Anonymous
06/06/2026 20:44
Subject: What Schools are Considered 2T?
Yes it’s not just special needs but rather integrated. We have a family with a son there and they actually really like it.
We looked at it when we looked at York prep as well. I think it’s better than York prep. But we think Trevor is better and a bit more challenging.
The one issue was the class size was small in one grade.
We looked at it when we looked at York prep as well. I think it’s better than York prep. But we think Trevor is better and a bit more challenging.
The one issue was the class size was small in one grade.
Anonymous
06/06/2026 20:24
Subject: What Schools are Considered 2T?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:isn’t birch special needs like York prep?Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Fieldston, CSH, Nightingale, St Anns, maybe Packer. Riverdale I would say has graduated to TT.
This is solid. Then 3T CGP, Trevor, Dwight, Birch
Not to be a hater but Dwight and Birch are lower than CGP and Trevor. Though Birch, which was getting kind of iffy, apparently has been moving up in the world.
Definitely moving up in the world since they got a new HOS two years ago who is fantastic who then poached Columbia Grammar & Prep's insanely talented college admissions person.
Are you the woman on the UES moms FB group that brings up birch every possible instance?
So funny. People don’t even rank Birch but they do rank Dwight. If there’s a 5T birch is it
I don’t think it explicitly is. They take many because they don’t want more rigorous academics. Some there don’t have special needs
I think Birch has more scaffolding and support for kids with mild, manageable needs. So they can take a kid from Gaynor or or Windward but not from Gateway (if my understanding of those schools is correct). But unlike those schools, this is not all of the kids - there are plenty of kids without needs.
I know a kid who graduated from there several years ago who was very sharp and got a very good college placement and has thrived. I think that was the exception, not the rule at the time but they were not alone. I agree with what others have said that the school seemed to almost be in a death spiral but hired a good HOS and has really improved things. It will not be stealing kids from TT (or even 2T) anytime soon but it is finding its niche and doing OK.
Anonymous
06/06/2026 19:06
Subject: What Schools are Considered 2T?
Anonymous wrote:isn’t birch special needs like York prep?Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Fieldston, CSH, Nightingale, St Anns, maybe Packer. Riverdale I would say has graduated to TT.
This is solid. Then 3T CGP, Trevor, Dwight, Birch
Not to be a hater but Dwight and Birch are lower than CGP and Trevor. Though Birch, which was getting kind of iffy, apparently has been moving up in the world.
Definitely moving up in the world since they got a new HOS two years ago who is fantastic who then poached Columbia Grammar & Prep's insanely talented college admissions person.
Are you the woman on the UES moms FB group that brings up birch every possible instance?
So funny. People don’t even rank Birch but they do rank Dwight. If there’s a 5T birch is it
I don’t think it explicitly is. They take many because they don’t want more rigorous academics. Some there don’t have special needs
Anonymous
06/06/2026 18:42
Subject: What Schools are Considered 2T?
isn’t birch special needs like York prep?Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Fieldston, CSH, Nightingale, St Anns, maybe Packer. Riverdale I would say has graduated to TT.
This is solid. Then 3T CGP, Trevor, Dwight, Birch
Not to be a hater but Dwight and Birch are lower than CGP and Trevor. Though Birch, which was getting kind of iffy, apparently has been moving up in the world.
Definitely moving up in the world since they got a new HOS two years ago who is fantastic who then poached Columbia Grammar & Prep's insanely talented college admissions person.
Are you the woman on the UES moms FB group that brings up birch every possible instance?
So funny. People don’t even rank Birch but they do rank Dwight. If there’s a 5T birch is it
Anonymous
06/06/2026 18:42
Subject: What Schools are Considered 2T?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Fieldston, CSH, Nightingale, St Anns, maybe Packer. Riverdale I would say has graduated to TT.
This is solid. Then 3T CGP, Trevor, Dwight, Birch
Not to be a hater but Dwight and Birch are lower than CGP and Trevor. Though Birch, which was getting kind of iffy, apparently has been moving up in the world.
Definitely moving up in the world since they got a new HOS two years ago who is fantastic who then poached Columbia Grammar & Prep's insanely talented college admissions person.
How was that person insanely talented?
I think the new guy they got was pretty impressive actually. On paper. Who know if he will work long term but this years results were extrodinay for a 3t school. Half the grade is going to a top 30 school.
Anonymous
06/06/2026 17:33
Subject: What Schools are Considered 2T?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Fieldston, CSH, Nightingale, St Anns, maybe Packer. Riverdale I would say has graduated to TT.
This is solid. Then 3T CGP, Trevor, Dwight, Birch
Not to be a hater but Dwight and Birch are lower than CGP and Trevor. Though Birch, which was getting kind of iffy, apparently has been moving up in the world.
Definitely moving up in the world since they got a new HOS two years ago who is fantastic who then poached Columbia Grammar & Prep's insanely talented college admissions person.
Are you the woman on the UES moms FB group that brings up birch every possible instance?
So funny. People don’t even rank Birch but they do rank Dwight. If there’s a 5T birch is it
Anonymous
06/06/2026 17:26
Subject: What Schools are Considered 2T?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Fieldston, CSH, Nightingale, St Anns, maybe Packer. Riverdale I would say has graduated to TT.
This is solid. Then 3T CGP, Trevor, Dwight, Birch
Not to be a hater but Dwight and Birch are lower than CGP and Trevor. Though Birch, which was getting kind of iffy, apparently has been moving up in the world.
Definitely moving up in the world since they got a new HOS two years ago who is fantastic who then poached Columbia Grammar & Prep's insanely talented college admissions person.
Are you the woman on the UES moms FB group that brings up birch every possible instance?
Anonymous
06/06/2026 16:35
Subject: What Schools are Considered 2T?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Fieldston, CSH, Nightingale, St Anns, maybe Packer. Riverdale I would say has graduated to TT.
This is solid. Then 3T CGP, Trevor, Dwight, Birch
Not to be a hater but Dwight and Birch are lower than CGP and Trevor. Though Birch, which was getting kind of iffy, apparently has been moving up in the world.
Definitely moving up in the world since they got a new HOS two years ago who is fantastic who then poached Columbia Grammar & Prep's insanely talented college admissions person.
Anonymous
06/05/2026 12:40
Subject: What Schools are Considered 2T?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:SILS is the more low key version of St David's.
SILS academics are more rigorous. The exmissions is limited by families needing merit scholarship to afford private independent school.
We are one of these families. Proudly heading to Xavier.
How strict and disciplinary is the school? How was your child’s experience?
Anonymous
06/05/2026 12:30
Subject: What Schools are Considered 2T?
agree - you can go public k-8 and go to loyola or FP. which, if you're in a strong district, is a great path IMO
Anonymous
06/05/2026 12:25
Subject: Re:What Schools are Considered 2T?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I added in the boys K-8 and Town at one posters request
1 Trinity
2 Brearley
3 HM
4 Collegiate
5 Spence
6 Dalton
7 Chapin
8 Riverdale
9 St Ann's
St B
10 Trevor
11 Fieldston
12 Marymount
St D
13 Sacred Heart
14 Nightingale
15 Regis
16 Friends Seminary
16 GCS
17 Packer
Buckley
18 Poly
19 Loyola
20 Avenues
21 BFS
22 BC
23 Basis
24 Hewitt
25 Calhoun
26 Hackley
27 Lycée
28 UNIS
Allen-Stevenson
29 Xavier
30 Fordham Prep
32 Notre Dame
33 DA
34 SVF
Town
35 Dwight
An improvement, but there are quirks. Collegiate has better exmissions than HM. Few people would put Marymount above Sacred Heart. Regis seems unfairly penalized for being less "upper crust" than the $70k schools. Hackley has become a popular destination for the K-8 boys who don't want a pressure cooker. Exmissions are similar to or slightly better than Fieldston these days. It's not remotely TT, but i in no world is it #36 below Calhoun.
It's not clear if we're comparing K-8 boys with only the K-8 components of the K-12s to make it apples-to-apples. If so, you'd have to discount the hill schools, which do well partly by admitting lots of high achieving kids at 9th grade. Fieldston and Riverdale are particularly social-emotional heavy in the early years compared to the boys' K-8s. One could also argue that St Bs is more rigorous than Collegiate in K-8... though it's not harder to get into.
I'm not going to attempt 35, but here's my top 20, considering their K-8 programs only:
1 Trinity
2 Brearley
3 Collegiate
4 St Bernard's
5 Spence
6 Dalton
7 HM
8 Chapin
9 St Ann's
10 St David's
11 Buckley
12 Sacred Heart
13 Nightingale
14 Riverdale
15 Allen Stevenson
16 Hackley
17 Fieldston
18 Browning
19 Friends
20 Packer
Thank you for the feedback. How would the religious K-8 schools compare? Rodeph Sholom might be top 5 and St. Ignatius top 10.
Rodeph is not top 5. It is perfectly fine but it is nowhere near that. They have a pretty good core of good kids and families but then have trouble filling in around that. They weren't in danger of going away but inheriting the kids from the failed Solomon Schechter school was a nice lifeline.
There exmissions this year was very impressive. Many students going on to TT high schools. I have not seen a list like that from any of the private independent K-8 schools.
Plenty have that record. Four are on the list above. Add in Speyer too. What you’re saying is laughable.
There is no way Speyer is sending half the class to HM, Riverdale, Trinity, Dalton, Spence, etc…
There was another thread where they discussed this - exmissions were relaly impressive. The school wouldn't work for my kid but they clearly have a formula that works.
The formula is tiger parents who can afford tuition. There's little doubt Speyer has very good exmissions, especially if you're interested in Hunter/Stuy/BronxSci. The inside scoop (from faculty), though, is that admissions standards have dropped and they now take the majority of full-pay applicants. Also, that there's some slight of hand in what they post online RE: private school exmissions, which makes sense given the admissions standards. Don't get me wrong, the exmissions are good, just not as good as they want you to believe. It's also a really quirky/nerdy place, which could make it a great fit for some, though you're not getting the polish and confidence that the traditional top schools instill.
What's the sleight of hand? They post where people are going (not just admittances) in one year, better than many other K-8s which only post 5 year matriculations: https://www.instagram.com/p/DXWvShlFmPs/
St D St B and Buckley don’t even post 1 or 5 year matriculations. It’s a vague list without numbers. Doubt any are as good as Speyer’s list
St D posts their entire class in their annual reports which are in the website
Thank you, I found it. It was buried away from admissions and I see why. It is very lackluster results wise, and definitely way worse than Speyer
The thing with St D’s is that a lot of students self select into Catholic schools, plus they are much less aggressive with counseling out that, say, St B’s. So the specific numbers aren’t necessarily comparable.
That’s a lot of K-8 tuition to end up at Fordham prep or Loyola
What's wrong with FP or Loyola? Both fine schools.
They are, but you don’t need to spend 600,000 or more to gain admission and be ready for them.
Anonymous
06/05/2026 12:12
Subject: What Schools are Considered 2T?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:SILS is the more low key version of St David's.
SILS academics are more rigorous. The exmissions is limited by families needing merit scholarship to afford private independent school.
We are one of these families. Proudly heading to Xavier.
Anonymous
06/05/2026 12:10
Subject: Re:What Schools are Considered 2T?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I added in the boys K-8 and Town at one posters request
1 Trinity
2 Brearley
3 HM
4 Collegiate
5 Spence
6 Dalton
7 Chapin
8 Riverdale
9 St Ann's
St B
10 Trevor
11 Fieldston
12 Marymount
St D
13 Sacred Heart
14 Nightingale
15 Regis
16 Friends Seminary
16 GCS
17 Packer
Buckley
18 Poly
19 Loyola
20 Avenues
21 BFS
22 BC
23 Basis
24 Hewitt
25 Calhoun
26 Hackley
27 Lycée
28 UNIS
Allen-Stevenson
29 Xavier
30 Fordham Prep
32 Notre Dame
33 DA
34 SVF
Town
35 Dwight
An improvement, but there are quirks. Collegiate has better exmissions than HM. Few people would put Marymount above Sacred Heart. Regis seems unfairly penalized for being less "upper crust" than the $70k schools. Hackley has become a popular destination for the K-8 boys who don't want a pressure cooker. Exmissions are similar to or slightly better than Fieldston these days. It's not remotely TT, but i in no world is it #36 below Calhoun.
It's not clear if we're comparing K-8 boys with only the K-8 components of the K-12s to make it apples-to-apples. If so, you'd have to discount the hill schools, which do well partly by admitting lots of high achieving kids at 9th grade. Fieldston and Riverdale are particularly social-emotional heavy in the early years compared to the boys' K-8s. One could also argue that St Bs is more rigorous than Collegiate in K-8... though it's not harder to get into.
I'm not going to attempt 35, but here's my top 20, considering their K-8 programs only:
1 Trinity
2 Brearley
3 Collegiate
4 St Bernard's
5 Spence
6 Dalton
7 HM
8 Chapin
9 St Ann's
10 St David's
11 Buckley
12 Sacred Heart
13 Nightingale
14 Riverdale
15 Allen Stevenson
16 Hackley
17 Fieldston
18 Browning
19 Friends
20 Packer
Thank you for the feedback. How would the religious K-8 schools compare? Rodeph Sholom might be top 5 and St. Ignatius top 10.
Rodeph is not top 5. It is perfectly fine but it is nowhere near that. They have a pretty good core of good kids and families but then have trouble filling in around that. They weren't in danger of going away but inheriting the kids from the failed Solomon Schechter school was a nice lifeline.
There exmissions this year was very impressive. Many students going on to TT high schools. I have not seen a list like that from any of the private independent K-8 schools.
Plenty have that record. Four are on the list above. Add in Speyer too. What you’re saying is laughable.
There is no way Speyer is sending half the class to HM, Riverdale, Trinity, Dalton, Spence, etc…
There was another thread where they discussed this - exmissions were relaly impressive. The school wouldn't work for my kid but they clearly have a formula that works.
The formula is tiger parents who can afford tuition. There's little doubt Speyer has very good exmissions, especially if you're interested in Hunter/Stuy/BronxSci. The inside scoop (from faculty), though, is that admissions standards have dropped and they now take the majority of full-pay applicants. Also, that there's some slight of hand in what they post online RE: private school exmissions, which makes sense given the admissions standards. Don't get me wrong, the exmissions are good, just not as good as they want you to believe. It's also a really quirky/nerdy place, which could make it a great fit for some, though you're not getting the polish and confidence that the traditional top schools instill.
What's the sleight of hand? They post where people are going (not just admittances) in one year, better than many other K-8s which only post 5 year matriculations: https://www.instagram.com/p/DXWvShlFmPs/
St D St B and Buckley don’t even post 1 or 5 year matriculations. It’s a vague list without numbers. Doubt any are as good as Speyer’s list
St D posts their entire class in their annual reports which are in the website
Thank you, I found it. It was buried away from admissions and I see why. It is very lackluster results wise, and definitely way worse than Speyer
The thing with St D’s is that a lot of students self select into Catholic schools, plus they are much less aggressive with counseling out that, say, St B’s. So the specific numbers aren’t necessarily comparable.
That’s a lot of K-8 tuition to end up at Fordham prep or Loyola
What's wrong with FP or Loyola? Both fine schools.
Anonymous
06/05/2026 11:57
Subject: What Schools are Considered 2T?
Anonymous wrote:SILS is the more low key version of St David's.
SILS academics are more rigorous. The exmissions is limited by families needing merit scholarship to afford private independent school.
Anonymous
06/05/2026 11:54
Subject: Re:What Schools are Considered 2T?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I added in the boys K-8 and Town at one posters request
1 Trinity
2 Brearley
3 HM
4 Collegiate
5 Spence
6 Dalton
7 Chapin
8 Riverdale
9 St Ann's
St B
10 Trevor
11 Fieldston
12 Marymount
St D
13 Sacred Heart
14 Nightingale
15 Regis
16 Friends Seminary
16 GCS
17 Packer
Buckley
18 Poly
19 Loyola
20 Avenues
21 BFS
22 BC
23 Basis
24 Hewitt
25 Calhoun
26 Hackley
27 Lycée
28 UNIS
Allen-Stevenson
29 Xavier
30 Fordham Prep
32 Notre Dame
33 DA
34 SVF
Town
35 Dwight
An improvement, but there are quirks. Collegiate has better exmissions than HM. Few people would put Marymount above Sacred Heart. Regis seems unfairly penalized for being less "upper crust" than the $70k schools. Hackley has become a popular destination for the K-8 boys who don't want a pressure cooker. Exmissions are similar to or slightly better than Fieldston these days. It's not remotely TT, but i in no world is it #36 below Calhoun.
It's not clear if we're comparing K-8 boys with only the K-8 components of the K-12s to make it apples-to-apples. If so, you'd have to discount the hill schools, which do well partly by admitting lots of high achieving kids at 9th grade. Fieldston and Riverdale are particularly social-emotional heavy in the early years compared to the boys' K-8s. One could also argue that St Bs is more rigorous than Collegiate in K-8... though it's not harder to get into.
I'm not going to attempt 35, but here's my top 20, considering their K-8 programs only:
1 Trinity
2 Brearley
3 Collegiate
4 St Bernard's
5 Spence
6 Dalton
7 HM
8 Chapin
9 St Ann's
10 St David's
11 Buckley
12 Sacred Heart
13 Nightingale
14 Riverdale
15 Allen Stevenson
16 Hackley
17 Fieldston
18 Browning
19 Friends
20 Packer
Thank you for the feedback. How would the religious K-8 schools compare? Rodeph Sholom might be top 5 and St. Ignatius top 10.
Rodeph is not top 5. It is perfectly fine but it is nowhere near that. They have a pretty good core of good kids and families but then have trouble filling in around that. They weren't in danger of going away but inheriting the kids from the failed Solomon Schechter school was a nice lifeline.
There exmissions this year was very impressive. Many students going on to TT high schools. I have not seen a list like that from any of the private independent K-8 schools.
Plenty have that record. Four are on the list above. Add in Speyer too. What you’re saying is laughable.
There is no way Speyer is sending half the class to HM, Riverdale, Trinity, Dalton, Spence, etc…
There was another thread where they discussed this - exmissions were relaly impressive. The school wouldn't work for my kid but they clearly have a formula that works.
The formula is tiger parents who can afford tuition. There's little doubt Speyer has very good exmissions, especially if you're interested in Hunter/Stuy/BronxSci. The inside scoop (from faculty), though, is that admissions standards have dropped and they now take the majority of full-pay applicants. Also, that there's some slight of hand in what they post online RE: private school exmissions, which makes sense given the admissions standards. Don't get me wrong, the exmissions are good, just not as good as they want you to believe. It's also a really quirky/nerdy place, which could make it a great fit for some, though you're not getting the polish and confidence that the traditional top schools instill.
What's the sleight of hand? They post where people are going (not just admittances) in one year, better than many other K-8s which only post 5 year matriculations: https://www.instagram.com/p/DXWvShlFmPs/
St D St B and Buckley don’t even post 1 or 5 year matriculations. It’s a vague list without numbers. Doubt any are as good as Speyer’s list
St D posts their entire class in their annual reports which are in the website
Thank you, I found it. It was buried away from admissions and I see why. It is very lackluster results wise, and definitely way worse than Speyer
The thing with St D’s is that a lot of students self select into Catholic schools, plus they are much less aggressive with counseling out that, say, St B’s. So the specific numbers aren’t necessarily comparable.
That’s a lot of K-8 tuition to end up at Fordham prep or Loyola
Everyone has different goals. I think for a lot of these parents and students, St David’s to Loyola to Notre Dame / Georgetown would be viewed as a desirable outcome.