Are we crazy to turn down a "Big Three" for Potomac?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think people who are fixated on the reputation of the big three are out of step -- a couple of decades ago you could say there were just a couple of tippy-top schools, but given objective criteria -- college placement, rigor of curriculum, quality of students -- you have to say there are more top schools today. Ignoring this would be like saying the only top colleges are in the Ivy League. Potomac is one of the top area schools, it is up to you if you want to be obsessed about the name. Colleges know it is good, isn't that enough?

Potomac is NOT as good a school as STA, NCS, Sidwell, Maret or arguably some others. Potomac does not have the same level of academic rigor, as high a number of NMSF/NMF, or as good a record of getting its graduates into the most competitive colleges. Potomac is in a suburban neighborhood and while it has an attractive campus, it is nothing particularly special. It has a mostly white and preppy student body and is frankly, rather bland. It is more akin to a high performing, wealthy suburban public school than a modern, elite NWDC private school.

Um, no. In 2014, NCS had four NMSF and Maret had 1. http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1310966/d-c-semifinalists-in-2015-national-merit.pdf. Potomac had seven. http://www.potomacschool.org/news/index.aspx.

Also, when the Washingtonian surveyed educational consultants, it came up with a list of six Academic All-Stars: Sidwell, NCS, St. Albans, GDS, Potomac. http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/work-education/a-private-school-for-every-student/


It's fine to have an opinion, but if you are going to assert facts you shouldn't just make them up.

And Potomac had a great number of Presidential Scholars this year:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/15/443889.page

Quick review and counting looks like, with each school's multi-year average in (parentheses):

STA 10 (average 5)
NCS 6 (7)
Potomac 6 (2)
Maret 6 (6)
SFS 7 (11)
GDS 11 (6)
Holton 1 (2)
Landon 1 (1)

Not sure where this data is coming from, but Holton had 6 National Merit finalists this year. (And that is typical; I am certain the average is not two.) One way that data gets skewed on this is that the students appear on a list based on their state of residence, not the state that the school is in. So a school that draws from DC, MD and VA will have students on three different lists, fwiw.

This data appears to be quite old and was copied from an old thread on DCUM. The compiled spreadsheet that someone submitted above, which appears to be accurate, also lists H-A as having six NMSF in 2014.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AnukIDABt_JKdDdZYXlQbnFUQ0VfMHRpTFp1SUIxS2c&hl=en_US#gid=0

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I

Um, no. In 2014, NCS had four NMSF and Maret had 1. http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1310966/d-c-semifinalists-in-2015-national-merit.pdf. Potomac had seven. http://www.potomacschool.org/news/index.aspx.

Also, when the Washingtonian surveyed educational consultants, it came up with a list of six Academic All-Stars: Sidwell, NCS, St. Albans, GDS, Potomac. http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/work-education/a-private-school-for-every-student/


It's fine to have an opinion, but if you are going to assert facts you shouldn't just make them up.

And Potomac had a great number of Presidential Scholars this year:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/15/443889.page

Quick review and counting looks like, with each school's multi-year average in (parentheses):

STA 10 (average 5)
NCS 6 (7)
Potomac 6 (2)
Maret 6 (6)
SFS 7 (11)
GDS 11 (6)
Holton 1 (2)
Landon 1 (1)

Not sure where this data is coming from, but Holton had 6 National Merit finalists this year. (And that is typical; I am certain the average is not two.) One way that data gets skewed on this is that the students appear on a list based on their state of residence, not the state that the school is in. So a school that draws from DC, MD and VA will have students on three different lists, fwiw.

This data appears to be quite old and was copied from an old thread on DCUM. The compiled spreadsheet that someone submitted above, which appears to be accurate, also lists H-A as having six NMSF in 2014.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AnukIDABt_JKdDdZYXlQbnFUQ0VfMHRpTFp1SUIxS2c&hl=en_US#gid=0

Reading comprehension, people. The list above is not NMSF, but Presidential Scholars. IIRC it is the highest SAT scores in each state (I think something like top 20 boys and girls, including all who scored at the lowest qualifying score -- so there are more than 20 in many states). And the thread it is copied from is only "old" if you consider a month and a half ago "old" (you crazy kids).

[Anonymous]

In a word: YES

[Anonymous]

I picked Potomac over a Big 3. When I was there, there were tons of kids from DC. I continue to meet lots of people who grew up in DC and went to Potomac. That was back when Maret was considered a safety school.

[Anonymous]

Potomac is ranked higher nationally than many other 'top' schools in the area-We've been doing our research to make our decision and Potomac is the only one that seems to be appearing in both local lists (WA post) and national rankings as in the top 5 for this area (ranked higher than the two best privates where I grew up that have stellar reputations and incredibly strong college placements).

So, if you are worried about reputation, I suspect it's very well known among the college admissions community relative to The 'Big 3' whichever you may be referring to.

But of course there is more than that. You need to do what is best for you and your kid!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, that is not true. Although DC is slightly harder, Allthree DMV states/region are in top six highest qualifying scores. It is slightly harder and all three areas are very tough.

The cutoff score for DC this year is 224.

The cutoff score for VA is 219. So, for example, a DC school kid who scored 74 on each section is not a NMSF while a VA kid who scored 73 on each section is.

There are no doubt numerous kids at DC independent schools who scored from 219 to 223 and don't show up in your tally for NMSFs, while kids with those exact scores at Potomac did.

My only point in this is that in comparing NSMFs at Potomac to those at DC schools, you're not comparing apples to apples.

Do you actually know the breakdown at Potomac bc VA, DC & MD? It's definitely not as VA heavy as you seem to think

[Anonymous]

All kids at Potomac, regardless of where they live, have their eligibility for NMSF determined by the VA state standard.

[Anonymous]

I know of two families that are going to turn down NCS to go to Potomac -- one for commute, one due to concerns about mean girl/snooty girl behavior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, that is not true. Although DC is slightly harder, Allthree DMV states/region are in top six highest qualifying scores. It is slightly harder and all three areas are very tough.

The cutoff score for DC this year is 224.

The cutoff score for VA is 219. So, for example, a DC school kid who scored 74 on each section is not a NMSF while a VA kid who scored 73 on each section is.

There are no doubt numerous kids at DC independent schools who scored from 219 to 223 and don't show up in your tally for NMSFs, while kids with those exact scores at Potomac did.

My only point in this is that in comparing NSMFs at Potomac to those at DC schools, you're not comparing apples to apples.

Do you actually know the breakdown at Potomac bc VA, DC & MD? It's definitely not as VA heavy as you seem to think

There are a significant number of kids coming in from DC, that is why they run one of their bus lines into the district.

[Anonymous]

Again, the relevant NMSF cut-off is determined by the location of the school -- not by the residence of the student. All Potomac students, even those who live in DC or MD, will qualify based on the VA cut-off. (So, for those of you who live in DC and are obsessed with NMSF, sending your DC to Potomac would shave a few points off the required scorer.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, that is not true. Although DC is slightly harder, Allthree DMV states/region are in top six highest qualifying scores. It is slightly harder and all three areas are very tough.

The cutoff score for DC this year is 224.

The cutoff score for VA is 219. So, for example, a DC school kid who scored 74 on each section is not a NMSF while a VA kid who scored 73 on each section is.

There are no doubt numerous kids at DC independent schools who scored from 219 to 223 and don't show up in your tally for NMSFs, while kids with those exact scores at Potomac did.

My only point in this is that in comparing NSMFs at Potomac to those at DC schools, you're not comparing apples to apples.

Do you actually know the breakdown at Potomac bc VA, DC & MD? It's definitely not as VA heavy as you seem to think

There are a significant number of kids coming in from DC, that is why they run one of their bus lines into the district.

Actually, there are several buses to DC, including both shuttle buses & neighborhood buses. This is also not new, when I went there in the 90s there were several DC bus routes. People seem to forget that Potomac was founded in 1904 in Dupont/kalorama. I am blanking on the exact location but believe it was California St.?

[Anonymous]

OP, did you decide?

[Anonymous]

When I was there in the 80s, Potomac had many buses going into DC. It seemed like 2/3 of the students lived in DC. Potomac has a long tradition in the DC area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I was there in the 80s, Potomac had many buses going into DC. It seemed like 2/3 of the students lived in DC. Potomac has a long tradition in the DC area.

It has a long tradition of being like a suburban public high school that people pay for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was there in the 80s, Potomac had many buses going into DC. It seemed like 2/3 of the students lived in DC. Potomac has a long tradition in the DC area.

It has a long tradition of being like a suburban public high school that people pay for.

This makes no sense. It was founded in DC in 1904 & only added a high school in the very late 80s. The first graduating senior class was in 1990.