We have narrowed our private school choices to Trinity and Horace Mann (child was accepted to both). There is a very strong chance she will also make the cut off for Stuyvesant. We are torn. Appreciate perspective on quality of education, college support, balanced life. My child is STEM oriented.
I could give you 62,000 x 4 reasonsā¦
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I am very glad that Stuy exists, and no doubt some students thrive there. But itās not the right environment for many, and thatās something to carefully evaluate for your child the best you can.
In terms of college placement, Stuy also seems to do worse overall. Each private school seems to have a set of colleges that it is a feeder to. For example, I know that UChicago loves Horace Mann kids.
If you look at the 2024 class page for Stuyvesant and Bronx Science their placement this year looks outstanding. I believe that class also was one that had modified admission criteria due to Covid. Just like we talk on this page about tuition costs for college nyc private schools cost as much as many colleges and stuy is free. Unless there is a full scholarship to the schools or very specific issues that require private school, Stuyvesant seems the right choice.
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Trinity and HM matriculation stats are hard to interpret given the very high percentage of engaged and āgenerousā legacy parents from elite colleges, full pay, and connections.
I would not consider the published results from those school ātypicalā if your family circumstances are atypical of the majority of other students in attendance. Where your parents went, who they know, how much they donated, how familiar is the family name all skews results but does not serve to support those that lack that background or resources.
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Regardless of college, it is really a question of fit-which school does she want to attend? Very different student bodies. She should go where she will thrive and have a good high school experience; elite college matriculation is not guaranteed from any of them.
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There was a point in my life when the cost of a private high school was completely unaffordable, and another later point when the full tuition cost was low enough to be irrelevant. The OP didnāt think it was worth mentioning, so I donāt think we can assume Stuy is the right choice for them.
I agree with that, and I should have been clearer in my first post. For example, I donāt think that these private schools provide better odds for Columbia or Harvard for unhooked kids. But what I meant by feeder is that each high school seems to maintain a great relationship with some colleges, such as Williams or UChicago. One year, Horace Mann sent 20 students to UChicago.
That is a key thing to tease out from the high school: where do the unhooked kids go to college?
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While not considering the costs, I would favor the school that excel in the teaching of the English language arts courses, even (or perhaps especially) to a student in the STEM field. In the admission contests to highly selective colleges, essays written well by the applicants are likely the only tools (apart from connections and generous donations) that the students can use to distinguish themselves from their peers with similar, if not identical scores. Learning to write is difficult and time-consuming (years); however, the reward for having learned it, would last a life time.
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All three schools excel at teaching English: Stuy - is not just a STEM school. Generally, private schools are better teaching English but a lot of magnet schools are just as good such as Stuy, TJ, etc
This was a while ago but my cousinās English teachers at Stuy was Frank McCourt, Pulitzer Prize winner for Angelaās Ashes. He was as great a teacher as he was a writer.
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If it were me, I would do a deeper dive into the grade dynamics at Trinity and Horace Mann. I think each grade/class tends to have a personality, and to the extent that your child can figure out a best fit to that degree of specificity, I would weigh that as a factor for the K-12s. I would guess that Trinity and HM would, for most kids, be pretty equal in terms of quality of education and college support. Forget balanced life, that probably doesnāt really exist at any of these schools, imo. But the fit with the grade will determine QOL while attempting to navigate the academic demands.
Stuy will have a lot more ārealā New Yorkers, from what Iāve seen. There will be different social pressures vs. Trinity.
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For Trinity and HM, even the upper middle class students get financial aid - Iām talking the kids of college professors, doctors, lawyers/civil servants, etc. Just like the BSs. Itās a very different world from those of regular New Yorkers or even most people.
In the past Trinity had more legacies than HM. But since HM expands more significantly in HS, you get relatively more students w super strong credentials. HM also historically weeded out āweakerā students who entered in younger grades.
In general, I think teacher recommendations and non-academics are how the strongest students differentiate among themselves, rather than just the essays.
Hi, iām a current HM junior
Classes at HM are pretty good and the community is also pretty good. College support is really good but Iām just getting started so Iām not sure, but the college counseling seems to be excellent. I have a lot of work but if you are a hard-working kid you can definitely pull it off. when I tell my friends outside of school about how much work I have they get kind of amazed at how much I balance but at the same time, I feel sometimes that itās very doable.
If your kid is stem-oriented probably better for Stuyvesant. HM has a good STEM curriculum, but itās not excellent or outstanding. There are many strong stem kids at HM and they seem to flourish here but there are definitely far more humanities students. I also have friends from both Trinity and Stuy who can answer other questions if you need
If you have any other specific questions you think I could answer let me know
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Pretty sure this isnāt trueā¦ and if it is itās pretty minimal financial aid. only about 15% of the student body has any financial aid at all, and itās a very minimal amount
I donāt think the weeding out part is true. There are as many stronger students as there are āweakerā in my grade right now.
My eldest went to Stuy. The Covid interruption was tough, but Iāve never been anything but blown away by the students there and the quality of the education. If you are talking about networking, Stuy probably outdoes any college in terms of the successful graduates you might be able to call on. That said, it is very demanding. College acceptances are strong but also the classes are very strong. Look at the number of National Merit Finalists at Stuy versus any prep school and you will see what I mean. You can go anywhere from there and certainly U Chicago loves Stuy. My child ended up at Cambridge in the UK which is pretty tough to get into from the US. I, myself, went to prep school and while it was demanding, my fellow students were nowhere near on the level of the kids at Stuy. That is a plus and a minus, I guess.
Feel free to PM me if you like since I have had a foot in both worlds.
I meant prior to HS. If there are kids that the school thinks canāt handle the work or will struggle extensively, they are encouraged to look elsewhere. I know a number of such students that left and itās pretty commonly understood. Other schools are more likely to just keep such students around.
Stuy is an excellent school. Especially for the right student.
Be careful however drawing conclusions based on National Merit finalists. Many private school students donāt bother with the application process as they donāt need the scholarship $. At my kids former school, many didnāt even bother taking PSAT because theyd already taken the SAT or
ACT before junior year. And college counseling dissuaded the NM application process because they felt it was more important for top students to focus on college apps and school work.
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The current tuition for HM high school is $61,900 and according to HMās website ā15% receive more than $14,000,000 in financial aidā but you are right only 15% of students receive financial aid which is pretty amazing. Just a very wealthy student body much more so than GLENCHEMMS. Financial aid for those that did receive it ranged from 4k-61,900. Still only 15% get financial aid which says something about HM and its bubble.
I actually know several families whose kids currently attend HM including one who is currently a junior like you and yeah, she and her sibling both receive financial aid because there is no way their parents can afford 62k x 2 even though they are highly educated professionals.