So my elder daughter will be applying to private day schools for Grade 6 (Fall 2021) and until recently the plan was that she would apply to select Manhattan schools and if she did not get in, then continue in our current private school (NJ in Hudson County) and try again in Grade 9. Meanwhile her younger sister would try for Grade 6 herself in a couple of years and frankly I think she has a bit of an edge over her older sister in academics.
As such, I was not considering applying to Pingry and Newark Academy as I did not want the younger daughter’s universe of private schools to be restricted by the outcome of her older sibling - if the older sibling were to get into either then it would involve a move for us further out into the suburbs and it would not then make sense for the younger daughter to apply anywhere else in a couple of year.
However I just realized that Pingry is the only place where they do seem to have a fair number of Grade 4 openings in addition to the Grade 6 entry point. So that is one option where both of them could start attending the same school next Fall.
I also realized that Pingry and Horace Mann are much more diverse than the Manhattan private schools. Other than Horace Mann which has 22% Asian students, no other school comes close to Pingry and Newark Academy which are in the 20-25% range.
So this has made me think about reconsidering my decision to avoid Pingry and Newark Academy in this go around for my elder daughter in Grade 6 and hold it in reserve for Grade 9.
How do the two schools compare in the following areas: Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Music, STEM and Sports?
Elder daughter has definitely shown a passion and affinity for Arts and Music and she is good in Track (does sprints only right now but probably over time has to become a middle distance runner). She also shows an interest in Science, less so in Math and Technology. But I believe great teachers can take that interest in Science and really make it blossom. Younger daughter is very advanced for her age in Math and has shown an interest in experimentation and Science. She is also gifted in Language (writes some pretty neat poems spontaneously), but so far less of an interest in Music and Arts.
I know what the sterotypes of each school are by searching the forums on this topic, but looking for a more nuanced assessment of relative strengths of the school in the above areas. Also does one school tend to assign more grueling HW or “busy work”? Thanks for your input!
(I go to Pingry, but know MANY people/friends who go to NA)
Alright, here we go…
LA - I’ll give this one to NA. They do have a better LA curriculum compared to us. There’s no such thing as an NA student who doesn’t know at least a thousand words you’ve never heard of. However, Pingry is better at writing, and Pingry students often win National competitions. Writing specifically Pingry wins by a longshot, but in general, NA is better.
Math - Slightly to NA
SS - Pingry, amazing robust curriculum, and stellar teachers.
STEM/Visual Arts/Performing Arts/Music - These all go to Pingry easily. Pingry recently upgraded/built a completely new part of the old building (West-Wing). It’s super new and modern and cost tens of millions of dollars with state of the art everything. Better stage, science labs, pretty much everything related to the arts and STEM. Pingry just has a larger endowment and has a much nicer building.
Sports - Equally good and specialize in their own stuff (PIngry → Soccer, NA → Football), I’m not exactly sure about the track team as both of their teams aren’t world-class or anything extraordinary. I’ll call this a draw.
Nuances:
Pingry is, in the long run, better than NA. NA is probably a little bit more relaxed, while Pingry is an “academic pressure cooker”. But if you can handle the homework (more than NA) and high expectations (you get used to it), you’re on your way to a great university. Harvard, Yale, MIT, Stanford, Princeton, etc. are all within close reach if you can fully harness your potential and truly excel at your skills and talents. Pingry does start later (~8:30) so you’ll get a little extra time to sleep in the morning after all that work. If you don’t handle stress averagely well at all, I think you should go to NA.
Now my synopsis may be the slightest tiniest most minuscule amount possible biased, but hat is kinda expected. It’s hard for you as your daughter has passions in subjects and things one school does better than the other (STEM & LA). She’ll have to come to a crossroads and simply decided what she really really really wants to do. They’re both exceptionally amazing schools and you can’t go wrong with either of them. My friends who go to NA love it and I’m not surprised in the slightest. Hope this helped!
Hey @AKmath thanks for that very detailed and thoughtful response, that is exactly what I was hoping for!
Looks like I should put both schools on my list and learn more about them. Pingry is the only one that would potentially allow both of my daughters to attend the same school next year. All the others don’t have a Grade 4 entry point, only Grade 6.
