Anonymous
Post 01/19/2026 11:39     Subject: Best private schools in NYC?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Chapin has a 34% ivy acceptance rate over for years which is also great…. That’s just scooting to ChatGPT so that is very unofficial. LOL


Matriculation or acceptance? That percentage seems really high considering their performance in the last 2-3 years


NP. Just looked it up. For last 5 years, Chapin sent 78 to ivies, so less than Spence’s 91 and much less than Brearley’s 124, but a little more than Collegiate’s 71. Seems to be about 25% of class if you assume similar class size to those others.


Chapin and Collegiate class size is a bit smaller I am pretty sure about 50 to Spence’s 60-70 but depends on year so their rate is in the 30 percentile so pretty comparable to Spence’s. 78 kids over 5 years with a class size of 50 is 31 percent. Chapin has been consistent with their Ivy acceptance rate. They are pretty intent on keeping the community small. It’s very very difficult to gain acceptance in recent years. What performance was the poster referring to?? Love this forum for all the differing opinions! I assume it’s parents from the various schools. LOL.


That's incorrect for Chapin, which has 810 students for 13 grades (https://www.chapin.edu/about/chapin-facts). That's an average of over 62 per grade. About even with Spence, which has 804 (https://www.spenceschool.org/about-spence/at-a-glance). Brearley has 786 (https://www.brearley.org/brearley-at-a-glance/). Collegiate is smaller though with 670 (https://www.collegiateschool.org/explore/who-we-are).


Class size can vary, some middle school grades tend to have more kids but high school classes can definitely be as small as 50 at Chapin. Think this year’s class has 57.


Chapin's matriculation page for 2021-2025 reflects 299 students., or 60 students per year.



Lots of Spence moms on this forum. The three girls schools are very much the same. I think what some posters are trying to express is that class size in the upper school has some variations that would impact matriculation percentages. A kindergarten class could have 75 kids but a graduating class could have 55 because many students leave for coed schools and the admissions office don’t always fill all slots if they don’t feel they have found the right candidates. I think that makes perfect sense. I don’t see Spence closing any perceived gap that Chapin has failed to close. They offer the same classes and level of rigor.


The class size does affect matriculation percentages but the thing is we do not need to second guess the size of graduating classes in each of the schools. We know from Chapin's own website that Chapin had 299 graduating students between 2021 and 2025. 299/5 = 59.8 students per year, or 60 students over 4 years and 59 students one year. Not 55 or 57 - at least during the latest years.

I am not a Spence mom - just someone who is trying to figure out the right school for my DD who is bored in her local not-TT private. FWIW, I can clearly see the difference in college outcomes between the 3 schools based on pure data - not vibes. It doesn't mean a school with better matriculations is better than the others. Of course, there are other factors (e.g. school culture, level of pressure on students) that are more important than college admissions. [/

Spence mom here to say the top three girls schools are really more alike than they are different. Go to the school that accepts your family as it’s highly unlikely you’ll get into all three! And class size dos vary an affect totals one year could be 69 while another year could be 55.


Of course. But the Chapin mom chimed in yesterday to say that Chapin’s average is closer to 50, which is demonstrably false just by looking at the last 5 years of data. That’s it. Nothing more to it than that correction.
Anonymous
Post 01/19/2026 10:44     Subject: Best private schools in NYC?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Chapin has a 34% ivy acceptance rate over for years which is also great…. That’s just scooting to ChatGPT so that is very unofficial. LOL


Matriculation or acceptance? That percentage seems really high considering their performance in the last 2-3 years


NP. Just looked it up. For last 5 years, Chapin sent 78 to ivies, so less than Spence’s 91 and much less than Brearley’s 124, but a little more than Collegiate’s 71. Seems to be about 25% of class if you assume similar class size to those others.


Chapin and Collegiate class size is a bit smaller I am pretty sure about 50 to Spence’s 60-70 but depends on year so their rate is in the 30 percentile so pretty comparable to Spence’s. 78 kids over 5 years with a class size of 50 is 31 percent. Chapin has been consistent with their Ivy acceptance rate. They are pretty intent on keeping the community small. It’s very very difficult to gain acceptance in recent years. What performance was the poster referring to?? Love this forum for all the differing opinions! I assume it’s parents from the various schools. LOL.


That's incorrect for Chapin, which has 810 students for 13 grades (https://www.chapin.edu/about/chapin-facts). That's an average of over 62 per grade. About even with Spence, which has 804 (https://www.spenceschool.org/about-spence/at-a-glance). Brearley has 786 (https://www.brearley.org/brearley-at-a-glance/). Collegiate is smaller though with 670 (https://www.collegiateschool.org/explore/who-we-are).


Class size can vary, some middle school grades tend to have more kids but high school classes can definitely be as small as 50 at Chapin. Think this year’s class has 57.


Chapin's matriculation page for 2021-2025 reflects 299 students., or 60 students per year.



Lots of Spence moms on this forum. The three girls schools are very much the same. I think what some posters are trying to express is that class size in the upper school has some variations that would impact matriculation percentages. A kindergarten class could have 75 kids but a graduating class could have 55 because many students leave for coed schools and the admissions office don’t always fill all slots if they don’t feel they have found the right candidates. I think that makes perfect sense. I don’t see Spence closing any perceived gap that Chapin has failed to close. They offer the same classes and level of rigor.


The class size does affect matriculation percentages but the thing is we do not need to second guess the size of graduating classes in each of the schools. We know from Chapin's own website that Chapin had 299 graduating students between 2021 and 2025. 299/5 = 59.8 students per year, or 60 students over 4 years and 59 students one year. Not 55 or 57 - at least during the latest years.

I am not a Spence mom - just someone who is trying to figure out the right school for my DD who is bored in her local not-TT private. FWIW, I can clearly see the difference in college outcomes between the 3 schools based on pure data - not vibes. It doesn't mean a school with better matriculations is better than the others. Of course, there are other factors (e.g. school culture, level of pressure on students) that are more important than college admissions. [/

Spence mom here to say the top three girls schools are really more alike than they are different. Go to the school that accepts your family as it’s highly unlikely you’ll get into all three! And class size dos vary an affect totals one year could be 69 while another year could be 55.
Anonymous
Post 01/19/2026 10:23     Subject: Re:Best private schools in NYC?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Students at Collegiate and Trinity aren’t lazy, the bottom quarter is far more put together than anything at a public school.

Plenty of rich kids aren’t “popular” and you don’t need to be rich to be friends with them. People make careers out of their kindergarten class and came from nothing.


You were quoting a comment about why you shouldn't put your kid in a 3T school because if they're bored it'll affect their college prospects.


My bad. Meant more TT and 2T. Yes, going to a decent public on the UES is usually a better choice than paying 65k to do drugs.
Anonymous
Post 01/19/2026 10:19     Subject: Re:Best private schools in NYC?

Anonymous wrote:Students at Collegiate and Trinity aren’t lazy, the bottom quarter is far more put together than anything at a public school.

Plenty of rich kids aren’t “popular” and you don’t need to be rich to be friends with them. People make careers out of their kindergarten class and came from nothing.


You were quoting a comment about why you shouldn't put your kid in a 3T school because if they're bored it'll affect their college prospects.
Anonymous
Post 01/19/2026 10:16     Subject: Best private schools in NYC?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Chapin has a 34% ivy acceptance rate over for years which is also great…. That’s just scooting to ChatGPT so that is very unofficial. LOL


Matriculation or acceptance? That percentage seems really high considering their performance in the last 2-3 years


NP. Just looked it up. For last 5 years, Chapin sent 78 to ivies, so less than Spence’s 91 and much less than Brearley’s 124, but a little more than Collegiate’s 71. Seems to be about 25% of class if you assume similar class size to those others.


Chapin and Collegiate class size is a bit smaller I am pretty sure about 50 to Spence’s 60-70 but depends on year so their rate is in the 30 percentile so pretty comparable to Spence’s. 78 kids over 5 years with a class size of 50 is 31 percent. Chapin has been consistent with their Ivy acceptance rate. They are pretty intent on keeping the community small. It’s very very difficult to gain acceptance in recent years. What performance was the poster referring to?? Love this forum for all the differing opinions! I assume it’s parents from the various schools. LOL.


That's incorrect for Chapin, which has 810 students for 13 grades (https://www.chapin.edu/about/chapin-facts). That's an average of over 62 per grade. About even with Spence, which has 804 (https://www.spenceschool.org/about-spence/at-a-glance). Brearley has 786 (https://www.brearley.org/brearley-at-a-glance/). Collegiate is smaller though with 670 (https://www.collegiateschool.org/explore/who-we-are).


Class size can vary, some middle school grades tend to have more kids but high school classes can definitely be as small as 50 at Chapin. Think this year’s class has 57.


Chapin's matriculation page for 2021-2025 reflects 299 students., or 60 students per year.



Lots of Spence moms on this forum. The three girls schools are very much the same. I think what some posters are trying to express is that class size in the upper school has some variations that would impact matriculation percentages. A kindergarten class could have 75 kids but a graduating class could have 55 because many students leave for coed schools and the admissions office don’t always fill all slots if they don’t feel they have found the right candidates. I think that makes perfect sense. I don’t see Spence closing any perceived gap that Chapin has failed to close. They offer the same classes and level of rigor.


The class size does affect matriculation percentages but the thing is we do not need to second guess the size of graduating classes in each of the schools. We know from Chapin's own website that Chapin had 299 graduating students between 2021 and 2025. 299/5 = 59.8 students per year, or 60 students over 4 years and 59 students one year. Not 55 or 57 - at least during the latest years.

I am not a Spence mom - just someone who is trying to figure out the right school for my DD who is bored in her local not-TT private. FWIW, I can clearly see the difference in college outcomes between the 3 schools based on pure data - not vibes. It doesn't mean a school with better matriculations is better than the others. Of course, there are other factors (e.g. school culture, level of pressure on students) that are more important than college admissions.
Anonymous
Post 01/19/2026 10:16     Subject: Re:Best private schools in NYC?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The schools give social and professional connections that are superior to Ivies. The quality of education, due to individualized attention and resources and lack of faculty tenure, is better than any public by leaps and bounds (sorry, Scarsdale). They will harm your college admissions prospects significantly but that doesn’t matter. It’s better to go to Collegiate and SMU than Rye HS and Cornell.


Yeah, no. Particularly at a lower-tier school, connections of that sort only ever happen if you fit in with the popular crowd - which the majority of students don't - and individual attention and resources can't make up for an unchallenging curriculum and dumb classmates.

If you want your bright, interesting kid to become their best self then for god's sake don't have them spend their high school career with lazy overprivileged kids at a school that gives them A's for spelling their name correctly.



Students at Collegiate and Trinity aren’t lazy, the bottom quarter is far more put together than anything at a public school.

Plenty of rich kids aren’t “popular” and you don’t need to be rich to be friends with them. People make careers out of their kindergarten class and came from nothing.
Anonymous
Post 01/19/2026 10:12     Subject: Best private schools in NYC?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Chapin has a 34% ivy acceptance rate over for years which is also great…. That’s just scooting to ChatGPT so that is very unofficial. LOL


Matriculation or acceptance? That percentage seems really high considering their performance in the last 2-3 years


NP. Just looked it up. For last 5 years, Chapin sent 78 to ivies, so less than Spence’s 91 and much less than Brearley’s 124, but a little more than Collegiate’s 71. Seems to be about 25% of class if you assume similar class size to those others.


Chapin and Collegiate class size is a bit smaller I am pretty sure about 50 to Spence’s 60-70 but depends on year so their rate is in the 30 percentile so pretty comparable to Spence’s. 78 kids over 5 years with a class size of 50 is 31 percent. Chapin has been consistent with their Ivy acceptance rate. They are pretty intent on keeping the community small. It’s very very difficult to gain acceptance in recent years. What performance was the poster referring to?? Love this forum for all the differing opinions! I assume it’s parents from the various schools. LOL.


That's incorrect for Chapin, which has 810 students for 13 grades (https://www.chapin.edu/about/chapin-facts). That's an average of over 62 per grade. About even with Spence, which has 804 (https://www.spenceschool.org/about-spence/at-a-glance). Brearley has 786 (https://www.brearley.org/brearley-at-a-glance/). Collegiate is smaller though with 670 (https://www.collegiateschool.org/explore/who-we-are).


Class size can vary, some middle school grades tend to have more kids but high school classes can definitely be as small as 50 at Chapin. Think this year’s class has 57.


Chapin's matriculation page for 2021-2025 reflects 299 students., or 60 students per year.


Yeah no idea why that poster is fighting this. The class size is about the same as the other TT girls schools, but the matriculation stats are worse. They are still very strong; they're just the worst of the 3. No shame at all in that.


I think people tend to rely on schools' reputations and might not notice that one school (Spence) has done very well over recent years while another (Chapin) remained very impressive, solid and steady but has not really "closed the gap" to Brearley.

I have no connection to any of the all-girls schools but when I look at Spence college admissions (Ivys + Duke + Stanford + MIT), I am pretty impressed. Brearley does very well with Ivys but if you include other top tier schools (Duke + Standford + MIT), the gap between B and S is smaller. S sends more students to those 3 schools (that I would personally choose over some of the Ivys).


Why would you choose Duke over an Ivy?


Are you really asking this question?
Anonymous
Post 01/19/2026 10:12     Subject: Re:Best private schools in NYC?

Anonymous wrote:The schools give social and professional connections that are superior to Ivies. The quality of education, due to individualized attention and resources and lack of faculty tenure, is better than any public by leaps and bounds (sorry, Scarsdale). They will harm your college admissions prospects significantly but that doesn’t matter. It’s better to go to Collegiate and SMU than Rye HS and Cornell.


Yeah, no. Particularly at a lower-tier school, connections of that sort only ever happen if you fit in with the popular crowd - which the majority of students don't - and individual attention and resources can't make up for an unchallenging curriculum and dumb classmates.

If you want your bright, interesting kid to become their best self then for god's sake don't have them spend their high school career with lazy overprivileged kids at a school that gives them A's for spelling their name correctly.
Anonymous
Post 01/19/2026 10:06     Subject: Re:Best private schools in NYC?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Most Ivy admits from those schools have a hook: legacy/donor family, athletics, URM etc. They’d get in from any TT, 2T, or even (!) 3T school. The only thing Brearley or Trinity or wherever has the “best” matriculation did is identify students who are shoe ins for Ivies. Ranking or deciding between them based on matriculation is tedious.


They’d also get in from a public school.

The real question ought to be “what will this school do for my kid specifically” - the reason to avoid a 3T is that if your kid is bored out of their mind in high school, that’s going to affect their college prospects in ways that have nothing to do with the school’s reputation.


The schools give social and professional connections that are superior to Ivies. The quality of education, due to individualized attention and resources and lack of faculty tenure, is better than any public by leaps and bounds (sorry, Scarsdale). They will harm your college admissions prospects significantly but that doesn’t matter. It’s better to go to Collegiate and SMU than Rye HS and Cornell.
Anonymous
Post 01/19/2026 09:15     Subject: Best private schools in NYC?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Chapin has a 34% ivy acceptance rate over for years which is also great…. That’s just scooting to ChatGPT so that is very unofficial. LOL


Matriculation or acceptance? That percentage seems really high considering their performance in the last 2-3 years


NP. Just looked it up. For last 5 years, Chapin sent 78 to ivies, so less than Spence’s 91 and much less than Brearley’s 124, but a little more than Collegiate’s 71. Seems to be about 25% of class if you assume similar class size to those others.


Chapin and Collegiate class size is a bit smaller I am pretty sure about 50 to Spence’s 60-70 but depends on year so their rate is in the 30 percentile so pretty comparable to Spence’s. 78 kids over 5 years with a class size of 50 is 31 percent. Chapin has been consistent with their Ivy acceptance rate. They are pretty intent on keeping the community small. It’s very very difficult to gain acceptance in recent years. What performance was the poster referring to?? Love this forum for all the differing opinions! I assume it’s parents from the various schools. LOL.


That's incorrect for Chapin, which has 810 students for 13 grades (https://www.chapin.edu/about/chapin-facts). That's an average of over 62 per grade. About even with Spence, which has 804 (https://www.spenceschool.org/about-spence/at-a-glance). Brearley has 786 (https://www.brearley.org/brearley-at-a-glance/). Collegiate is smaller though with 670 (https://www.collegiateschool.org/explore/who-we-are).


Class size can vary, some middle school grades tend to have more kids but high school classes can definitely be as small as 50 at Chapin. Think this year’s class has 57.


Chapin's matriculation page for 2021-2025 reflects 299 students., or 60 students per year.


Yeah no idea why that poster is fighting this. The class size is about the same as the other TT girls schools, but the matriculation stats are worse. They are still very strong; they're just the worst of the 3. No shame at all in that.


I think people tend to rely on schools' reputations and might not notice that one school (Spence) has done very well over recent years while another (Chapin) remained very impressive, solid and steady but has not really "closed the gap" to Brearley.

I have no connection to any of the all-girls schools but when I look at Spence college admissions (Ivys + Duke + Stanford + MIT), I am pretty impressed. Brearley does very well with Ivys but if you include other top tier schools (Duke + Standford + MIT), the gap between B and S is smaller. S sends more students to those 3 schools (that I would personally choose over some of the Ivys).


Why would you choose Duke over an Ivy?


Because Cornell and Brown exist
Anonymous
Post 01/19/2026 09:02     Subject: Best private schools in NYC?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Chapin has a 34% ivy acceptance rate over for years which is also great…. That’s just scooting to ChatGPT so that is very unofficial. LOL


Matriculation or acceptance? That percentage seems really high considering their performance in the last 2-3 years


NP. Just looked it up. For last 5 years, Chapin sent 78 to ivies, so less than Spence’s 91 and much less than Brearley’s 124, but a little more than Collegiate’s 71. Seems to be about 25% of class if you assume similar class size to those others.


Chapin and Collegiate class size is a bit smaller I am pretty sure about 50 to Spence’s 60-70 but depends on year so their rate is in the 30 percentile so pretty comparable to Spence’s. 78 kids over 5 years with a class size of 50 is 31 percent. Chapin has been consistent with their Ivy acceptance rate. They are pretty intent on keeping the community small. It’s very very difficult to gain acceptance in recent years. What performance was the poster referring to?? Love this forum for all the differing opinions! I assume it’s parents from the various schools. LOL.


That's incorrect for Chapin, which has 810 students for 13 grades (https://www.chapin.edu/about/chapin-facts). That's an average of over 62 per grade. About even with Spence, which has 804 (https://www.spenceschool.org/about-spence/at-a-glance). Brearley has 786 (https://www.brearley.org/brearley-at-a-glance/). Collegiate is smaller though with 670 (https://www.collegiateschool.org/explore/who-we-are).


Class size can vary, some middle school grades tend to have more kids but high school classes can definitely be as small as 50 at Chapin. Think this year’s class has 57.


Chapin's matriculation page for 2021-2025 reflects 299 students., or 60 students per year.


Yeah no idea why that poster is fighting this. The class size is about the same as the other TT girls schools, but the matriculation stats are worse. They are still very strong; they're just the worst of the 3. No shame at all in that.


I think people tend to rely on schools' reputations and might not notice that one school (Spence) has done very well over recent years while another (Chapin) remained very impressive, solid and steady but has not really "closed the gap" to Brearley.

I have no connection to any of the all-girls schools but when I look at Spence college admissions (Ivys + Duke + Stanford + MIT), I am pretty impressed. Brearley does very well with Ivys but if you include other top tier schools (Duke + Standford + MIT), the gap between B and S is smaller. S sends more students to those 3 schools (that I would personally choose over some of the Ivys).


Why would you choose Duke over an Ivy?
Anonymous
Post 01/19/2026 09:00     Subject: Best private schools in NYC?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Chapin has a 34% ivy acceptance rate over for years which is also great…. That’s just scooting to ChatGPT so that is very unofficial. LOL


Matriculation or acceptance? That percentage seems really high considering their performance in the last 2-3 years


NP. Just looked it up. For last 5 years, Chapin sent 78 to ivies, so less than Spence’s 91 and much less than Brearley’s 124, but a little more than Collegiate’s 71. Seems to be about 25% of class if you assume similar class size to those others.


Chapin and Collegiate class size is a bit smaller I am pretty sure about 50 to Spence’s 60-70 but depends on year so their rate is in the 30 percentile so pretty comparable to Spence’s. 78 kids over 5 years with a class size of 50 is 31 percent. Chapin has been consistent with their Ivy acceptance rate. They are pretty intent on keeping the community small. It’s very very difficult to gain acceptance in recent years. What performance was the poster referring to?? Love this forum for all the differing opinions! I assume it’s parents from the various schools. LOL.


That's incorrect for Chapin, which has 810 students for 13 grades (https://www.chapin.edu/about/chapin-facts). That's an average of over 62 per grade. About even with Spence, which has 804 (https://www.spenceschool.org/about-spence/at-a-glance). Brearley has 786 (https://www.brearley.org/brearley-at-a-glance/). Collegiate is smaller though with 670 (https://www.collegiateschool.org/explore/who-we-are).


Class size can vary, some middle school grades tend to have more kids but high school classes can definitely be as small as 50 at Chapin. Think this year’s class has 57.


Chapin's matriculation page for 2021-2025 reflects 299 students., or 60 students per year.



Lots of Spence moms on this forum. The three girls schools are very much the same. I think what some posters are trying to express is that class size in the upper school has some variations that would impact matriculation percentages. A kindergarten class could have 75 kids but a graduating class could have 55 because many students leave for coed schools and the admissions office don’t always fill all slots if they don’t feel they have found the right candidates. I think that makes perfect sense. I don’t see Spence closing any perceived gap that Chapin has failed to close. They offer the same classes and level of rigor.
Anonymous
Post 01/19/2026 01:35     Subject: Best private schools in NYC?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Chapin has a 34% ivy acceptance rate over for years which is also great…. That’s just scooting to ChatGPT so that is very unofficial. LOL


Matriculation or acceptance? That percentage seems really high considering their performance in the last 2-3 years


NP. Just looked it up. For last 5 years, Chapin sent 78 to ivies, so less than Spence’s 91 and much less than Brearley’s 124, but a little more than Collegiate’s 71. Seems to be about 25% of class if you assume similar class size to those others.


Chapin and Collegiate class size is a bit smaller I am pretty sure about 50 to Spence’s 60-70 but depends on year so their rate is in the 30 percentile so pretty comparable to Spence’s. 78 kids over 5 years with a class size of 50 is 31 percent. Chapin has been consistent with their Ivy acceptance rate. They are pretty intent on keeping the community small. It’s very very difficult to gain acceptance in recent years. What performance was the poster referring to?? Love this forum for all the differing opinions! I assume it’s parents from the various schools. LOL.


That's incorrect for Chapin, which has 810 students for 13 grades (https://www.chapin.edu/about/chapin-facts). That's an average of over 62 per grade. About even with Spence, which has 804 (https://www.spenceschool.org/about-spence/at-a-glance). Brearley has 786 (https://www.brearley.org/brearley-at-a-glance/). Collegiate is smaller though with 670 (https://www.collegiateschool.org/explore/who-we-are).


Class size can vary, some middle school grades tend to have more kids but high school classes can definitely be as small as 50 at Chapin. Think this year’s class has 57.


Chapin's matriculation page for 2021-2025 reflects 299 students., or 60 students per year.


Yeah no idea why that poster is fighting this. The class size is about the same as the other TT girls schools, but the matriculation stats are worse. They are still very strong; they're just the worst of the 3. No shame at all in that.


I think people tend to rely on schools' reputations and might not notice that one school (Spence) has done very well over recent years while another (Chapin) remained very impressive, solid and steady but has not really "closed the gap" to Brearley.

I have no connection to any of the all-girls schools but when I look at Spence college admissions (Ivys + Duke + Stanford + MIT), I am pretty impressed. Brearley does very well with Ivys but if you include other top tier schools (Duke + Standford + MIT), the gap between B and S is smaller. S sends more students to those 3 schools (that I would personally choose over some of the Ivys).


Stanford and Duke yes. Not MIT. They don’t even list MIT on the website because there haven’t been more than one per year like those schools they list. None of the girls schools get very many kids into MIT. They’re not really geared toward that place.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2026 23:50     Subject: Re:Best private schools in NYC?

Anonymous wrote:Most Ivy admits from those schools have a hook: legacy/donor family, athletics, URM etc. They’d get in from any TT, 2T, or even (!) 3T school. The only thing Brearley or Trinity or wherever has the “best” matriculation did is identify students who are shoe ins for Ivies. Ranking or deciding between them based on matriculation is tedious.


They’d also get in from a public school.

The real question ought to be “what will this school do for my kid specifically” - the reason to avoid a 3T is that if your kid is bored out of their mind in high school, that’s going to affect their college prospects in ways that have nothing to do with the school’s reputation.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2026 23:20     Subject: Best private schools in NYC?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Chapin has a 34% ivy acceptance rate over for years which is also great…. That’s just scooting to ChatGPT so that is very unofficial. LOL


Matriculation or acceptance? That percentage seems really high considering their performance in the last 2-3 years


NP. Just looked it up. For last 5 years, Chapin sent 78 to ivies, so less than Spence’s 91 and much less than Brearley’s 124, but a little more than Collegiate’s 71. Seems to be about 25% of class if you assume similar class size to those others.


Chapin and Collegiate class size is a bit smaller I am pretty sure about 50 to Spence’s 60-70 but depends on year so their rate is in the 30 percentile so pretty comparable to Spence’s. 78 kids over 5 years with a class size of 50 is 31 percent. Chapin has been consistent with their Ivy acceptance rate. They are pretty intent on keeping the community small. It’s very very difficult to gain acceptance in recent years. What performance was the poster referring to?? Love this forum for all the differing opinions! I assume it’s parents from the various schools. LOL.


That's incorrect for Chapin, which has 810 students for 13 grades (https://www.chapin.edu/about/chapin-facts). That's an average of over 62 per grade. About even with Spence, which has 804 (https://www.spenceschool.org/about-spence/at-a-glance). Brearley has 786 (https://www.brearley.org/brearley-at-a-glance/). Collegiate is smaller though with 670 (https://www.collegiateschool.org/explore/who-we-are).


Class size can vary, some middle school grades tend to have more kids but high school classes can definitely be as small as 50 at Chapin. Think this year’s class has 57.


Chapin's matriculation page for 2021-2025 reflects 299 students., or 60 students per year.


Yeah no idea why that poster is fighting this. The class size is about the same as the other TT girls schools, but the matriculation stats are worse. They are still very strong; they're just the worst of the 3. No shame at all in that.


I think people tend to rely on schools' reputations and might not notice that one school (Spence) has done very well over recent years while another (Chapin) remained very impressive, solid and steady but has not really "closed the gap" to Brearley.

I have no connection to any of the all-girls schools but when I look at Spence college admissions (Ivys + Duke + Stanford + MIT), I am pretty impressed. Brearley does very well with Ivys but if you include other top tier schools (Duke + Standford + MIT), the gap between B and S is smaller. S sends more students to those 3 schools (that I would personally choose over some of the Ivys).