Where do the people in the $6/7/8m+ mansions in send their kids?

[Anonymous]

Among DMV privates, Sidwell probably has one of the wealthiest student bodies. Sidwell’s tuition is one of the most expensive in the area, yet only 21% of the families receive financial aid. Many of Sidwell’s financial aid recipients are recruited athletes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, the Marriotts send their daughter to Stone Ridge despite the fact they have buildings named after them at other private schools.

They sent many boys to STA where they do have buildings named after them as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, the Marriotts send their daughter to Stone Ridge despite the fact they have buildings named after them at other private schools.

They sent many boys to STA where they do have buildings named after them as well.

Have they sent any of their daughters to NCS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Among DMV privates, Sidwell probably has one of the wealthiest student bodies. Sidwell’s tuition is one of the most expensive in the area, yet only 21% of the families receive financial aid. Many of Sidwell’s financial aid recipients are recruited athletes.

Sidwell costs the same as the other Big 3, so that’s sortof a silly distinction. And basically the same as all the other non-Catholic schools in that cohort (Landon, Holton, Potomac, Maret, GDS, etc.). I’d bet my life that no full pay family has ever decided between these schools based on the negligible tuition differences.

And, these other schools have the same recruited athlete phenomenon, so I don’t think that you can conclude that therefore The Richest DC Families Go To Sidwell.

I’m very curious about your statement that the financial aid is going to recruited athletes at Sidwell. That assumption — and I’m guessing that you don’t actually know — strikes me as a really bad one. I mean, maybe for basketball? But, athletes tend to already be semi-rich kids. Look at the families spending $$$ on private lessons, expensive travel clubs, hotels and airfare all over the country. These are not the poor chickens at our school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't matter where on or two billionaires send their kids. Overall certain schools have a large percentage of very wealthy families. I would say those are NCS, STA, and GDS. Many many families have. more than one home. One home in DC and at least another summer home or winter home. They also bring in a lot of middle income families but still have many wealthy families.

Huh??? There isn’t a lot of wealth in DC a to begin with. DC isn’t like LA, NY etc. There are not many very wealthy families with multiple homes. Even the most expensive homes in DC sell for maybe $10 million dollars versus $200 million in LA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are so many privates in moco/dc! Which ones have the wealthiest populations?

Those empty Potomac or Woodley Park or Georgetown or McLean or Kalomrama estates owned by 60+ yos or Intl people to park their money?!

Grow up Op. they’re done raising kids and step kids. You can tell when yours invited to a ballroom party there. Zero kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The richest people I know don’t send their kids to “big 3” or similarly recognizable schools. Idk why, and I was surprised by it.

+1 The one of the richest families I know homeschools and hires private teachers for their 2 kids. They really don't care about brands.

This.

They fly in top dance instructors and have tutors and governesses teaching the children. Those also travel to the ski schools and polo matches to continue the teaching instruction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:100% agree with Landon poster that the $6-8M homeowners are, like the rest of us, sending their children to a range of local private schools for all the reasons listed here’s by other parents. And, yes, there are plenty of ultra wealthy at Big3/5 too. It’s just a range. What I’m calling BS on, however, is that there is any statically significant number of such families sending their child to publics IN THIS AREA (looking at your Beverly Hills poster). Do not believe that that is happening in this area for a single minute.

Yeah, I think the Malibu/BH set of very wealthy/celebrity parents know their kids will be taken care of by their own family money and don't care for either the commute or the rat race that everyone else finds themselves in for 30 spots and 300+ applications per school x however many schools you need to apply to from an odds perspective.

Beverly Hills is closer to some of the private schools but Malibu = you/your nanny/the bus is taking your kids through traffic to and from private schools.

Hey now, Harvard Westlake was tough. Academics and athletics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a sizable number of families that have significant wealth that don't live in the $8M mansions in Normanstone-Woodley. They live in their "normal" $2M homes in AU Park, Chevy Chase, Kent, Berkeley, Spring Valley that they bought when their kids were younger and have stayed in their homes. One parent is a big law parter bringing in $2M+ a year for over a decade, the other is a SAHM or works for a non-profit/NGO/school/university. They have 2-3 kids attending private school, donate regularly to the school(s), have a second home that they don't need to rent out, and generally live unremarkable lives. The families that splash out aren't necessarily the wealthiest in DC--that's just not the DC vibe. Educational pedigree and low key striver are the hallmarks of this set.

Blah blah blah. Every city has this low key wealthy demographics. We're not talking wealthy. We're talking about genuinely rich. Maybe they only have a 4-5M house in DC but they'll have a 10 M house on Nantucket. Plus a 25M house in Miami. And Aspen. And London. There's an entire different milieu of wealth that most of you have no real exposure to and have no real idea how they live.

Look, having 10M in the bank and a 2M house in CC plus a 1M summer house on Cape Cod (maybe now worth closer to 2M but you paid 1M for it ten years ago) is entirely different from having a net worth in the hundreds of millions into billions. Even just 100M is wholly different from low key gentry Chevy Chase.

The very wealthiest DC family I know inherited about a billion. They live in a lovely, but not $10 million, home in Spring Valley. But that's just one of their homes around the world. Their children have gone to three private schools in the area, which I will not name because I wouldn't dream of outing them. However, none of them went to STA, NCS, or Sidwell. The truly generational rich are much less striving than the law firm partner class.

This is one anecdote. I know 3 billionaire or very near families and all of their kids go or went to the schools above.

I know a billionaire who sent his children to one of the above schools. His children now refuse to send their children to the above schools

Those schools were probably too academically competitive for them. Burke, Bullis, and Field would have probably been more appropriate.

Who exactly are the children of billionaires competing against and why?

I’d say the Renaissance Hf family did well for DC and SFS, as did their son. Top of class.

[Anonymous]

Potomac has the lock on the tech and VC families. Good for them, their endowment, their college placement, and jobs for their grads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are so many privates in moco/dc! Which ones have the wealthiest populations?

Those empty Potomac or Woodley Park or Georgetown or McLean or Kalomrama estates owned by 60+ yos or Intl people to park their money?!

Grow up Op. they’re done raising kids and step kids. You can tell when yours invited to a ballroom party there. Zero kids.

Good point.
If OPs question is who owns those homes: old people.

If OPs question is where do wealthy people send their k-12 aged kids in DC: everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Among DMV privates, Sidwell probably has one of the wealthiest student bodies. Sidwell’s tuition is one of the most expensive in the area, yet only 21% of the families receive financial aid. Many of Sidwell’s financial aid recipients are recruited athletes.

Sidwell costs the same as the other Big 3, so that’s sortof a silly distinction. And basically the same as all the other non-Catholic schools in that cohort (Landon, Holton, Potomac, Maret, GDS, etc.). I’d bet my life that no full pay family has ever decided between these schools based on the negligible tuition differences.

And, these other schools have the same recruited athlete phenomenon, so I don’t think that you can conclude that therefore The Richest DC Families Go To Sidwell.

I’m very curious about your statement that the financial aid is going to recruited athletes at Sidwell. That assumption — and I’m guessing that you don’t actually know — strikes me as a really bad one. I mean, maybe for basketball? But, athletes tend to already be semi-rich kids. Look at the families spending $$$ on private lessons, expensive travel clubs, hotels and airfare all over the country. These are not the poor chickens at our school.

You clearly don’t like Sidwell, but that’s not my problem. You also shouldn’t allow your opinions and emotions to interfere with facts.

“Sidwell costs the same as the other Big 3…”

2023-24 Tuition:
St. Albans (Day School): $55,468
Sidwell: (Grades 9-12): $55,140
NCS: $53,210
GDS (Grades 9-11): $51,325
It is also a FACT that no other “Big 3” provides less need based financial aid than Sidwell (NCS ties Sidwell at 21%).

“Other schools have the same recruited athlete phenomenon…”

Really? Which athletic state championships have GDS, STA and NCS won within the past 5 years? How many of their athletic teams have been NATIONALLY ranked within the past 5 years? How many professional athletes have those schools produced?

“I’m very curious about your statement that the financial aid is going to recruited athletes at Sidwell.”

First, I didn’t say ONLY recruited athletes receive financial aid. My (non-recruited athlete) daughter plays two varsity sports at Sidwell. She’s friends/acquaintances with many athletes across multiple sports. There are only a handful of new recruited athletes for most of Sidwell’s sports each year…and students talk. My daughter has been told, DIRECTLY, by several sports recruits (across multiple sports), that they’re receiving financial aid. I guess those students don’t think it’s some sort of shameful secret, as you clearly do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't matter where on or two billionaires send their kids. Overall certain schools have a large percentage of very wealthy families. I would say those are NCS, STA, and GDS. Many many families have. more than one home. One home in DC and at least another summer home or winter home. They also bring in a lot of middle income families but still have many wealthy families.

Huh??? There isn’t a lot of wealth in DC a to begin with. DC isn’t like LA, NY etc. There are not many very wealthy families with multiple homes. Even the most expensive homes in DC sell for maybe $10 million dollars versus $200 million in LA.

+1 I live in LA and the richest (like top 0.001% whose housing compounds you cannot see from the driveway) almost universally send their kids to “alternative” private schools that are not very academic but very creative. It’s a known fact that the richest choose whatever school mom wants, and usually that is less academic and competitive and more “nurturing”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where did the Marriott’s all go? Holton, Norwood?

St. Albans. Marriott Hall named after them.

Isn’t there a Marriott Hall at Bullis, too?

There's also a Marriott library at Holton (currently under renovation.. I assume the name will stay?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Among DMV privates, Sidwell probably has one of the wealthiest student bodies. Sidwell’s tuition is one of the most expensive in the area, yet only 21% of the families receive financial aid. Many of Sidwell’s financial aid recipients are recruited athletes.

Sidwell costs the same as the other Big 3, so that’s sortof a silly distinction. And basically the same as all the other non-Catholic schools in that cohort (Landon, Holton, Potomac, Maret, GDS, etc.). I’d bet my life that no full pay family has ever decided between these schools based on the negligible tuition differences.

And, these other schools have the same recruited athlete phenomenon, so I don’t think that you can conclude that therefore The Richest DC Families Go To Sidwell.

I’m very curious about your statement that the financial aid is going to recruited athletes at Sidwell. That assumption — and I’m guessing that you don’t actually know — strikes me as a really bad one. I mean, maybe for basketball? But, athletes tend to already be semi-rich kids. Look at the families spending $$$ on private lessons, expensive travel clubs, hotels and airfare all over the country. These are not the poor chickens at our school.

You clearly don’t like Sidwell, but that’s not my problem. You also shouldn’t allow your opinions and emotions to interfere with facts.

“Sidwell costs the same as the other Big 3…”

2023-24 Tuition:
St. Albans (Day School): $55,468
Sidwell: (Grades 9-12): $55,140
NCS: $53,210
GDS (Grades 9-11): $51,325
It is also a FACT that no other “Big 3” provides less need based financial aid than Sidwell (NCS ties Sidwell at 21%).

“Other schools have the same recruited athlete phenomenon…”

Really? Which athletic state championships have GDS, STA and NCS won within the past 5 years? How many of their athletic teams have been NATIONALLY ranked within the past 5 years? How many professional athletes have those schools produced?

“I’m very curious about your statement that the financial aid is going to recruited athletes at Sidwell.”

First, I didn’t say ONLY recruited athletes receive financial aid. My (non-recruited athlete) daughter plays two varsity sports at Sidwell. She’s friends/acquaintances with many athletes across multiple sports. There are only a handful of new recruited athletes for most of Sidwell’s sports each year…and students talk. My daughter has been told, DIRECTLY, by several sports recruits (across multiple sports), that they’re receiving financial aid. I guess those students don’t think it’s some sort of shameful secret, as you clearly do.

This was by far the weirdest comeback post of all time. You strangely made the original poster’s point for them. As if any rich person would choose NCS over Sidwell to save $2,200.

The athlete fight is also totally weird. I’m sure we’ll hear from all the STA folks about their famous athletes and Landon and whomever else. Listen, the idea that Sidwell is some sort of athletic powerhouse like the catholic school —ok, ok basketball—is just not what most people think about your school.

And I had really been impressed with the Sidwell grads I knew in person but this post reminds me that there are dumbbells everywhere.