<p>The Hill schools are the schools in Riverdale. They include Horace Mann, Riverdale Country School, and Fieldston.</p>
<p>Honestly, Dalton is stocked with rich kids who pay their way into college. It's gotten a little better in the past few years, but be prepared to compete against them come applications time. The other good schools (like the Hill schools and such) have that, too, but Dalton's especially known for it. </p>
<p>Have you looked at Columbia Prep?</p>
<p>private schools are a waste of time and money. Not only that it may be harder to get into a more selective college from a private school (due to private school quotas), your graduating class MAY be more competitive (depends what public school you compare it to). Oh yea, and you get labeled a lot. If you go to a good nyc public school (mine is pretty good), you dont even have to wear those annoying shoes.</p>
<p>Yeah, but at good NYC public schools, you have to compete against (usually) Asian kids whose parents starve them when they get bad grades. And the grades are huge, so especially at specialized high schools, you're competing against a ton of smart, qualified people for even less spots at top schools. Private schools has connections; something that public schools aren't really allowed to have. </p>
<p>I go to a good NYC private school and there really are a lot of benefits to going private. For starters, you don't have to worry about budget cuts. You also don't have classes that exceed 15 kids or so, the building's generally nicer and easier to get around, you get a better college advisor, etc. You also don't have to take regents. It's expensive, but worth it.</p>
<p>Horace Mann is a great school, all the kids there are really smart and nice as the above posts said. Many kids go to the ivy leagues from there. My friend graduated from there and is now a senior at UPENN, her brother who attended there as well is at Georgetown. Riverdale is good as well, but Horace Mann is better. My cousin attended Hotchkiss and he liked it, its a great school, not as strong academically as like the Exter schools but still very good. The campus is great. My cousin graduated from there and he is at UPENN as a sophmore. My friend transfered from my school to Hotchkiss and she really enjoys it as well. Dalton is an okay private school, its not as strong academically as the other schools. Good Luck :)</p>
<p>ok. this is all good to think about. I think I am not even going to agree even the slightest bit for boarding school. I just don't want to be out in some remote part of the world. back to the Hill schools. sounds like this is what I want to go for. Will I be burned out though when I reach college? My parents would like to starve to me for bad grades as their edict has been "no work no food." but that pertains to chores around the homestead and I don't really get bad grades. I am a John's HOpkins invitee since 5th grade and I have been nominated for the people to people Ambassdor Programs and will attend this summer. What's that all about anyway? I have good ecs since my mom is like a freak for helping people - which is ok and I have actually enjoyed the ecs I have done but how will I ever do it in high school? WHen I took the test prep and I CONCENTRATED I only missed one on both the verbs and math but another time well, not so great. Worried now. What's the edge for the Hill schools?</p>
<p>hey, riverdale. the block system. I have read through some of the other posts and there is a lot of talk about the block system. HOw does it work?</p>
<p>I posted the following in Prep School Admission before. Hope this will help.</p>
<p>My son goes to Riverdale. I think I can tell you a little bit about the school. Riverdale is a rigorous school. Among the three Riverdale schools, Fieldston is considered more artsy. Horace Mann students are more driven. Riverdale is thought of as sweet, middle of the road school. My son is in high school now. The school expects every student to spend no more than 45 minutes per subject. There are 5 academic subjects. Therefore every student is expected to spend about 3 hours at the homework every school day.</p>
<p>There are few interdepartmental classes. Constructing America a two-credit American Studies course jointly taught by a history and an English teacher. Students are regularly invited to read literature through the lens of economic, political, and social conditions and theories, and to explore the intersection of cultural heroes, literary characters, and national mythologies. They gain a feel for living history as carefully chosen literature fleshes out the social changes and the threads of consequence that give history its specific character. Sometimes they see connections not only between a story and a historical event but also between historical eras in their succession and corresponding transformations in literary expression. Such learning inevitably strengthens students abilities to think abstractly and analytically. </p>
<p>In senior year, Integrated Liberal Studies is the course that stretches the capacities developed in Constructing America. Two disciplines expand to five: literature, philosophy, history of science, history of art, and history of music. Five major essay assignments are designed to engage students in finding a thesis that will tie together aspects of political theory and art, or literature and scientific theory, and so on. The readings are sophisticated texts of central cultural importance, and if some students find the work challenging at first, they all experience a growth in the flexibility and creativity of their thought processes by virtue of the effort.</p>
<p>In grades 9, 10, and 11 the normal expectation is that 5 or 5 ½ credits will be taken each year. There are not many elective classes before 11th grade. Math is the only class that offers honor level sections to allow the most talented and dedicated students to study mathematics in greater depth and at an accelerated pace. Four foreign languages are offered: Spanish, French, Latin or Japanese.</p>
<p>Having satisfied most of their departmental requirements by the middle or end of their junior year, students are free to choose from an array of 19 Advanced Placement courses and many topical electives. I read in CC that some students in other high schools take more than 5 AP courses before their junior year. It may be difficult to take as many AP courses in Riverdale. </p>
<p>Riverdale offers a full range of intramural and interscholastic sports: baseball, basketball, fencing, field hockey, football, golf, gymnastics, lacrosse, soccer, softball, track and cross-country running, wrestling, tennis on outdoor courts, and swimming in our six-lane, 25-meter pool. The campus is beautiful. In fact it has one of the most beautiful campus among the New York City prep schools.</p>
<p>Please feel free to ask me if you have any additional questions.</p>
<p>Dalton- excellent academically, but absolute horrible socially. Really cliquey.
Horace- Personally, I feel their campus is ugly... Great academically though.
Steiner- Been going downhill since the 90s... also kind of run down.</p>
<p>I'm not sure where you live, but if you're in any of the boroughs, you HAVE to consider St. Ann's! (Went there from K-8).
I have some friends over at Trinity/Hackley too...</p>
<p>Why don't you go to a 9-12 high school live Stuy? After being in the NYC private school system for over a decade, I wouldn't really reccomend anybody going there after 6th grade. These kids have known each other since Pre-K, and some of them are not very welcoming...</p>
<p>Could you explain some more about Dalton, megaphone?</p>
<p>You really dont need to go to a private school if you can get into any respectable public high school- specialized ones, or cardozo, midwood or murrow ( of course there are others these are just the ones on top of my head). I didnt know u didnt have to take the regents if you go to a private school, damn.</p>
<p>(The good) Private schools actually are worth going to if you compare them to Cardozo, Midwood, Murrow, or Dewitt Clinton. The private schools filmalife is referring to are on a whole different (and higher) level.</p>
<p>filmalife,
I can tell you about Horace Mann, since I have a child who graduated and two current students. This is a superb academic school with an incredible range of course offerings, a beautiful, almost college-like campus, and great extracurriculars. For example, HM has the oldest continuously published high school newspaper in the country, published weekly. It has been named the best high school newspaper in the country repeatedly. They have great debate-type teams such as Model UN, Junior Statesmen and Mock Trial, every athletic team imaginable, and an incredible performing arts program. There has been a huge building campaign over the past decade resulting in state-of-the art classrooms, theaters, etc. It is a lot of work, though. Plenty of homework but you will be incredibly well prepared for college. Most kids feel that they are doing college level work 4 years early and thus college is not a particularly big adjustment. The college counseling is outstanding and the college placement rate for the "elite" schools is top notch. Are there rich, spoiled kids there? Absolutely? But that's not all the kids. The school is quite diverse and 20% of the students are on financial aid. I can answer more specific questions if you have them.</p>
<p>Momof3sons, I have a lot of friends there, and I agree, the academics at Horace Mann are superb. Their summer program is really easy and not very productive (I took Algebra 2 and Trig over the summer there for a few weeks to get ahead, but I wasn't learning anything so I went to sleepaway camp instead and had the best summer of my life haha) but I know that it doesn't reflect on the quality of the academics during the school year. </p>
<p>By the way, did you hear about the facebook groups? And the girl who sent a video of herself naked to her boyfriend who then sent it to the whole world? And about kids who come to class high, and even kids who get high in class? Do you know that there are drug dealers among the students there? And did you know that people cheated on the driver's ed test and the school did nothing about it? Do you know how many kids end up in rehab either for drugs or for eating disorders at Horace Mann? </p>
<p>Sure, it's a great school, but it's not necessarily the right school for everyone. It's a pretty "fast-tracked" school. And I don't mean to Harvard. Filmalife, just be careful. Because the next four years will help define who you will become for the rest of your life. Horace Mann is a really good school, and it's nice, but it's got a lot of social pressure to do things you otherwise might not have done. Make sure to visit every school you apply to and ask people about it. Ask parents of children who go there, (more importantly:) ask kids who go there themselves, and in the end, I'm sure you'll end up alright. Good luck!</p>
<p>Yes, PurpoisePal, I have heard about most of the "incidents" you have described. I'm sure you know that these things are going on in virtually every high school in a metropolitan area. I'm sure you also know that while these "incidents" make big headlines, they involve only a tiny percentage of the students who attend. I stand by what I said. HM has superb academics and facilities. It's up to the students to take advantage of them and not get involved in the other "stuff." There are plenty of "normal" kids there who do not engage in the behaviors you have listed.</p>
<p>Fieldston is a great place. I went there from K through 12th grade, and had a wonderful experience. It is very similar to Horace Mann and Riverdale in terms of location, academics, sports, clubs, etc. In my mind, it differs in its mindset. While it is as good academically as Horace Mann and the other top NYC schools, it is considered less of a high-pressure environment, which is evidenced by the lack of AP's, GPA's, ranks, etc. As a result, people are internally motivated and intellectually interested, but not cutthroat competitive. And this certainly does not hurt Fieldston in matriculations, as it continues to do very well in this field. Classes are small and interesting, and teachers are great. I'd say its reputation as an "artsy school" is a little exaggerrated, but the music, dance, and theater programs are all very strong. As for it being a "druggy" school, I would disagree with that statement. While that scene certainly exists, it is more of a fringe, and would not be involved in one's everyday life unless one chooses to. Fieldston is also a very diverse environment, with a high percentage of students on financial aid (I've heard 40%, compared to HM's 20%), so there's less of an entitled rich-kid atmosphere (although that certainly exists). In conclusion, it offers the same (if not better) academic benefits as does its peer institutions, but it also offers a less cutthroat and happier institution that is better for one's mental health. PM me if you have any specific questions.</p>
<p>I thank everyone for replying and I was just intrigued about the comments tha said the Fieldston school was just as rigorous as HM and RCS but the kdis were saner. How is that achieved???</p>
<p>It has a reputation for not being as cutthroat (no GPA's, class ranks, AP's), so people are less focused on comparing themselves and their grades (and SAT scores) with other people. In addition, classes aren't graded on curves so there is not competition within a class, but merely internal motivation to succeed. While I cannot speak to how other schools differ in this aspect, I would say that for the most part, the kids at Fieldston seemed pretty relaxed and happy, while at the same time intelligent and hard-working.</p>
<p>any interview tips? My friend interviewed at Hm and spent like 45 mintues with the guy! I am nervous! I am afraid my parents just won't be able to understand this whole process, they are not convinced that the interview has to include them - they say they are not going to be accepted I am. lol! As you can tell my parents are not all that nyc savvy.</p>