Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does it matter? if your DC is top 10% at CSH or Marymount, vs. top 70% at Brearley? TTs like Brearley is impossible to get into. You probably have a pretty good idea whether the kid is going to perform well at either tier of schools by the age of 10 or 12.

Half or more of the ivy admits at these schools are hooked. 10% CSH or Marymount doesn't mean top 10% all go to an ivy. Probably means only 3 or 5 unhooked kids from CSH or Marymount are accepted into ivies each year.

are you saying more than half of us with kids at a TT are hooked?

don't think so.

Definitely not.

But half of ivy admits at the TT are hooked: donor, legacy, low income, first gen, athlete, connection, faculty.

at TT i’d bet one of the parents of more than half the kids is an ivy+ alum

The number has to be higher. My child EC have over 80%. The ones who don’t tend to be new money families. You have to come from an old money family and have multiple generation of Ivy+ alum to distinguish yourself.

Your child EC? What's EC?

Extracurricular activities - my child is in preschool. They attend TT preschools. A few are already admitted to HM.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does it matter? if your DC is top 10% at CSH or Marymount, vs. top 70% at Brearley? TTs like Brearley is impossible to get into. You probably have a pretty good idea whether the kid is going to perform well at either tier of schools by the age of 10 or 12.

Half or more of the ivy admits at these schools are hooked. 10% CSH or Marymount doesn't mean top 10% all go to an ivy. Probably means only 3 or 5 unhooked kids from CSH or Marymount are accepted into ivies each year.

are you saying more than half of us with kids at a TT are hooked?

don't think so.

Definitely not.

But half of ivy admits at the TT are hooked: donor, legacy, low income, first gen, athlete, connection, faculty.

at TT i’d bet one of the parents of more than half the kids is an ivy+ alum

The number has to be higher. My child EC have over 80%. The ones who don’t tend to be new money families. You have to come from an old money family and have multiple generation of Ivy+ alum to distinguish yourself.

Your child EC? What's EC?

Extracurricular activities - my child is in preschool. They attend TT preschools. A few are already admitted to HM.

Are we really talking about preschool EC’s now? I can’t tell if this is a joke

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does it matter? if your DC is top 10% at CSH or Marymount, vs. top 70% at Brearley? TTs like Brearley is impossible to get into. You probably have a pretty good idea whether the kid is going to perform well at either tier of schools by the age of 10 or 12.

Half or more of the ivy admits at these schools are hooked. 10% CSH or Marymount doesn't mean top 10% all go to an ivy. Probably means only 3 or 5 unhooked kids from CSH or Marymount are accepted into ivies each year.

are you saying more than half of us with kids at a TT are hooked?

don't think so.

Definitely not.

But half of ivy admits at the TT are hooked: donor, legacy, low income, first gen, athlete, connection, faculty.

at TT i’d bet one of the parents of more than half the kids is an ivy+ alum

The number has to be higher. My child EC have over 80%. The ones who don’t tend to be new money families. You have to come from an old money family and have multiple generation of Ivy+ alum to distinguish yourself.

Your child EC? What's EC?

Extracurricular activities - my child is in preschool. They attend TT preschools. A few are already admitted to HM.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does it matter? if your DC is top 10% at CSH or Marymount, vs. top 70% at Brearley? TTs like Brearley is impossible to get into. You probably have a pretty good idea whether the kid is going to perform well at either tier of schools by the age of 10 or 12.

Half or more of the ivy admits at these schools are hooked. 10% CSH or Marymount doesn't mean top 10% all go to an ivy. Probably means only 3 or 5 unhooked kids from CSH or Marymount are accepted into ivies each year.

are you saying more than half of us with kids at a TT are hooked?

don't think so.

Definitely not.

But half of ivy admits at the TT are hooked: donor, legacy, low income, first gen, athlete, connection, faculty.

at TT i’d bet one of the parents of more than half the kids is an ivy+ alum

The number has to be higher. My child EC have over 80%. The ones who don’t tend to be new money families. You have to come from an old money family and have multiple generation of Ivy+ alum to distinguish yourself.

Your child EC? What's EC?

Extracurricular activities - my child is in preschool. They attend TT preschools. A few are already admitted to HM.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does it matter? if your DC is top 10% at CSH or Marymount, vs. top 70% at Brearley? TTs like Brearley is impossible to get into. You probably have a pretty good idea whether the kid is going to perform well at either tier of schools by the age of 10 or 12.

Half or more of the ivy admits at these schools are hooked. 10% CSH or Marymount doesn't mean top 10% all go to an ivy. Probably means only 3 or 5 unhooked kids from CSH or Marymount are accepted into ivies each year.

are you saying more than half of us with kids at a TT are hooked?

don't think so.

Definitely not.

But half of ivy admits at the TT are hooked: donor, legacy, low income, first gen, athlete, connection, faculty.

at TT i’d bet one of the parents of more than half the kids is an ivy+ alum

The number has to be higher. My child EC have over 80%. The ones who don’t tend to be new money families. You have to come from an old money family and have multiple generation of Ivy+ alum to distinguish yourself.

Your child EC? What's EC?

Extracurricular activities - my child is in preschool. They attend TT preschools. A few are already admitted to HM.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BSC and Nightingale all seem to be punching above their weight class here, perhaps because girls tend to be better at getting into college than boys.

How is Brearley punching above its weight class? Niche ranks it as the number one K-12 private in the nation.

Niche rankings are fickle. If you look at their "Best College Prep Private High Schools" rankings, which arguably are more aligned with what is being discussed in this thread, Niche ranks Brearley at #18 overall (and at #4 in New York, behind HM, Riverdale, and Chapin.) Probably best not to rely on these too much.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does it matter? if your DC is top 10% at CSH or Marymount, vs. top 70% at Brearley? TTs like Brearley is impossible to get into. You probably have a pretty good idea whether the kid is going to perform well at either tier of schools by the age of 10 or 12.

Half or more of the ivy admits at these schools are hooked. 10% CSH or Marymount doesn't mean top 10% all go to an ivy. Probably means only 3 or 5 unhooked kids from CSH or Marymount are accepted into ivies each year.

are you saying more than half of us with kids at a TT are hooked?

don't think so.

Definitely not.

But half of ivy admits at the TT are hooked: donor, legacy, low income, first gen, athlete, connection, faculty.

at TT i’d bet one of the parents of more than half the kids is an ivy+ alum

The number has to be higher. My child EC have over 80%. The ones who don’t tend to be new money families. You have to come from an old money family and have multiple generation of Ivy+ alum to distinguish yourself.

Your child EC? What's EC?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BSC and Nightingale all seem to be punching above their weight class here, perhaps because girls tend to be better at getting into college than boys.

How is Brearley punching above its weight class? Niche ranks it as the number one K-12 private in the nation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does it matter? if your DC is top 10% at CSH or Marymount, vs. top 70% at Brearley? TTs like Brearley is impossible to get into. You probably have a pretty good idea whether the kid is going to perform well at either tier of schools by the age of 10 or 12.

Half or more of the ivy admits at these schools are hooked. 10% CSH or Marymount doesn't mean top 10% all go to an ivy. Probably means only 3 or 5 unhooked kids from CSH or Marymount are accepted into ivies each year.

are you saying more than half of us with kids at a TT are hooked?

don't think so.

Definitely not.

But half of ivy admits at the TT are hooked: donor, legacy, low income, first gen, athlete, connection, faculty.

at TT i’d bet one of the parents of more than half the kids is an ivy+ alum

The number has to be higher. My child EC have over 80%. The ones who don’t tend to be new money families. You have to come from an old money family and have multiple generation of Ivy+ alum to distinguish yourself.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does it matter? if your DC is top 10% at CSH or Marymount, vs. top 70% at Brearley? TTs like Brearley is impossible to get into. You probably have a pretty good idea whether the kid is going to perform well at either tier of schools by the age of 10 or 12.

Half or more of the ivy admits at these schools are hooked. 10% CSH or Marymount doesn't mean top 10% all go to an ivy. Probably means only 3 or 5 unhooked kids from CSH or Marymount are accepted into ivies each year.

are you saying more than half of us with kids at a TT are hooked?

don't think so.

Definitely not.

But half of ivy admits at the TT are hooked: donor, legacy, low income, first gen, athlete, connection, faculty.

at TT i’d bet one of the parents of more than half the kids is an ivy+ alum

The number has to be higher. My child EC have over 80%. The ones who don’t tend to be new money families. You have to come from an old money family and have multiple generation of Ivy+ alum to distinguish yourself.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does it matter? if your DC is top 10% at CSH or Marymount, vs. top 70% at Brearley? TTs like Brearley is impossible to get into. You probably have a pretty good idea whether the kid is going to perform well at either tier of schools by the age of 10 or 12.

What does this mean? Distinguish from what?
Half or more of the ivy admits at these schools are hooked. 10% CSH or Marymount doesn't mean top 10% all go to an ivy. Probably means only 3 or 5 unhooked kids from CSH or Marymount are accepted into ivies each year.

are you saying more than half of us with kids at a TT are hooked?

don't think so.

Definitely not.

But half of ivy admits at the TT are hooked: donor, legacy, low income, first gen, athlete, connection, faculty.

at TT i’d bet one of the parents of more than half the kids is an ivy+ alum

The number has to be higher. My child EC have over 80%. The ones who don’t tend to be new money families. You have to come from an old money family and have multiple generation of Ivy+ alum to distinguish yourself.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does it matter? if your DC is top 10% at CSH or Marymount, vs. top 70% at Brearley? TTs like Brearley is impossible to get into. You probably have a pretty good idea whether the kid is going to perform well at either tier of schools by the age of 10 or 12.

Half or more of the ivy admits at these schools are hooked. 10% CSH or Marymount doesn't mean top 10% all go to an ivy. Probably means only 3 or 5 unhooked kids from CSH or Marymount are accepted into ivies each year.

are you saying more than half of us with kids at a TT are hooked?

don't think so.

Definitely not.

But half of ivy admits at the TT are hooked: donor, legacy, low income, first gen, athlete, connection, faculty.

at TT i’d bet one of the parents of more than half the kids is an ivy+ alum

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Original point of thread was Instagram though (we did historic data from schools because we all though Instagram was skewed/biased), so this is back to the 2026 Instagram Data - added the USN26+LAC10 because everyone wants more schools.

Definitions:
Ivy+ = Ivy League + Stanford, MIT, Caltech, UChicago, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Vanderbilt
WASP = Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Pomona
Ivy+WASP = Ivy+ + WASP
HYPSM = Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT
USN26+LAC10 = U.S. News National Universities rank-through-#26 + U.S. News Liberal Arts Colleges rank-through-#10, including ties

School (N): Ivy+WASP; HYPSM; USN26+LAC10 | Instagram source

70+%
Brearley (52): 71%; 27%; 83% | @brearley26collegedecisions

60-70%
Spence (64): 64%; 19%; 83% | @spence26niors
Chapin (52): 62%; 12%; 79% | @chapin26decisions

50-60%
Dalton (63): 59%; 22%; 71% | @daltondecisions2026

40-50%
Saint Ann's (73): 49%; 10%; 67% | @saintannsseniors2026
Horace Mann (131): 49%; 5%; 63% | @maroonlions26
Trinity (109): 48%; 12%; 69% | @trindecisions2026
Regis (80): 45%; 8%; 68% | @regisdecisions2026
Nightingale (57): 42%; 2%; 61% | @nbs2enior6
Riverdale (131): 41%; 8%; 65% | @riv26seniors

30-40%
Hunter (123): 39%; 10%; 59% | @hawkscommit2026
Browning (27): 37%; 7%; 59% | @browningdecisions26
Packer (92): 30%; 3%; 48% | @packerseniors26
Fieldston (141): 30%; 9%; 46% | @fieldstonseniors2026

20-30%
Friends Seminary (40): 28%; 5%; 50% | @Fsclassof2026
CGPS (119): 27%; 3%; 48% | @lionsseniors2026
Dwight-Englewood (126): 25%; 6%; 37% | @deseniors2026
Avenues (97): 23%; 4%; 36% | @avenues_seniors; current-class posts since 2025-12-01

10-20%
Berkeley Carroll (77): 18%; 0%; 43% | @bcsseniors2026
Poly Prep (123): 18%; 2%; 38% | @polyprep26
Trevor (88): 18%; 1%; 31% | @trevor2eni6rs
Grace Church (80): 18%; 1%; 30% | @grace2026colleges
Sacred Heart (61): 16%; 3%; 30% | @csh2026decisions
Marymount (71): 11%; 1%; 31% | @mmt26collegewall
Brooklyn Friends (49): 10%; 0%; 14% | @bfsclassof26

This list realigns vibe (prestige) and reality. If the goal is an ivy, the last tier (10-20%) schools will disappoint the families. Go for the 30-40% tier to have a realistic chance.

A top kid will do well regardless. In fact, they are better able to stand out at some of the lower schools. My child is at a school at the bottom half of the list and well on their way to Ivy. And having a much happier high school experience. They are still working plenty hard with lots of smart friends, but nice not to be in a class where everyone is gunning for the same few schools. YMMV.

Congrats! Do you mind sharing which all high school DC attended?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does it matter? if your DC is top 10% at CSH or Marymount, vs. top 70% at Brearley? TTs like Brearley is impossible to get into. You probably have a pretty good idea whether the kid is going to perform well at either tier of schools by the age of 10 or 12.

Half or more of the ivy admits at these schools are hooked. 10% CSH or Marymount doesn't mean top 10% all go to an ivy. Probably means only 3 or 5 unhooked kids from CSH or Marymount are accepted into ivies each year.

are you saying more than half of us with kids at a TT are hooked?

don't think so.

Definitely not.

But half of ivy admits at the TT are hooked: donor, legacy, low income, first gen, athlete, connection, faculty.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Original point of thread was Instagram though (we did historic data from schools because we all though Instagram was skewed/biased), so this is back to the 2026 Instagram Data - added the USN26+LAC10 because everyone wants more schools.

Definitions:
Ivy+ = Ivy League + Stanford, MIT, Caltech, UChicago, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Vanderbilt
WASP = Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Pomona
Ivy+WASP = Ivy+ + WASP
HYPSM = Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT
USN26+LAC10 = U.S. News National Universities rank-through-#26 + U.S. News Liberal Arts Colleges rank-through-#10, including ties

School (N): Ivy+WASP; HYPSM; USN26+LAC10 | Instagram source

70+%
Brearley (52): 71%; 27%; 83% | @brearley26collegedecisions

60-70%
Spence (64): 64%; 19%; 83% | @spence26niors
Chapin (52): 62%; 12%; 79% | @chapin26decisions

50-60%
Dalton (63): 59%; 22%; 71% | @daltondecisions2026

40-50%
Saint Ann's (73): 49%; 10%; 67% | @saintannsseniors2026
Horace Mann (131): 49%; 5%; 63% | @maroonlions26
Trinity (109): 48%; 12%; 69% | @trindecisions2026
Regis (80): 45%; 8%; 68% | @regisdecisions2026
Nightingale (57): 42%; 2%; 61% | @nbs2enior6
Riverdale (131): 41%; 8%; 65% | @riv26seniors

30-40%
Hunter (123): 39%; 10%; 59% | @hawkscommit2026
Browning (27): 37%; 7%; 59% | @browningdecisions26
Packer (92): 30%; 3%; 48% | @packerseniors26
Fieldston (141): 30%; 9%; 46% | @fieldstonseniors2026

20-30%
Friends Seminary (40): 28%; 5%; 50% | @Fsclassof2026
CGPS (119): 27%; 3%; 48% | @lionsseniors2026
Dwight-Englewood (126): 25%; 6%; 37% | @deseniors2026
Avenues (97): 23%; 4%; 36% | @avenues_seniors; current-class posts since 2025-12-01

10-20%
Berkeley Carroll (77): 18%; 0%; 43% | @bcsseniors2026
Poly Prep (123): 18%; 2%; 38% | @polyprep26
Trevor (88): 18%; 1%; 31% | @trevor2eni6rs
Grace Church (80): 18%; 1%; 30% | @grace2026colleges
Sacred Heart (61): 16%; 3%; 30% | @csh2026decisions
Marymount (71): 11%; 1%; 31% | @mmt26collegewall
Brooklyn Friends (49): 10%; 0%; 14% | @bfsclassof26

This list realigns vibe (prestige) and reality. If the goal is an ivy, the last tier (10-20%) schools will disappoint the families. Go for the 30-40% tier to have a realistic chance.

A top kid will do well regardless. In fact, they are better able to stand out at some of the lower schools. My child is at a school at the bottom half of the list and well on their way to Ivy. And having a much happier high school experience. They are still working plenty hard with lots of smart friends, but nice not to be in a class where everyone is gunning for the same few schools. YMMV.