Breck or Blake school? (Edina, St. Louis Park: cliquey, home, top school)

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by ozzie679

I have to disagree here. Breck and Blake can open doors for kids that they wouldn't have opened at other school. It's all about networking, connections, and reputation. Their alumni take care of their own, and they are VERY well represented in business, colleges, and grad schools.

Many people who send their children to schools like Breck and Blake, have a plan for their kids future. And when I mean "plan", I mean future financial success. $$

This happens in the public schools as well. I can point out most of the business leaders/doctors, etc. I know did NOT go to private schools in MN where as many of the people I went to school with that DID go to private schools were the 6th year senior art history majors in school. There are parts of the country where you absolutely have to go to a private school to get a good education, Minnesota is not one of them. Why waste the money on high school, save it for when they want to go to Harvard or Yale. There are plenty of kids from our high school at Ivy or Ivy caliber schools around the nation.

[ckhthankgod]

I thought Breck has a very good Football program that has also sent a couple of kids recently to Division 1 Football programs too?

[ozzie679]

Originally Posted by golfgal

This happens in the public schools as well. I can point out most of the business leaders/doctors, etc. I know did NOT go to private schools in MN where as many of the people I went to school with that DID go to private schools were the 6th year senior art history majors in school. There are parts of the country where you absolutely have to go to a private school to get a good education, Minnesota is not one of them. Why waste the money on high school, save it for when they want to go to Harvard or Yale. There are plenty of kids from our high school at Ivy or Ivy caliber schools around the nation.

You're missing my point. I'm not talking about "good educations" (whatever that means) I'm talking about the Blake and Breck brand.

[Haakon]

I can't say what they're like today, but 20+ years ago Blake was an extremely good school. Some WA colleges would recruit from Blake, and C's there were treated like A's from public schools, of course that might say as much about WA public schools as it does about Blake...

Blake has all kinds of athletics, but it's not stressed as much as at some schools, I doubt many (if any) pro athletes come out of either Blake or Breck. Back in the mid 80's neither school had enough students for a full wrestling team and combined into one team.

[Clifford63]

Originally Posted by ozzie679

You're missing my point. I'm not talking about "good educations" (whatever that means) I'm talking about the Blake and Breck brand.

Your point is absolutley valid, but some people refuse to hear it. Top schools get apps from all over the world and they somehow have to find a way to compare them. They also have to know they are admitting the applicatants that are most likley to continue the tradition of their institution and uphold the reputation they have built.

I do believe we have some excellent public schools here in MN and what kids learn in terms of subject matter is probably on par with some of the prep schools.

I really don't t think an admissions person at Cornell is going to pick up and application and say something like "oh wow, it says here that Suzy went to ISD School District XXX in Minnesota". If Suzy went to one of Blake, admissions will know that name. May not make a difference in addmission, but it might.

[jess322]

As someone who went to Breck from 2nd-12th grade, I would say save your money and take your family on a fabulous vacation every year instead. While I did get a great education (I thought HS was 10 times harder than college and equally as hard as graduate school), I ended up leading a shallow one viewed existence. Breck doesn't teach you how to be a part of a normal society (where not everyone is upper upper class) and in result didn't teach me to socialize the way I should have learned. I have heard nothing but good things about Edina, Minnetonka, and maybe other public schools in the area. My husband and I currently live in Edina for the reason we plan on sending our kids to public school where they get a little bit more of a reality (althought Edina does have some of the same class society that Breck has- but not as much). Just my opinion, some who attended private school, loved it, but looking back wasn't the best option out there. I had friends who also went to the Blake and Blake seemed to be a little more grounded than Breck in terms of the uppityness.

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by jess322

As someone who went to Breck from 2nd-12th grade, I would say save your money and take your family on a fabulous vacation every year instead. While I did get a great education (I thought HS was 10 times harder than college and equally as hard as graduate school), I ended up leading a shallow one viewed existence. Breck doesn't teach you how to be a part of a normal society (where not everyone is upper upper class) and in result didn't teach me to socialize the way I should have learned. I have heard nothing but good things about Edina, Minnetonka, and maybe other public schools in the area. My husband and I currently live in Edina for the reason we plan on sending our kids to public school where they get a little bit more of a reality (althought Edina does have some of the same class society that Breck has- but not as much). Just my opinion, some who attended private school, loved it, but looking back wasn't the best option out there. I had friends who also went to the Blake and Blake seemed to be a little more grounded than Breck in terms of the uppityness.

My GF went to Breck from 1st to 10th grade, then spent 11th and 12th at Edina. She liked Edina better only because her friends went there. She says that the students at Breck were more tolerant and open minded and the students at Edina were more snobbish. She also told me that stuff that she was learning in the 8th, 9th and maybe 10th grade wasn't being taught at Edina until 11th or 12th grade, unless the kids were in AP.

[LandanSW]

Originally Posted by ckhthankgod

I thought Breck has a very good Football program that has also sent a couple of kids recently to Division 1 Football programs too?

That couldn't be farther from the truth. Breck has a poor football program, so does all the teams in their conference including Blake. St. Bernards is decent, but in general the private schools have very week athletic programs and teams. They may be hot for a year or two, but that definitely dies down quickly and they go into a 8 year recession of having horrible teams, whereas a Minnetonka or Edina have teams that are generally pretty strong each year.

[uptown_urbanist]

Many top local public schools are well-known by admission officers at the Ivies. Sometimes coming from a public school gives you an edge in college admissions, too. I went to a Minneapolis public school with many kids from very wealthy families (ski trips to the cabin in Aspen, that sort of thing) with parents that chose the public schools, or at least our school, for a reason. Of course there were also many families from the other end of the economic spectrum, which I think is a good thing.

Minnesota in general seems to frown more on excessive school-related snobbery than do other parts of the country, so if your kid stays around here there will be plenty of people in high positions who won't give a hoot whether your kid went to Blake or Breck in high school and may even prefer someone who came out of the public school environment. Just go take a tour and see which school seems to fit your own kid and family better - if your child is going to thrive and do well enough to impress those admissions officers then he'll need a supportive environment. The school name alone certainly isn't going to do it. I think as far as "brand" both are about the same.

[cupcakesprinkles]

Thank you for all of your replies. We are happy that our child got accepted by both Breck and Blake, but we are going to go with Breck. We thought both schools will prep him for college very well, but there was something about Breck that we all just loved. Their philosophy, atmosphere, campus (prek-12 all on one campus), programs, sense of community etc. just fit our son and family well. We felt that way from our first visit and each subsequent visit solidified our feelings. After spending a day at Breck as part of the admissions process, our son was so excited and said it was awesome and he really wanted to go there. He enjoyed Blake as well, but just loved Breck. We still think that Wayzata public schools are about the best you can find in Minnesota for public schools and are happy to have some of our children there.

If you are thinking about private schools I highly recommend Breck. At every event we've attended over the past months, I've left with the feeling that I wish I could go to Breck. It is definitely a school that we feel will prepare him not only for a demanding college, but for life. It is a very inspiring, nurturing place with more diversity than the leading public school districts in the area (and probably private schools too). But as some others have said, you just get a feeling after visiting different schools and you can't go wrong following your gut.

For public schools, we feel Wayzata is truly outstanding--not just the schools, but the families as well.