The Constance Billard School for Girls is a fictional private, elite New York City all-girls school in the best selling Gossip Girl book series. The school is located at 93rd and Madison Avenue on the prestigious Upper East Side of Manhattan, where most of the school’s students reside. Constance Billard is based on the exclusive Nightingale-Bamford School, the alma matter of Gossip Girl’s author Cecily von Ziegesar.

Overview

The Constance Billard School for Girls enrolls seven-hundred students in between grades Kindergarten through twelfth and has fifty faculty and staff members. A large majority of the graduates apply and are accepted into Ivy League universities, as Gossip Girl says, “not applying to the Ivy Leagues is not an option, and not getting into them would be a total embarrassment.” The college advisor is Mrs. Glos, who frequently has nose-bleeds. The school has a sisterly relationship with the St. Jude’s School for Boys, where Nate Archibald attends, and Riverside Preparatory School for Boys on the Upper West Side, where Dan Humphrey and Chuck Bass attend. Though most students are from wealthy backgrounds, each grade includes a few scholarship students. Clubs include Film/Drama, French, and Art of Floral Design.

Headmistress

Mrs. McLean, or Mrs. M as called by the students, is the headmistress of Constance Billard. She is known as a lesbian to the students and has girlfriend up in Vermont named Vonda. A dedication to this girlfriend is a tattoo on Mrs. McLean’s thigh reading “Ride Me, Vonda”. Her job is to put forth the cream on the crop—send the girls off to the best marriages and the best lives— being very good at what she does. Mrs. M has no patience for losers. If she were to catch a girl acting like a loser—persistently calling in sick or doing poorly on the SATs—she will hire shrinks, counselors, and tutors, making sure the student got the personal attention she needed to get good grades, high test scores, and a warm welcome to the college of her choice. Her favorite saying is 'when you assume out ofyou make an ass out of you and me.

Punishment

Mrs. McLean doesn’t tolerate meanness, since Constance is supposed to be a school free of cliques and prejudice of any sort. The slightest slander of one girl about another is punished with a day in isolation and a seriously difficult essay assignment, which were rarely necessary. Mrs. M is blissfully ignorant of what goes on in the school.

Notable Students

The Constance Billard School for Girls is a breeding ground for the children of VIPs, executives, business magnates, media moguls, and the prominent members of the Upper East Side. Some of these children include Blair Waldorf, a socialite who’s the daughter of hostess Eleanor Waldorf Rose and highly successful lawyer Harold Waldorf, Esquire. She went on to matriculate to Yale University. Not to mention Serena van der Woodsen, a socialite who is a model turned actress and heiress to a Dutch shipping firm her family has run since the 1700's. She chose not to attend college so she could pursue her acting career, despite being accepted into several Ivy Leagues intitutions and various other prestigious universities. An example of scholarship student is Vanessa Abrams, a budding film maker who matriculated to NYU Film School. Jenny Humphrey, was also is a scholarship student and an aspiring artist and writer, was kicked out of Constance Billard during her freshman year. Kati Farkas and Isabel Coates are two alumna socialites who are now attending Rollins College, Isabel turned down Princeton University to be with her best friend Kati. Baby Carlyle and Avery Carlyle will attend Constance Billard when their family moves into the penthouse once owned by the Waldorfs.