Anonymous
Post 01/18/2026 18:13     Subject: What's the most elite and exclusive K-12 School?
I heard Dalton and HM.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2026 18:02     Subject: Re:What's the most elite and exclusive K-12 School?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote: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.


Which TT?


Dalton? Which does offer a significant advantage to siblings and legacies to try to meet the mark, so to speak…
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2026 17:45     Subject: Re:What's the most elite and exclusive K-12 School?
Anonymous wrote: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.


Which TT?
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2026 16:39     Subject: What's the most elite and exclusive K-12 School?
Anonymous wrote:There are plenty of very connected kids who don’t get in.

If the kindergarten bar was lower for siblings/legacy, the attrition rate by middle school would be abysmal. And it’s not, which is why there isn’t a real entry point again until 9th grade.


It's not that the bar is lower, it's that a lot of 4 year olds cross it - particularly 4 year olds whose families are wealthy enough to contemplate paying $1M for 13 years of Trinity tuition - and they have to pick some small subset from that group, and lacking much else in the way of tiebreakers they're going to go with the families they know.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2026 16:19     Subject: What's the most elite and exclusive K-12 School?
Anonymous wrote:
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.


There are plenty of very connected kids who don’t get in.

If the kindergarten bar was lower for siblings/legacy, the attrition rate by middle school would be abysmal. And it’s not, which is why there isn’t a real entry point again until 9th grade.
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.