Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Applying next year as an unconnected family from a TT private school. Does it help if your child got to round 2 for Hunter?

It doesn’t get you in if that’s what you’re wondering. And I wouldn’t bring it up because it’s irrelevant if Hunter is this year and you’re applying to private next year.

Curious why you said this? To get to Hunter round 2, need 99th% on an IQ test. Seems like could be helpful information to a school that values academic achievement. But can see how it can be viewed as bad taste/irrelevant.

1) TTs trust their own admissions process, which is likely why they are all varied not only in content but format.

2) 99th% on an IQ test at 4 isn’t an academic achievement— it is potential.

3) IQ is not reliably tested at age 4.

I’ve been there and I understand the desire to set your child apart in this wildly stressful process. It wouldn’t be something I mentioned unless both processes were happening concurrently. And even then, it would be for my PSD to mention. A year later? I’d look like all the nuts parents sitting in an interview pontificating about my genius child.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading through this whole thread it seems like there are a lot of us with positive feedback from B. This is making me nervous. I had the impression from our PSD that things were looking good but if there are this many people in one obscure forum with positive feedback… did they just cast a really wide net? We let some other good opportunities go… I’m hoping we didn’t choose wrong. B is our clear first choice for DD). How many others have positive feedback and have been told it’s looking good? 🙋‍♀️

And how many angry B parents are in this forum (and also why?) ✋

My guess is there are a total of 6-8 posters on this entire thread, including the two dueling Brearley parents who don't seem to be applying for this cycle, so I wouldn't worry to much about that.

I have to believe you to stay sane 😂 My DD is (I think) a really good fit … loves academics and challenges, and is super confident (wish she could teach me lol). Hoping it works out 🤞

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we heard back from Spence that our daughter is a very strong candidate, they loved meeting her and our family. She’s in a small list of girls from our preschool that Spence is interested in. We also sent a FCL. Can I assume we are good? Our preschool director has said she has not heard anything definitive from them. Will something definitive come early this week? I have not sent a FCL anywhere else. Would love any input!!

We were advised not to bring up Hunter Round 2 to the TT schools we have apps at because they care a lot about their yield. We can share how smart she is and the things she does (and the schools that let you send a video its helpful) but they can figure out Hunter themselves.

Which will you choose between Hunter and TT girls? There’s a chance I’ll have to make that choice. What are you thinking?

Realllllly not sure. The opportunities and resources at the TTs Hunter cannot compete with....

I know. I feel the same way. But the specific focus on accelerated education is very appealing.

Anonymous wrote:Reading through this whole thread it seems like there are a lot of us with positive feedback from B. This is making me nervous. I had the impression from our PSD that things were looking good but if there are this many people in one obscure forum with positive feedback… did they just cast a really wide net? We let some other good opportunities go… I’m hoping we didn’t choose wrong. B is our clear first choice for DD). How many others have positive feedback and have been told it’s looking good? 🙋‍♀️

And how many angry B parents are in this forum (and also why?) ✋

My guess is there are a total of 6-8 posters on this entire thread, including the two dueling Brearley parents who don't seem to be applying for this cycle, so I wouldn't worry to much about that.

Reading through this whole thread it seems like there are a lot of us with positive feedback from B. This is making me nervous. I had the impression from our PSD that things were looking good but if there are this many people in one obscure forum with positive feedback… did they just cast a really wide net? We let some other good opportunities go… I’m hoping we didn’t choose wrong. B is our clear first choice for DD). How many others have positive feedback and have been told it’s looking good? 🙋‍♀️

And how many angry B parents are in this forum (and also why?) ✋

Also, I agree with you that the things they are doing are dumb and counterproductive to what they want to do. If the admin were smarter, they would have kept these people around a few more years, slowly chipping and chopping away at departments.The way they did it has caused them a huge cluster this season and gotten them a lot of unwanted attention. They just aren’t that smart and their main priority is making their bottom line larger with big donors.

Anonymous wrote:

The Romeo and Juliet conversation, like many of these types of arguments, misses the forest through the trees. Picking on one tiny piece of an argument rather than digesting it is a debate trick for a studio audience, but it’s not thoughtful. Just like assuming someone is motivated by racism, etc. The first book I complained about being removed from curriculum was Roll of Thunder Head My Cry. Another? Elie Wiesel’s Night. The book they replaced Roll of Thunder with was written by a white woman living in California about indigenous people. It was so bad, but its politics were right. The history and social studies curriculum is so weak compared to the school I sent my daughter into, it’s depressing.

Again, this is nonsensical and moving the goalposts. This was the crux[u] of your argument, that the curriculum has deteriorated so much that they don't read real books anymore (you said you'd barely heard of any of the authors on the 9th grade reading list). I countered that falsehood with what the kids are actually reading in 9th right now (one of which is Romeo and Juliet and the others are also books you've heard of, contrary to your prior post). And now you want to run from that and make it seem like I am nitpicking irrelevant or unimportant parts of some grander argument you've made. A tip that may help you in life -- it's ok to admit when you're wrong sometimes (like I did when admitting I was wrong in my assumption about your motives, about which I apologized). It won't kill you and may even give you some humility.

Third Option:

Both and
All of the Above

The NAIS and the consultant class don’t care about any one school or seem particularly interested in traditional pedagogy. it’s a large corporate entity. If you hire them and do everything they suggest you need to do to make yourself not seem racist (according to their own analysis) you are vulnerable to fads. Education’s fads in the past five years have been incredibly progressive and have advocated treating parents like well-meaning idiots or enemies if they aren’t immediately on board.

If you are at a school to get your kid jnto an Ivy League or impress at dinner parties, you aren’t watching the academics all that closely. That is not why you are there.

"The richest people are invested in the school being number one on lists and getting their kids into the 3 legacy slots for Yale. They don’t want controversy because it would hurt the school’s reputation so they slander anyone who asks questions or is concerned."

If this were true, they wouldn't change the curriculum at all or oust a beloved admissions director. Each of those things causes controversy, as evidenced by your dozen posts here. Honestly, you're not making much sense or being consistent. Either the woke left is running the show or the rich parents are. But it can't be both if those are not compatible.

I saw how the other mothers and kids treated a girl who left last year out of unhappiness. The level of bullying they let happen to that kid was gross. With what happened at Chapin, I just want to be careful.

I am not soft launching a nascent political career, just trying to educate my kid.

I am trying to give a warning to people or at least a fair assessment while keeping in mind my daughter’s privacy so I don’t want those details outed. We may not tell anyone until they notice we are gone in the fall to avoid conflict with the school.

The richest people are invested in the school being number one on lists and getting their kids into the 3 legacy slots for Yale. They don’t want controversy because it would hurt the school’s reputation so they slander anyone who asks questions or is concerned.

For others, it’s hard. People are scared of the school, because it is known to be retributive toward families and their kids. They aren’t transparent so you don’t know a lot of what’s going on, and they don’t invite you to know. If you are on fin aid, you don’t feel you have the right to complain.

. On a human level, a lot of people work really really hard to give their daughter’s something great, and it’s a heartbreak to let go of that. It’s your kid, time and money, hard to think straight when those three are involved, especially if you think you won them a shiny golden ticket straight to success. People haven’t been all that nice to me there, but I still feel for them.

The Romeo and Juliet conversation, like many of these types of arguments, misses the forest through the trees. Picking on one tiny piece of an argument rather than digesting it is a debate trick for a studio audience, but it’s not thoughtful. Just like assuming someone is motivated by racism, etc. The first book I complained about being removed from curriculum was Roll of Thunder Head My Cry. Another? Elie Wiesel’s Night. The book they replaced Roll of Thunder with was written by a white woman living in California about indigenous people. It was so bad, but its politics were right. The history and social studies curriculum is so weak compared to the school I sent my daughter into, it’s depressing.

I have a lot of theories about the changes. A weak board, the rot filtering down from ivy league admissions, the weird world of corporate education pseudoscience, a retiring head who wanted to settle some old grudges on her way out the door, trust in elite teachers colleges that spend more time on theory than student teaching, the replication crisis, 2020 — it was a cluster of things, but the main point is that I was in meeting after meeting with consultants and listened as alum after alum, parent after parent, emphasize how much they wanted a great books curriculum only for them to hire the person who did the anti-racist equity audit. Even before that person was onboarded, the school rewrote all of its discipline codes, changed its sex-ed, doubling down again and again on DEI at the expense of academics while every other school in NYC scooted away from wellness philosophy style learning. There is no accountability in the system. For all we know, test scores have flatlined over the past few years. (I actually would not be surprised.) Meanwhile the individual potential of very smart girls isn’t being cultivated or challenged. The admissions team and the really interesting group of kids they curated are being kicked to the curb.

It’s just not a healthy institution. I wish it was -/ for my kid and her friends sakes. I just want to give people the warning I wish I had. That’s my axe to grind, a fair warning to others.

Anonymous wrote:Yup, it is not for me
— leaving, but just wanted to give people a chance to make their own informed decisions, because the school is not upfront or honest. They are very high handed, secretive and dismissive, and it has gotten so much worse over the years. It’s indicative of how it operates that someone would be dismissed for pointing out observable changes, indicative of how it operates that it would change directions in this way against most people in the community’s wishes, indicative of how they operate to to push out a beloved important member of the community and expect her to pretend it was amicable.
It is pay to play, and the only people who they listen to are the ones who give ungodly sum of money. not ideal situation for little kids.

Can you give an idea of where you are transferring? Another TT, lower tier or public?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we heard back from Spence that our daughter is a very strong candidate, they loved meeting her and our family. She’s in a small list of girls from our preschool that Spence is interested in. We also sent a FCL. Can I assume we are good? Our preschool director has said she has not heard anything definitive from them. Will something definitive come early this week? I have not sent a FCL anywhere else. Would love any input!!

We were advised not to bring up Hunter Round 2 to the TT schools we have apps at because they care a lot about their yield. We can share how smart she is and the things she does (and the schools that let you send a video its helpful) but they can figure out Hunter themselves.

Which will you choose between Hunter and TT girls? There’s a chance I’ll have to make that choice. What are you thinking?

Realllllly not sure. The opportunities and resources at the TTs Hunter cannot compete with....