<p>My son was extremally lucky to be accepted at both schools. Besides the studies he is pretty serious about music (guitar) and somewhat into sports. I know both schools are great. Which school would be better socially for a kid coming from a good NY public school?</p>
<p>Hi,
I have one child who has graduated from HM, and two more children currently there. Was your son accepted for 6th or 9th grade? I'm sure you know that HM is a larger school than Trinity (although Trinity is a great school, I'm sure,) and thus has more facilities and more teams. My kids have been involved in music and sports, although not the "major" sports. If you can tell me a bit more about your son's academic and extracurricular interests, I may be able to give you more information.</p>
<p>I have heard from friends who go to HM that they are VERY academically competitive. So, if you want to be the best at everything you do I would suggest against HM, because (sadly enough) there will always be someone better then you. I have a friend who did not apply, for that reason.</p>
<p>Why is it sad that there will always be someone better than you? That is real life! But I agree that if you can't handle that, you shouldn't be coming to HM to be surrounded by incredibly talented people. By the way, I'm sure that Trinity is the same way.</p>
<p>horace mann horace mann horace mann horace mann
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<p>i know people who go there, they are amazingly down to earth (don't let the snob factor fool you. it probably exists but just keep in mind there are people who aren't like that) and very smart (:</p>
<p>as for academics, well, academics speak for themselves at hm don't they.. athletics I've heard are decent, facilities are amazinggggggggg, college matriculation is beyond godly, etc. </p>
<p>Of course Trinity's good too..</p>
<p>S got accepted to the 9th grade. I think it is the "snob factor" that worries him. Academically he is pretty strong, though he is OK with the fact that some people can be better then him in some subjects. Same for sports and music - he enjoys many sports and plays a couple of instruments, but not extremally competive - mostly for fun. The big plus for Trinity is the proximity to the house..
Thank your for your replies, they are very helpful.</p>
<p>I don't know much about both schools except that they both have very fine reputations. </p>
<p>What I do know is the social life and having friends is very important to most teenagers. All other things being equal, I would select the school that is close to home. Otherwise, he may face long distances and travel times to visit friends. You may not want him taking the subway in the Bronx late at night. Of course, there is no guarantee that his Trinity best friends will be close to home, but at least there should be some friends.</p>
<p>Since I am quite familiar with one of the schools, I must respectfully disagree with Burb Parent on this one re: selecting a school closer to home. HM students come from 150 different zip codes. There must be a reason they choose to travel. They arrive by school bus, subway and car. Some teachers even ride the school bus up from the city. If you live in the city, the SuperTrans buses to HM run up most of the major avenues, making numerous stops. There is a bus available at the end of the regular school day, and a late bus which coordinates with after school sports practices and other extracurricular activities.</p>
<p>As for the "snob factor," that was my student's worry, too. Although there will be snobby kids at any NYC independent school, there are many who are not. My kids were fortunate to make friends with a lovely group of kids. Not a snob amongst them.</p>
<p>There is a fabulous orchestra, jazz band, symphonic wind ensemble and Glee Club if your son is interested in formal music. There are kids in the school who have formed informal "rock" groups and performed at school festivals. With the size of HM, there is something for everyone and unless your kid is really anti-social, he will have no trouble making friends. </p>
<p>Another thing that HM does for incoming 9th graders is to have an Orientation before classes begin in September. HM owns a nature preserve/lab up in Connecticut. It is used year 'round by the school. All the new 9th graders go up for Orientation, accompanied by current students who become their "mentors." A number of faculty/staff members join them for this wonderful bonding experience. My kid came back from this experience in 9th grade saying that he was so excited that he now "knew" 115 people in the school three days before classes started.</p>
<p>Will your S go to the admitted student visiting days? That might be the deciding factor. What would be hilariously coincidental here would be if one of my S's was your tour guide when you saw HM. He knows that three different students he "toured" were accepted. A long shot, certainly, but it would be quite the coincidence. Best of luck with your decision. You certainly can't go wrong.</p>
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HM students come from 150 different zip codes
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<p>Yes, this is a problem for some students because their friends live far away. I'm not singling out HM for this. It's a problem for students at most day schools. </p>
<p>What I was trying to say is that all other things being equal between the schools, the one that is closer to home might offer the better social life because it is probable that some classmates will live near the OP's son. It will also be more convenient for the OP to go to games, plays, etc.</p>
<p>My experience with a suburban day school is that social activities tended to be at homes and locations close to the school because it was more convenient for everyone. Perhaps that is not the case at HM.</p>
<p>lyla -- Congratulations to your son for having 2 outstanding choices. You must be very proud!</p>
<p>It's not the case at HM, Burb Parent. Although HM is located in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, our experience has been that much of the social life revolves around Manhattan. Kids from the 'burbs of Westchester and Jersey and Connecticut often end up doing things in the city. I guess NYC is a happening place. ;) If a child has a bus contract with the main bus company which serves the school, he is permitted to ride any of the buses to a friend's house. I know what you are saying about day schools in the suburbs, but this seems to be quite different. The OP has two great choices and either school will be a great decision.</p>
<p>Thank you so much again momof3sons.</p>
<p>My S will go to the visiting day and I certainly want him to pick the school where he would be happiest.
I feel too that with HM size and facilities it has more to offer to diverse range of kids.
I don't know a lot about Trinity. HM kids always impressed me as smart as friendly on the tours, however a lot of people say that kids are snobby and materialistic in HM, may be a little less so in Trinity.
I am sure there are some of those in all independent schools, as there are some but less in public schools - i am sure my S will be able to find friends out of 170 kids on the grade.</p>
<p>Our tour guide I believe was a senior and had 2 younger siblings at HM, so most likely it was not your S;
all ambassadors i met were extremally friendly and bright and pleasure to speak with.</p>
<p>Thank you very much again for the input, this was exactly the kind of support i was hoping for.
We are kind of lost as he also got accepted in two more independent schools which are also great, as well as two specialized public high schools,
but we are concentrating on HM and T as the strongest academically and probably offering the most in terms of extracurriculum activities. </p>
<p>I am still trying to comprehend being able to make a such a choice! thank you all for congratulations.</p>
<p>just my 2 cents-- in both trinity and homann you will not rise to the top of your class if you dont have extensive tutoring.so If you are looking at continuing onto the ivies, then you will be spending time/money with tutors (and this is not to say that the tutoring culture is not present in other independent schools, but its notorious in these two). In terms of social snobism, by the time kids are in hs, that kind of thing is not as evident as in lower school/middles school. Trinity is known as a more language/philosphy/classics school, and HM as the more mathematically inclined, but thats, of course, a generalization. What other independent schools did your S get into</p>
<p>Yes, you are probably right mhmm, but that will be true anywhere he goes. There were many kids tutored in his public middle school, that does not mean that those kids got into best high schools. We are looking for best high school experience starting with academics but also activities and social life. He may also do well in a specialized public school (where many kids are tutored as well). He also got into Riverdale which we also liked a lot and one of the very good Jewish day schools.</p>
<p>It seems from your posts and from others that your son will be happier at HM. You say you know more about it, and the fact that you think it has a lot to offer is also a plus. It seems like he would be very happy there, I would say HM.</p>
<p>certainly does sound like you are inclined to HM. make sure you visit with him on accepted students days and check things out. sometimes you just get a "gut" feeling. Out of your list Riverdale will have the most social kids</p>
<p>We will go to all schools for a re-visit tours specifically to get the feel for the athmosphere. Hopefully it will be right!</p>
<p>lyla9503, having had 3 kids in the high school at HM, I can tell you that the comment about tutoring is a bit overblown. Count my 3 as having no tutoring. There are many sane, "normal" families there. Not all, however. :) My oldest applied to HM and Riverdale. He visited both on admitted students day, came home and said, "I'm going to HM. The students were smarter, they treated me better, and they were better behaved." That was his experience. His best friend from elementary school and early middle school also was accepted to HM and Riverdale and his parents chose to send him to Riverdale. His mother later told me that she was disappointed because they had relatively few (compared to HM) extracurricular activities for her son.</p>
<p>I can't wait for him to start touring the schools and get some impressions as to what the schools are like. We are trying to be reasonable and objective in sifting through all the information so your posts are very helpful. Hopefully we'll make the right choice!</p>
<p>Your son has the rest of his life to be a commuter. Why not go to Trinity if it is closer to home? There is something to be said for not wasting a lot of time in transit, and they are both excellent schools.</p>
<p>A little late to this thread, but my son had this same choice two years ago and chose Trinity. Now in 10th grade and loving Trinity, but I expect he would have done well at Horace Mann too. I would have been thrilled to have him at either, so I ultimately asked him to make the choice. I think Trinity won out based on proximity (he can walk to school) and the decision of one of his good friends to attend as well.</p>
<p>My impression of the two schools was that HM had a wider array of resources, but was also more high pressure/stressful (not that stress is absent in any of the competitive admission high schools, but just felt a notch higher at HM). Both my son and I were also concerned about the commute, which takes a chunk out of the day on top of academics and extracurriculars - though as others in this thread have pointed out, many people do it.</p>
<p>Given that my son chose Trinity, I really don’t have more than impressions about Horace Mann, but I can tell you that Trinity has been a pleasure. Academics/teachers are incredibly impressive. Wide array of extracurriculars that my son has taken advantage of. Transition in at high school handled very well - school adds about 50 new students to a class of about 70, so the new students don’t feel like they’re a handful coming in to a closed group (HM also greatly expands for high school, but percentagewise I don’t think as much as Trinity). My son has developed a close group of friends that includes a mix of old students and new. College placement is also incredibly strong at Trinity - literally half the graduating class goes to Ivy League schools. (That wasn’t a factor for my son deciding, but I was surprised, as I thought HM was strongest on this score, but Trinity may be stronger.)</p>
<p>Bottom line is that I don’t think you can go wrong at either. The retours are helpful - try to make sure your son spends some time with/talks with a number of students and then ask him where he feels more comfortable.</p>
<p>P.S., while smaller than Horace Mann, I think Trinity is its equal in terms of music and sports. They have chorus, orchestra, jazz bands (three of them - one just for freshmen), a capella group, spring cabaret, informal student-initiated student bands - my son has been involved with all of the above. And the full array of sports teams.</p>
<p>P.P.S., son has had no tutoring and is doing quite well academically. Not that I have anything against tutoring per se, but the claim that it’s necessary to do well at Trinity (or Horace Mann) is simply false.</p>