Anyway, the best way to determine is to look at the senior class outplacement.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At our Big 3, the academically strongest students tend to be new 9th graders (unless they’re athletic recruits). I have yet to come across an athletic recruit who was also a top student academically. The recruits tend to be average students, at best.

Not my kid and what a jealous thing to say. Athletes tend to be excellent students because they have incredible focus and avoid a lot of nonsense.

DP. Jealous of what? 🤣
A hit dog will holler! At my children’s Big 3, the vast majority of athletic RECRUITS are mediocre to average students. It’s a relatively small school, so this isn’t a state secret. Obviously, not every single athletic recruit is a terrible student, but the majority at THIS school aren’t great.

I don’t believe you and yes you are jealous because only a jealous person would say such things. I know this world and the athletics are very focused and don’t party and basically train and finish class work and then prioritize sleep. Also hope you are not being racist because many top athletes of color are downgraded as not intellectual. Hint Travis Hunter just graduated college with a 4.0

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At our Big 3, the academically strongest students tend to be new 9th graders (unless they’re athletic recruits). I have yet to come across an athletic recruit who was also a top student academically. The recruits tend to be average students, at best.

Not my kid and what a jealous thing to say. Athletes tend to be excellent students because they have incredible focus and avoid a lot of nonsense.

DP. Jealous of what? 🤣
A hit dog will holler! At my children’s Big 3, the vast majority of athletic RECRUITS are mediocre to average students. It’s a relatively small school, so this isn’t a state secret. Obviously, not every single athletic recruit is a terrible student, but the majority at THIS school aren’t great.

Anonymous wrote:At our Big 3, the academically strongest students tend to be new 9th graders (unless they’re athletic recruits). I have yet to come across an athletic recruit who was also a top student academically. The recruits tend to be average students, at best.

Not my kid and what a jealous thing to say. Athletes tend to be excellent students because they have incredible focus and avoid a lot of nonsense.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s face it. The lower schools are not teaching differential calculus in 5th grade. They are teaching basic grade level stuff. The academic demands and loads change in high school and this is where the separation takes places.

Depending on pedagogy, the lower schools can be teaching in completely different ways from the public schools -- ways that potentially better prepare lifers for the some of the college-style classes in the upper schools.

lol!

DC went to a top private elementary for a couple years and then switched back to public middle school. Admitted to Big 3 for 9th. We found lifers or kids who start early in private tend to come from wealthier families (able to finance many more years than just high school) or families who value private education (willing to sacrifice or adjust life style). Many have parents from IVYs too. We did not find the academic at the private elementary more challenging or kids much smarter than the public elementary DC attended, but the attention was much more. We also learned by each expansion, the school would recruit some academically strong kids and other talents like top athletes, and the school counsels out at 8th. We switched back to public middle for more advanced math and also save some money. We know quite a few kids from DC's public middle school are applying for private high school. Apparently 9th is a point where many public school parents are willing (and able) to invest in private for a better prospect for college, which also makes the selection from public more competitive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thinking about applications to various schools next year and how to think about the later grades and whether to do K8 or K12. Not sure if there is any way to know this, but are the kids who enter at 9th grade typically the strongest academically in the more competitive schools? I mean, in a K12, does it generally track that the later the student enters, the stronger academically they have to be? Or does it not really work like that because the more competitive schools are really good at teaching the kids they have so they all kind of even out?

Yes. It is very clear in everything not just academics. The new kids entering in 9th grade push the lifers to the side. It is not even close. The most competitive schools are picking the very top students and athletes.

+1000, the arriving 9th graders have been chosen to cover a variety of niches and many, many excel

That makes sense. It’s far easier to judge the potential success of a rising 9th grader with an established track record than a 4 year old who goes on to be a school “lifer.” For the 4 year old, it’s mostly the parents who are being judged-not the kid. That can lead to a broad range of abilities by the time high school rolls around.

Exactly. And people here wax on and on about how it's better to come into k-12s earlier because 9th is so competitive.

Some private schools admit 4 year olds. So then you’re choosing amongst 3 year olds. That is far from an exact science.

Inherently bizarre to me as someone who was public then Andover. 3 years old?!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thinking about applications to various schools next year and how to think about the later grades and whether to do K8 or K12. Not sure if there is any way to know this, but are the kids who enter at 9th grade typically the strongest academically in the more competitive schools? I mean, in a K12, does it generally track that the later the student enters, the stronger academically they have to be? Or does it not really work like that because the more competitive schools are really good at teaching the kids they have so they all kind of even out?

Yes. It is very clear in everything not just academics. The new kids entering in 9th grade push the lifers to the side. It is not even close. The most competitive schools are picking the very top students and athletes.

+1000, the arriving 9th graders have been chosen to cover a variety of niches and many, many excel

That makes sense. It’s far easier to judge the potential success of a rising 9th grader with an established track record than a 4 year old who goes on to be a school “lifer.” For the 4 year old, it’s mostly the parents who are being judged-not the kid. That can lead to a broad range of abilities by the time high school rolls around.

Exactly. And people here wax on and on about how it's better to come into k-12s earlier because 9th is so competitive.

Some private schools admit 4 year olds. So then you’re choosing amongst 3 year olds. That is far from an exact science.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thinking about applications to various schools next year and how to think about the later grades and whether to do K8 or K12. Not sure if there is any way to know this, but are the kids who enter at 9th grade typically the strongest academically in the more competitive schools? I mean, in a K12, does it generally track that the later the student enters, the stronger academically they have to be? Or does it not really work like that because the more competitive schools are really good at teaching the kids they have so they all kind of even out?

Yes. It is very clear in everything not just academics. The new kids entering in 9th grade push the lifers to the side. It is not even close. The most competitive schools are picking the very top students and athletes.

+1000, the arriving 9th graders have been chosen to cover a variety of niches and many, many excel

That makes sense. It’s far easier to judge the potential success of a rising 9th grader with an established track record than a 4 year old who goes on to be a school “lifer.” For the 4 year old, it’s mostly the parents who are being judged-not the kid. That can lead to a broad range of abilities by the time high school rolls around.

Exactly. And people here wax on and on about how it's better to come into k-12s earlier because 9th is so competitive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s a lifer?

Anyone in the school to prison pipeline.

lol

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thinking about applications to various schools next year and how to think about the later grades and whether to do K8 or K12. Not sure if there is any way to know this, but are the kids who enter at 9th grade typically the strongest academically in the more competitive schools? I mean, in a K12, does it generally track that the later the student enters, the stronger academically they have to be? Or does it not really work like that because the more competitive schools are really good at teaching the kids they have so they all kind of even out?

Yes. It is very clear in everything not just academics. The new kids entering in 9th grade push the lifers to the side. It is not even close. The most competitive schools are picking the very top students and athletes.

+1000, the arriving 9th graders have been chosen to cover a variety of niches and many, many excel

That makes sense. It’s far easier to judge the potential success of a rising 9th grader with an established track record than a 4 year old who goes on to be a school “lifer.” For the 4 year old, it’s mostly the parents who are being judged-not the kid. That can lead to a broad range of abilities by the time high school rolls around.

Anonymous wrote:What’s a lifer?

Anyone in the school to prison pipeline.

I have a kid who was admitted in 9th and is a top student. I don’t need my kid to compare grades because DC had almost perfect grades. It was pretty obvious to me during the admissions cycle that my kid was admitted because they are a very very strong student. DC came from other private, so they do not have trouble in humanities.

I don’t think my kid would have had the option to transfer if it were not for DC’s really strong academics. So I would guess a substantial number of top students are 9th grade admits because of that selection bias.

A lot of kids come from k8s rather than public school. The whole job of the k8 is to prepare them to get into a decent high school. If not, the k8 will go out of business.

Anonymous wrote:Let’s face it. The lower schools are not teaching differential calculus in 5th grade. They are teaching basic grade level stuff. The academic demands and loads change in high school and this is where the separation takes places.

Depending on pedagogy, the lower schools can be teaching in completely different ways from the public schools -- ways that potentially better prepare lifers for the some of the college-style classes in the upper schools.