Sidwell Obsession

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:... I still maintain that Andover/Exeter/St. Pauls and many of the NY and NE private schools are both academically and extracurricularly superior to pretty much all of the DC day schools. There is no Andover or Exeter equivalent in DC, period ....

You got any support for that other than your personal opinion as an Andover student? The objective data I've seen so far disagrees with you.

I appreciate the more measured tone you're taking now. Thank you. And I agree with you that there's too much infighting to put down schools. But I think you're adding to the infighting when you do things like proclaiming the supposed superiority of your school over all others. I look forward to any data supporting your views. Here's some data supporting my view that schools like Andover and Exeter (while very strong) are pretty comparable to some DC schools: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AnukIDABt_JKdDdZYXlQbnFUQ0VfMHRpTFp1SUIxS2c&hl=en&pli=1#gid=5

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no Andover or Exeter equivalent in DC, period. Sidwell is the only school that comes close, which explains why the last two presidents who had elementary/middle-school-aged children all went to Sidwell.

1. Correct - there is no school locally that has the cache of Andover or Exeter.

2. No, STA and NCS are schools are have just as strong a reputation/track record as Sidwell's (if not superior). Both Clinton and Obama had daughters. If either had a son, you better believe that STA would have been in the mix.

[Anonymous]

This board is called DC Urban Moms for a reason. No one here is interested in or applying to schools outside the DC area.

[Anonymous]

This board is called DC Urban Moms for a reason. No one here is interested in or applying to schools outside the DC area.

NONSENSE

[Anonymous]

You got any support for that other than your personal opinion as an Andover student? The objective data I've seen so far disagrees with you.

I appreciate the more measured tone you're taking now. Thank you. And I agree with you that there's too much infighting to put down schools. But I think you're adding to the infighting when you do things like proclaiming the supposed superiority of your school over all others. I look forward to any data supporting your views. Here's some data supporting my view that schools like Andover and Exeter (while very strong) are pretty comparable to some DC schools: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AnukIDABt...pTFp1SUIxS2c&hl=en&pli=1#gid=5

Data:

There are very significant differences in the endowment($$$$) per student.

[Anonymous]

2011 INtel Finalists

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Society for Science & the Public - Intel STS - 2011 Finalists

40 finalists in total. Saw some familiar school names. Congrats, the winners from Andover, Chaote, Lawrenceville and Groton!

[Anonymous]

http://www.societyforscience.org/page.aspx?pid=728

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Data:

There are very significant differences in the endowment($$$$) per student.

Well, endowment size definitely proves that Kamehameha and the Milton Hershey School are head and shoulders above all other boarding schools in the country! Andover/Exeter are not even in the same league.
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/01/25/business/20080126_PREPGRAPHIC.html

[Anonymous]

You're quite right. Those two schools don't quite have the tradition of Andover and Exeter (or Groton). The're not as old, but they are certainly heads and shoulders above any private in the D.C. area.

Great post. Thanks for the reference.

[Anonymous]

Do the endowments per pupil of area D.C. area private schools even make it on the top 500 list?

[Anonymous]

Well, endowment size definitely proves that Kamehameha and the Milton Hershey School are head and shoulders above all other boarding schools in the country! Andover/Exeter are not even in the same league.
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/01/25/business/20080126_PREPGRAPHIC.html

How does the NY times reference refute the OP claim regarding endowment/student? OP is correct.
Kamehameha consists of multiple schools with lots of students (e.g. MCPS system). The article does not look at endowment per student rather toral endowment. Exeter, Andover, SPS are still ahead of the pack. D.C. area schools are not even in the conversation as their total endowments in 2008 are a few tens of millions!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do the endowments per pupil of area D.C. area private schools even make it on the top 500 list?

With all due respect to 20:29, with cerebellum stuck up where the sun don't shine,
Episcopal, out in the hinterlands, far across the Potomac, where nary a civilized person would tread,
Had an endowment, before the great fall, that put it in good stead
With nearly all, 'cept maybe the Phillipss and St. Paul...

Jeez,
don't take this doggerel
literally please.

All the endowments felt the squeeze
But it is a good guess theirs ain't one to sneeze
at
in
'Course the Andover snob is about to be all over the inferiority of their academics, but I'm just responding to the question quoted above..

[Anonymous]

What is Episcopal's endowment per pupil?

[Anonymous]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/26/business/26prep.html

[Anonymous]

....Generally the older, best-known schools have the largest endowments. Phillips Exeter, founded in 1781, is the nation’s sixth-oldest boarding school. Even older schools are West Nottingham Academy in Colora, Md., Linden Hall in Lititz, Pa., the Governor’s Academy in Byfield, Mass., Salem Academy in Winston-Salem, N.C., and Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., which now has $800 million. Choate Rosemary Hall’s endowment has reached $267 million.

But some day schools, where endowments are generally far lower, are doing very well, too. The Westminster Schools in Atlanta have over $239 million in their coffers and the Brearley School in Manhattan has $100 million.
“Today, capital campaigns at New York’s private schools are likely to aim at $50 million,” Ms. Bass said. “That is almost the ground floor.”

Indeed, fund-raisers at both day and boarding schools find that graduates feel more loyalty toward their secondary schools than to their colleges.
“I always tell people I was educated at Exeter and went to Yale,” said James H. Ottaway Jr., a former board member of Dow Jones & Company, whose most recent gift to Exeter was $10 million for its scholarship fund. “I have always given more money to Exeter because I felt it was the most educational experience and character-forming experience of my life.”

Most private schools, of course, are not so rich. Of the 179 independent schools for which Commonfund, an investment group, manages money, 73 percent have endowments under $50 million.
But some prep schools can seem as luxurious as the nation’s top universities. Exeter’s 619-acre campus boasts two swimming pools, two hockey rinks, the largest secondary school library in the world, a cafeteria with made-to-order omelets for breakfast and classes with a typical student-teacher ratio of no more than 12 to one....

D.C. area private schools have endowments under $50 million. Goergetown Prep may hit the $50 million mark. Private school boosters on DCUM have no money to put where their mouth is. But, that won't stop them from bragging about "Big 3" of the bottom 4th quartile!