Rye Country Day School

1 Cedar Street

Rye, NY 10580

10 Reviews

School District
Grade

PK-12
Type

private

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Reviews

Submitted by student on June 15, 2023

Favoritism and toxicity: the two words that best describe RCDS. The administration loves to undermine ambitious students — unless you have gone to the school forever, have connections to the board, donate millions, or fall into a particular demographic, you will be treated like an inconvenience regardless of what you contribute to the “community.” There is no school spirit because there is nothing to love about RCDS — aside from the few good teachers that make classes and student life more bearable. The education itself is not far from what you would find in a traditional public school. Most of the buildings are in need of significant renovations and/or maintenance (ex., the major mice infestation in the upper school). Most people chose to attend RCDS because of its prestige despite its reputation for being a competitive sink-or-swim environment. The thing is, even if you’re a student that CAN easily “swim” at RCDS, you can probably achieve just as much AND be happier elsewhere.
Submitted by student on July 02, 2019

My parents pulled me from a public school where I was thriving and was top of my class to go to RCDS to get a better education. The positive thing about RCDS starts w/ MOST of the teachers. They really care about the students and always encourage them to come to their office. Yes, you get absurd amounts of HW, tests are harder than they need to be, and expectations are high, but my writing skills improved tremendously and I entered college with the ability to manage my time and complete my work 10x better than my peers. The negatives about RCDS: many spoiled and mean students, overly competitive college process, sink or swim learning environment, and the ex- Principal, Scott Wieman. With every student at RCDS targeting the same top 20 schools, competition is through the roof. Colleges try not to accept too many students from the same high school, which means that even if you have great SAT/ACT scores, extracurriculars, and grades, if you aren't considered a "candidate w/ diversity" or aren't one of the many students who have unreal connections (legacy or parents paid money to get you into the school) then your chances are slim. Students at the public school in my town with lower scores and grades got into universities many RCDS students were rejected from. Overall, I am grateful for my parents who invested so much in my education and for the skills I learned at RCDS, but I would not send my children to this school.
Submitted by parent on March 23, 2019

Overall not a great experience. The school focuses its efforts on the elite white kids who are 3rd generation Harvard/yale and giving tons of donations, and 'disadvantaged minorities'. If you're not one of those (e.g. Asian-American) forget about any advocacy, from day one. You're not groomed for "diversity leadership" or anything else. You will get ignored. By the athletic dept, college counseling office, student advisers, administration. Everyone. Knowing what I know now, definitely would've stuck with my home district and saved $200k+!
Submitted by other on March 29, 2018

Rye Country Day is a strange place. Teachers vary tremendously, but were probably the most positive part of my experience. Highlights were Mrs. Sampson, who unfortunately retired, but was by far the best history teacher I ever had. The math department also had strong faculty, headlined by Ms. Khan(she's the best!). I've heard good things about Ms. Conant too, but that being said, there are a few duds. The student body itself is an entirely separate issue. There are three 'said' groups: the 'crew', the diversity folks, and the rest of us. The crew is a group of about 20 rich, spoiled elitists, which apparently was formed in like the 4th grade but I guess that's that. The diversity group also likes to stick to themselves. Finally, onto college counseling. Honestly, I used to think that college acceptances was Rye Country Day's strength, but my god is the college counseling office incompetent. They completely forgot to send in my recommendations. I had practically straight A's, and they couldn't get me into a single top-20 college. I now realize that the reason RCDS's college acceptances look so good is because half the kids already bought their way into college. Literally the only ivy-league acceptances were for diversity candidates and super-rich legacy donors. Once you take those folks out and look at good white students with no connections, the results are pretty underwhelming. Anyway, not to harp on all the negatives. I graduated with a great education and can't complain about preparedness. The journey wasn't great, but hell, at least I made it out.
Submitted by parent on June 07, 2016

All three of our children graduated from Rye Country Day, and each blossomed in their own way and went on to thrive in top-tier universities. RCDS is an exceptional college preparatory school, in part because the school administrators and faculty empower students to take accountability for their academics and extracurricular activities, provide an amazing breadth of experiences with great resources inside and outside the classroom, and offer countless opportunities for initiative and leadership. Our children had amazingly smooth transitions into college, feeling it was a very natural extension from their high school experience. RCDS has a strong sense of community and spirit, a college-like campus setting, an appreciation for the importance of giving back ("Not for Self, But for Service") and admirable diversity through their commitment to providing financial aid. The workload is challenging - as students typically juggle significant after school activities (e.g. athletics, performing arts) with a demanding level of homework - but this is what prepares them for success on their own at the university level. We highly recommend Rye Country Day - we see so many of its students develop into smart, confident, interesting, and balanced young adults.
Submitted by parent on September 22, 2013

Excellent spirit! Hard work promoted with an equal emphasis on play. Wealthy but humble for the most part and the culture around campus is that of like a big family. Diversity is greatly valued.
Submitted by parent on October 22, 2011

Attending this school changed the trajectory of my daughter's life. She was always bright and driven but this school opened up all sorts of opportunities for her. She had outstanding instructors and participated in numerous after-school activities such as drama and softball. I count my daughter attending RCDS as one of the greatest blessings of our lives.
Submitted by other on October 05, 2011

I graduated from RCDS this past year (Class of 2011) and I thought that this site needed a better perspective from a recent graduate. To retain my anonymity, I will be vague about my success. I go to a top 20 university (probably sub 10 in the next 2 years) and this school prepared me well in most aspects. To put it bluntly, this school equips students with the tools to achieve great measures of success collegiately, but it is not the place for everyone. There are teachers and classes to avoid. Work is demanding, but often felt like busy work to me. Most of the teachers really love working at RCDS and are always available for extra help (seriously, if your student goes to this school, get them to go to extra help whenever they can. It's a huge boon in college for academics and networking). The academics, as I mentioned, can coast students or really challenge them. The sports I chose were very competitive and successful. Coaches all understand academics come first. All in all, this school prepared me aptly for college and I recommend it to students with stars in their eyes and a good work ethic.
Submitted by parent on January 21, 2011

My daughter is in the sixth grade now and having attended Collegiate myself, I can say that RCDS is an exceptional school. Not only do all of the teachers encourage the students to strive to be their best, they do so in a way that is challenging but not overboard. Whenever that has been an issue, which are rare to almost never, with students slightly getting out of line (which is true everywhere and with all ages), RCDS is right on top of it and manage everything in a very thoughtful and proper way. I couldn't disagree more than with the other person who reviewed here. That person must have had an isolated incident and thought it not handled correctly. Remember, even with teachers and administration, they are still human. Mistakes can be made, the question is whether they learned from it. If anyone has any reservations about RCDS, don't. It's really wonderful; but as with all schools, the fit must be right. If your child wants to excel and become an exceptional young adult, then this might be the right school Obviously, it's not for everyone.
Submitted by parent on December 04, 2010

As a parent of former student at RCDS,the end result of a quality education can't be denied.She has been fortunate to have such dedicated teachers and caring administrative faculty.