Main Line Philadelphia Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which is the best for sports? Boy/girl lacrosse? Girl soccer?

Episcopal is a powerhouse in all sports. I think Haverford, too. And again, many of the public districts. Look up Upper Merion, Radnor, Great Valley, Conestoga, Tredyfrrin-Easttown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which is the best for sports? Boy/girl lacrosse? Girl soccer?

I don't know about lacrosse and soccer but for several of these schools, look at rowing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Move coming up within the next year. How do the mainline Philadelphia schools compare two hours? Haverford, Agnes Irwin, Episcopal, Shipley etc compared to NCS/STA, Sidwell, Potomac etc

I guess Baldwin closed, but of that list Haverford and Shipley are the two best. You might want to add Friends Select and Penn Charter

Philadelphia suburbs education is very different that the scene in DC though in a few main ways:

- DC has lots of competition among political elites, Career staffers, Journalistas, high up State, Pentagon, CIA, FBI plus all the embassy postings to accomodate in addition to those wealthy expat refugees from Shah time in Iran, etc... This drives the demand and the price up.

Plus DCPS offers very little outside of SWW and honors program at Wilson

Philadelphia in general, is just mostly bankers and lawyers and maybe medicine with a few Pro Athlete kids thrown in - much smaller pool of applicants AND - not so necessary to go to Private as , if you live on Main Line public schools like Lower Merion and Harriton are good schools, filled to from with 1 % ers all will same HYP and SAT stats as any DC Private.

So, if you are moving to Gladwyne and you for some reason don't want Harriton, then apply to Shipley for a G and Haverford for a B, but I'd save your money.

If you are going to live down town in center city, then Friends Select or maybe Haverford

You will likely pay HALF what you pay in DC in tuition and 1 /4 of what you pay for a house, if that.

[Anonymous]

Wrong. Tuition at Haverford School is over $40k

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Move coming up within the next year. How do the mainline Philadelphia schools compare two hours? Haverford, Agnes Irwin, Episcopal, Shipley etc compared to NCS/STA, Sidwell, Potomac etc

I guess Baldwin closed, but of that list Haverford and Shipley are the two best. You might want to add Friends Select and Penn Charter

Philadelphia suburbs education is very different that the scene in DC though in a few main ways:

- DC has lots of competition among political elites, Career staffers, Journalistas, high up State, Pentagon, CIA, FBI plus all the embassy postings to accomodate in addition to those wealthy expat refugees from Shah time in Iran, etc... This drives the demand and the price up.

Plus DCPS offers very little outside of SWW and honors program at Wilson

Philadelphia in general, is just mostly bankers and lawyers and maybe medicine with a few Pro Athlete kids thrown in - much smaller pool of applicants AND - not so necessary to go to Private as , if you live on Main Line public schools like Lower Merion and Harriton are good schools, filled to from with 1 % ers all will same HYP and SAT stats as any DC Private.

So, if you are moving to Gladwyne and you for some reason don't want Harriton, then apply to Shipley for a G and Haverford for a B, but I'd save your money.

If you are going to live down town in center city, then Friends Select or maybe Haverford

You will likely pay HALF what you pay in DC in tuition and 1 /4 of what you pay for a house, if that.

Honestly, this doesn't make a lot of sense. Philadelphia isn't mostly bankers. It is a lot of lawyers and a HUGE medical community.

Why would you say Baldwin is closed? It's open and currently in person according to my friends. I grew up going to Philly area private schools and have nieces and nephews in Philly privates an my own kids in DC area private schools.

I'd say the comparison has traditionally been that Baldwin/Haverford is equivalent to NCS/STA (single sex educations with top notch educations). Agnes Irwin is more similar to Holton Arms (not better or worse, just different vibe). Episcopal=Sidwell (but I mostly make that comparison because it's an co-ed excellent education).

Before Shipley went co-ed in the 70s, Baldwin, Shipley, and Agnes Irwin were the three Main Line all girls schools and the derisive rhyme about them was: Baldwin is for brains, Shipley is for games, and Irwin for dames. It's obviously changed somewhat over the years but things tend to change slowly on the Main Line. One big change is that a few years ago Shipley withdrew from the Inter-Ac, which is the sports league for most of the top Philly area private schools. As I recall, their website said that it was to de-emphasis the competitiveness of athletics and re-focus on other values. I don't know what that has done to their athletic program, I only know about it because we were considering moving back around the time when they withdrew. If athletics is a major issue for you, it's something to look into.

All of them are good and relatively close to each other (15-20 between the furthest ones) but they all have their own personalities just like DC privates.

Germantown Friends, Penn Charter, Germantown Academy are also all excellent but not located on the Main Line. Friends Select is downtown.

Tuition is less but definitely not half. For example- high school tuition is about $40K. But housing prices are A LOT less!

Good luck! There are a lot of great options in Philly!

[Anonymous]

I grew up here but my cousins went to Agnes Irwin and loved it.

[Anonymous]

We have either personal experience (kids attending) or close friends with kids attending Germantown Friends School, Abington Friends School, Penn Charter, Friends Central, SCH, Germantown Academy and Agnes Irwin. All are very happy. There are lots of great private schools in the area and as pp said they are less competitive for admissions than in DC, so the application process is much less stressful. I do think a number of the private schools have certain reputations, positive and especially negative, that are outdated. So it's important to go and see for yourself and if possible speak with current parents. Also consider whether you want single-sex (Agnes Irwin for girls, SCH is single-sex education through 8th grade but has girls and boys, etc), and whether you are interested in a Quaker school or not. Many of the private schools are Quaker though with varying degrees of adherence/emphasis placed on it. As someone said the public schools on the Main Line are also very well-regarded.

The private schools are still quite expensive, with high school roughly at $40K for many, but still a bit less expensive than DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Move coming up within the next year. How do the mainline Philadelphia schools compare two hours? Haverford, Agnes Irwin, Episcopal, Shipley etc compared to NCS/STA, Sidwell, Potomac etc

I guess Baldwin closed, but of that list Haverford and Shipley are the two best. You might want to add Friends Select and Penn Charter

Philadelphia suburbs education is very different that the scene in DC though in a few main ways:

- DC has lots of competition among political elites, Career staffers, Journalistas, high up State, Pentagon, CIA, FBI plus all the embassy postings to accomodate in addition to those wealthy expat refugees from Shah time in Iran, etc... This drives the demand and the price up.

Plus DCPS offers very little outside of SWW and honors program at Wilson

Philadelphia in general, is just mostly bankers and lawyers and maybe medicine with a few Pro Athlete kids thrown in - much smaller pool of applicants AND - not so necessary to go to Private as , if you live on Main Line public schools like Lower Merion and Harriton are good schools, filled to from with 1 % ers all will same HYP and SAT stats as any DC Private.

So, if you are moving to Gladwyne and you for some reason don't want Harriton, then apply to Shipley for a G and Haverford for a B, but I'd save your money.

If you are going to live down town in center city, then Friends Select or maybe Haverford

You will likely pay HALF what you pay in DC in tuition and 1 /4 of what you pay for a house, if that.

Honestly, this doesn't make a lot of sense. Philadelphia isn't mostly bankers. It is a lot of lawyers and a HUGE medical community.

Why would you say Baldwin is closed? It's open and currently in person according to my friends. I grew up going to Philly area private schools and have nieces and nephews in Philly privates an my own kids in DC area private schools.

I'd say the comparison has traditionally been that Baldwin/Haverford is equivalent to NCS/STA (single sex educations with top notch educations). Agnes Irwin is more similar to Holton Arms (not better or worse, just different vibe). Episcopal=Sidwell (but I mostly make that comparison because it's an co-ed excellent education).

Before Shipley went co-ed in the 70s, Baldwin, Shipley, and Agnes Irwin were the three Main Line all girls schools and the derisive rhyme about them was: Baldwin is for brains, Shipley is for games, and Irwin for dames. It's obviously changed somewhat over the years but things tend to change slowly on the Main Line. One big change is that a few years ago Shipley withdrew from the Inter-Ac, which is the sports league for most of the top Philly area private schools. As I recall, their website said that it was to de-emphasis the competitiveness of athletics and re-focus on other values. I don't know what that has done to their athletic program, I only know about it because we were considering moving back around the time when they withdrew. If athletics is a major issue for you, it's something to look into.

All of them are good and relatively close to each other (15-20 between the furthest ones) but they all have their own personalities just like DC privates.

Germantown Friends, Penn Charter, Germantown Academy are also all excellent but not located on the Main Line. Friends Select is downtown.

Tuition is less but definitely not half. For example- high school tuition is about $40K. But housing prices are A LOT less!

Good luck! There are a lot of great options in Philly!

If only the Main Line hadn't changed, but sadly it has been ruined by the nouveau riche since the 80's with mcMansions filling in where older estate lands used to set a standard and the days of being able to do all your shopping without having to pay - simply a monthly bill sent to the house are over.

But, yes, the public schools are fine.

Just don't expect to get into Merion- THAT hasn't changed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Move coming up within the next year. How do the mainline Philadelphia schools compare two hours? Haverford, Agnes Irwin, Episcopal, Shipley etc compared to NCS/STA, Sidwell, Potomac etc

I don't think anyone can really answer this (the number of people with direct experience at both will be vanishingly small) but they are well-regarded schools. The Philly area is over-served by private schools (ie, fewer kids go to private than 20 years ago, and there are more spots than students) so the schools are pretty eager for kids. Demand has probably gone up during Covid but I think that's probaby short term.

Shipley has a reputation for being kinder/gentler and serving kids with a range of learning needs, although probably all the schools do to some extent. I know a lot of people who concentrated their search between Shipley and Friends Central (also coed).

The single sex schools are probably more conservative and sporty overall. I have boys and when I was looking at privates my kids' doctor, who is well connected and sees kids from the area, crapped all over Haverford, which made me not want to pursue it further. It has a great campus.

Episcopal is too far west to be a contender for us. Germantown Friends, in the city, is probably the school with the best academic reputation.

Bolded not remotely true for the city privates but you could be right about the Main Line privates. Although for all, yes, demand has skyrocketed since covid because the privates are all in-person this year.

I don’t have a lot of info about the Main Line privates in general but I know people who used to teach at Episcopal and they say it’s very, very conservative. The ones in the city (particularly the Quaker schools) are much more liberal, if that matters to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted before and Germantown friends is north of the city and I would say the biggest thing from the school is Bradley Cooper. Not sure about Haverford did because it is a well regarded school. Shipley just isn’t very good and Agnes Irwin is just for rich and snotty mainline crew. Very very old mainline and hard to break into that club and who wants to anyway. I still say Episcopal is the best all around.

You are thinking of Abington Friends. Germantown Friends is IN the city and is quite different.

Germantown Friends is in the city, but I think it's got a better academic reputation than Abington Friends.

OP, the public schools in these areas are all very, very good. I don't know enough to comment on each of these schools, but I would suggest that you consider public as well.

I think Germantown Friends is probably the best academically in the city. The neighborhood on the other hand is not so great, if that matters to people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Move coming up within the next year. How do the mainline Philadelphia schools compare two hours? Haverford, Agnes Irwin, Episcopal, Shipley etc compared to NCS/STA, Sidwell, Potomac etc

I don't think anyone can really answer this (the number of people with direct experience at both will be vanishingly small) but they are well-regarded schools. The Philly area is over-served by private schools (ie, fewer kids go to private than 20 years ago, and there are more spots than students) so the schools are pretty eager for kids. Demand has probably gone up during Covid but I think that's probaby short term.

Shipley has a reputation for being kinder/gentler and serving kids with a range of learning needs, although probably all the schools do to some extent. I know a lot of people who concentrated their search between Shipley and Friends Central (also coed).

The single sex schools are probably more conservative and sporty overall. I have boys and when I was looking at privates my kids' doctor, who is well connected and sees kids from the area, crapped all over Haverford, which made me not want to pursue it further. It has a great campus.

Episcopal is too far west to be a contender for us. Germantown Friends, in the city, is probably the school with the best academic reputation.

Bolded not remotely true for the city privates but you could be right about the Main Line privates. Although for all, yes, demand has skyrocketed since covid because the privates are all in-person this year.

I don’t have a lot of info about the Main Line privates in general but I know people who used to teach at Episcopal and they say it’s very, very conservative. The ones in the city (particularly the Quaker schools) are much more liberal, if that matters to you.

I'm the poster you quoted and yes, I was referring to the Main Line private schools. They're competing against each other and also the very good public schools. A much greater percentage of kids in Lower Merion go to public school than a generation ago. Worth noting that not all the private schools are inon, at least at the HS level. FCS has been all virtual for big chunks of the year.

[Anonymous]

Agree with PP - far more private schools in Philly than in the DMV which has always surprised me. Wish we were still there...

[Anonymous]

If you are moving to the main line I would consider public schools. Radnor, Harrison, and Lower Merion for example are very good schools. I know that's not what you asked, but you should know they are not like DC area (county run) districts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted before and Germantown friends is north of the city and I would say the biggest thing from the school is Bradley Cooper. Not sure about Haverford did because it is a well regarded school. Shipley just isn’t very good and Agnes Irwin is just for rich and snotty mainline crew. Very very old mainline and hard to break into that club and who wants to anyway. I still say Episcopal is the best all around.

You are thinking of Abington Friends. Germantown Friends is IN the city and is quite different.

Germantown Friends is in the city, but I think it's got a better academic reputation than Abington Friends.

OP, the public schools in these areas are all very, very good. I don't know enough to comment on each of these schools, but I would suggest that you consider public as well.

I think Germantown Friends is probably the best academically in the city. The neighborhood on the other hand is not so great, if that matters to people.

Neither of these are really true anymore. GFS has great academics but so do a number of others schools. And the neighborhood is just fine. (We personally picked another school over GFS in part for academics.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I posted before and Germantown friends is north of the city and I would say the biggest thing from the school is Bradley Cooper. Not sure about Haverford did because it is a well regarded school. Shipley just isn’t very good and Agnes Irwin is just for rich and snotty mainline crew. Very very old mainline and hard to break into that club and who wants to anyway. I still say Episcopal is the best all around.

Bradley Cooper graduated from Germantown Academy, not Germantown Friends.

Germantown Academy is a wonderful pk-12 school that blends great traditions with a progressive approach. Very, very strong in the arts and athletics. Campus is over the top beautiful. Not on the main line though !