Anonymous wrote:Brearley is a lot different from the other two. They want brainy go-getters. The ringers coming in for 9th are 100% competitive and locked-in on the ultimate goal of a TT college slot. Nothing else matters to them.

Also depends on the grade, but culturally NBS students often socialize with Columbia Grammar student body which tend to be a socially faster crowd, social media and cell phones pop up earlier than at some of the other schools…

An important distinction between Chapin and NBS is that NBS takes the ISEE/SSAT while Chapin has their own assessment and uses that exclusively, so if your kid is inconsistent with testing you're getting two lottery tickets instead of one.

Anonymous wrote:What grade are you applying for? We applied to Friends for 9th and have friends with kids in the high school. I think the high school is pretty rigorous with a heavy workload but the kids have free periods during the day to get some work done. Chaplin and NBS are both great. I think NBS is maybe a little more easygoing.

Between Chapin and NBS, I think the difference will be in the students themselves. NBS admissions is less competitive, while Chapin only takes academic rockstars at 6, 7 and 9th so it creates a more academically-inclined student body.

Brearley is a lot different from the other two. They want brainy go-getters. The ringers coming in for 9th are 100% competitive and locked-in on the ultimate goal of a TT college slot. Nothing else matters to them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chapin and Spence feel about equal to me!

Honestly, the cultural differences between Spence and Chapin are much bigger than the academic ones, so even if you do think Spence is a tiny bit more academically rigorous, that probably shouldn't be the thing that makes you pick one over the other.

(both worlds better than Fieldston though)

We toured Brearley, Chapin and Spence. They all seemed very similar. We really could not pinpoint the cultural differences.

Anonymous wrote:This was 2 years ago but I loved our Nightingale tour, honestly was more impressed with NBS than Chapin. Girls seemed well adjusted and happy at both schools but was more impressed with Nightingale’s leadership and faculty despite the HOS being male. They are also opening a new sports building and seems they are trying to shake up their relative ranking and move up the ladder over Chapin or Sacred Heart

My DD is an NBS alum. She had a wonderful experience there.

Anonymous wrote:This was 2 years ago but I loved our Nightingale tour, honestly was more impressed with NBS than Chapin. Girls seemed well adjusted and happy at both schools but was more impressed with Nightingale’s leadership and faculty despite the HOS being male. They are also opening a new sports building and seems they are trying to shake up their relative ranking and move up the ladder over Chapin or Sacred Heart

I felt the same about Nightingale. We ended up at a co-ed, which was ultimately our preference, but Nightingale was at the top of my list amongst the girls schools.

This was 2 years ago but I loved our Nightingale tour, honestly was more impressed with NBS than Chapin. Girls seemed well adjusted and happy at both schools but was more impressed with Nightingale’s leadership and faculty despite the HOS being male. They are also opening a new sports building and seems they are trying to shake up their relative ranking and move up the ladder over Chapin or Sacred Heart

What grade are you applying for? We applied to Friends for 9th and have friends with kids in the high school. I think the high school is pretty rigorous with a heavy workload but the kids have free periods during the day to get some work done. Chaplin and NBS are both great. I think NBS is maybe a little more easygoing.

Narrowing down to Friends Seminary, Nightingale or Chapin. With the coed/single-sex factor aside, are there huge differences academically between the three?

We’d probably prefer a co-ed setup but haven’t gotten many specifics from Friends on their academic expectations of kids, teaching style, etc. It seems like the uptown schools are much more open about sharing nuts and bolts of kids’ schoolwork at Open House nights and other events.

Anonymous wrote:Thoughts on Birch Wathen Lenox?

Kid is above average smart (not a prodigy in any way), not particularly academically motivated, into rock music / would be ok with fast(ish) crowd I think, diagnosed ADHD (medicated, ICT class at top D2 school but not thriving with large class size)

A good friend of mine's son goes to Birch and after Birch got their new Head, things have been on the upward trend. They have a range of kids, but for those that need the support, it's there. This sounds like a good fit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thoughts on Birch Wathen Lenox?

Kid is above average smart (not a prodigy in any way), not particularly academically motivated, into rock music / would be ok with fast(ish) crowd I think, diagnosed ADHD (medicated, ICT class at top D2 school but not thriving with large class size)

I think this could be a good fit academically.

Agree. I heard Birch was having some issues but has been doing better lately and is solid. They have good scaffolding for kids with some challenges but it isn't just those types of kids (i.e. Gaynor lite) - a friend of a friend's kid got into a top 20 school from there and was happy.

Anonymous wrote:Thoughts on Birch Wathen Lenox?

Kid is above average smart (not a prodigy in any way), not particularly academically motivated, into rock music / would be ok with fast(ish) crowd I think, diagnosed ADHD (medicated, ICT class at top D2 school but not thriving with large class size)

I think this could be a good fit academically.

Anonymous wrote:Considering Sacred Heart and Marymount for K. Is Sacred Heart really that much more rigorous? Exmissions seem similar and have heard wonderful things about Marymount community.

Yes, but Marymount is lovely and their new upper school campus is amazing.

Thoughts on Birch Wathen Lenox?

Kid is above average smart (not a prodigy in any way), not particularly academically motivated, into rock music / would be ok with fast(ish) crowd I think, diagnosed ADHD (medicated, ICT class at top D2 school but not thriving with large class size)