My first post here after lurking for some time. I am a dad. We have two girls, ages 12 and 13. We live about 300 meters from New Trier High School, which has many distinctions, including the highest median ACT for a boundary, not a magnet school, for the last 35 years in the State of Illinois. Both girls have attended the local Catholic school since they were 4. Almost everyone in our family's history has attended Catholic schools except for my graduate degree at the University of Chicago. Our 13 year old got into Saint Ignatius today. She was automatically admitted to New Trier High School and placed in the highest levels for her first year classes. This is a hard decision and I would welcome some candid input. Which would you choose?
New Trier is free. Saint Ignatius is $20,000 per year. We are not rich people but we are frugal and have the money to pay for Saint Ignatius.
Saint Ignatius is about 1 1/4 hours away by public transit. Traffic is hopeless so driving takes longer. New Trier is a 9 minute walk. Saint Ignatius has a strict dress code, which our oldest likes. New Trier has lots of rich girls who have competitive and expensive wardrobes. Is it worth the sacrifice to go to Saint Ignatius? New Trier has a median ACT of 27.2. Saint Ignatius has a median ACT of 28.5. New Trier is almost entirely white and Asian while Saint Ignatius has about 25 per cent minority students. Both schools have gotten students into all 8 Ivies, Chicago, MIT, Cal Tech and other selective schools in recent years. On a per capita basis the two schools are very close in terms of National Merit Semifinalists, year after year.
This is a delicate topic but do you think Catholic school grads face barriers when applying to some schools? This was the case in the past but today I think things are better. But schools can accept or reject whoever they want for whatever reasons they want.
They are both amazing schools, from what I hear. I know many families who love St. Ignatius. We considered Chicago Lab School for my oldest (hubby works at U of C, so we would have had 1/2 off tuition, but still very expensive) vs. our good public school in the western suburbs of Chicago. With the cost of college so high now, we decided on the public school and have found the honors classes to be excellent preparation for college. Now that college is six months away, we are happy that we saved our tuition dollars for college. Another strong consideration was the long commute to Lab School (1.5 hours on public transit) and the fact that if he had gone to the Lab School, he would have been socially isolated from his classmates unless we did a LOT of driving. Students in honors classes and extra curriculars have little free time, so we are glad his school commute was only 10-15 minutes, and we really enjoyed getting to know his friends who live within 1-3 miles of us. With the history of Catholic education in your family, I am guessing that faith might be an important consideration. We had to think about that when our children were very young as our church (Lutheran) has a great k-8 elementary school. I sought input from some church families who chose the public schools and they reminded me that faith formation really starts at home, and that so as long as we embodied those values in our family, and brought the kids to church and religious ed, they would be fine in the public schools, which has turned out to be true for us. Doing philanthropic work as a family is a great way to expose kids to diversity in a different way. As for the dress code thing, I agree that uniforms and dress codes really help cut down on all that fashion status stuff. My sister and I went to a high school where fashion status was a big deal, but my mom would have none of paying big bucks for designer clothes. Sis and I became very skilled at spotting good buys at Marshall’s, and on clearance at the high end stores - not a bad life skill! That was before e-bay, which makes it so much easier now. We try to teach our kids that this is not what is important in life, but sometimes one or two key items from the clearance racks can help them fit in socially. I was a teen once too, so I get that. Lots to consider, and I know others will have different perspectives. Every family needs to do what is best for their situation, but those were the factors we considered, and we are very happy with the decision we made. A final thought: I think one of the most important things when going to a large public school is that they need to find their smaller community within the large place, so make sure that if she goes to New Trier that she gets involved with something she loves, whether it is a sport, or performing arts, speech/debate, newspaper, service club, etc. Certainly New Trier will have lots of those options, so if she goes there she should explore a few clubs and find out what she loves. It will help with social connections and the enjoyment of school.
New Trier is…wait for it…legendary. Kids and teachers at prep schools in New England know about New Trier. When college freshman at even the most snooty of elite colleges do the measuring contest of where you went to high school, New Trier carries a legit cachet, especially among the kids from suburban Chicago who couldn’t go to New Trier. If you are within walking distance of New Trier for free, that pretty much says it all. All that time commuting somewhere else is time your kids will never get back.