Solid B students (boys) at Catholic K-8s
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Anonymous
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Where do these kids end up going? Can they get into Catholic high schools?
We find DS’s Catholic school top notch and rigorous with grading. We are happy with the education DS is receiving. But we are not sure if he can get into Catholic high school with these grades….perhaps we should have tried for an easier school? |
Anonymous
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LOL no.
Yes there will be a Catholic school for your kid. College will be that as well or a low tier public. |
Anonymous
Many parochial school families go public (for various reasons), if the local high schools are strong. Is DS athletic? Recruitment for sports at good Catholic high schools like Dematha are another option. |
Anonymous
| Dematha in MD or O’Connell in VA |
Anonymous
Both great school that accept a wide range of kids. Also, I wouldn't count out other options like SJCvand/or GC. The field of competition has gotten steep and there are a lot of applicants for not a lot of spots, but it's not like they only accept straight A, hooked students. Smaller schools like Avalon also look for more than just grades. |
Anonymous
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At our school, we have found that the girls are so competitive and accomplished that they had far worse high school and college admissions results than the boys, who had lower grades and less extracurricular participation. (I'm not saying that the girls are necessarily smarter or better- it may just be a maturity/executive functioning thing at that age, but it may not be.)
If your DS if fortunate enough to be at a school or in a cohort with a lot of high-achieving girls, he may luck out and be accepted places that seem above his reach in the name of gender balance. In our school and its peer schools, different admissions standards for boys vs. girls has been the talk of graduating classes since 2021 or so. Our Head of School has begun quiet discussions with parents starting in 7th grade to set appropriate expectations. |
Anonymous
| Bishop Ireton will be an option |
Anonymous
| O’Connell, Ireton, and Dematha all would be options for a B student. I’m less familiar with Dematha, but we know a number of families at O’Connell and a few at Ireton and they all have been happy with their school. |
Anonymous
| Are you in NoVA? The diocesan schools seem to take just about all the parochial school kids. I know of one kid rejected from one school, and that was due to his discipline history, not grades. But he got into other diocesan schools, just not his first choice. I wouldn’t be concerned about a B student. |
Anonymous
| Thanks for this information. We are not in NoVa - we are in MD in ADW. However, because we own a property in NoVA from our earlier lives, we might consider moving to the Arlington area if there was a school over that way that was a better fit than the ones in Maryland. |
Anonymous
Be careful to follow this logic as, while it's perfectly fine, these types of scenarios vary year by year and don't necessarily translate. The opposite was true at our school (boys were the strong group) - except I wouldn't say that the girls had "higher than expected" HS placement. For the most part, the girls didn't apply to the most prestigious schools but to the schools they felt were a match and they did well in getting into their "first choice". The boys had a harder time, as they were competing against each other and their "first choice" (or even set of "preferred tier" schools) are always highly competitive - unfortunately it's unlikely high schools can adjust by suddenly having twice the normal spots available for just one gender from our k-8 in a given year. In the end there were some that didn't get into even their "preferred tier". But you never know - it also depends on how the HS pool of applicants (or rising 8th grade class) look in terms of gender balance and strength. |
Anonymous
O'Connell (DJO) also has a bus for kids in MD. Not sure exactly where it goes to, and there is a fee. My kids go to DJO and being close helps a lot (we are 3 miles away) but a lot of their fiends live in Vienna and Fairfax County. That could be a pain when they are 16 and need a ride home from a party at midnight. |
Anonymous
The DJO school bus services students in PG and Charles County. |
Anonymous
| Bump |
Anonymous
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Most Catholic high schools will accept a variety of students. Fwiw, there plenty of students at Gonzaga and Visi for example who never made honor roll at their K-8. Catholic schools look at the entire package, not just straight As.
Having C’s will be a problem though, but not Bs if you have volunteer and club activities. |