I am hoping there are some Pingry parents on this board or maybe Pingry students. My twin sons will apply to Pingry for 6th grade entry this fall. To send both kids to Pingry will stretch us financially big time but we will still be able to do it. We will have zero disposable income.
My boys are smart and I think academically they will do great even in a public school system. And let me be frank up front. I am not an Ivy obsessed father. I am fine with whatever school they will be happy to attend.
Can you share your thoughts about Pingry? Are your kids happy there? Do you regret your decision at all or are you happy they went to Pingry?
Why are you looking at private schools over public? The best of both worlds is a public magnet…does your county have those? In Monmouth country we have High Tech High School among others, which is top 10 in the nation.
We looked into Pingry for our DS, now in 6th grade in public school. While we could afford the tuition and related stuff, we were concerned that we could not possibly keep up with all other things many of the classmates would have - expensive vacations, parents with very expensive cars,houses, vacation homes etc. etc. Socially, it was not a good fit for our child. It’s an aspect to consider.
Our public high school is quite competitive and academically rigorous, and the top 20% or so of our public high school students go to the top universities. So we just stayed with the public school option.
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Hi bopper.
We live in Morris county. The reason we want private is because we think in public school they will get lost and not receive the attention they need. In my belief, middle school and high school are so important in terms of building character and figuring out who you are. We believe Pingry will provide them an environment where they can figure out what they like and who they want to be in life.
I am serious when I say this. I don’t care what top college they go to. We are living proof to this. My wife and I are from Eastern Europe and when we came to this country 12 years ago, we didn’t get to where we are now due to our college’s name.
If you have potential and right abilities, you will do fine in life regardless of where you graduate from.
In my case, I was one of the gifted students of the country where I was born and the government took me along with 95 other kids and put us in a public Science High school as boarding students. The things I learned there made me who I am today. My college didn’t give me the things my high school gave me.
hi momprof94
I came from a poor family. My father and mother didn’t even go to school. They didn’t even know how to read and write. Them being poor built my character while going thru life. I understand what you are saying but I don’t think it will be an issue for our family.
I think Delbarton is a better school than Pingry in a lot of ways. Oratory Prep in Summit is excellent as is Seton Hall Prep.
If you want your boys to attend a private school this fall, like Pingry, you have already miss the deadline. Applications are due in the fall and decisions come out in Mar for the following fall. Admission rate for Pingry rivals some of top tier colleges. Before you worry about tuitions, try to get your kid admitted first. It is very easy to google to find out how competitive those private schools are. Many parents from Short Hills/Summit (best public school systems) send their kids to Pingry, on top of hefty property taxes they pay.
Pingry is known for very rigorous academic program. Some parents do not want to send their kids there due to amount of schoolwork, and most students there also participate in high level sports.
If both of your kids are applying to Pingry, be prepared that only one may be admitted. It is not Pingry’s policy to admit all siblings. They do not believe it is the right school for everyone. I have known families with only one child at Pingry and other sibling at public or other private schools.
@OnTheBubble Delbarton is very religious for our taste. We only consider Pingry and Newark Academy. Thanks for the reply.
@oldfort The twins are rising 5th graders. They are applying for 2017 entrance. Of course they have to be accepted first and like you say, one of them might be rejected. The thing that makes us hopeful about their chances is their high grades both in school and at PARCC and their good results on math and reading on ISEE practice tests. We still have 7 more months until they take real ISEE and we believe they will do pretty well on the test as well but tests scores might not be the only thing Pingry looks at.
A lot depends on your local district. In NJ there is only a marginal benefit to private schools unless you live in Ocean County and south where the public schools are much weaker. I would not spend the money on private school for middle school that is recipe for disaster if you can no longer afford private school. Pingry has average SATs of 2000 which is great but not so impressive compared to many public schools and much less expensive private schools that are more flexible on admissions than Pingry. I know many, many Lawrenceville and Peddie school parents that would never do it again. Keep your options open for high school but do yourself a favor and skip private middle school unless it is Catholic school where the cost is very low.
I don’t know if they meet with parents of older kids, but I think they generally like nice parents, not necessary wealthy parents. The community is fairly inclusive, many students remain friends after graduation. I remember during a market down turn when some parents lost their jobs, they raised money to help those families to pay tuitions. They do offer FA to well qualified students.
Thanks @OnTheBubble . That’s why I wanted to hear from Pingry parents if they thought the money they paid was worth it. I got no worries on GPA or SAT. Both my wife and I are coming from a crazy competitive education system and looks like our kids have the same abilities when it comes to tests. I am not looking for a college admission boost. When they look back to their middle school years and high school years in Pingry, will they remember it fondly?
@oldfort They will meet with parents for middle school entrance according to their application page. I guess they will be evaluating us separate from the kids before they make a decision.
Many will tell you it is because after spending $300,000 or more for each child from 6-12 what do you expect them to say? Look at output and not opinions. The very elite private schools are very, very selective and the output is not impressive compared to non-selective public and less selective privates. I have lived in NJ my whole life. Morris County has great schools and you pay very high taxes. I have a very close friend who is a trustee at Lehigh and he told me that very elite private schools don’t have any impact on admissions decisions student to student, none.
I hear the OP saying that he’s not looking at Pingry simply for the education (and it’s true that the public schools in that part of NJ are excellent so dollars spent for that purpose alone might not be worth it) but because he wants something in the outcome in addition to the education, which is an environment in which the kids are to explore who they are and who they want to be in the world. I would describe that as something akin to spiritual growth (not to be confused with religion, btw.) So I guess what I’d be asking is if that’s what Pingry does well. My impression is no, that’s not really their priority, but I haven’t known anyone who’s gone there for quite a while now.
Another option for you might be to stay put for middle school and then look at BS for 9-12. Your kids would be older, and you wouldn’t be limited by geography. Many BS – because they are residential – have more opportunities to focus on this kind of personal growth and several even prioritize it. At most BS, rigorous academics are a given, so you’d be able to choose schools based on how well they do this and whether it aligns with your values. And if the kids end up at 2 different schools, it’s not the logistical nightmare it is if they are two different day schools.
I know, not quite what you were asking, but just tossing it out there as another way to look at the problem.
Coincidentally, my husband and I just came back ( we live in CA now) from his 50th high school reunion from Pingry The participation rate was 40% (excluding deaths and a few lost alumni)of the entire class. All those who attended came from all over the country and certainly had warm feeling about the school and each other. One graduate spent months compiling heartwarming essays submitted from all students in the class on their lives and times at and after Pingry.
Many of them (including ones who couldn’t make it last week) are attending an unofficial reunion in Lake Tahoe in a few weeks, including an old soccer coach and biology teacher who is in his 80s now.
I don’t know about recent graduates, but I can tell you that all those who attended the reunion had fond memories of Pingry (we toured the old original campus in Hillside, NJ) and happy with the education and experience they had there.
@ArdenNJ , you don’t care what top college they go to? Interesting that you included the word “top.”
You do not ask the parents if it was worth it, you ask your kids if it was worth it. My kids have thanked me many times over and my older daughter would like to send her kids to the same private school someday.
Lawrenceville School is a good BS in NJ. It has a beautiful facility.
Hi @gardenstategal - You are exactly right. We are not after education only. Thanks for interpreting what I tried to say. 
Unfortunately my wife is 100% against the boarding schools. She says over my dead body. I was in boarding school back in our country and it was a state school. We didn’t even have hot water the first 40 days of school when I first started in 9th grade. Food was terrible etc. Yet I enjoyed boarding school so much. But my wife doesn’t have fond memories so she doesn’t want boarding school at all.
@cbreeze - What a wonderful story. 50 years reunion. I hope you guys had good time.
Hi @Lindagaf - I was responding to @momprof94 . She mentioned kids from their public schools go to Top universities and I tried to say we don’t care what top college they go it. Currently, we like the idea of college education in our home country. For the past 3 years, my wife and I take our kids to our college back in Europe and spend time there, play with the cats and dogs that inhabit the campus etc. If they decide to continue here in USA, fine, they can go to any college they are admitted to. They are dual citizens and it is my dream and my wife’s dream that they go to our college back in Europe.
@oldfort - Good point. In fact, I hope a few Pingry students can also chime in.
@OnTheBubble
When you say the output at selective privates is not impressive are you referring to college placement? If so, I can tell you that I saw Peddie’s list this year and it was very impressive. About 20 just to Ivies, Stanford and MIT. And the vast majority were to very selective colleges. All in all a great ‘output’
@wisteria100 Sure the concentration of kids going to elite schools is higher because they are smaller, private and selective and take kids from all over the country. Public schools don’t have that luxury. Pingry is in Basking Ridge, and the public school there is Ridge which cannot turn down students obviously. Ridge also has exceptional output without being selective at all. Average SAT last year was the 92nd percentile, not far below Pingry.
A high stat student will do equally well at a public school, at least in NJ from Monmouth County north.
NJ also has a magnet/vocational system at the county level with exceptional schools. In fact the three of the four in my county are all in the top 25 nationally. They are hard to get in but free.
I don’t see the value for NJ residents unless sports are important and then several private schools may be smart. CBA, Bosco, Bergen Catholic and crew and hockey at the secular prep schools
Hi @OnTheBubble
What are the rankings for Public Magnet Schools here in NJ? Is there a link you can share? I would like to read more about them. Thanks in advance.
@Average SAT last year was the 92nd percentile, not far below Pingry.
Ridge’s was actually 1781 or 80% which is very good for a public school.
Pingry’s was 2045 and 95%