GDS and Sidwell comparison?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Thank you for the thoughtful responses. I do not at this moment have a favorite, but one thing that I liked about GDS is the small class size and teacher ratio. Doesn’t that mean more individual attention? Sidwell has up to 20 kids in a class in elementary with one teacher (this was said twice during admissions process). I don’t know how many kids are in the GDS classrooms, but the website says the teacher student ratio is 6:1.

Did something change? When my child was in lower school at Sidwell, there were 2 teachers per class.

Yes. It has changed. It might revert after covid, but it's been like this for awhile

22 kids in a class is the same as public school. One of the reasons we want to make the switch (and I'd wager a lot of parents want to) is so DC has a smaller class size with more teacher engagement. 22 kids, really??

Again…yes, really.

The way the schedules work, and the kids are split up, there are almost never 22 kids in a classroom with a single teacher.

In the lower school, there are two teachers in every room.
In the middle school, they split up, so half the room goes to language, art or science, while the other half does english or history or math, and then they all flip.
In the upper school, the classes are all small either labs, or discussion for the humanities.

This is at GDS or Sidwell?

Must be Sidwell.

That’s not how Sidwell MS works. Ask me how I know.

It isn’t GDS either for MS or IS or whatever you want to call it and the LS classes at GdS have 15-16 students per 1 teacher only.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for the thoughtful responses. I do not at this moment have a favorite, but one thing that I liked about GDS is the small class size and teacher ratio. Doesn’t that mean more individual attention? Sidwell has up to 20 kids in a class in elementary with one teacher (this was said twice during admissions process). I don’t know how many kids are in the GDS classrooms, but the website says the teacher student ratio is 6:1.

Did something change? When my child was in lower school at Sidwell, there were 2 teachers per class.

Yes. It has changed. It might revert after covid, but it's been like this for awhile

22 kids in a class is the same as public school. One of the reasons we want to make the switch (and I'd wager a lot of parents want to) is so DC has a smaller class size with more teacher engagement. 22 kids, really??

Again…yes, really.

The way the schedules work, and the kids are split up, there are almost never 22 kids in a classroom with a single teacher.

In the lower school, there are two teachers in every room.
In the middle school, they split up, so half the room goes to language, art or science, while the other half does english or history or math, and then they all flip.
In the upper school, the classes are all small either labs, or discussion for the humanities.

This is at GDS or Sidwell?

Must be Sidwell.

That’s not how Sidwell MS works. Ask me how I know.

It isn’t GDS either for MS or IS or whatever you want to call it and the LS classes at GdS have 15-16 students per 1 teacher only.

So GDS caps at 16?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isnt grade 5&6 different in structure than grades 7&8 anyhow, at BOTH schools.
Pick a music, pick a language, change for PE class, etc.

I can't speak to Sidwell. But for GDS, one difference as you progress through MS is that there are few more class options with each grade. But beyond that, structure is similar among the MS grades. Your kid as a schedule and goes to different classes with different kids throughout the day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isnt grade 5&6 different in structure than grades 7&8 anyhow, at BOTH schools.
Pick a music, pick a language, change for PE class, etc.

I can't speak to Sidwell. But for GDS, one difference as you progress through MS is that there are few more class options with each grade. But beyond that, structure is similar among the MS grades. Your kid as a schedule and goes to different classes with different kids throughout the day.

Are you saying there is honors tracking for math, literature and science? So a kid can do accelerated or honors math or remedial, if needed?

Or are you saying it’s the usual middle school in America where you have a locker and bell period and walk to your teachers class every 50 minutes? And choose a language and band/orchestra/choir?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for the thoughtful responses. I do not at this moment have a favorite, but one thing that I liked about GDS is the small class size and teacher ratio. Doesn’t that mean more individual attention? Sidwell has up to 20 kids in a class in elementary with one teacher (this was said twice during admissions process). I don’t know how many kids are in the GDS classrooms, but the website says the teacher student ratio is 6:1.

Did something change? When my child was in lower school at Sidwell, there were 2 teachers per class.

Yes. It has changed. It might revert after covid, but it's been like this for awhile

22 kids in a class is the same as public school. One of the reasons we want to make the switch (and I'd wager a lot of parents want to) is so DC has a smaller class size with more teacher engagement. 22 kids, really??

Again…yes, really.

The way the schedules work, and the kids are split up, there are almost never 22 kids in a classroom with a single teacher.

In the lower school, there are two teachers in every room.
In the middle school, they split up, so half the room goes to language, art or science, while the other half does english or history or math, and then they all flip.
In the upper school, the classes are all small either labs, or discussion for the humanities.

This is at GDS or Sidwell?

Must be Sidwell.

That’s not how Sidwell MS works. Ask me how I know.

It isn’t GDS either for MS or IS or whatever you want to call it and the LS classes at GdS have 15-16 students per 1 teacher only.

So GDS caps at 16?

16:1 now instead of 20-22:2 full time, experienced teachers for Pk-2 for sure. I think things get to bigger class sizes per single teacher after 2nd grade.?.

Sometimes an aide, sometimes not. Sometimes a specialist works with a small group, sometimes not. Certainly not daily.
I no longer know if they split the class half science / half music and then flip. I think the whole 16-22 kids go.

Every single grade year the class size and the grade size gets slightly larger. And in a couple years it can also get larger if the community terms allow for final expansion numbers.

I’d email them and get the data for each grade and each subject. If you’re scared to then wait until you’re admitted. Then it will matter. As it should.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isnt grade 5&6 different in structure than grades 7&8 anyhow, at BOTH schools.
Pick a music, pick a language, change for PE class, etc.

I can't speak to Sidwell. But for GDS, one difference as you progress through MS is that there are few more class options with each grade. But beyond that, structure is similar among the MS grades. Your kid as a schedule and goes to different classes with different kids throughout the day.

Are you saying there is honors tracking for math, literature and science? So a kid can do accelerated or honors math or remedial, if needed?

Or are you saying it’s the usual middle school in America where you have a locker and bell period and walk to your teachers class every 50 minutes? And choose a language and band/orchestra/choir?

I'm not sure what public system you are referring to, but MCPS abandoned differentiation in ES/MS some time ago, with a few exceptions for "enriched" classes (compacted math in ES, math and world studies in MS) and the CES/MS magnets. There is no "tracking" at GDS MS. A small number of 6th graders are offered the opportunity to take Algebra in 7th, but I can't say it's really encouraged, and maybe some kids who are very advanced in a foreign language can accelerate. But as far as I know, that's it for the years for which we have direct experience.

So to answer your question: lockers, schedule and walk to your class, but like most privates we looked at, the schedule seems to change daily. There are course options (arts, PE/sports, language), but not really a lot in MS, and I don't think there needs to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell college admissions a disaster this year in the early round...parents are up in arms. For some reason GDS and St Albans are doing better, not great but OK. It's a strange year but worth noting Sidwell College admissions have been in flux for several years.

Really? I know of at least 30 kids from the grade who got in to their ED's. How is that a disaster?

Just people making things up. Why? I don’t know. SFS admissions are fine.

NP (but long-time DCUM participant). We're now in the part of the year (January-April) when some people tend to make up stories about schools. I doubt it's the schools themselves who do it. I think it's most often a few misguided parents hoping to discourage applicants, leaving a clearer path for their own kids. Perhaps it's sometimes misguided parents with kids already at the school, who hope to increase the the appeal of their own kid's school and justify their choices, by trashing other school. Maybe also some troll posters who like to stir the pot. Regardless of the motivations, expect to see lots of anonymous "insider" take-downs over the next few months. Usually, someone else associated with the school will jump in to set the fact record straight (like with this string), but often the "insider" will claim something vague like "___ school lacks joys," so it's hard to disprove.

I encourage parents applying to these schools to be highly skeptical of what gets posted here over the next few months. Ask the schools you're applying to if they can put you in touch with real parents who you can talk to. Use your friend networks to find real parents to talk to. Real people will have more honest, and reasonable, views that what gets posted here on DCUM during silly season.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for the thoughtful responses. I do not at this moment have a favorite, but one thing that I liked about GDS is the small class size and teacher ratio. Doesn’t that mean more individual attention? Sidwell has up to 20 kids in a class in elementary with one teacher (this was said twice during admissions process). I don’t know how many kids are in the GDS classrooms, but the website says the teacher student ratio is 6:1.

Did something change? When my child was in lower school at Sidwell, there were 2 teachers per class.

Yes. It has changed. It might revert after covid, but it's been like this for awhile

22 kids in a class is the same as public school. One of the reasons we want to make the switch (and I'd wager a lot of parents want to) is so DC has a smaller class size with more teacher engagement. 22 kids, really??

Again…yes, really.

The way the schedules work, and the kids are split up, there are almost never 22 kids in a classroom with a single teacher.

In the lower school, there are two teachers in every room.
In the middle school, they split up, so half the room goes to language, art or science, while the other half does english or history or math, and then they all flip.
In the upper school, the classes are all small either labs, or discussion for the humanities.

This is at GDS or Sidwell?

Must be Sidwell.

That’s not how Sidwell MS works. Ask me how I know.

It isn’t GDS either for MS or IS or whatever you want to call it and the LS classes at GdS have 15-16 students per 1 teacher only.

So GDS caps at 16?

16:1 now instead of 20-22:2 full time, experienced teachers for Pk-2 for sure. I think things get to bigger class sizes per single teacher after 2nd grade.?.

Sometimes an aide, sometimes not. Sometimes a specialist works with a small group, sometimes not. Certainly not daily.
I no longer know if they split the class half science / half music and then flip. I think the whole 16-22 kids go.

Every single grade year the class size and the grade size gets slightly larger. And in a couple years it can also get larger if the community terms allow for final expansion numbers.

I’d email them and get the data for each grade and each subject. If you’re scared to then wait until you’re admitted. Then it will matter. As it should.

Thank you, this is helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell college admissions a disaster this year in the early round...parents are up in arms. For some reason GDS and St Albans are doing better, not great but OK. It's a strange year but worth noting Sidwell College admissions have been in flux for several years.

Really? I know of at least 30 kids from the grade who got in to their ED's. How is that a disaster?

Just people making things up. Why? I don’t know. SFS admissions are fine.

NP (but long-time DCUM participant). We're now in the part of the year (January-April) when some people tend to make up stories about schools. I doubt it's the schools themselves who do it. I think it's most often a few misguided parents hoping to discourage applicants, leaving a clearer path for their own kids. Perhaps it's sometimes misguided parents with kids already at the school, who hope to increase the the appeal of their own kid's school and justify their choices, by trashing other school. Maybe also some troll posters who like to stir the pot. Regardless of the motivations, expect to see lots of anonymous "insider" take-downs over the next few months. Usually, someone else associated with the school will jump in to set the fact record straight (like with this string), but often the "insider" will claim something vague like "___ school lacks joys," so it's hard to disprove.

I encourage parents applying to these schools to be highly skeptical of what gets posted here over the next few months. Ask the schools you're applying to if they can put you in touch with real parents who you can talk to. Use your friend networks to find real parents to talk to. Real people will have more honest, and reasonable, views that what gets posted here on DCUM during silly season.

Thanks for this, and I'm sure there's truth to this. I think if parents and kids could visit schools in person it would help a lot, but some schools (these two in particular) aren't allowing that. And a zoom call just isn't enough, so we grasp for whatever information we can find. Someone said last year these schools allowed admitted students to tour in person. Not sure if that will include their parents, but even if it's just the kids that would help a great deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were going to apply for 9th to GDS and the admission officer pretty much told us there are 7 spots for new 9th grade boys. We crossed it off our list...

Are you serious? How is this possible? Don't they accept roughly 35 new students for 9th grade?

The only explanation is that 20 of those admits were athletic recruits or something, which is possible. I don’t think GDS has strong sibling preference though.

GDS has crazy strong sibling preference. They have a separate application for siblings. It's due in December.
Last year something like all but five 9th grade boy spots went to siblings. You can ask admissions about it--they were quite forthcoming.
I'm not sure if the poster above (the one saying there are 7 spots) is talking about this year or not.
If it's this year, it's a repeat of last year.

Aha. Well that explains it. Thanks!

Don’t most siblings enter well before 9th grade? Seems unbelievable they took 20 sibling boys last year for 9th. I mean, come on.

30% of the graduating class starts in 9th so it’s believable that a lot of siblings would start 9th too. Once you take out the siblings and any athletic recruits, how many open spots do they really have?

No it’s not. Families who want to have a strong chance of sibling attendance know good and well to apply earlier. Sibling preferences are for full-pay families who send their kids from the early years on. If you have a kid who gets in at 9th and think there will be a huge sibling preference for your next kid, you are delusional. Ninth is very competitive, and it’s for the kids who will do well in college admissions *regardless* of whether they go to a fancy private or not (these schools pick winners; they don’t make winners). It isn’t a sibling slush year.

This is not true. I have observed a very strong sibling preference in 9th grade at both of these schools (and at Maret) coming from our k-8. It's never a guarantee that a younger sibling will be admitted, that's definitely true. But it's often the case that a younger sibling will follow to both of these schools. It also happens that the younger sibling is accepted over strong classmates from their 8th grade class who might have otherwise been ranked higher than the sibling. That said, all these kids do fine. Yes, both schools are highly competitive but a wide range of abilities will succeed at both of these schools. And, let's be honest, neither Sidwell or GDS limits their 9th admissions to 100% high flier students.

I'd also say that most of the families where the younger sibling went to a different school, it was to meet that child's needs or interests (and it's not always that second child attends a less prestigious alternative).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell college admissions a disaster this year in the early round...parents are up in arms. For some reason GDS and St Albans are doing better, not great but OK. It's a strange year but worth noting Sidwell College admissions have been in flux for several years.

Really? I know of at least 30 kids from the grade who got in to their ED's. How is that a disaster?

Just people making things up. Why? I don’t know. SFS admissions are fine.

NP (but long-time DCUM participant). We're now in the part of the year (January-April) when some people tend to make up stories about schools. I doubt it's the schools themselves who do it. I think it's most often a few misguided parents hoping to discourage applicants, leaving a clearer path for their own kids. Perhaps it's sometimes misguided parents with kids already at the school, who hope to increase the the appeal of their own kid's school and justify their choices, by trashing other school. Maybe also some troll posters who like to stir the pot. Regardless of the motivations, expect to see lots of anonymous "insider" take-downs over the next few months. Usually, someone else associated with the school will jump in to set the fact record straight (like with this string), but often the "insider" will claim something vague like "___ school lacks joys," so it's hard to disprove.

I encourage parents applying to these schools to be highly skeptical of what gets posted here over the next few months. Ask the schools you're applying to if they can put you in touch with real parents who you can talk to. Use your friend networks to find real parents to talk to. Real people will have more honest, and reasonable, views that what gets posted here on DCUM during silly season.

Better to email the school your questions and they can get back to you in 1-3 days time.

We did when we got in various places for K.

We compared class schedules and student teacher ratios and went with what we thought was worth it. But seeing nap time and snack time and walk time for $45k really put a pin in some. Or no reading groups. Or how some schools had science 1-2x a week and others for 3-5x. That matters.

Fridays were always more about assemblies. Ask for a list of assembly topics and speakers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were going to apply for 9th to GDS and the admission officer pretty much told us there are 7 spots for new 9th grade boys. We crossed it off our list...

Are you serious? How is this possible? Don't they accept roughly 35 new students for 9th grade?

The only explanation is that 20 of those admits were athletic recruits or something, which is possible. I don’t think GDS has strong sibling preference though.

GDS has crazy strong sibling preference. They have a separate application for siblings. It's due in December.
Last year something like all but five 9th grade boy spots went to siblings. You can ask admissions about it--they were quite forthcoming.
I'm not sure if the poster above (the one saying there are 7 spots) is talking about this year or not.
If it's this year, it's a repeat of last year.

Aha. Well that explains it. Thanks!

Don’t most siblings enter well before 9th grade? Seems unbelievable they took 20 sibling boys last year for 9th. I mean, come on.

30% of the graduating class starts in 9th so it’s believable that a lot of siblings would start 9th too. Once you take out the siblings and any athletic recruits, how many open spots do they really have?

No it’s not. Families who want to have a strong chance of sibling attendance know good and well to apply earlier. Sibling preferences are for full-pay families who send their kids from the early years on. If you have a kid who gets in at 9th and think there will be a huge sibling preference for your next kid, you are delusional. Ninth is very competitive, and it’s for the kids who will do well in college admissions *regardless* of whether they go to a fancy private or not (these schools pick winners; they don’t make winners). It isn’t a sibling slush year.

This is not true. I have observed a very strong sibling preference in 9th grade at both of these schools (and at Maret) coming from our k-8. It's never a guarantee that a younger sibling will be admitted, that's definitely true. But it's often the case that a younger sibling will follow to both of these schools. It also happens that the younger sibling is accepted over strong classmates from their 8th grade class who might have otherwise been ranked higher than the sibling. That said, all these kids do fine. Yes, both schools are highly competitive but a wide range of abilities will succeed at both of these schools. And, let's be honest, neither Sidwell or GDS limits their 9th admissions to 100% high flier students.

I'd also say that most of the families where the younger sibling went to a different school, it was to meet that child's needs or interests (and it's not always that second child attends a less prestigious alternative).

PP - I don't think the previous poster was suggesting that sibling preference isn't strong in 9th. They were just saying that it's stronger if the first kid has been there since LS, versus if the first kid starts in 9th. Whether that's true is a different matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell college admissions a disaster this year in the early round...parents are up in arms. For some reason GDS and St Albans are doing better, not great but OK. It's a strange year but worth noting Sidwell College admissions have been in flux for several years.

Really? I know of at least 30 kids from the grade who got in to their ED's. How is that a disaster?

Most kids who took the most challenge math and science courses didn't get in to their ED/EA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell college admissions a disaster this year in the early round...parents are up in arms. For some reason GDS and St Albans are doing better, not great but OK. It's a strange year but worth noting Sidwell College admissions have been in flux for several years.

Really? I know of at least 30 kids from the grade who got in to their ED's. How is that a disaster?

Most kids who took the most challenge math and science courses didn't get in to their ED/EA.

College admissions to the top schools (EA/ED) this year is either legacy or $$$ or sports or some special hook such as URM, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell college admissions a disaster this year in the early round...parents are up in arms. For some reason GDS and St Albans are doing better, not great but OK. It's a strange year but worth noting Sidwell College admissions have been in flux for several years.

Really? I know of at least 30 kids from the grade who got in to their ED's. How is that a disaster?

Most kids who took the most challenge math and science courses didn't get in to their ED/EA.

what schools did they unsuccessfully apply to for EA/ED