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Door to Door - the commute will be 1 & 1/2 hr. each way, so 3 hours per day. He's asking me now if he will still have time to do his assignment or he'll spend all his time commuting. Do you think it's worth it, not to mention the $10K tuition fee? Thanks!!!
Door to Door - the commute will be 1 & 1/2 hr. each way, so 3 hours per day. He's asking me now if he will still have time to do his assignment or he'll spend all his time commuting. Do you think it's worth it, not to mention the $10K tuition fee? Thanks!!!
I don't know, that is really a lot of commuting for a HSer. Tough call. If you are going to spend 10K, why don't you call some closer Catholic schools and see if they have openings?
Door to Door - the commute will be 1 & 1/2 hr. each way, so 3 hours per day. He's asking me now if he will still have time to do his assignment or he'll spend all his time commuting. Do you think it's worth it, not to mention the $10K tuition fee? Thanks!!!
I truly don't get your thinking. Isn't there another Catholic school you'd consider?
Door to Door - the commute will be 1 & 1/2 hr. each way, so 3 hours per day. He's asking me now if he will still have time to do his assignment or he'll spend all his time commuting. Do you think it's worth it, not to mention the $10K tuition fee? Thanks!!!
Door to Door - the commute will be 1 & 1/2 hr. each way, so 3 hours per day. He's asking me now if he will still have time to do his assignment or he'll spend all his time commuting. Do you think it's worth it, not to mention the $10K tuition fee? Thanks!!!
Well, it depends on who your son is. Is he a leader and a man (even though I understand he's 14) or is he a little punk? If he understands how to act like a man and not let himself get caught up with the wrong crowd and not let bad influences affect him, then he'll be fine at BHS. It sounds like he values his education, so as long as he walks into BHS with the goal being be the valedictorian and he sticks with that, he'll be fine. He's not going to get stabbed or anything at BHS.
That #234 ranking is relective of the fact that their students don't take AP tests, don't pass them at a high rate when they do and other stuff that is reflective of the whole student body. It doesn't need to matter to him that most of the kids he goes to school with won't ever be anything. If he is in the top ten of his class when he is applying for colleges, he will be going to an ivy league undergrad if he wants to, assuming he does the research into what extracurricular nonsense he needs to do to make the ivies want him. Failing that, with a good solid gpa and sats, he can go to Rutgers. From Rutgers he can do virtually anything, again assuming he rocks a high gpa.
What a school like prep would provide,though, is higher probability that he will end up on the right path. Is the 10K worth it, though? I wouldn't say so, but others might disagree. What exactly makes you weary of BHS?
The reasons he has only 2 choices: SPP & BHS:
1. Don Bosco - he got accepted but he said that they are mostly into sports and not diverse.
2. Paramus Catholic - He prefers BHS over PC.
3. Bergen Catholic - he went to the Open House but he did not like it so he did not apply.
For him, St. Peter's is the best high school and also diverse, really perfect for him. But the more he goes back to Prep, the more he realizes that the commute is really far. We tried driving, bus, train, etc.
Now he's really thinking about BHS. Our concern is if he can handle bullies, if he can get the right education there or will he be miserable? He's a very good student (graduated with High Honors) so we're trying to help him figure out what's best...
Your comments/opinions are greatly appreciated. Thank you very much!!!
The reasons he has only 2 choices: SPP & BHS:
1. Don Bosco - he got accepted but he said that they are mostly into sports and not diverse.
2. Paramus Catholic - He prefers BHS over PC.
3. Bergen Catholic - he went to the Open House but he did not like it so he did not apply.
For him, St. Peter's is the best high school and also diverse, really perfect for him. But the more he goes back to Prep, the more he realizes that the commute is really far. We tried driving, bus, train, etc.
Now he's really thinking about BHS. Our concern is if he can handle bullies, if he can get the right education there or will he be miserable? He's a very good student (graduated with High Honors) so we're trying to help him figure out what's best...
Your comments/opinions are greatly appreciated. Thank you very much!!!
This isn't correct -- it's clear that he has 4 choices. It just happens that his first two choices are BHS and St Peters.
Why does he prefer BHS over PC and Don Bosco is BHS is such a dump ?
The commute is terrible. Why go to a great school if he doesn't have any time to do his assigned homework ? I'd say he should choose from the other 3. If you're convinced that BHS is a dump that is overrun by punks and bullies, then maybe you and him need to review your preferences.
Send your kid to BHS. I don't know about St. Pete's but I know that when I went to Cath school, the bulk of the people were tools, and I went to a Cath school in a very similar town to JC.
Well, it depends on who your son is. Is he a leader and a man (even though I understand he's 14) or is he a little punk? If he understands how to act like a man and not let himself get caught up with the wrong crowd and not let bad influences affect him, then he'll be fine at BHS. It sounds like he values his education, so as long as he walks into BHS with the goal being be the valedictorian and he sticks with that, he'll be fine. He's not going to get stabbed or anything at BHS.
That #234 ranking is relective of the fact that their students don't take AP tests, don't pass them at a high rate when they do and other stuff that is reflective of the whole student body. It doesn't need to matter to him that most of the kids he goes to school with won't ever be anything. If he is in the top ten of his class when he is applying for colleges, he will be going to an ivy league undergrad if he wants to, assuming he does the research into what extracurricular nonsense he needs to do to make the ivies want him. Failing that, with a good solid gpa and sats, he can go to Rutgers. From Rutgers he can do virtually anything, again assuming he rocks a high gpa.
What a school like prep would provide,though, is higher probability that he will end up on the right path. Is the 10K worth it, though? I wouldn't say so, but others might disagree. What exactly makes you weary of BHS?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jojo123
The reasons he has only 2 choices: SPP & BHS:
1. Don Bosco - he got accepted but he said that they are mostly into sports and not diverse.
2. Paramus Catholic - He prefers BHS over PC.
3. Bergen Catholic - he went to the Open House but he did not like it so he did not apply.
For him, St. Peter's is the best high school and also diverse, really perfect for him. But the more he goes back to Prep, the more he realizes that the commute is really far. We tried driving, bus, train, etc.
Now he's really thinking about BHS. Our concern is if he can handle bullies, if he can get the right education there or will he be miserable? He's a very good student (graduated with High Honors) so we're trying to help him figure out what's best...
Your comments/opinions are greatly appreciated. Thank you very much!!!
gradstudent77 described bergenfield high school perfectly. its relatively low ranking doesn't necessarily mean that it has a limited range of academic and extracurricular offerings; in fact, i've heard that those who take advantage of the honors and AP classes get a very good education. more than anything, bergenfield's overall rank reflects its fairly sizable core of unmotivated, poor-to-average students who drag its overall scores down.
i personally know several people who graduated from bergenfield h.s. back in the 1990s and went on to ivy league or ivy-caliber schools (harvard, princeton, MIT, etc). these people were at the top of their class, were active in extracurriculars (bergenfield's school paper is supposed to be one of the best - at least it was in the '90s), and had great board scores. the most prestigious colleges will not overlook a high achiever from bergenfield h.s. who has great credentials.
the issue, though, is that bergenfield h.s. has a lower proportion of top students compared with the "elite" schools like ridgewood, tenafly, the northern valley schools, northern highlands, etc - places where each graduating class produces 50 or 60 students who go on to extremely selective, upper echelon universities. at bergenfield, most students outside of the top percentile have undistinguished academic records and go on to less selective colleges.
so if your son is very bright, focused, and motivated and will be enrolled in honors and AP classes, he should be fine, as he'll be surrounded by kids who have similarly high goals. but if your son is a middling student who just coasts through school, then he's better off in a private school where there's generally more discipline and less tolerance for troublemakers and underachievers.
re: st. peter's prep, the door-to-door commute from bergenfield is not really worth it in my opinion. it will be 75 to 90 minutes, depending on the mode of transportation. the best route would probably be for him to be driven to the new bridge landing train station on the river edge/hackensack border, then take the pascack valley line to hoboken, where he would switch to the PATH to get to jersey city. otherwise, he can take the 166 bus to the 83 to the PATH or the 166 to the light rail to JC. or you can drive him everyday, but it won't be fun for him regardless.
also, i don't know why your son has an issue with don bosco being "mostly into sports", because st. peter's is exactly the same way. all prep cares about is football, and everything else is secondary. bergen catholic is also sports-obsessed. the difference, though, is that don bosco and bergen catholic have better academic reputations with the elite colleges than prep. prep was once considered an elite school, but as far as i'm concerned it's not what it was 30-40 years ago. doesn't mean that the quality of the education is necessarily that much better at don bosco or bergen catholic - just that it's perceived to be better.
i know lots of people who commuted from bergen county to prep back in the day. most were from southern bergen towns like lyndhurst, rutherford, ridgefield, etc. i did know someone from the bergenfield area who commuted to prep everyday via the nj transit train, and it took him 75 minutes door-to-door.
most of my friends and acquaintances who commuted from bergen county to prep did not enjoy their experience and say they would've preferred to have gone to a school closer to home.
so my verdict is to forget about prep. it's not an awful school, but not really as good as some people will tell you, either. and it's certainly not worth the long commute or the price tag.
tell your son to choose a school that's closer to home.
Now he's really thinking about BHS. Our concern is if he can handle bullies
Yikes............... I'm not trying to be mean or insensitive, but if he can't handle the rough & tumble streets of Bergenfield , how will he deal with the greater world at large?
Unless he plans on a career in academia or some sort of research field, gruff individuals permeate in many, many professions.
A smart pushover is as disadvantaged as someone not so intellectually inclined.
Take my opinion as you see fit............
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, how will he deal with the greater world at large?
