I live in NYC and I’m currently looking at high school options. I’m not sure whether to apply to BS, private school here in the city, or both. I’ve been in private school here before, so I already know what that’s like, but I’m wondering about the differences between it and BS.
As someone who had siblings attend a "top"NYC private school before we moved to California and since I am applying to boarding schools this year I feel like I can tell you that there is a HUGE difference between BS and NYC Private schools.
The case for boarding schools:
-For starters, I believe that private day schools in general, but NYC private schools particularly will never be able to match the sheer number of resources that the major boarding schools have, partly due to space/amount of land they have and partly due to the large funding/endowments of top BS.
-BS also provides a much more diverse learning environment because your classmates will literally be from all over the US, if not from all over the world, this brings so many different life experiences and ideas into class discussions, the school community, etc.
-Both of my siblings went to trinity from K-12th grade and I personally felt like the students there were a lot more coddled than people I knew at Boarding school. That was just the impression I got, but I felt like the boarding school experience genuinely makes you more independent and prepared for college and the real world since you are literally living by yourself and responsible for completing your tasks, staying on schedule, etc. .
-In terms of academics, however, you will find that both NYC private schools and boarding schools have the same amount of rigor, but extracurricular and athletic wise boarding schools will offer you a larger ability to try different sports and activities due to there usually larger size (both student body wise and resource wise).
-From an admissions standpoint, if you are applying to top NYC private schools (Trinity, Horace Mann, Riverdale, Collegiate, etc) vs top boarding schools (Andover, Exeter, SPS, Choate, etc.) boarding schools are easier to gain acceptance to.
The case for NYC private schools:
-Of course, you will be able to stay in a large city which is often A LOT more desirable than the location of some schools that are literally in the middle of nowhere (i.e. Deerfield).
-You also will probably have a larger ability to pursue outside of school activities as your entire life will not revolve around the school campus and your potential boarding school.
- NYC private schools, particularly schools like trinity tend to do better when it comes to college placement, than top boarding schools, but the difference is negligible. For example, Trinity sends around 35+%-40% of its students to Ivys/Stanford/MIT while schools like Andover sent around 35% of its students to those colleges. (Keep in mind, however, that both schools have a large number of legacies and hooked students who will take up a big portion of the schools Ivy League matriculations.)
Ultimately, If I were you I would apply to both Boarding schools and NYC private schools, as it seems you are getting in the process early and it wouldn’t hurt to get some of the basic application materials done over the summer (SSAT/ISEE, Applicant Profile, Interviews–If possible). This will give you time to widen the number of schools you are applying to and really figure out what you are looking for. You might actually want to visit boarding school and NYC private school campuses over the summer and that might help you decide whether you want to apply to both or only one. I do want to stress, however, that if you need FA or an athletic recruit your chances will be higher at boarding school than at NYC schools simply because they typically have larger FA budgets and are more inclined to taking athletes. Good luck and if you have any other questions let me know.
Apply to both. You don’t need to decide where to go until you know where you’ve actually been admitted 
I would agree that you should apply to both. However, you may not necessarily know which boarding school’s you’ve been admitted to before contracts are due back to NYC privates. I’d venture to guess you will almost certainly not know. NYC’s admissions timeline does not sync with BS.
This year for example, NYC privates required that contracts and deposits be returned before M9/10. And the most selective schools are not keen on extending deadlines. I know a few families in this predicament this year. They are all prepared to lose the deposits remitted to day schools if their children are accepted at their top choice BS.
Good luck, OP!
Actually, the deadline to submit contracts for NYC privates is Thursday 14 March at noon, as per ISAAGNY.
Revisits will end March 8. Schools may offer waitlist spots starting Monday 11 March. For a few lucky, 3 days of overlap.
The daily commute time to a private school should be a consideration. Some students spend two to three hours commuting each day to private day schools. This time could be better spent on homework, athletic or music or dance or theater practice, or in simply building relationships with others.
NYC students have an advantage in that most boarding schools are located in the Northeast US so that travel time during school vacations & other breaks is not overly burdensome.
I live on the UES, close to a lot of private schools, so that isn’t a problem for me. I also don’t need FA. My main concern with going to BS is closing myself off to a lot of opportunities in the city, and vice versa for going to day school here in the city. Thanks for all the help!
Re: My main concern with going to BS is closing myself off to a lot of opportunities in the city, and vice versa for going to day school here in the city.
This has also been on my mind as of late. We are relatively new to NY. If my kids go to New England boarding school they miss out on making friends and other types of connections in the city where they live. And if they stay in NY, they will make friends and enjoy opportunities that are unique to NY, but they will miss out on the advantages of attending boarding schools. I agree that it does not hurt to apply to both types of schools. At the end of the day, you only really have a choice between the two once you’ve got acceptances from both types of schools. These schools are all so selective, few can really be sure that the choice is theirs to make until March 9, LOL.
This is the bottom line. Wondering if one should attend A vs. B is a waste of time until you have both acceptances in hand.
Apply to them all. Some may drop off as you go through visits and interviews. If you’re lucky enough to wind up with acceptances to, as an example, Exeter and Trinity, then weigh the pluses and minuses of each. @CC4life laid it out pretty well. But remember, what are advantages for some are disadvantages for someone else.
Looking at some boarding schoools will be really helpful for you. They have a very different feeling from the NYC schools, and you can see which you like better before deciding where to focus your efforts. The wider you cast your application net, the more options you may have, but it’s also quite time consuming to do applications, tours, interviews. So, look at a boarding school this spring and see if it feels right, and go from there. There are opportunity costs whichever school you attend, but most students have a strong preference for BS or day.
@CC4life Why do you think that the top NYC schools are harder to get in than the top boarding schools? Shouldn’t it be the opposite because there is a greater amount of applicants applying? Maybe I’m missing something here
@ilovechoateeeee IMO, A lot of the top NYC schools start before 9th grade. Whether that be from k-12 or PK-12 or even 6-12 therefore, while they may have more students than boarding schools in total, there are less spots available in the main points of entry (which is usually 9th grade). For example, while trinity does add a number of spots for 9th grade, not many students are leaving therefore you are left with a VERY limited number of spots for a very large applicant pool.
In contrast, BS usually starts in 9th grade (at least in the US). Therefore, you have almost all the openings for 9th grade and while it is true that there are more applicants for bs than private NYC schools, there are also more school choices for applicants at BS since they are not necessarily being constrained to schools near them. Furthermore, A LOT of people would never consider sending their kids to boarding school ESPECIALLY if they have good public or private options. So while the applicant pool for boarding school is bigger, there are also more spots available (due to there being more school options and schools literally starting from scratch to create a 9th grade since they don’t have students already enrolled).
One other reason I think NYC schools are harder to get into than BS, and this one is PURELY subjective, is that IMO NYC private school acceptances put a much larger emphasis on legacies, siblings, and faculty students in admissions. I have heard of alums from andover who are FP and have had their kid who would be a decent applicant rejected, but I have not heard of many people from trinity or HM who have a sibling and/or legacy connection being rejected as decent applicants (maybe waitlisted, but even that, IMO, is rare). My siblings both attended trinity and we pretty much know that my older half-brother was accepted in Kindergarten largely because his mom’s family had been going to trinity and HM for generations. While I am not saying that is the case for everyone or even most students, I think “who you know” at NYC schools matters more than at Boarding schools. Again that is just my opinion and I don’t have much evidence I am just basing it off of the families and faculty responses I have gotten at both types of schools.
I also think the same thing goes for LA/West Coast top schools (HW, JTD, etc.) for example JTD accepts around 7% of applicants and to top that off they have an admissions policy that caps the number of NON LEGACY students at 40 percent.
@CC4life You are absolutely right about that. If you’re a multi-generational legacy with decent grades, you won’t be getting rejected at NYC schools. I know legacy kids who wouldn’t have gotten in otherwise.
Ohhh that makes sense
Also, it might be harder to intergrate into a K-12 private school. The school I attend accepts about 15 (depending on how many applied out) new girls into the ninth grade and usually about 10/7 enter a grade that’s mostly been together since kindergarten.
The legacy thing is definitely true. I don’t even know if I’d be accepted into my school right now if I wasn’t a legacy!
It’s also a gamble when admitting kindergarteners. Which ones will turn out to be good, well rounded students for the school? It might be kind of hard to tell at age 5.
@misslilbookworm I 100 percent agree on the gamble when it comes to admitting kindergarteners. Honestly, when my sister was at Horace Mann for nursery school literally everyone in the class was connected to the school in some way. and then there was a couple FA and URM kids and then there were kids who had notable parents/future mega donors (i.e. the kid whose dad was on the board of Goldman Sachs or the grandkid of a particular Senator. While they claim to “evaluate” kindergarten and Preschool applicants I don’t think that there is really any way for them to assess a child who has literally been on the planet for a couple years and the amount of potential someone would have from preschool to 12th grade changes drastically depending on their family, their future life experiences, etc.
Thanks for the helpful information @CC4life
My question to you is regarding your comment “large number of legacies and hooked students who will take up a big portion of the schools Ivy League matriculations.” Do other students (non-legacy, not well connected) have a reasonable shot at IVY league schools if they attended these NYC day schools?
Are these schools worth pursuing for an upper middle class family that would never qualify for financial aid, and need to pay full price? Even if the family can afford to pay it, are they getting their money’s worth if elite college admissions are more for the wealthy/already well-heeled legacy/ connected students in these schools?
(In general, those that are wealthy can easily pay and those that are under-privileged receive aid. However, for the upper middle class (children of professionals- lawyers, doctors, etc.), to hope for such schools, it is a big investment financially).
Unhooked kids who get into Ivies and the like are highly motivated and would probably be admitted even if they attended a mediocre public school. Having said that, they will be much better prepared to excel in college if they attend a BS or top day school.
Thanks for your reply. Form what I understand, it seems you feel such schools are still worth the cost for such families.
There are kids who leave the NYC privates for the selective test in NYC publics. There are kids who go to BS. Kids who continue at the private where they are and those who change. I know kids who have done every one of those. – and you probably do too.
It’s very personal, and indeed hard to figure out, but the school that will set you up best for college, both admissions and performance there, is the one that is going to help you figure out what the best version of you can be and then to make it happen!
This is what happens in the classroom, what you can do outside of it, how you feel socially, etc. For many families, paying the tuition is totally worth it. For others, the opportunities and environment at Bronx Science might win. At most privates, you’ll get more attention and personalized advising, etc. Some students absolutely need that. Some do better with it. Others are indifferent to it (or could use the tuition dollars for something that is more relevant to and enriching for that student.)
But for sure, take all matriculation #s with a shaker of salt - everywhere. Legacies, athletes, etc. will trump other viable applicants. Almost all private schools have a disproportionate number in that hooked group so if xyz school always has at least 3 headed off to Harvard, it should be interpreted as “this school prepares kids for Harvard” but not necessarily “if I work hard enough, I will be one of the 3.”