Hello, we are moving to NYC from the west coast and looking for a great private school for our current 7th grader. We are considering the hackley school and avenues the world school. How do you compare the two in terms of quality of education, college prep, prestige etc.
Avenues is for profit business. Which says everything. One of my kids is at such a school for very specific reasons but I don’t feel good about it. To quote another parent, “this must feel like a joke to you after….” For profit schools generally exist for kids who need credit recovery, are on a mental health segue, have conduct disorders, mild learning disabilities, or exist in the pay-for-grades lunch-at-La Bernardin foreign student market.
Hackley is a school. I am not familiar with it. But it looks credible.
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This is harsh, and I am not sure accurate. We know kids who attend Avenues and are happy there and are certainly regular smart kids. They have nice new facility and offer interesting subjects including number of languages which appeal to international families. But it is newish school so the prestige is definitely not there. Hackley is well thought of, but it is a schlep from NYC, and it is suburban private with strong emphasis on sports. Pretty much the opposite of Avenues in most ways. Where are you planning on living? Commute to Hackley from NYC daily is a huge grind. They do have 5 day boarding nowadays but it is used mostly by football players and such who have a very long day. A good friend of my child’s is there and happy, seems like a vell rounded place and the campus is nice. But if I were to send my kids to Hackley I would live in Westchester.
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Completely based on what we have heard, Avenues has a wealthier more “downtown” vibe that may be less academic. Hackley, based on those we know who attend, is super-intense academically and very sports-oriented.
Thanks for your insights. We will decide where we live after we decide on the school, we are considering both city and westchester area.
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Lots of people around CC with experience of the various private schools in NYC/Westchester/Fairfield, but it will help focus replies if you give a little bit more info on what makes a “great” private school to you/your student! The two you have named both have great elements, but as @417WHB pointed out they are very different in some meaningful ways. A lot of CCers are thinking largely in terms of college placement, for a very particular set of colleges- there is a long thread on that right now:
But sooner or later it comes back to where your student will shine!
I would decide where you will be living first and and then choose the school.
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I would say that that’s right for some, but not all.
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Of course I am offering just one person’s general opinion with zero information about the student – feel free to offer yours. Of course no one right answer will be correct for every single person.
But IMO travel time should be a significant consideration. Living in the area I think the daily trip from Westchester to the 20’s in NYC during rush hour would be wearing - and similarly if the OP moves to lower Manhattan the trip to Tarrytown daily could be difficult (and if the family has no car in NYC then they would have to take the train/uber for any school event).
I’m born and raised, well aware 
My point is just that if the OP has decided to prioritize the school, which it seems that they have, then they can choose the school and get a place near the school, whether that’s in Chelsea, Tarrytown, or anywhere else. They haven’t told us why they’re moving to NYC, where they’ll be working geographically, how often they’ll have to be there, or why they’ve called out these two schools.
As a related aside, personally, if I were moving to NYC I’d broaden to include far more schools than those indicated.
Debating is not allowed on CC so now that we have both offered our opinions lets move on.
This is correct, if we decide on Avenues, we will get a place in Chelsea. If we decide on Hackley, we would get a place in Westchester county. We definitely want to live close to school. Work is in midtown, and we expect to be in nyc area from 1-3 years.
If you are going to live in the NYC area and could live in westchester why not public school? Westchester has some of the highest rated public schools in the country.
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We are coming from a gifted public school on the west coast, and were looking to move him to private school there as well. We became generally unhappy with the attention and resources public schools were able to provide especially during the pandemic. We think academic rigor, more dedication/inspiration from teachers, smaller class sizes, better resources, etc. will benefit our student.
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Good luck! You may be suprised by the resources of public schools in that area!
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Commuting to and from Hackley every day sounds terrible, but at least you’re generally going against traffic. That said, NYC traffic and entering and exiting the city is terrible no matter the time of day. I think your child will hate that.
Do you guys have any thoughts about avenues? We might be leaning towards that.
Avenues is a relatively new school (compared to other privates in the city), and is for-profit. In general, it does not have a good name in NYC. Many years ago, the saying was that “Avenues is for rich kids who couldn’t get into other (better) privates”. I think that reputation is changing, but overall, it’s not deemed as “serious”.
Having said that, I have a friend whose DC goes there right now, and is very happy there. Great facilities and environment.
If you’re looking for rigorous schools, are you considering other privates like Trinity, Dalton, Collegiate (boys only), Brearly (girls only), Chapin (girls only), Spence (girls only), Nightingale (girls only) in NYC, or Horace Mann, Fieldston, or Riverdale - these 3 are “out of the city” and are known as the Hills schools (if you don’t want to live in NYC, and prefer a campus)? There’s quite a few more, and also many good options in Brooklyn (St Anns, Packer Collegiate, Poly Prep, etc).
If you’re looking further afield (but not too far), Dwight-Englewood and Neward Academy is NJ are also very good.
Some of the so called “top tiers” are very competitive and can be very hard to get into, but the “second tiers” may be easier, and would be considered better schools than Avenues.
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Thank you for the comprehensive answer, I really appreciate it. We are pretty late in the admissions cycle (didnt know about the relocation earlier) and the fact that 8th grade is not a traditional entry point further complicates the issue. Some of the schools you listed dont even accept 8th grade applications, some already have waitlists and others have said they wont even consider our application until late april/may since we didnt make the first round application deadline. I dont how good of an idea it is to wait for these schools’ late application round given we need to lock something down so we can get other relocation details sorted soon.
Try calling the Parents League - it’s a group/business that helps with school admissions in NYC. I have not used it myself, but many people recommend it. People say they “know” which schools has what openings, and can assist / direct you to the right schools. You have to pay, but I think the fee is very reasonable.
Yes, 8th grade entry is tough, because it’s not an entry year. Schools would only have opening if there’s attrition. However, 9th grade is a big entry year for many schools, although the # of openings may vary. For example, Trinity takes about 60 kids for 9th, and similar for HM, where as Dalton and Collegiate takes only about 10-20.
Perhaps you need a short-term plan and a long-term plan. Short term plan is to get your DC into a school for Sept (perhaps a local public, Avenues, any school), and a long term plan is to apply for 9th grade (starting in this Sept), if you want a competitive school.
Has your DC taken the ISEE or SSAT? All private schools require standardized testing, esp for 9th grade application. NYC privates will accept either test, but seem to prefer (unofficially) the ISEE a little (this is completely my personal feeling). You may need to look into this.
My DC just went through the private school application process this year for 9th grade, so I’m happy to answer any questions you may have. Feel free to ask here, or DM me.
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