I’m an 8th grader who recently learned that I was accepted to 3 of my favorite high schools: Horace Mann, Trinity, & Riverdale. I’m looking forward to attending their classes and doing more research on each of them, but I really want to know a few things:
How generally well regarded are the academics of each? I know HM & Trinity are usually seen as the top, but between the two of them which is better? I love English, History and Math. I enjoy “competitive”/“pressure cooker” environments, and I get along best with nerdy students.
Are all Trinity students “aloof”? I’ve met a few and most just come across as condescending and wealthy. Is that the general culture of the school, or just a sampling error?
Which schools are the best teachers at (especially in English, History and Math)
Which schools have the best acting programs? Which have the best math programs? Which have the best debate programs?
Why are the Trinity SAT/ACT scores so much higher than that of HM or Riverdale, even in areas like math where they don’t seem that strong?
In terms of reputation, Trinity is undoubtedly 1st out of the three, and is probably 2nd to Exeter and Andover. However in my experience, as well as my friends that go to Trinity, it is a very wealthy school and does have that type of atmosphere. That’s not to say it isn’t academic. Also in terms of college, Trinity is the best. ~40% Ivy
Take the Ivy matriculation numbers with a grain of salt since Trinity is full of Ivy legacies…. Even more than HM and Riverdale. It’s that kind of school.
Academically, all three schools are excellent. Go where you feel most comfortable/best fit.
i go to horace mann and id say our history department is really strong, English department is so-so tbh but I’ve been here my whole life so I don’t have an accurate comparison. Same applies for teachers
We have a standard math curriculum and it’s not the best but there are a lot of strong stem kids here who seem to thrive if that helps
Not sure what kind of debate you’re talking about but horace mann public forum is by far the best out of riverdale and trinity, we also have a theatre company that does shows 3 times a year with acting electives
Idk about the sat thing but I can tell you the hm curriculum sets you up to do well on the Sat, I only take regular classes and only needed to take the SAT once
Thank you for your insight. Can you share any more perspective on the debate team? Does the team have dedicated coaches and does it compete in all the major tournaments?
Yeah, I compete and have leadership on the PF debate team right now. Compared to Trinity and Riverdale, we do better competitively, but we probably don’t have as many resources as them. Our school gives us a very limited budget to use for debate resources and tournaments, so we have one remote FYO who works as a debate coach and shows up to some tournaments. However, I don’t think she’s going to be here next year so that we can maximize our budget and go to more competitive major tournaments. Debate coaching isn’t really needed for us since our team is really large and we have dedicated leadership positions to maximize our prep and whatnot. We do better than Riverdale and Trinity even without a coach (I believe they both have a coach, almost every debate team has a coach).
Right now we go to a lot of tournaments, but there are several that are out of reach because of travel (Blake, Barkley, Longhorn Classic, etc.). We go to every major tournament on the Northeast except Florida Blue Key (Yale, NYC Invitational, Princeton, Scarsdale, Ridge, Lexington, UPenn, Harvard) and also State and National Tournaments. We send around 4-5 teams to the TOC every year as well.
Keep in mind that Trinity seems to give higher grades to students than Horace Mann. If you’re unhooked, you will need stellar grades to get into a T20 college. Trinity seems like a better option for an unhooked kid.