So, we've been swept up in the frenzy of k admissions. I keep asking myself if it's bc I want my dc to be given a spot? Are these schools worth the hype? Are they worth not moving to the suburbs for?
I thought about it and talked extensively to families in both situations. It really depends on what you want— not only in terms of education, but lifestyle. And of course how much of a crimp tuition puts on said lifestyle. For us, some privates were worth it, others were not. If we got offered a spot at one we thought was worth the 55k+ tuition, great. If not, suburban public would’ve been fine too.
I agree with this, especially the part about talking to families. We also liked some privates and didn't like others, and applied fairly narrowly. Our backup was NYC public school and we would have reapplied to private in MS. And I think that would have been just fine.
Re: the suburbs, for us, we had no interest in moving. From our perspective, it's worth it to work demanding and stressful jobs to live in NYC. It's not worth it to live in the NYC suburbs, which are really no better or worse than any other east coast suburbs (and in fact offer generally worse commutes which would limit the time we spent with our kids) but are exorbitantly more expensive in terms of both housing prices and property taxes. I also have friends who moved to places like Bronxville and Rye and were disappointed with the public schools and ended up doing private. A suburban public is going to offer a lot of resources but it's not the same as a private school, and it also doesn't offer what NYC publics do in terms of diversity and a range of experiences. And given the wealth and resources, if you look at the college matriculation list for a school like Bronxville HS, it's surprisingly mediocre.
If I wanted to live in the suburbs, I would not choose privates over a strong suburban public.
But if you would *prefer* to live in the city, I think it becomes a more challenging question. We'd prefer to stay in the city but financially I'm not sure we can justify private tuition vs. a strong public. For the immediate future, we're only comparing privates vs. city publics (so basically our zoned school, maybe g&t) -- but with our eyes fully open that if we do the city public thing, we may not be happy with it and might need to adjust.
Op here. I guess we are trying to comehow ascertain if the tt privates in nyc are superior to a top suburban school. The tuition is doable but def significant and we need help regardless (nanny) so it does add up. We are willing to do it if it's worth it. Our biggest issue is logistics. We both work, currently live outside manh, have ds and dd.
Interesting re bronxville hs - we are also considering rye country day as we have heard that private tends to be superior overall even when it's a good public.
It really depends. Are you ready to spend $60k-$70k a year (or double or triple depending on how many children you have) for 13 years? Will you feel hoodwinked if your children don't get into an Ivy at the end of it? Are you giving up every vacation, after-school activity, and summer camp to send your kids? Have you looked over the curriculums of the schools and are they in line with your values? To you, what distinguishes these schools from public and is that important to you? It's very, very personal.
I will say, I don't know anyone who regretted a TT for their kids, unless they were killing themselves to pay for it.
Why are you forcing yourself to make this choice in K? I think you can get all (or most) of the benefits by going public until MS. I realize that’s throwing in an additional variable of child aptitude and some may not want to risk it. However, between the fact that cost is a concern and that in elementary 1) parents are still the biggest influence on child learning and 2) it’s good for kids to experience at least a bit of the “real world,” this seems like a middle ground and reasonable route.
@Anonymous I completely agree with this. We've done public ES and been thrilled with our highly rated zoned school, I'd do it all over again. Now that oldest is going to MS next year we've applied to several privates - there was no need to do it before now, I'm glad we didn't. We've loved being a part of our immediate community and running into friends all the time in the neighborhood.
I thought about it and talked extensively to families in both situations. It really depends on what you want— not only in terms of education, but lifestyle. And of course how much of a crimp tuition puts on said lifestyle. For us, some privates were worth it, others were not. If we got offered a spot at one we thought was worth the 55k+ tuition, great. If not, suburban public would’ve been fine too.
I agree with this, especially the part about talking to families. We also liked some privates and didn't like others, and applied fairly narrowly. Our backup was NYC public school and we would have reapplied to private in MS. And I think that would have been just fine.
Re: the suburbs, for us, we had no interest in moving. From our perspective, it's worth it to work demanding and stressful jobs to live in NYC. It's not worth it to live in the NYC suburbs, which are really no better or worse than any other east coast suburbs (and in fact offer generally worse commutes which would limit the time we spent with our kids) but are exorbitantly more expensive in terms of both housing prices and property taxes. I also have friends who moved to places like Bronxville and Rye and were disappointed with the public schools and ended up doing private. A suburban public is going to offer a lot of resources but it's not the same as a private school, and it also doesn't offer what NYC publics do in terms of diversity and a range of experiences. And given the wealth and resources, if you look at the college matriculation list for a school like Bronxville HS, it's surprisingly mediocre.
@anonymous I agree with this entire post, 100%
If I wanted to live in the suburbs, I would not choose privates over a strong suburban public.
But if you would *prefer* to live in the city, I think it becomes a more challenging question. We'd prefer to stay in the city but financially I'm not sure we can justify private tuition vs. a strong public. For the immediate future, we're only comparing privates vs. city publics (so basically our zoned school, maybe g&t) -- but with our eyes fully open that if we do the city public thing, we may not be happy with it and might need to adjust.
Op here. I guess we are trying to comehow ascertain if the tt privates in nyc are superior to a top suburban school. The tuition is doable but def significant and we need help regardless (nanny) so it does add up. We are willing to do it if it's worth it. Our biggest issue is logistics. We both work, currently live outside manh, have ds and dd.
Interesting re bronxville hs - we are also considering rye country day as we have heard that private tends to be superior overall even when it's a good public.
It really depends. Are you ready to spend $60k-$70k a year (or double or triple depending on how many children you have) for 13 years? Will you feel hoodwinked if your children don't get into an Ivy at the end of it? Are you giving up every vacation, after-school activity, and summer camp to send your kids? Have you looked over the curriculums of the schools and are they in line with your values? To you, what distinguishes these schools from public and is that important to you? It's very, very personal.
I will say, I don't know anyone who regretted a TT for their kids, unless they were killing themselves to pay for it.
Why are you forcing yourself to make this choice in K? I think you can get all (or most) of the benefits by going public until MS. I realize that’s throwing in an additional variable of child aptitude and some may not want to risk it. However, between the fact that cost is a concern and that in elementary 1) parents are still the biggest influence on child learning and 2) it’s good for kids to experience at least a bit of the “real world,” this seems like a middle ground and reasonable route.
@Anonymous I completely agree with this. We've done public ES and been thrilled with our highly rated zoned school, I'd do it all over again. Now that oldest is going to MS next year we've applied to several privates - there was no need to do it before now, I'm glad we didn't. We've loved being a part of our immediate community and running into friends all the time in the neighborhood.
K also helps you bypass middle school and high school applications where it can get more conpetitive
This is our main though (op)