Middle School lessens the transition.

high school

Private for middle was the best choice for our introverted DC. They would have been completely lost and overlooked in a larger public. In private, the teachers were more accessible and responsive and DC got the attention they needed. It would have been great to save the money, but totally worth it in the end.

Middle school admittance is easier. At the same time, I think public middle school teaches a lot of important lessons that benefit students including self-advocacy and organization.

Anonymous wrote:

I think it’s easier to be admitted in middle school. This year applications to the top privates for high school were very high.

I'm not sure if there are any data to support that first statement, but it does not match my experience over the past 15+ years. Put simply, it depends on the school and the year. When I worked at a PK–8, more than 90% of our ninth-grade applicants matriculated at their first- or second-choice schools. I never kept actual stats on applicants out of our school to 6 and 7 elsewhere, but I'd guess their admit rate was in the 33–50% range.

There are usually far more spots open for 9 than for 7, so it's obviously the ratio, rather than the numbers, that's important. Given the number of public school kids applying for 6 and 7, many schools would admit a promising student who doesn't have great middle school options over a student who is already enrolled at a perfectly good school, but whose family is considering a change for non-urgent reasons.

Applying to eighth grade is usually dicier than 6 or 7 (it's asking a student to make a transition IN and OUT during the same year), but occasionally it works. I worked with two eighth grade applicants to highly competitive schools last year, and while some schools said they simply didn't have any spots (and thus didn't even read applications), both applicants were offered admission at great places.

In my experience, there's no single reliable answer to the question of which grades are "easier" to get into.

I have 3 children. 2 in private and 1 in public. The public middle school did NOT work for my oldest so we really didn’t have a choice. We moved my middle child because I honestly wanted see if private would make a difference. It did big time. DS was doing “fine” in public but excelled both socially and academically in private in a way I had never imagined it would. We will probably move our 3rd to private for middle next year. As most posters have shared, it depends on your child and what you can afford, but this was our experience.

I think it’s easier to be admitted in middle school. This year applications to the top privates for high school were very high.

I'm inclined to agree. There are exceptions of course, but most schools get slammed with applications in 9th – whereas the numbers aren't quite as high in 7th and 8th.

I'd also argue that the importance of middle school sometimes gets understated and the idea is that you just kinda hang on until high school. But I had a really amazing middle school experience due to switching to private in 4th grade and it completely reshaped my attitude and feelings about school (which I was still young enough to be open to said reshaping ...). If your current option is working, then of course stay put and don't just switch for the admissions advantage. But if it's not, it's 100% worth exploring a switch now versus in 9th grade.

I would look at your child's strengths and if it's not writing, how big the English classes are. My DS just entered private HS from public middle school. Socially and STEM-wise, he was fine. In fact, he had a great experience at public middle school. He easily entered 10th grade math and is excelling there. Writing-wise, he is way behind. He just told me that he has learned more about writing in four weeks in private school than three years in public middle school.

If you have a good reader/writer, I think she'd be fine in public MS, but for a kid who leaned a lot more towards STEM, it was easy to slide along in the bigger public MS English classes. He can't hide in the small classes and his writing is edited in private HS.

Anonymous wrote:I am sure there are lots of theories on this. I have a 5th grader in a charter I am happy with but I am less confident about the middle school options she has. A co-worker whose kids were lifers at Georgetown Day told me that looking back on it, she isn't sure that her kids needed to attend all those years and would have been just as successful if they'd only attended for high school. She thought her kids did as well as the kids who entered in 9th. Do you guys have thoughts on whether the money is worth it for middle school? Also, I would love to hear thoughts on whether it seems harder or easier to get in in middle school vs high school. We just have one kid so while it would be a big stretch for us, we could pull off private.

I think it’s easier to be admitted in middle school. This year applications to the top privates for high school were very high.

For middle school, one went to Deal and one went to private middle school. We actually like both, and if we had another kid, it would be a toss up. Somewhat different approaches to middle school, though both emphasized skill building and using content as a means to teach study skills, but personally, I like the curriculum and teachers better at Deal, and the overall atmosphere better in private. DH probably gives private the edge on both, but also respected the skill of most of the teachers at Deal.

For elementary, I'm all in for neighborhood public school unless you are religious and attend your parish school. It sets your community foundation and ours was a really good school.

High school really, really depends on the student and by then they have preferences and usually good reasons for their preferences.

Public for elementary school was great for my kids. We met neighborhood families and it was easy to supplement their education. We are doing private middle school at a k-8 school. Once the older one entered we switched the younger child there in 4th grade. Both kids will go to public high school. It has been worth the money to pay for private middle school.