Horace Mann, Riverdale. Hunter, Stuyvesant, and Regis are also top, but different beasts so I'm not including them in this list. Ditto for K-8 schools.

College results wax & wane for any particular year, so it's better to look at long-term averages. They also do not take into account the immense wealth of the student body and do not reflect how an upper-middle class, unconnected kid would do in the process. I think there are certain schools who should do much better given the wealth of their student body (Trinity, Spence, Riverdale). In fact, I would bet the wealth uptick alone is what moved the needle on the Riverdale exmissions in recent years. Furthermore, certain schools have a more artsy / quirky / non-materialistic bent, which is reflected in their college choices.

This is all to say that the quality of your child's education and their experience at a school will not be encapsulated in exmission results. YMMV depending on your child, and sending them to a particular high school will not determine where they go to college. In fact, sending them to a top school packed with legacy/connections/wealth might hinder their ivy league chances, but may provide an excellent education and help long-term with connections for their career, etc.

Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 19:02     Subject: What's the most elite and exclusive K-12 School?
Anonymous wrote:IG pages mean next-to-nothing. They are incomplete, subject to change, and have reporting bias. People scan them, see a Harvard or Princeton and think a school is amazing.

You have to look at the complete list from the school and compare to prior years.


Speak for yourself. I agree that I wouldn’t obsess over them but they do give a high level sense in real time of where kids are going. You can also see pictures of kids and they often mention if recruited for sports so there is some sense of whether a kid was hooked (though far from complete).

I think people who spend lots of their time scanning and studying these need a life, but they can be somewhat helpful.
Anonymous
Post 01/15/2026 08:15     Subject: What's the most elite and exclusive K-12 School?
IG pages mean next-to-nothing. They are incomplete, subject to change, and have reporting bias. People scan them, see a Harvard or Princeton and think a school is amazing.

You have to look at the complete list from the school and compare to prior years.