NYC Private High School vs Specialized High School

Prep School Admissions Prep School Cafe
21

Having a wrong opinion is, sadly, not against the rules. However, on this site as in life, better to ignore than stop to their level

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22

Can we start a petition?

23

It depends on your interests, and whether the two schools can match your interests. As well, depends on which environment you thrive, a pressure cooker environment in a specialized high school or a whole person development environment. No right or wrong answer.

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24

If you are a strong student, you have a much better chance at being at or near the top of your class at Poly. This will matter when you apply to college. Stuyvesant has a reputation of being ruthlessly competitive and many, if not most, students are gunning for that “top of class” status.

Let us know if/when you get accepted to Stuy and we’ll re-visit this conversation.

25

I think Stuy would definitely match my interests more. The environment is more of a dilemma for me though. I know that I do better when I’m surrounded with motivated students, but at the same time I don’t know where I would stand among all these top students.

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26

Isn’t the SHSAT supposed to give you some idea where you stand? If you believe you did well, you’d be fine.

27

Yes but you don’t get your grade until you also find out what school you got into. At least that is how think it was when I applied. Stuyvesant has by far the highest cutoff score. So while you can feel confident, you never really know until you know.

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28

It’s supposed to give you some idea, but it isn’t perfect. There was an article about how SHSAT scores often don’t correlate with student success.

29

And everyone at Stuy has a high SHSAT score and 50 percent of Stuy students are in the bottom half of their class every single year!

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30

Yeah, I’ve also heard tons about how stressed students are being in the bottom 50%. So much so that there are many people I know that want to go to a different specialized high school over Stuy because they don’t want that stress and pressure.

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31

Not only are they super smart, but there is a reputation for cheating, which makes it even harder (before stuy alum get up in arms, I said “reputation”).

32

Update: I’m even more conflicted now. I recently went to a campus tour and it gave me a great impression of Poly. I love the school, but for a long time I’ve unconsciously always thought I would go to Stuy and I really don’t know what to do. I’ll have to make my decision for Poly this week.

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33

How could you possibly say ‘no’ to Poly when you don’t yet have a ‘yes’ from Stuy?

It may be ‘less than ethical’ saying yes to Poly knowing that you might someday say yes to Stuy. But it is also ‘less than ethical’ forcing kids to give answers before they’ve heard from their NYC schools.

34

Yeah, they told me that they wish timelines between private and public schools were closer, but they wouldn’t be able to extend the deadline because there are kids on the waitlist wanting to get in.

35

Question: If I end up getting off the waitlist at another school but have already committed to Poly, what do I do then? What do schools generally expect you to do when that happens?

36

You basically have to do this:

  1. Accept spot at Poly, because it’s the only one you have at this point and it has FA
  2. On 3/10 you decide between Poly and whatever BS you get into and want to/can afford to attend. At that point, you tell Poly “thank you, very honored, etc but I’m not coming” or you stick with Poly if there are no options.
  3. If you are WL and want to stay on, keep your spot at Poly (or whatever BS works out) and then tell your WL dream that you will come if taken and given FA (this probably won’t happen). All WL schools will ask if you want to remain on WL and if you aren’t satisfied with whatever school you are accepted at, you can ask to remain on this list, pretty much all the way into August.
  4. When SHSAT results come out, you decide if you want to stick with Poly/whatever BS worked out or go to Stuy. At that point, you tell Poly/BS “thank you/honored/not coming”.

Since you are on FA I’m assuming you don’t have to put a deposit down on any of these schools, so you have no obligation other than your word. Can they sue you for the balance? Maybe, but they most probably won’t. There was a case like this with Friends Seminary and the family didn’t have to pay. That being said, I guess if I were a Poly alum and had donated to the FA/endowment to enable FA, then I would be annoyed by all this back and forthing. Then again, the system isn’t set up in a coordinated way, so you are put in a tough spot. Also, if you do end up backing out of a school, be aware that any siblings that might want to apply to that school won’t get in. Basically you just need to accept Poly at this point and re-evaluate at 3/10 and then again whenever NYCDOE decides to release SHSHAT scores.

37

Thanks for the help. When I spoke to them they told me that they have people on WL and if I want to put down a deposit now and change my mind later, they’d rather me not accept in the first place.

38

You need to stop asking Poly for direction on this bc it’s going to damage your relationship with them (say you have a sib who might want to go, etc). They are asking you to decide now bc once responses are due, a lot of those Poly WL people will have evaporated since they will buckle down and decide to stick with whomever actually accepted them (similar to you being on Dalton WL and when response is due, you go with bird in hand). Poly will be left with a much smaller WL pool to offer your spot to if you drag this beyond the response deadline. As I said, I don’t blame them (nor you) for this situation.

As you say you will be putting down the deposit, that is a hefty sum. You and your parents have to be prepared to leave that on the table if you get into and would prefer to be at a BS (or decide you prefer Stuy) if the deposit is due before 3/10.

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39

Even if you’re on FA, there is probably still a deposit that you need to pay in order to keep the spot at Poly.

Make sure you read the contract that you sign with Poly - at some schools, you only lose the deposit if you change your mind. At other schools, you may be on hook for the entire amount (after the FA discount), or partial (like 50%, whatever). Again, each school’s policy may be different, so you should read the contract from Poly to confirm what you’re liable for.

Will they go after you - maybe, maybe not. That’s a risk you have to decide, and therefore it’s important to understand how much you maybe on the hook for.

Best of luck to you.

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40

I ended up being waitlisted at Exeter and Andover, and rejected to Choate. I don’t want to have to end up accepting and then choosing a different school, so I’m considering declining the offer before the deadline.