Should you go to Bronx Science or Chapin?

Answer 1

Ultimately, nobody can answer this question except you. When I was finishing 8th grade, I was faced with a similar decision: to transfer to Bronx Science, or to continue at the private prep school I had been going to since kindergarten.

The private school I had been going to was, like Chapin, one of the top private girls' schools in the city (Marymount, Brearley, Spence, Sacred Heart, Hewitt, etc.). In the end, I chose to stay at my private school, instead of transferring to Bronx Science. And I never regretted my decision.

Since it sounds like you haven't been going to Chapin since kindergarten, your situation is different. You aren't choosing between staying at a school you've been at since age 5, or transferring to a totally different school. So in your case, it's not a question of leaving all your old friends.

All of the top private girls' schools -- Chapin, Brearley, Marymount, Spence, Sacred Heart, Hewitt, etc. -- are populated by the daughters of the rich and powerful. I can tell you right now that half the girls at Chapin are going to be rich, snobby, spoiled brats. If you are just a regular kid from Queens, you will definitely feel out of place there.

But there will be nice girls, too. For example, I went to private school from kindergarten through high school, but my parents are not rich or powerful. They simply believe very strongly in a good education, so they made the necessary sacrifices to be able to send me to private school. There will be girls like me at Chapin too, who are normal and not snobby. There will also be token scholarship kids -- a few black girls from Harlem, a few Latino girls from Brooklyn -- who are normal.

So, while you may feel out of place at a school like Chapin, you will still be able to make friends. It may be hard adjusting at first, but chances are you will find your niche eventually.

Kids who go to Bronx Science are not rich, so the snob factor will not be present. But choosing a school isn't just about choosing a place where you'll feel at home. It's about choosing the school that will help you succeed the most in life. Bronx Science is a good school, but it's still a public school. The classes are much larger, so you won't get the individual attention that private school kids get. In private school, there are usually only around 15 kids in a class. In public schools, there are 30 or more kids in a class.

In terms of education, private school kids get the best of everything. Private schools have more money to spend on the kids, which means better equipment, better field trips, better extra-curricular activities, better preparation for college, even better food in the cafeteria. And teachers at private schools really, really care about each student. Every good teacher in New York City dreams of teaching at a private school, even though private school teachers get paid less than public school teachers. Because they have to take a pay cut in order to teach at a private school, the only people who become private school teachers are those who truly love to teach (as opposed to the stereotypical public school teacher, who doesn't care about anything except their paycheck and getting tenured). Private school teachers are always experts at their field, and always have great passion for what they teach, and this rubs off on their students.

Furthermore, colleges will always be more impressed by someone who went to private school, than someone who went to public school. Being able to call yourself a Chapin girl will almost certainly give you an edge on your college applications.

Find some time alone, with no distractions, and try to figure out what your instincts are telling you. What you truly want can often be disguised by what you THINK you SHOULD want. Deep, deep down, you have probably already made your decision.