Breck or Blake school? (Minneapolis, St. Paul: Valentine's day, moving, beach)

[jtaylor2d]

For those that went to Breck, what’s the process for getting accepted at the pre-school level? I have a close friend who went there their whole education and speaks highly of it, but online they say only 11-15 people get accepted each year, so I imagine it’s quite competitive. Is it a place where parents have to make large donations on top of the already expensive tuition to get in the door?

[wamer27]

Originally Posted by jtaylor2d

For those that went to Breck, what’s the process for getting accepted at the pre-school level? I have a close friend who went there their whole education and speaks highly of it, but online they say only 11-15 people get accepted each year, so I imagine it’s quite competitive. Is it a place where parents have to make large donations on top of the already expensive tuition to get in the door?

I know no details, but I guarantee you described exactly how they get in.

[MnMomma]

Just do your tour as soon as you can and get your application in early. Children with older siblings in the school have priority, but it's pretty much first-come-first-served after that. Twin Cities private schools are not super-selective--they just like to have that appearance.

[MNparent]

Having done A LOT of research and eventually sending our kids to Blake, I'd say:

1. Blake and Breck are remarkably similar on every dimension. The main differences are: Breck has one campus across all grades, whereas Blake has 2 (down from 3); Breck has more of an emphasis on faith (e.g., chapel, interfaith holiday programs... to be clear, they're open to all religions), whereas Blake doesn't; Blake (especially 2nd+ generation Blake families) has snobbier families (i.e. you're a weirdo if you didn't go skiing in Colorado or to your in-law's beach home during Christmas Break). SPA is actually quite similar to Blake as well but rarely makes same consideration set.

2. With exception of Edina, Blake and Breck have notably higher admissions rates to Ivy Leagues (see stats below), which has been cited, BUT a good portion of that is also explained by legacy status. In other words, a higher percent of Blake/Breck parents went to those schools (vs Wayzata/Minnetonka/Orono) and boost odds of kids getting in. There's no way to know what Ivy admissions rate for top MN schools would be when you normalize for parents' legacy status.

3. Providence is NOT similar. I'm a local alumni admissions interviewer for a top 10 college and I'd say we get a lot of interviewees from Minnetonka, Wayzata, Blake, etc. and each kid rises or falls on their own merit. With Wayzata and Minnetonka, the question is often "how did this kid manage to stand out in a huge ocean of kids?" whereas Blake's is "this kid has good polish, but are they snotty and a reflection of their parent's privilege or are they actually grounded?" HOWEVER, Providence almost gets an automatic write off - and I've heard that from local interviewers from other colleges. Kids there are decent academically (on par with Wayzata and Minnetonka, not Blake/Breck/SPA) but extremely low on curiosity, open-mindedness, empathy, and critical thinking. It's clear they're a product of a restrictive home and they don't know their own interests, strengths, deficits, etc. That not only makes less robust kids but it actively is hurting their chances of college admissions.

Here's ugly pasted grid of a few key stats I assembled directly from the schools
School: Minnetonka/ Edina/ Orono/ Blake/ Breck
Senior Class size: 808/ 662/ 246/ 132/ 117
ACT: 28/ 26/ 25/ 31/ 31
SAT: 1360/ 1305/ -/ 1373/ 1430
Seniors who are Nat'l Merit: 7%/ 7%/ 6%/ 19%/ 17%
% top tier college: 1%/ 15%/ 1%/ 16%/ ?
% in Ivy: 1%/ 7%/ ?/ 8%/ ?

[MNparent]

I know a lot of families at Blake, Breck, and Providence (across grades, but mostly in lower and upper school), and this is just flat out false. This is obviously a parent with kids at Providence, and hasn't aged well.

[MNparent]

It's a great point - Orono is great academically. In addition to good academics, it has benefit of one school system - in other words, Wayzata has a lot of normal size elementary, feeding into 3 pretty big middle schools, feeding into one HUGE high school. Orono is one elementary, one middle, one high school - so if your kid goes through Orono the entire time, it can feel like a tight community. The downside of course is if they don't like it, there's not a lot of micro-communities within the high school to float between, and there's less clubs. The other oddity is that it's fed by a lot of high-income, executive cities (Orono, Long Lake, etc.) and lower-income, rural communities (Maple Plain, etc.), which creates some interesting tension. Overall, Orono was our top public school choice after Edina. I thought more highly of it than Minnetonka and Wayzata - academics were on par/ better but was much smaller, which felt better for our kids.

[MNparent]

In short, if you want good education, top 10 private and top ~25 public schools will do it for you. MN doesn't have atrocious public school system like Florida, etc., and private schools here aren't the insane caliber like Phillips, Choate, Exeter, and Hotchkiss - all schools are much more in the upper middle of quality distribution. Beyond that, it comes down to (1) do you want religious education, (2) does your kid have special interests/ preferences that need to be accounted for, or (3) do you have extra money and want to get questionable ROI to squeak out likely slightly higher odds of good college admissions and network/connections. But it's tough to go wrong with most MN high schools, and arguably none are top 50 nationwide.

[Camden Northsider]

This might blow some people's minds, but I was just talking to a college professor relative of mine who was telling me that progressive schools that value DEI may be doing away with ACT/SAT altogether in the near future. Because much like your Great Schools ratings, your standardized test scores, and other such things-- the only thing these tests actually predict are the amount of privilege a student was born and/or grew up with, and definitely *not* whether they will be academically successful.

[Yosh01]

Originally Posted by MNparent

2. With exception of Edina, Blake and Breck have notably higher admissions rates to Ivy Leagues (see stats below), which has been cited, BUT a good portion of that is also explained by legacy status. In other words, a higher percent of Blake/Breck parents went to those schools (vs Wayzata/Minnetonka/Orono) and boost odds of kids getting in. There's no way to know what Ivy admissions rate for top MN schools would be when you normalize for parents' legacy status.

Remember that the rate of college admission, Ivy League, etc., is very much the product of self-selection. Students who are not college bound tend to be "encouraged" to leave and move to another school. This is the primary reason these schools have a 100% college admissions rate.

[snebarekim]

Originally Posted by Camden Northsider

This might blow some people's minds, but I was just talking to a college professor relative of mine who was telling me that progressive schools that value DEI may be doing away with ACT/SAT altogether in the near future. Because much like your Great Schools ratings, your standardized test scores, and other such things-- the only thing these tests actually predict are the amount of privilege a student was born and/or grew up with, and definitely *not* whether they will be academically successful.

Good Lord.



There should be no such thing as a "progressive" school when it is tax payer funded.