Georgetown Visitation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would very much like to know whether a non Catholic Caucasian has any chance of being admitted to GV?

I wouldn’t hold my breath. My DD recently applied and was waitlisted. Catholic, coming from public school but older brothers did same and went to Gonzaga. Straight A student, gifted in math, scored in the 93% on HSPT, played 2 JV sports at our public HS as an 8th grader (can do this where we live), recognized nationally for an 8th grade service project and alter server at our church. And her teachers and MS showed us the recommendations, which were excellent. It was the only private she applied to so it’s not like GV could have thought she’d maybe go to another. Go figure.

Maybe they thought you weren’t committed to private school education since you only applied to one school. All the schools my DD applied to said apps were high this year.

My public school DD with a 97 hspt did get offered a spot at visitation.

She had multiple brothers that went to Gonzaga, so one would think Visi would know the family was committed to Catholic private schools.

But, if the school does suspect a lack of commitment to accepting an offered admission spot, that will definitely affect their admission decision.

That's why they are so curious about where else a candidate is applying. They are assessing just how likely the candidate will be to gain admission to the other schools on her list and how likely she will be to accept their offer. If they suspect Visi is a "safety" school, that's going to affect their thinking.

That's another great thing about legacies and those from traditional feeder school.

The candidate described seems so good and such a good fit, one wonders what happened. She may have just fallen through the cracks in the process.

The Admissions process at these schools is no where as near as scientific, logical or "fair" as outsiders think it is (or should be). And at schools where it's a committee making the decisions, it's even unpredictable.

Mom of the DD above. Reluctant to say too much - probably already said too much - since technically she is still on the WL but we were told the entering class is oversubscribed, not going to the WL and we're getting down to the wire now.

It is true that she only applied to one private but I think it's pretty clear since brothers went to GZ that we are committed to Catholic school. We wanted only all girls Catholic and the other schools that fit the bill are very inconvenient to our house and jobs. If one of us quit working so that we could drive her back and forth to school we'd not have the money to pay the tuition. And yes, I know there are car pools but you can't send a kid to a school 100% relying on that while not being able to do your share of the driving and no, we weren't going to buy her a car when she turns 16 so that she could drive herself.

She was asked in her interview where else she was applying and the application asks that as well. Both times she said only to Visi because it was her first choice and where she really hoped to attend. And for what it's worth, when I picked her up after her shadow day, she and the admissions person came out of her interview talking and laughing. DD is outgoing and confident.

We were very disappointed and DD was devastated for a couple months but of course she'll be fine. Our public HS, only a 10 minute walk, is a top ten in the region (hence the reason we are only willing to pay for single sex, Catholic), she has great friends who she'll continue to go to school with, she will remain active with our church youth group and her service project and probably be a 7 letter varsity athlete. Who knows what happened with her application but she’s a great kid and it will all work out, even if it's not what we had hoped for.

She might turn out to be happier where she is. Sorry for the disappointment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They also don’t want any girls who might need extra support. Nothing too diverse, you know.

They aren't set up for it. Extra support means extra resources and that costs money nd that raises everyone's tuition.

Omg, there is SO much money at that school and so many monied families there if you can’t in some LD girls that is truly pathetic. And immoral. Why even go to church or call yourself a Catholic school??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would very much like to know whether a non Catholic Caucasian has any chance of being admitted to GV?

I wouldn’t hold my breath. My DD recently applied and was waitlisted. Catholic, coming from public school but older brothers did same and went to Gonzaga. Straight A student, gifted in math, scored in the 93% on HSPT, played 2 JV sports at our public HS as an 8th grader (can do this where we live), recognized nationally for an 8th grade service project and alter server at our church. And her teachers and MS showed us the recommendations, which were excellent. It was the only private she applied to so it’s not like GV could have thought she’d maybe go to another. Go figure.

Maybe they thought you weren’t committed to private school education since you only applied to one school. All the schools my DD applied to said apps were high this year.

My public school DD with a 97 hspt did get offered a spot at visitation.

Girls from my DD’s Catholic who finished towards the bottom of the class with no special ‘talents’ got in . Some near the top of the class did not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fair is fair. Schools should publish their admissions criteria. Levelnthenplaying field and we all rise together.

There are a lot of subjective qualities for ALL of the schools, not just Visitation.

I don't think our daughters would find a school of only HSPT > 90% or 95% very appealing. It is the diversity of skill sets - music, dance, art, soccer, basketball, lax, STEM, leaders, supporters - that gives a school a "vibe" or feel.

Since each school has a different set of girls applying each year, it would be impossible to make the same choices every year. That's why the application process has so many components - the actual application, the HSPT score, the essay, the interview, the teacher recommendations.

It is tough, I know. We've lived through it. Our daughters were not legacy and they didn't have this hook thing that is so talked about on some of the threads here in the Private School forum and also the College forum. They did have strong HSPT scores but I can tell you that without a doubt that is not what got them into Visi. If I had to identify two elements that I believe made the difference for our girls it their essays and their interviews. In both, I believe that our girls showed their personalities and their core, for lack of a better word. And, for whatever reason, that resonated with the admissions committee. Frankly, their essays weren't perfect (no spelling or grammatical errors, of course) because the girls' father and I had to practically tie our hands together not to wordsmith the things and change verbiage here or there, but our girls essence showed through. And I think that the same thing happened in the interviews.

My advice is, that if everything else is fairly equal (HSPT score, teacher recs) when applying to Visitation or any other school, then focus on the things that really allow your girl to show who she is. And hopefully showing those intrinsic qualities are what will help your girl achieve her goals.

Admissions at the school skews towards outgoing and popular type girls, as well as girls from ‘good families’ (whatever that means). Pass!

[Anonymous]

Connections go a long way. "The Big 5" donor families at our kid's k-8 will push people out of the way to maintain a working relationship with the administration, church leaders, board members, etc. It's comical to watch. Wish there was a better way to handle school admissions.

[Anonymous]

Do they still do interviews? Most of the Catholic boys’ schools we are applying to do not hold interviews.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Holy Child includes LD girls.

So does the Academy of the Holy Cross (Saint Mary's Resource Center (generic learning disabilities) and Moreau Options Program (Special Education environment).

This is good news. Why can’t the other privates do the same?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They also don’t want any girls who might need extra support. Nothing too diverse, you know.

They aren't set up for it. Extra support means extra resources and that costs money nd that raises everyone's tuition.

They could if they wanted to but they choose not to. Just like every private school that boasts diversity and inclusiveness. They only include those who are different if they are forced to do so.

Not true. There are many students with dislexia, ADHD etc at Visi.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would very much like to know whether a non Catholic Caucasian has any chance of being admitted to GV?

I wouldn’t hold my breath. My DD recently applied and was waitlisted. Catholic, coming from public school but older brothers did same and went to Gonzaga. Straight A student, gifted in math, scored in the 93% on HSPT, played 2 JV sports at our public HS as an 8th grader (can do this where we live), recognized nationally for an 8th grade service project and alter server at our church. And her teachers and MS showed us the recommendations, which were excellent. It was the only private she applied to so it’s not like GV could have thought she’d maybe go to another. Go figure.

Maybe they thought you weren’t committed to private school education since you only applied to one school. All the schools my DD applied to said apps were high this year.

My public school DD with a 97 hspt did get offered a spot at visitation.

Girls from my DD’s Catholic who finished towards the bottom of the class with no special ‘talents’ got in . Some near the top of the class did not.

This happened again last year. Connections and full pay first.

[Anonymous]

The Big 5 lol.

Connections and money may get you in but it doesn’t by class. Happy that we didn’t get in and our daughter is thriving at another school.

[Anonymous]

Any Visi parents who can share something good about the school? The above isn't good.

[Anonymous]

If you're interested in the school, and trying to understand whether it would be right for your daughter, do it the old fashioned way and talk to parents directly. This site is like the bleacher seats: people yell, they cheer, some of them seem quite drunk...anyway, good luck and take all of this for the entertaining snapshot of late-stage aspirational elitism that it is.

[Anonymous]

Yes, never use this site to figure out what a school is really like. You won't even recognize a place when you actually go to visit it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any Visi parents who can share something good about the school? The above isn't good.

This isn't necessarily good or bad about the school. It's just something that someone who is relatively unfamiliar with the school might want to know.

Visitation and Stone Ridge are the all girls versions of Catholic all boys schools, Gonzaga and Georgetown Prep. Visitation is Gonzaga's "sister school". Visi girls frequently have brothers at one of these schools and fathers and uncles or grandfathers that went to one of them. There's lots of social interaction between these schools.

Being a legacy at Visitation carries significant weight in the Admissions process since the school depends on its very loyal alumnae for support and for students from families the school knows.

Visi students frequently know one another prior to attending from family, church, parish grammar school, neighborhood or even country club associations. Suburban Maryland and NW DC are heavily represented, but recently there have been more students from Northern VA because of the proximity of some of these towns to Georgetown.

Sports are a big deal at Visitation as they are at Gonzaga and Prep and even in the parishes through the CYO. You won't find many Catholic schools where sports aren't important except maybe St. Anselms.

Girls that get admitted and who do well at Visitation are extremely enthusiastic about the school. Someone who is just shopping and comparing will have a tougher time being admitted and may not be as deliriously happy as their classmates if they attend.

Visi girls are also more likely than girls from other private schools to attend Catholic college after graduation. And lots of them will return to DC to live after college as their connection to the area is very strong.

[Anonymous]

That's a good summary. Something to add is that Visi (and Stone Ridge, Gonzaga, Prep etc) looks and feels more like a private school in a normal city. One reason we loved the school was because if felt like the girls were a bit removed from the bulls eye of political DC. Even though lots of parents were definitely in that mix.