Ranking privates academic rigor

[Anonymous]

We got into some of the schools in the list; some we did not but we are trying to figure out the best fit for our DD, who has gotten straight As at our K-8 private (and is a little full of herself; I want her to be really challenged in high school so college is crushing).

In no particular order

Potomac
GDS
Sidwell
Holton Arms
Maret
Madeira
WIS

Any comments on how ready your kid is for college is helpful. We don’t want a prestige college, we want it to be challenging (we are not wealthy so DD is on her own after college so want her ready!)

[Anonymous]

CORRECTION: so college is NOT crushing

[Anonymous]

i appreciated this more when you wanted your child crushed by college.

[Anonymous]

Coming out of any of those schools is going to make the college academic transition easy. Send her where she feels like she'll be happiest. She'll get a good education at any of them and be well prepared for college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i appreciated this more when you wanted your child crushed by college.

Well I didn’t want to say it, but I do want her taken down a notch in high school. It’s a big world and she needs to know it.

I came from a small town, local “whiz kid” and my elite college destroyed me that I think my life would have been better at my state public university. Being on your own and failing at everything when everyone seems to find it so easy, not a good place.

[Anonymous]

They’re all good schools, I’d put Madeira at the more coddling and less cutthroat end of the range, which doesn’t sound like what you want.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, how would anyone meaningfully answer this? No one has kids in all these schools, maybe 2 at most. You are essentially asking about reputation of academic rigor, but is that helpful?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They’re all good schools, I’d put Madeira at the more coddling and less cutthroat end of the range, which doesn’t sound like what you want.

Cutthroat and academically challenging are two different things. Look at the top range curricula at each school and you should be able to figure this out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i appreciated this more when you wanted your child crushed by college.

Well I didn’t want to say it, but I do want her taken down a notch in high school. It’s a big world and she needs to know it.

I came from a small town, local “whiz kid” and my elite college destroyed me that I think my life would have been better at my state public university. Being on your own and failing at everything when everyone seems to find it so easy, not a good place.

I’ll be the one to say it 😬

Feels like you may have some unresolved issues.

Don’t thrust those onto your own kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i appreciated this more when you wanted your child crushed by college.

Well I didn’t want to say it, but I do want her taken down a notch in high school. It’s a big world and she needs to know it.

I came from a small town, local “whiz kid” and my elite college destroyed me that I think my life would have been better at my state public university. Being on your own and failing at everything when everyone seems to find it so easy, not a good place.

I’ll be the one to say it 😬

Feels like you may have some unresolved issues.

Don’t thrust those onto your own kids.

Hah I do. But my kid is full teenager and so arrogant about how smart they are. It drives me nuts. I mean, maybe she is really brilliant and hard working? But I want to test her mettle before she has to head out on her own. Her MS experience has not done that.

[Anonymous]

From what I know…. Through both personal experience at 3 of these schools and good friends at the others…..

GDS/Sidwell
Potomac
Maret/ Holton

Can’t comment on the others

[Anonymous]

Well, I'll offer an experience. DD is about to graduate Madeira, and chose it over NCS and a couple of others.

It's not "coddling", but it is designed to not be a pressure cooker. They will push the kids as much as they can handle, but not to the breaking point. It's an individual thing (DD is pushed to the edge of her capability) rather than a collective thing where girls are played against one another.

They engender teamwork more than competition. An example: the graduation speaker isn't based on academic rank; it's a girl chosen by her peers based on an audition process.

In our experience this yields exceptionally self-aware and confident young women who have been in the workplace (successfully) several times in the last few years through the co-curricullum process. It may not be seen by those here (who tend to be very much flag-wavers) as being as rigorous as some others, but it is much more predictably lower pressure and less cut-throat.

There's remarkably little drama and bullying, and there's virtually no mean-girl vibe. Indeed, they encourage each other: during the recent musical, for example, girls cheered their peers who were changing the set between scenes.

DD has been accepted at one of her top-3 choices already. I believe she is exceptionally well prepared not only for college, but for life.

[Anonymous]

DD had a perfect record at a private k-8. She went to WIS for its full IB diploma program. WIS offers many IB course options, and had excellent teachers. DD and her peers who got high IB scores did extremely well in top colleges and graduate programs. WIS also had many opportunities for nerdy kids to participate in sports, athletics, and arts. It's a small school, and kids who want to join an activity can, without the competition from elite athletes, musicians, etc, that you would find at a big public high school IB program. The IB is graded externally, so there is not a sense of favored students getting better grades.

[Anonymous]

Please stop trying to rank schools. It's meaningless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please stop trying to rank schools. It's meaningless.

I don’t know much about two of the schools in this list but the five I know all offer plenty of challenge. (And the other two probably do too.) Ranking is meaningless.