<p>I am from asia and looking into applying to a girl school in the US for my daughter. She will be entering middle school. Winsor School (Boston) and Brearley School (NYC) are on top of our list.</p>
<p>I would like to see if anyone on this forum could share their view/experience on these 2 schools and the similarities and differences between the two? If one has a choice between the two and location does not matter, which would you go for?</p>
<p>Thank you very much.</p>
<p>momof1girl</p>
<p>i know a few girls from brearley and they represent the school very well. i dont know anything about the winsor school but brearley is one of the TOP girls schools in the country if not the best.</p>
<p>sorry, just curious – how will you be applying to both? they’re far away from each other, and they’re both day schools. will you simply move to the area if your daughter is accepted?</p>
<p>and i don’t know anything about winsor, but as ylaxw said, brearley is a fantastic school. the 2 girls i know that go there are both super nice and incredibly smart, so… i think it’d be difficult to go wrong with either</p>
<p>Would agree with ylaww1123 on Brearley - top school no doubt. But I view Brearley as a distinctively New York City School, with most of its students living in upper manhattan. Most/Many of these girls have been there since Kindergarten. I would seriously look into how difficult it might be for someone from abroad to adjust in 9th grade.</p>
<p>Winsor is also an excellent, rigorous school with very strong college placement. You wouldn’t go wrong with either school. Both are tough to gain admittance to, so I would advise you to have your daughter apply to both if you/she are serious about having her attend one of these schools.</p>
<p>Winsor has more of a set curriculum (while different levels, such as honors and AP) for everyone rather than electives. Electives start coming into play at 11th grade or so.</p>
<p>If you’re already taking a foreign language higher than 3 (let’s say French 3) you wouldn’t be able to take that course until 10th grade. This happened to my friend and she is now taking Chinese 1.</p>
<p>Winsor cares a lot about character. Their crew team is very competitive and they just won a bronze medal in the New England High School Regatta (something along those lines). They are sister schools to: Roxbury Latin and Belmont Hill (all boys schools) and Dana Hall (all-girls), and they often interact through theater and other things that are usually co-ed.</p>
<p>Hi Sue22,</p>
<p>Yes, we will definitely be applying to both. The only difference is Winsor might have more places than Brearley since Brearley starts at Kindergarten and space won’t become available until someone leaves. </p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Hi DiveAlive,</p>
<p>Yes, we will be back to the US (we are US citizen) and either location is OK for us. As we are not familiar with the prep school scene in the US, these are two that came across when we started researching for schools in the northeast. </p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>nevermind!
-Rosanna Rosanna Danna</p>
<p>If I were you, I would not tell one school about the other. Essentially I dont believe either of the schools will accept you with the concept of “we will move where we get accepted”. You will pretty much have to be telling a story to each school of how you are moving to NY/Boston and are looking for a school.
In terms of less space at Brearley since it starts at K – a large majority of the girls go to boarding school or co-ed schools so the turnover is very big for HS.<br>
In terms of reputation Brearley is the winner hands down.</p>
<p>Thanks mhmm for the tip. We are actually relocating due to our own employment situation and my hubby’s firm has major office in both NYC and Boston. That is the reason why location is less a concern for us. What we need to do is to align our relocation timing with the best time for school entry. </p>
<p>We know the chance of getting into either of these schools is quite slim regardless of when. But still would like to try since we know our daughter would thrive in a single sex school environment. </p>
<p>In terms of reputation, could you please let us know why Brearley is the winner? It seems that Winsor is also top notch when we mentioned the school to some of the people who are familiar with the private school scene in the US and Winsor’s college placement is awesome. </p>
<p>From a mom’s point of view, I do prefer Boston. It’s a smaller city and things are just easier to manage somehow (please don’t kill me for this comment. It’s just a personal opinion). But school entry is not something I have a choice over.</p>
<p>As they are both day schools in different cities, they are never really compared head-to-head so I would be wary of any relative judgment. I don’t know anything about Brearley, but as a Boston-area parent I can tell you that Winsor has a top reputation with respect to academics, and education-obsessed families I know who have used the school are happy with it (the brothers in the 3 families went to Milton, Phillips Andover, and the respected day school Commonwealth, to put it in perspective).</p>
<p>I do not know anything about the Winsor School but have first hand knowledge of the Brearley School as my daughter spent 13 years there. It is highly rigorous program and very competitive. As a previous poster mentioned, spots do open up for 9th grade as many girls opt to move to co-ed, boarding or a less competitive environment. It is a fantastic school for a highly academic, motivated and bright child. Their History and English departments are topnotch. Pm me if you have specific questions and I would be happy to help.</p>
<p>Winsor is top-notch. (I hadn’t seen whynotmithoo’s comment when I composed this. Serendipity.)</p>
<p>Momof1girl, I presume your daughter will apply to more than one school in each city? In the Boston area, you should also investigate Dana Hall, in Wellesley. [Dana</a> Hall School - Wellesley, Massachusetts/MA - Boarding School Profile](<a href=“http://www.boardingschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/379]Dana”>Dana Hall School (2023 Profile) - Wellesley, MA) If you were to live in Boston, it would not be difficult to get to Dana Hall, as you would be traveling against the prevailing commuter traffic. </p>
<p>Boston differs from New York in that there is a smaller “in-city” population. Many of the towns immediately surrounding Boston have excellent public schools. If you are considering Winsor, you should consider the towns near to Route 9 and the Mass Pike–Weston, Brookline, Newton, Wellesley.</p>
<p>The Human Resources department at your husband’s firm may also be able to give you advice for each city.</p>
<p>Hi whynotmithoo,</p>
<p>I’ve sent you a PM.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Hi Periwinkle,</p>
<p>Yes, we will definitely be applying to other schools. It so happened that Winsor was brought to our attention because our first choice was a girl school.</p>
<p>Thank you for the suggestions and will definitely look into the neighboring public schools as well.</p>
<p>[Winsor</a> School plans expansion in Longwood - The Boston Globe](<a href=“http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2011/02/12/winsor_school_plans_expansion_in__longwood/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Education+news]Winsor”>http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2011/02/12/winsor_school_plans_expansion_in__longwood/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Education+news)</p>
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