Anonymous
Post 02/17/2026 09:35     Subject: TT / 2T Definitions
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:K-8 schools should be graded on the same scale as K-12 schools. Some of the K-8 schools prepare their kids so well that they often become top of their class in high school. People are starting to see the real benefit of K-8 and that’s one of the reasons why it was extremely competitive (especially all-boys) this year.


Which would be the “TT” K8? In terms of exmissions, academics and competitive to gain admission. I can only think of St B and maybe Buckley


St B sounds right


St Ignatius but a niche audience


Lol
Anonymous
Post 02/17/2026 09:32     Subject: TT / 2T Definitions
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Yes, it's clear.


It’s really not; if you’re smart enough to keep up at Trinity, you can go to a lower tier private or a public school, be in the top 10% of your class, do 2 hours a night if homework instead of 4, use the extra 2 hours to pad out your extracurriculars and/or simply enjoy being a teenager, and have pretty much the same odds of getting into Harvard that you would have had at Trinity.

The “pressure cooker” thing is about internal competition - colleges don’t give you much credit for it, because most kids don’t go to those sorts of schools and can’t be faulted for not enduring a similar workload.


So you’re saying for a really strong student, their odds of getting into Harvard are the same from Trinity as they are from Browning?


no. not unless an athletic recruit. for athletes, there are reasons for going to an easier school


Even if true, which I disagree with, is it worth it? What is the end goal? So you “succeed” at the pressure cooker and got into Harvard at the cost of mental health, time to develop socially, and time to experiment with interests. Now what? In what paths are you at an advantage vs an equally smart kid who went to, for sake of keeping a consistent example, Browning and then a non-Ivy top 25 college? I guess the parents get to feel good that the “service” they paid for got them some Harvard merchandise?


You do realize that, even though it’s hard, you still have time to develop interests and make friends. It’s not bootcamp (even though we kinda called the trinity history department that)

People get such melodramatic/romanticized ideas of what school was like. It’s funny


Not sure your age, but, no, school was a joke for me and I mostly just messed around and still ended up at a top college, and I was hardly unique in that regard. That’s not really the case today, at least for the junior level kids my firm hires (which includes sufficient sample size from TT nyc school). The hoops you have to jump through are insane and non-productive long term.[/

You're not actually giving an opinion on high school experience based on the kids your firm hires, are you? Come on now. I’ll be the first to say that trinity is not a happy place. I worked constantly, was constantly stressed (wrote about it elsewhere on this site), went to a good school, and even said I’d think long and hard before sending my kid to trinity for high achool (my kiddo’s at Dalton). I won’t speak for other schools. But trinity wasn’t exactly a trauma farm, either. It’s a hard, demanding school. The social pressure is extraordinary, but that’s because New York is a place of extremes. most of us managed to pursue the things we wanted outside of school and if you wanted a normal high school experience, You could have it. The cost would be potentially losing out on a spot at a top school. That’s true everywhere. It’s ultimately just high school. Bear that in mind while writing delulu posts about the lack of character development you judged when hiring some hm kids or something.

This comes off way ruder than intended. It’s just weird having to dispel these weird, baseless opinions.


But those are the only recent grads I know! Small sample anecdotal evidence is the best, right?

But really, I arguing that Trinity to Harvard path is usually not worth it, not that you can’t have a normal high school experience at Trinity. We need to bring back valuing the “normal high school experience”. So maybe my criticism is more about what Harvard and the like have become, not Trinity per se.
Anonymous
Post 02/17/2026 09:21     Subject: TT / 2T Definitions
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Yes, it's clear.


It’s really not; if you’re smart enough to keep up at Trinity, you can go to a lower tier private or a public school, be in the top 10% of your class, do 2 hours a night if homework instead of 4, use the extra 2 hours to pad out your extracurriculars and/or simply enjoy being a teenager, and have pretty much the same odds of getting into Harvard that you would have had at Trinity.

The “pressure cooker” thing is about internal competition - colleges don’t give you much credit for it, because most kids don’t go to those sorts of schools and can’t be faulted for not enduring a similar workload.


So you’re saying for a really strong student, their odds of getting into Harvard are the same from Trinity as they are from Browning?


no. not unless an athletic recruit. for athletes, there are reasons for going to an easier school


Even if true, which I disagree with, is it worth it? What is the end goal? So you “succeed” at the pressure cooker and got into Harvard at the cost of mental health, time to develop socially, and time to experiment with interests. Now what? In what paths are you at an advantage vs an equally smart kid who went to, for sake of keeping a consistent example, Browning and then a non-Ivy top 25 college? I guess the parents get to feel good that the “service” they paid for got them some Harvard merchandise?


You do realize that, even though it’s hard, you still have time to develop interests and make friends. It’s not bootcamp (even though we kinda called the trinity history department that)

People get such melodramatic/romanticized ideas of what school was like. It’s funny


Not sure your age, but, no, school was a joke for me and I mostly just messed around and still ended up at a top college, and I was hardly unique in that regard. That’s not really the case today, at least for the junior level kids my firm hires (which includes sufficient sample size from TT nyc school). The hoops you have to jump through are insane and non-productive long term.[/

You're not actually giving an opinion on high school experience based on the kids your firm hires, are you? Come on now. I’ll be the first to say that trinity is not a happy place. I worked constantly, was constantly stressed (wrote about it elsewhere on this site), went to a good school, and even said I’d think long and hard before sending my kid to trinity for high achool (my kiddo’s at Dalton). I won’t speak for other schools. But trinity wasn’t exactly a trauma farm, either. It’s a hard, demanding school. The social pressure is extraordinary, but that’s because New York is a place of extremes. most of us managed to pursue the things we wanted outside of school and if you wanted a normal high school experience, You could have it. The cost would be potentially losing out on a spot at a top school. That’s true everywhere. It’s ultimately just high school. Bear that in mind while writing delulu posts about the lack of character development you judged when hiring some hm kids or something.

This comes off way ruder than intended. It’s just weird having to dispel these weird, baseless opinions.
Anonymous
Post 02/17/2026 08:44     Subject: TT / 2T Definitions
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Yes, it's clear.


It’s really not; if you’re smart enough to keep up at Trinity, you can go to a lower tier private or a public school, be in the top 10% of your class, do 2 hours a night if homework instead of 4, use the extra 2 hours to pad out your extracurriculars and/or simply enjoy being a teenager, and have pretty much the same odds of getting into Harvard that you would have had at Trinity.

The “pressure cooker” thing is about internal competition - colleges don’t give you much credit for it, because most kids don’t go to those sorts of schools and can’t be faulted for not enduring a similar workload.


So you’re saying for a really strong student, their odds of getting into Harvard are the same from Trinity as they are from Browning?


no. not unless an athletic recruit. for athletes, there are reasons for going to an easier school


Even if true, which I disagree with, is it worth it? What is the end goal? So you “succeed” at the pressure cooker and got into Harvard at the cost of mental health, time to develop socially, and time to experiment with interests. Now what? In what paths are you at an advantage vs an equally smart kid who went to, for sake of keeping a consistent example, Browning and then a non-Ivy top 25 college? I guess the parents get to feel good that the “service” they paid for got them some Harvard merchandise?


You do realize that, even though it’s hard, you still have time to develop interests and make friends. It’s not bootcamp (even though we kinda called the trinity history department that)

People get such melodramatic/romanticized ideas of what school was like. It’s funny


Not sure your age, but, no, school was a joke for me and I mostly just messed around and still ended up at a top college, and I was hardly unique in that regard. That’s not really the case today, at least for the junior level kids my firm hires (which includes sufficient sample size from TT nyc school). The hoops you have to jump through are insane and non-productive long term.
Anonymous
Post 02/17/2026 08:36     Subject: TT / 2T Definitions
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Yes, it's clear.


It’s really not; if you’re smart enough to keep up at Trinity, you can go to a lower tier private or a public school, be in the top 10% of your class, do 2 hours a night if homework instead of 4, use the extra 2 hours to pad out your extracurriculars and/or simply enjoy being a teenager, and have pretty much the same odds of getting into Harvard that you would have had at Trinity.

The “pressure cooker” thing is about internal competition - colleges don’t give you much credit for it, because most kids don’t go to those sorts of schools and can’t be faulted for not enduring a similar workload.


So you’re saying for a really strong student, their odds of getting into Harvard are the same from Trinity as they are from Browning?


no. not unless an athletic recruit. for athletes, there are reasons for going to an easier school


Even if true, which I disagree with, is it worth it? What is the end goal? So you “succeed” at the pressure cooker and got into Harvard at the cost of mental health, time to develop socially, and time to experiment with interests. Now what? In what paths are you at an advantage vs an equally smart kid who went to, for sake of keeping a consistent example, Browning and then a non-Ivy top 25 college? I guess the parents get to feel good that the “service” they paid for got them some Harvard merchandise?


You do realize that, even though it’s hard, you still have time to develop interests and make friends. It’s not bootcamp (even though we kinda called the trinity history department that)

People get such melodramatic/romanticized ideas of what school was like. It’s funny
Anonymous
Post 02/17/2026 08:30     Subject: TT / 2T Definitions
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:K-8 schools should be graded on the same scale as K-12 schools. Some of the K-8 schools prepare their kids so well that they often become top of their class in high school. People are starting to see the real benefit of K-8 and that’s one of the reasons why it was extremely competitive (especially all-boys) this year.


Which would be the “TT” K8? In terms of exmissions, academics and competitive to gain admission. I can only think of St B and maybe Buckley


St B sounds right


St Ignatius but a niche audience
Anonymous
Post 02/17/2026 08:16     Subject: TT / 2T Definitions
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Yes, it's clear.


It’s really not; if you’re smart enough to keep up at Trinity, you can go to a lower tier private or a public school, be in the top 10% of your class, do 2 hours a night if homework instead of 4, use the extra 2 hours to pad out your extracurriculars and/or simply enjoy being a teenager, and have pretty much the same odds of getting into Harvard that you would have had at Trinity.

The “pressure cooker” thing is about internal competition - colleges don’t give you much credit for it, because most kids don’t go to those sorts of schools and can’t be faulted for not enduring a similar workload.


So you’re saying for a really strong student, their odds of getting into Harvard are the same from Trinity as they are from Browning?


no. not unless an athletic recruit. for athletes, there are reasons for going to an easier school


Even if true, which I disagree with, is it worth it? What is the end goal? So you “succeed” at the pressure cooker and got into Harvard at the cost of mental health, time to develop socially, and time to experiment with interests. Now what? In what paths are you at an advantage vs an equally smart kid who went to, for sake of keeping a consistent example, Browning and then a non-Ivy top 25 college? I guess the parents get to feel good that the “service” they paid for got them some Harvard merchandise?
Anonymous
Post 02/16/2026 22:38     Subject: TT / 2T Definitions
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:K-8 schools should be graded on the same scale as K-12 schools. Some of the K-8 schools prepare their kids so well that they often become top of their class in high school. People are starting to see the real benefit of K-8 and that’s one of the reasons why it was extremely competitive (especially all-boys) this year.


Which would be the “TT” K8? In terms of exmissions, academics and competitive to gain admission. I can only think of St B and maybe Buckley


St B sounds right
Anonymous
Post 02/16/2026 22:16     Subject: TT / 2T Definitions
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:This may be the dumbest thing I've read on here.


Why? Because most kids actually can afford a private school or because most TT private schools do not in fact turn away far more qualified applicants than they accept?

I know people who send their kids to Trinity don't *like* to think that their admission there was a lottery ticket and that the only reason their kid is spending 4 hours a night doing homework is so they can edge out the other kids doing 4 hours a night of homework for the handful of Harvard acceptances, but it's true.


Most TT schools do turn away far more qualified applicants than they can accept. This includes NYC TTs, the top ten or so boarding schools, and the best private HS in any major metro. Applicants with stellar GPAs, standardized testing, ECs, and decently connected parents get turned down all the time and no one deeply familiar with these institutions is that surprised when it happens.
Anonymous
Post 02/16/2026 20:17     Subject: TT / 2T Definitions
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Honestly, even at Browning you aren’t going to have a super happy adolescence if you choose to gun for Harvard, assuming unconnected. You’ll just be surrounded by happier peers.


Different era, but I was a top-performing student at a thoroughly meh private school, it didn't even particularly occur to me to apply to Harvard until spring of my junior year, and I still got in. And I don't get the impression most kids of my generation spent their entire HS careers working towards Harvard. My freshman roommates were two public school kids - one from a not particularly good NYC public (though they were very bright and had an interesting life story) - and a kid from a meh boarding school; we ended up with one Stuy kid and one HM kid in our blocking group and neither of them was among the smarter members of our blocking group.


Yeah, completely different era. Things have gotten totally out of control now and you have to plan your life around Harvard admissions to the point where it’s not even worth it in most cases.
Anonymous
Post 02/16/2026 20:12     Subject: TT / 2T Definitions
Anonymous wrote:She's completely and utterly wrong.


I know you are but what am I?
Anonymous
Post 02/16/2026 20:11     Subject: TT / 2T Definitions
Anonymous wrote:This may be the dumbest thing I've read on here.


Why? Because most kids actually can afford a private school or because most TT private schools do not in fact turn away far more qualified applicants than they accept?

I know people who send their kids to Trinity don't *like* to think that their admission there was a lottery ticket and that the only reason their kid is spending 4 hours a night doing homework is so they can edge out the other kids doing 4 hours a night of homework for the handful of Harvard acceptances, but it's true.
Anonymous
Post 02/16/2026 20:07     Subject: TT / 2T Definitions
Anonymous wrote:Honestly, even at Browning you aren’t going to have a super happy adolescence if you choose to gun for Harvard, assuming unconnected. You’ll just be surrounded by happier peers.


Different era, but I was a top-performing student at a thoroughly meh private school, it didn't even particularly occur to me to apply to Harvard until spring of my junior year, and I still got in. And I don't get the impression most kids of my generation spent their entire HS careers working towards Harvard. My freshman roommates were two public school kids - one from a not particularly good NYC public (though they were very bright and had an interesting life story) - and a kid from a meh boarding school; we ended up with one Stuy kid and one HM kid in our blocking group and neither of them was among the smarter members of our blocking group.
Anonymous
Post 02/16/2026 20:07     Subject: TT / 2T Definitions
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Yes, it's clear.


It’s really not; if you’re smart enough to keep up at Trinity, you can go to a lower tier private or a public school, be in the top 10% of your class, do 2 hours a night if homework instead of 4, use the extra 2 hours to pad out your extracurriculars and/or simply enjoy being a teenager, and have pretty much the same odds of getting into Harvard that you would have had at Trinity.

The “pressure cooker” thing is about internal competition - colleges don’t give you much credit for it, because most kids don’t go to those sorts of schools and can’t be faulted for not enduring a similar workload.


So you’re saying for a really strong student, their odds of getting into Harvard are the same from Trinity as they are from Browning?


She's completely and utterly wrong.
Anonymous
Post 02/16/2026 20:06     Subject: TT / 2T Definitions
Anonymous wrote:Given that most kids can’t afford private school, and that TT private schools turn away far more qualified applicants than they accept and do so for mostly arbitrary/random reasons, it would be downright irrational for a college admissions office to attach any great significance to whether or not someone attended one of those schools.


This may be the dumbest thing I've read on here.