I’ve been accepted into both and don’t know which one to choose. Delbarton would be the obvious first choice (ranking wise), but a deeper dig made me question the pros and cons. Delbarton is a very good school, but their matriculation is quite a bit worse than RPS, and almost solely base on athletic scholarships to really good colleges. I’m good at sports, but don’ think I’d ever make one of their various teams. Delbarton is also 45 mins away, while RPS is <20. To catch the bus, I’d have to wake up at about 6:30-6:45 for Delbarton, which isn’t optimal shall I say.
Any advice guys?
P.S. If anybody has experience with the cultures and teachers/teaching style of the schools that would be nice as well.
I’m a ninth grader who applied to selective NJ day schools last year, and since I’m at one of them, maybe I can offer you a few words of “wisdom” from what I’ve experienced so far. I didn’t apply to Delbarton (I’m a girl) or Rutgers Prep, but I visited and have friends at RPS. Delbarton is a sports school, and their stats are impressive (in my opinion) because they have a number of recruited athletes and you also need to take into consideration the amount of legacies at the school. The majority of my grade have legacy ties to a college, their parents are donors, or they are recruits. Honestly I would say to pick RPS because overall it seems like a better option for you. As someone who commutes around 2-3 hours a day, it really isn’t worth going the longer distance just to be somewhere where you won’t thrive because it is a waste of time and effort (not in my case, but trust me, the long commute is still exhausting).
I also never really understood the “choose the school that fits you” thing people talked about on CC until I got to my school. I now know that I really wouldn’t have wanted to have gone to three other very selective boarding and days schools that I had also gotten into just because I wouldn’t have thrived in those environments. You should def factor in which school you would fit in better at, and imo, it’s better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond.
(This is just my opinion and my own two cents)
p.p.s. kinda surprised you didn’t get into pingry because they take legacy under a lot of consideration
MY daughter attended RPS for a large portion of her schooling, and I would recommend that you don’t attend RPS. I can’t tell you how you felt about the school when you visited, but they have had a steady decline in academic standards, and my D noticed this even at 8 years old. Both schools, Delbarton and RPS, have fairly good sports programs, but from what I’ve seen Delbarton is miles better. I wish you the best of luck making your choice!
Don’t base matriculation decisions on college matriculation stats. These are heavily skewed. Legacy and athletes can really skew the numbers.
Focus on where you would feel more comfortable, and can get good grades.
@CrackersCrayons
In what ways would you say RPS is declining academically?
Is it that much of a concern?
I would say it is, if my daughter can recognize it at 8 years old, I would say for me personally at least it’s a concern. However, like other posters said you should go where you feel comfortable, if RPS is an easier commute for you, and you prefer the campus and offerings, you should attend.
In what ways exactly/specifically did your daughter/you think the education in RPS was bad?
Simply the work wasn’t up to the level that we would expect for a private school. My daughter and other kids who weren’t the most academically inclined received straight A’s without a second thought. As the years went on and on it also became clear that the administration was not supportive of our family as well.
Several of my friends who are also parents have said similar things about RPS. Not sure why.
As the parent of two day students at boarding schools I want to really emphasize that commute matters. It really really really matters.
Secondly, maybe RPS is trying to move away from a stress filled crazy system. You are getting comments about academic decline based on a kid in 2nd or 3rd grade? That seems a little extreme to me. An 8 year old notices her friends, who aren’t that smart, are getting As? Focused so so much on the wrong things.
Try talking to someone at RPS right now. Even reach out to the AO and ask about their academic philosophy.
Thirdly, I went to a total no name tiny private school and did just fine (better than fine?) in life. Try to choose the school that you are going to be happy at and not worry too much about academic reputation. My school had zero academic reputation and I got into excellent colleges. I am sure that many of the parents on this board are the same way, no name or crappy high schools to excellent colleges.
Well, it’s not just that, RPS has also had a decline in the quality of instruction as well, all the teachers who were good started leaving, and one of my kids left there only a year ago. RPS may be trying to destress their kids, but I don’t think it’s worth it to not teach the kids properly or give them easy work.
Uh-huh, I see. So do colleges discredit RPS student’s GPA in a way because they know that they have a semi-easy courseload? I’m going to be taking honors math and science next year, and I plan to take lots of AP courses as well, are they any better?
P.S. Does anyone have feedback about Delby?
I would say it’s a personal preference if you like the campus and what it has to offer, you should go for it. I think the most you can do is really let your personality and yourself shine through.
bump
bbbbbbbbbbuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmppppppppp
How does the HW compare to each school (I intend to take mostly honors and/or AP courses at each of those schools)?
Let me ask you this:
- What type of colleges are you looking at?
- After 4 years, where do you see yourself in class rank at Delbarton? At RPS?
- How good of a standardized test taker are you?
Great students will be able to overcome nearly anything, including poor teaching. But there is a lot to be said about the learning environment. Have you had a chance to look at the Naviance scattergrams to compare both schools?
- Well, I guess my dream far-reach school is Yale, but in the likely event that I don’t make it, I’m also looking at high mid-tier colleges like NYU/Georgetown/UNC-Chapel Hill.
- I can't say exactly how. I intend to take harder classes like honors and AP, and I've heard both the schools don't have super hard curriculums or anything like that; so I'd guesstimate in the <10% of my graduating class, I've also been top of my class in school but I can't really be certain about high school so I'll broadly say <10%.
- A good one. I'm not the one to have nervous breakdowns and anxiety attacks during tests. I like to joke around that I don't really feel stress (which isn't completely untrue). As long as I study for tests, I do well. I got a 91% on the SSAt, and a 96% the second time without much prep so I'd say I'm a very proficient test taker.
I haven’t been able to check the scattergrams because they need login stuff from guidance counselors and stuff. If you have any good links that’d be great. I’ve seen both their matriculation lists and they both seem like very good schools matriculation wise.
Ignore the matriculation lists. They are stacked with kids who have good hooks.
Pick 4 colleges along a range of selectivity. Lets say 1) Yale 2) NYU 3) Case Western and 4) Rutgers. Ask both schools to send you their scattergrams, and look at them closely. Strip away the outliers, as these are kids with the hooks (URM, development, legacy, athlete). Then picture yourself in the middle of your graduating high school class. It would be great if you were valedictorian, or top 10%, but for the sake of estimating look at the scattergrams and find the mid-point for the GPA. Then see how many graduates of Delbarton vs RPS get accepted. This will give you a more objective answer. If you don’t ask for the scattergrams now, then it will be difficult to get them later, as you have the most leverage now.
Getting into Yale is not easy. Even if you were valedictorian, it would still be a long shot. If you don’t have any hooks of your own, be advised that admissions at the top colleges are extremely difficult, especially as an ORM.
How would I ask them for scattergrams?