Confused parent of a rising 6th grader
We are evaluating between BB&N and Beaver for our daughter.
She got accepted at both and we struggle on how best to make the right choice for her:
BB&N:
- Great brand name , known nationally
- Strong academic rigour
- Great metriculation results
- Not the best facilities and infrastructure for Lower and Middle School
- really far for us (we live in the south shore area)
Beaver:
- Strong creative spirit
- Innovative educational program with the New Basics
- Beautiful facilities
- Not that established a brand name
- Metriculation not at par with BB&N
- a little closer in distance to us
Our daughter is more of a creative spirit, but needs a space that will push her to find her drive.
Open to feedback om what were your decision making criteria… what are we missing ?
thanks in advance.
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My two cents (mother of two high school students at a rigorous private school): focus on where your daughter will find community, friendships, and academic/non academic opportunities in areas the interest her. This will allow her to thrive in the classroom and as a person. Also, things like commute time really matter in high school.
Beaver has many options for academic rigor, so you can decide which path makes sense for your daughter at a pace that makes sense for her. Nobles has a more achievement-oriented culture. Families I know love both.
Also, the matriculation at many of these schools is very close to the same (once you take out the athletes, legacies, donors, etc.). So would focus less college placement and more on the next six years of her HS and MS experience.
Just my thoughts now that I am standing on the other side of things.
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Have a friend whose kid had HYP acceptances from Beaver. Liked how creative it was as well as the schedule.
Go where she can be happy. These are important years of life, not just an extended admissions test.
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When my daughter was a rising 6th grader she was accepted at Beaver — she never did like the school for whatever reason, but we loved it and would have likely been super happy with her there. Another school she was accepted at was farther away, she fell in love with it — we did too and she almost attended. But we just couldn’t get over a couple of things, one being the commute each and every day and how much extra time it would put on her school day, etc. It doesn’t matter to some people but it did to us, and when I brought it up to another family, they agreed that their child was burnt out from the commute. It may seem small but keep it in mind, especially if the child will travel by bus — what time will they be waking up and leaving the house for said bus?
I’d pick the closer option in this case, I think, but at the end of the day the child has to be happy.
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