Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone read Michael Wolff’s wife’s Substack articles about her daughter being bullied at Spence?

I always thought we wanted Spence for our daughter but after going through the admissions cycle and collecting insight from the parent communities, seeing how miserable the students seemed on the school tours and listening to the various podcasts, we couldn’t do it, especially for middle school. Not a girl’s girl culture at ALL and so much online nastiness.

Interesting!! We had to write off Spence even though we got great feedback because they already took a bunch of legacies and siblings from our school. It was in our top 3.

Anonymous wrote: Re: AS - I have a kid at a similarly thought of school. People look down on it. But I have friends at all the TT schools and we compare notes all the time. The curriculum is identical. Yes, the school has more neurodiverse kids but a lot of them are very smart. And guess where else has a lot of neurodiverse kids? Trinity! When you take all siblings and a good share of legacies, you get a lot of neurodiversity because you don’t get to choose what the siblings are like. AS seems like a lovely place and even in the non-TT private schools, all of the kids get tons of individualized attention that you won’t get at PS6. Re exmissions, if you got to St. Bernard’s you would be in a pool with a lot of legacies. So even a very strong kid can get passed over. If he’s in the top 10% at AS, he might actually have a better chance at top high schools. I have worked in admissions consulting and seen this play out. It’s like trying to get into Princeton from Trinity — once they take all the legacies they are done with the school unless they you are a URM.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone read Michael Wolff’s wife’s Substack articles about her daughter being bullied at Spence?

I always thought we wanted Spence for our daughter but after going through the admissions cycle and collecting insight from the parent communities, seeing how miserable the students seemed on the school tours and listening to the various podcasts, we couldn’t do it, especially for middle school. Not a girl’s girl culture at ALL and so much online nastiness.

What podcasts did you listen to?

Anonymous wrote:A few K-8s - Bank Street and Speyer e.g. - do post their exmissions statistics; Town has a list of destinations but without numbers of students attending. One should probably assume the worst of schools that don't disclose that information.

Anonymous wrote: Re: AS - I have a kid at a similarly thought of school. People look down on it. But I have friends at all the TT schools and we compare notes all the time. The curriculum is identical. Yes, the school has more neurodiverse kids but a lot of them are very smart. And guess where else has a lot of neurodiverse kids? Trinity! When you take all siblings and a good share of legacies, you get a lot of neurodiversity because you don’t get to choose what the siblings are like. AS seems like a lovely place and even in the non-TT private schools, all of the kids get tons of individualized attention that you won’t get at PS6. Re exmissions, if you got to St. Bernard’s you would be in a pool with a lot of legacies. So even a very strong kid can get passed over. If he’s in the top 10% at AS, he might actually have a better chance at top high schools. I have worked in admissions consulting and seen this play out. It’s like trying to get into Princeton from Trinity — once they take all the legacies they are done with the school unless they you are a URM.

Anonymous wrote:Random data point, but my mother interviewed at Spence for a job like 20 years ago and got a *terrible* vibe out of the place, to the point that when we were looking at schools a few years ago she specifically warned us off of it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone read Michael Wolff’s wife’s Substack articles about her daughter being bullied at Spence?

I always thought we wanted Spence for our daughter but after going through the admissions cycle and collecting insight from the parent communities, seeing how miserable the students seemed on the school tours and listening to the various podcasts, we couldn’t do it, especially for middle school. Not a girl’s girl culture at ALL and so much online nastiness.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone read Michael Wolff’s wife’s Substack articles about her daughter being bullied at Spence?

I always thought we wanted Spence for our daughter but after going through the admissions cycle and collecting insight from the parent communities, seeing how miserable the students seemed on the school tours and listening to the various podcasts, we couldn’t do it, especially for middle school. Not a girl’s girl culture at ALL and so much online nastiness.

Interesting!! We had to write off Spence even though we got great feedback because they already took a bunch of legacies and siblings from our school. It was in our top 3.

What podcasts did you listen to?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone read Michael Wolff’s wife’s Substack articles about her daughter being bullied at Spence?

I always thought we wanted Spence for our daughter but after going through the admissions cycle and collecting insight from the parent communities, seeing how miserable the students seemed on the school tours and listening to the various podcasts, we couldn’t do it, especially for middle school. Not a girl’s girl culture at ALL and so much online nastiness.

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone read Michael Wolff’s wife’s Substack articles about her daughter being bullied at Spence?

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Anonymous wrote:Thoughts on PS6 vs. Allen Stevenson?

PS6. At least if you go to PS6 no one will rightfully assume you couldn’t get into Buckley St B St D and a bunch of other schools. Take the tuition and invest it in a custodial at that point.

Is that really the view on AS?? I actually preferred it to Buckley and St B, both of which came across as too intense and not very diverse. AS felt more welcoming and warmer

AS is known to be quirkier. More accommodating to kids who have learning differences. A warm and diverse community. I have never looked at AS kids or families as "well you ended up there because you didn't get into..." There are MANY schools that would fall into that category for me-- ones who run second admissions processes after decision day and accept kids without meeting them after a parent tour and a check. AS isn't that by a long shot.

PS6 is free and gets pretty great reviews. Unless money is no object you could always start there and if you're unhappy apply to AS off cycle. But if money isn't part of the equation and you love AS, don't let anyone make you feel bad about it!

That’s what I mean, though. The other boys schools, let alone TT coeds, would counsel out a lot of AS students. It’s not as rigorous. And you can have plenty of learning disabled classmates at PS6 if that’s what you want.

Sure. But the poster doesn't seem to want an intense school. Is that not a valid desire?

They asked AS v PS6. If you want to kick back and smoke a blunt then take it easy at public school.

I mean I said the same. Try public unless money is no object. Though I wouldn't go so far as to say PS6 is a take it easy place hahaha.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thoughts on PS6 vs. Allen Stevenson?

PS6. At least if you go to PS6 no one will rightfully assume you couldn’t get into Buckley St B St D and a bunch of other schools. Take the tuition and invest it in a custodial at that point.

Is that really the view on AS?? I actually preferred it to Buckley and St B, both of which came across as too intense and not very diverse. AS felt more welcoming and warmer

AS is known to be quirkier. More accommodating to kids who have learning differences. A warm and diverse community. I have never looked at AS kids or families as "well you ended up there because you didn't get into..." There are MANY schools that would fall into that category for me-- ones who run second admissions processes after decision day and accept kids without meeting them after a parent tour and a check. AS isn't that by a long shot.

PS6 is free and gets pretty great reviews. Unless money is no object you could always start there and if you're unhappy apply to AS off cycle. But if money isn't part of the equation and you love AS, don't let anyone make you feel bad about it!

That’s what I mean, though. The other boys schools, let alone TT coeds, would counsel out a lot of AS students. It’s not as rigorous. And you can have plenty of learning disabled classmates at PS6 if that’s what you want.

Sure. But the poster doesn't seem to want an intense school. Is that not a valid desire?

They asked AS v PS6. If you want to kick back and smoke a blunt then take it easy at public school.