Anonymous
Post 04/12/2026 14:51     Subject: Class of '26 Instagram College Decisions
Anonymous wrote:Also, when you are looking at lower schools, keep in mind that a lot of the high school students who go on to TT didn’t necessarily do lower school at these places, so it’s not a good metric for how good the lower school is. Brearley actually has a slot in the year book for kids who have been there the whole time and it’s sometime less than half the class. They say it’s because the girls go to boarding, etc, or want co-ed, but at least in the last few years, there are a lot of people who have left over who didn’t think they would and a lot of faculty and admin turnover. Some of those Harvard and Yale admits may be kids who came in middle whose lower school prep was elsewhere. Plus, a lot of the ones that start in K are people who tutor their kids to keep them in or red shirt their kids to give them an academic advantage. It’s just not a very good metric of the actual academic program — at least at Brearley, they don’t let parents see the ERB scores, so you have no idea how your kid is measuring up against other programs. For all you know, some of the girls who go on to succeed longterm just had really good tutors rather than a really good lower school education.


Bitter Brearley Mom is back. I knew it was you because you can't quote or format properly on this site. Give it a rest. I don't even know what it means that some girls left who didn't think they would. How would you even know this? And when did the girls who left actually not think they would leave? Most make that decision in 8th grade, and then leave for 9th (and haven't even thought much about it in lower school or early middle). I know because I have kids who have gone through it.

Also, my kids were there since K and have all the yearbooks, and the number of kids who do the full K-12 has remained relatively constant over the last decade plus.
Anonymous
Post 04/12/2026 14:44     Subject: Class of '26 Instagram College Decisions
Anonymous wrote:Yes, it’s why I said it was anecdotal, but there are plenty of stats and articles about how the Jewish population at these schools has cratered over the past three years. If you talk to Jewish teens and their parents, it’s pretty front and center in their thinking about college, and I certainly don’t blame them.


quote=Anonymous][


quote=Anonymous]It’s hard to know — just anecdotally I know a fair number of very smart teenagers who don’t want to go to the big name ivies because they aren’t into the environments there. They don’t want to be yelled at or have their classes disrupted, by peers who think their deans can solve the world’s problems.


My kid doesn't care about that. And from experience with friends, it is very overblown and media driven.


I'd be interested in seeing those stats if you can send them along. Thanks.
Anonymous
Post 04/12/2026 12:11     Subject: Class of '26 Instagram College Decisions
Yes, it’s why I said it was anecdotal, but there are plenty of stats and articles about how the Jewish population at these schools has cratered over the past three years. If you talk to Jewish teens and their parents, it’s pretty front and center in their thinking about college, and I certainly don’t blame them.


quote=Anonymous][


quote=Anonymous]It’s hard to know — just anecdotally I know a fair number of very smart teenagers who don’t want to go to the big name ivies because they aren’t into the environments there. They don’t want to be yelled at or have their classes disrupted, by peers who think their deans can solve the world’s problems.


My kid doesn't care about that. And from experience with friends, it is very overblown and media driven.
Anonymous
Post 04/12/2026 11:56     Subject: Class of '26 Instagram College Decisions
Also, when you are looking at lower schools, keep in mind that a lot of the high school students who go on to TT didn’t necessarily do lower school at these places, so it’s not a good metric for how good the lower school is. Brearley actually has a slot in the year book for kids who have been there the whole time and it’s sometime less than half the class. They say it’s because the girls go to boarding, etc, or want co-ed, but at least in the last few years, there are a lot of people who have left over who didn’t think they would and a lot of faculty and admin turnover. Some of those Harvard and Yale admits may be kids who came in middle whose lower school prep was elsewhere. Plus, a lot of the ones that start in K are people who tutor their kids to keep them in or red shirt their kids to give them an academic advantage. It’s just not a very good metric of the actual academic program — at least at Brearley, they don’t let parents see the ERB scores, so you have no idea how your kid is measuring up against other programs. For all you know, some of the girls who go on to succeed longterm just had really good tutors rather than a really good lower school education.
Anonymous
Post 04/12/2026 11:53     Subject: Class of '26 Instagram College Decisions
Anonymous wrote:It’s hard to know — just anecdotally I know a fair number of very smart teenagers who don’t want to go to the big name ivies because they aren’t into the environments there. They don’t want to be yelled at or have their classes disrupted, by peers who think their deans can solve the world’s problems.


My kid doesn't care about that. And from experience with friends, it is very overblown and media driven.
Anonymous
Post 04/12/2026 11:38     Subject: Class of '26 Instagram College Decisions
It’s hard to know — just anecdotally I know a fair number of very smart teenagers who don’t want to go to the big name ivies because they aren’t into the environments there. They don’t want to be yelled at or have their classes disrupted, by peers who think their deans can solve the world’s problems.
Anonymous
Post 04/12/2026 09:14     Subject: Class of '26 Instagram College Decisions
I think a number of the top schools are getting so many legacies that it helps, but they have to limit how many they can take. So the benefit has subsided somewhat. Kids are learning how to play the game and were told to lean into legacies so schools are now getting too many. Many get so many legacies that they could practically fill their class with them, which they don't want to do.
Anonymous
Post 04/12/2026 00:05     Subject: Class of '26 Instagram College Decisions
Anonymous wrote:I have looked through instagrams of major schools and I think they are all pretty good.

HYPS placements are often driven by parental demographics (legacies, wealth) so I would not over index on this particular data point (in fact, I happened to recognize at least 2 names from the world of finance on some of the accounts). Other T20 universities (with the exception of Penn who is also keen on legacies) are often more "inclusive" so if a school provides a broad solid pipeline to T20 schools, it is a better reflection of academic strength.


Is it still true that Penn is keen on legacies? I was under the impression that the school had reduced its legacy preferences. My kid is a double Penn legacy and at a TT school (not yet close to applying to college though). It would be great if legacy is still a factor there when DC applies.
Anonymous
Post 04/11/2026 22:46     Subject: Class of '26 Instagram College Decisions
I have looked through instagrams of major schools and I think they are all pretty good.

HYPS placements are often driven by parental demographics (legacies, wealth) so I would not over index on this particular data point (in fact, I happened to recognize at least 2 names from the world of finance on some of the accounts). Other T20 universities (with the exception of Penn who is also keen on legacies) are often more "inclusive" so if a school provides a broad solid pipeline to T20 schools, it is a better reflection of academic strength.
Anonymous
Post 04/11/2026 22:42     Subject: Class of '26 Instagram College Decisions
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If these numbers hold it's going to produce an absolute banger of a NY Post article, they despise Fieldston but not to a point where they wouldn't celebrate other schools losing to them.

I suspect you are the only one who cares.


Not so, as a TT parent this is incredibly discouraging


[Continuation of prior post. Sorry need to get this off my chest]. After all what is the point of all the extra workload and higher academic pressure if matriculation results are going to be this materially worse??? I had personally written off Riverdale because of what I saw during Kindergarten tours and what I thought was a fairly slow pace for lower school but perhaps I had misjudged badly. Maybe the top Ivies today value something different than what the traditional TT curriculum optimizes for (with exception evidently of Brearley).
Anonymous
Post 04/11/2026 22:29     Subject: Class of '26 Instagram College Decisions
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If these numbers hold it's going to produce an absolute banger of a NY Post article, they despise Fieldston but not to a point where they wouldn't celebrate other schools losing to them.

I suspect you are the only one who cares.


Not so, as a TT parent this is incredibly discouraging
Anonymous
Post 04/10/2026 23:30     Subject: Class of '26 Instagram College Decisions
Anonymous wrote:If these numbers hold it's going to produce an absolute banger of a NY Post article, they despise Fieldston but not to a point where they wouldn't celebrate other schools losing to them.

I suspect you are the only one who cares.
Anonymous
Post 04/10/2026 18:07     Subject: Class of '26 Instagram College Decisions
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Starting to question if SHS could be better route...


Best path for unconnected seems to be K-8 at private for the community and transfer to public for HS.


Absolutely not. If you can't readily afford private K - 8 is a huge waste. Local publics in NYC have amazing community.

Best path is to luck into a spot at a non-SHS public and have your child be at the top 2% of the class.


I know a bunch of people looking at LaGuardia for this reason - less academic competition - though if your kid is not an amazing natural talent you probably have to start working on getting them to LaGuardia level in whatever it is in like 4th grade. (Even younger than that for strings)
Anonymous
Post 04/10/2026 16:38     Subject: Class of '26 Instagram College Decisions
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Starting to question if SHS could be better route...


Best path for unconnected seems to be K-8 at private for the community and transfer to public for HS.


Absolutely not. If you can't readily afford private K - 8 is a huge waste. Local publics in NYC have amazing community.

Best path is to luck into a spot at a non-SHS public and have your child be at the top 2% of the class.
Anonymous
Post 04/10/2026 15:24     Subject: Class of '26 Instagram College Decisions
Anonymous wrote:Starting to question if SHS could be better route...


Best path for unconnected seems to be K-8 at private for the community and transfer to public for HS.