OT: How do you "shop" for a private HS? Best in SE Mich.?
For those familiar with the Michigan private school landscape, how does a family determine, for example, Detroit Country Day over Cranbrook, Roeper, Greenhills, Liggett, Notre Dame Prep, UofD-Jesuit, & Brother Rice/Marian? I'd like to say it's largely geographical, but I know families that lived in Bloomfield Hills and sent the boys to UofD-Jesuit, Grosse Pointe families that drove the kids all the way to Country Day, and Detroit proper families that commuted to Cranbrook. And there are apparently a decent amount of Ann Arbor families that send their boys to Catholic Central in Novi, over nearby FGR and Greenhills.
Is there really much academic difference between these schools, or is it a reputation and "so and so's go to X, so and so's go to Y" sort of thing?
August 17th, 2015 at 9:11 PM ^
Again- Amazon is your friend. But for your needs, eBay or Craigslist may also work...
August 17th, 2015 at 9:10 PM ^
The hottest NUNS?!?!
The all-time winner of Cumong Man has been posted. Retire the trophy
August 17th, 2015 at 9:13 PM ^
August 18th, 2015 at 7:21 AM ^
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August 17th, 2015 at 9:11 PM ^
I graduated from DeLaSalle in 2008 and am extremely glad I did. Having said that, I wouldn't send my kids there. It WAS a great school, until the current principle took over and ran it into the ground with his narcissism. If and when I have kids I would send them to either Catholic Central or Ligget. I'm an east sider and would still prefer the long drive to Novi over sending my son to LaSalle if I were to go the parochial route.
August 17th, 2015 at 9:21 PM ^
Unfortunately, I've heard that a LOT through the grapevine over the past 10 years. I too would not currently recommend DLS. Definitely time for him to go.
I am a DLS alum too but a MUCH older fart (1993). Brother Tom was the principal during my run. I liked him, and he is/was a U-M alum. He did give me a little bit of good-natured crap for not going to U-M, haha (accepted to UMAA but wanted to move away from Michigan & Detroit a bit).
August 17th, 2015 at 9:22 PM ^
What about the OP made you think he'd consider narcissism a character flaw?
August 17th, 2015 at 9:23 PM ^
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August 17th, 2015 at 9:34 PM ^
Scrotie McBoogerballs
August 17th, 2015 at 10:18 PM ^
Hoss Bonaventure, CEO. Who's askin?
August 17th, 2015 at 9:45 PM ^
Didn't they teach you the principal is your PAL?
August 17th, 2015 at 10:28 PM ^
Late 90's DLS grad here, and that makes me sad. We had a pretty amazing principal in Br. Joe Joswiak back then.
I grew up in a public school district that had virtually no advanced placement offerings. All the AP math/science and computer science that I was able to take at DLS set me up so well for college and beyond.
August 17th, 2015 at 9:10 PM ^
August 17th, 2015 at 9:18 PM ^
Of course he knows how to research a school. He just wanted to humblebrag on the blog.
August 17th, 2015 at 11:11 PM ^
August 17th, 2015 at 9:42 PM ^
smh indeed
(and I thought I was an asshole)
August 17th, 2015 at 10:24 PM ^
August 17th, 2015 at 9:12 PM ^
August 17th, 2015 at 9:14 PM ^
Well...you can always ask anonymous people on an internet college fan site where to spend thousands of dollars on your kid's education.
August 17th, 2015 at 9:16 PM ^
Hey! We're not anonymous... we're Wolverines!
Still - point well made otherwise!
August 17th, 2015 at 9:42 PM ^
Yeah!
Wolverines!!! (again, one day I'll learn how to link & embed... but until that day, this is where you will see Swayze & co in "Red Dawn")
August 17th, 2015 at 9:15 PM ^
if you visit and your kid doesn't fall for one or another, pick the one that is closest. Otherwise you and kid will never sleep and never see each other and you'll know no one. Life is too short for a commute even when you are like 14
Ps of those DCD has the only football team, I believe, but they got a 300 lb OT into Harvard this year. He was a really awesome kid in every respect
August 17th, 2015 at 9:21 PM ^
August 17th, 2015 at 10:21 PM ^
August 17th, 2015 at 9:15 PM ^
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August 17th, 2015 at 9:18 PM ^
Take a TRIP to Europe?! I'm pretty sure you could buy Greece for what he's talking about dropping on schools. And we're only talking about 1 kid - what if they've got 3, or 4 or more!!!!!!
August 17th, 2015 at 9:20 PM ^
Which I believe is an amazing high school.
However, a lot of the ones you listed are good, and honestly I wouldn't go to any that are more than a 20-30 minute drive away
But in all honesty, if you are in a decent school district (Rochester, Ann Arbor, Bloomfield, Troy, etc) just send em to public school and pay for their college tuition down the road.
August 18th, 2015 at 9:12 AM ^
August 17th, 2015 at 9:19 PM ^
August 17th, 2015 at 9:23 PM ^
It was rated the number 1 public high school in the country a few years back. Impossible to get into.
Cranbrook is the only high school where your GPA goes up when you go to Michigan.
August 17th, 2015 at 9:38 PM ^
August 17th, 2015 at 11:07 PM ^
Michigan certainly boosts greenhills' GPA.
August 18th, 2015 at 12:31 AM ^
Sooo... nobody goes to this school? Like, at all?
Isn't that what would happen to a school that was "impossible to get into"?!
August 18th, 2015 at 1:18 PM ^
August 17th, 2015 at 9:25 PM ^
Here's a good stat to ask for at all of these places: What is the percent of kids starting in 9th that graduate with the class 4 years later; a low rate indicates people giving up and transferring. Like an APR
Same goes when you look for colleges
August 17th, 2015 at 9:27 PM ^
I can tell you that Roeper is philosophically very different from all of the others on that list - it's very similar to Community High School in Ann Arbor if you know what that's like (call teachers by their first name, that kind of thing). At the same time it remains a rigorous academic environment. I think it's a pretty amazing place for your kid to grow intellectually and emotionally, but it is very expensive (though there is financial aid).
August 17th, 2015 at 9:58 PM ^
that education has gone full in for the misuse of the word rigorous for education being a good thing. They just mean challenging which is very different from rigorous when applied to education and you'd think that if there was a place that cared about proper word usage it would be in schools.
August 17th, 2015 at 10:07 PM ^
Typing "rigorous" in Google, this is the first definition that came up:
extremely thorough, exhaustive, or accurate.
…and that is an appropriate description for academics at Roeper. It's a small school but offers a pretty substantial course selection and in those courses, you will learn a lot.
August 17th, 2015 at 9:25 PM ^
August 17th, 2015 at 9:32 PM ^
August 17th, 2015 at 9:47 PM ^
It seems clear Cranbrook has the most name recognition and the most beautiful campus, but it doesn't seem like every family applies or even considers sending their child(ren) there. Are there things many prospective families don't like about CK? There are plenty of wealthy NDP and DCDS families who can easily afford the extra CK tuition, but don't bother.
August 17th, 2015 at 9:57 PM ^
August 17th, 2015 at 10:57 PM ^
It is not as simple as being able to pay the tuition. You need to be admitted. This was probably a bigger issue 30-40 years ago when the Detroit economy was healthy.
I don't think Cranbrook was very welcoming to minorities and immigrants in the past. Country Day filled that void as many Jewish and Asian families opted to send their children there, and it snowballed as other families in those communties felt more comfortable there. I don't know the actual statistics, but I was always under the impression that Country Day was the more diverse student body.
August 17th, 2015 at 9:33 PM ^
August 17th, 2015 at 9:34 PM ^
Honestly, sports have a lot to do with it. If you want your kid to be guaranteed to be on a team, then the smaller schools are the answer. If you or your kid are serious about your sport, then bigger schools like Country Day and U of D are better choices.
Obviously, there are always exceptions - for instance, if a really good coach lands at a small school. But in general, this is how I see it. Athletes from De La Salle and Brother Rice seem to be a lot more competitive than athletes from smaller schools like Shrine and Foley.
August 17th, 2015 at 9:41 PM ^
The Catholic League Central Division schools (CC, Brother Rice, De La Salle, U of D and OLSM) are probably the best division in the state for football. Some of them vary a lot in size (CC has over 1000 kids and OLSM has 350-450ish), but they definitely are the most competitive. As far as making a team, I'm pretty sure every Central division school is no cut for freshman and JV levels of football, so you don't have to worry about making a team at any of them. Coaching is the difference for sure. I was coached by Jermaine and James Gonzalez at St. Mary's and a few other guys that played college when I first started there. It was kinda unreal to get coaching from people that played at such high levels as a freshman who had never played before.
August 17th, 2015 at 9:34 PM ^
OLSM #1 in Michigan.
But in all honesty, the best way to see which is right is to schedule a visit or go to a few open houses and talk to faculty and staff and parents. Shadowing is a great way to have you kid go through a full day with another student see the school sort of "behind the scenes" from what you get from a website or just talking to a counselor. I highly recommend shadowing if at all possible.
August 17th, 2015 at 9:38 PM ^
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