Which W / BCC school is least difficult to not be very wealthy

[Transplant_1]

One of my main concerns about BCC/Ws is the extent to which it'd be comfortable for my kids to not be super wealthy. Eg:
-- not have a (fancy) car once they hit driving age.
-- not be supplemented with tutors constantly
-- not have super enriching summer programs / camps that are purchased, or internships accessed through relationships
-- not have a private college counselor to guide them every step of the way.

I'm thinking about both social and mental ease and a sense of belonging and fitting in, but also -- college applications -- ... if most wealthy kids can pad their resume with purchased experiences, then what?

I welcome sincere perspectives. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

I think Takoma Park would be a good fit, it’s more hippie vibe

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]I think Takoma Park would be a good fit, it’s more hippie vibe[/quote]

Yep. Silver Spring, too. The DCC has a very broad mix of socioeconomic levels, but you’d find plenty of families focused on academic achievement, with less emphasis on wealth and prestige.

Our close-in SS neighborhood is full of lawyers and scientists and PhDs, most working in government or nonprofit jobs that leave them comfortable enough, but not exactly wealthy by DCUM standards.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]

Yep. Silver Spring, too. The DCC has a very broad mix of socioeconomic levels, but you’d find plenty of families focused on academic achievement, with less emphasis on wealth and prestige.

Our close-in SS neighborhood is full of lawyers and scientists and PhDs, most working in government or nonprofit jobs that leave them comfortable enough, but not exactly wealthy by DCUM standards. [/quote]

DCUM MCPS "W": "Like all good parents, we chose to sacrifice so our kids could attend the best schools!"
DCUM MCPS close-in Silver Spring [and RM]: "As parents, we chose to raise our children where they would experience the diversity offered by neighborhoods full of lawyers and scientists and PhDs!"
DCUM MCPS Ganglandia: "..."

[Anonymous]

Our kids graduated from WJ and we did none of those things. A lot of stereotyping in your post, OP. Our kids played sports, did a lot of SSL hours and had part-time jobs. They drove a used car (ours, not theirs).

[Transplant_1]

So which are those high schools? Unless one already lives there and over the years has learned nuances about different sub-cultures, strengths and weaknesses, it's hard to tell. And those are the places that aggregate scores like Great Schools are the worse for, ... precisely because it is aggregated

[Transplant_1]

Anonymous wrote:Our kids graduated from WJ and we did none of those things. A lot of stereotyping in your post, OP. Our kids played sports, did a lot of SSL hours and had part-time jobs. They drove a used car (ours, not theirs).

Thank you. Actually, of all the BCC/W schools, WJ is one of the ones that -- to me at least (based on nothing more than general sense of home prices and demographics and observations) -- seemed to have less of the issues around "feeling out of place because of wealth / padding of resume with purchased experience." Since we're on DCUMs, the HSs that I worried had it the most -- again, at least to me -- were BCC and Whitman. Yet these are the ones that for various commuting reasons, would be easiest to me (I'd have to rent, not buy.)

[Anonymous]

Ooh. That's a lot of social assumptions, OP, just like my friend who doesn't live in Bethesda yet seems to have a large chip on his shoulder about the fact I live in Bethesda (I have a lower income than him, but somehow that doesn't percolate, because now I'm one of those rich Bethesda snobs).

So. There are rent-controlled apartments in downtown Bethesda (BCC) and in the Walter Johnson cluster - not sure about Walt Whitman and Winston Churchill. There will be lower-income people at every high school. There will furthermore be middle class people who do not want to pay for tutors and private college counselors, for various reasons.

Only a very small number of families actually pay for private college counselors: it usually goes like this. In 9th and 10th grade, they're very scared of the college process and talk about hiring one. Then they inquire around and realize that for the price, their kid could better increase their chances with tutoring and that the family can do their own research, come up with a college list and make an effort with essay drafts. So the immense majority do not have private counselors.

What most families do pay for is tutoring! One acquaintance found a $15/hr student in another state willing to tutor her son, and she's very happy with the result. Others look at Wyzant online. Others pay for local $100-$350 math tutors (they usually command a higher fee than other subjects, since they're most in demand). The founder of Prep Matters asks for, what it is now, $400 or $500 an hour to personally tutor your kid! Point is: you can find tutoring at any price point, and I encourage you to do so: the personal one-on-one is very effective to teach some tricky concepts your kid might have missed in class.

Cars: my kid at Walter Johnson drives my 13 year old non-luxury car. Also, very important point. There are many city-raised and/or international kids from families who do not have the "driving at 16" culture. My son's friends did not take driving lessons in high school. One started at 18, the rest still don't drive. We're all international families. Far fewer teens drive in this area today than they used to. Of course, one day I parked next to a teen's brand-new Tesla at Walter Johnson. Some families are wealthy and do this for their kids. But most families do not. However, insecure people with observation bias will jump on those sightings and wrongly conclude that "everyone is stinking rich and this is not the bubble I want my kid growing up in", which is untrue.

College applications: you can read all the threads about this in the College Forum, OP. It's a huge, controversial topic. Suffice it to say that most kids do not have padded resumes. Of course well-connected families will have lined up impressive internships for their kids. But colleges aren't duped. The most important criteria for selection to a good university is GPA. Your kid has to play the Honors/AP game, if he's a good student, because that increases his weighted GPA. No regular class if he can help it. Always pick the Honors version, and if he feels up to it, pick the AP. And that's why tutoring is so important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our kids graduated from WJ and we did none of those things. A lot of stereotyping in your post, OP. Our kids played sports, did a lot of SSL hours and had part-time jobs. They drove a used car (ours, not theirs).

Walter Johnson is the least snobby school of the W schools.
You would be shocked to hear the names Whitman kids called WJ kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kids graduated from WJ and we did none of those things. A lot of stereotyping in your post, OP. Our kids played sports, did a lot of SSL hours and had part-time jobs. They drove a used car (ours, not theirs).

Walter Johnson is the least snobby school of the W schools.
You would be shocked to hear the names Whitman kids called WJ kids.

Hello, bored teenager. Stop lying your head off and go back to Tik Tok.

[Anonymous]

Transplant_1 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kids graduated from WJ and we did none of those things. A lot of stereotyping in your post, OP. Our kids played sports, did a lot of SSL hours and had part-time jobs. They drove a used car (ours, not theirs).

Thank you. Actually, of all the BCC/W schools, WJ is one of the ones that -- to me at least (based on nothing more than general sense of home prices and demographics and observations) -- seemed to have less of the issues around "feeling out of place because of wealth / padding of resume with purchased experience." Since we're on DCUMs, the HSs that I worried had it the most -- again, at least to me -- were BCC and Whitman. Yet these are the ones that for various commuting reasons, would be easiest to me (I'd have to rent, not buy.)

I don't know why you concluded that. BCC is the same socio-economically as WJ. Even though real estate is significantly more expensive near downtown Bethesda, the ones living in the $3-5M Edgemoor estates aren't sending their kids to public, if you see what I mean. So the population sending their kids to BCC probably has the same range of income as the ones sending their kids to WJ. I know families with regular jobs like ours who stretch to buy into the BCC cluster, or Whitman or Churchill, for the reputation of those schools, so please believe me - we're not all wealthy!

[Transplant_1]

OP here. I'd appreciate serious conversations on this thread.

Thank you 9:13 and 9:28 for your thoughts. Yes, am posting to try to break though the assumptions. So I appreciate your thoughts.

Do you -- or others -- have a sense of BCC and Whitman? They are the two wealthier areas (at least based on home prices. I know BCC has an area in its zone that is not, but kids life in sub-cultures/sub-groups so still trying to figure out what the experience would be like for us.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kids graduated from WJ and we did none of those things. A lot of stereotyping in your post, OP. Our kids played sports, did a lot of SSL hours and had part-time jobs. They drove a used car (ours, not theirs).

Walter Johnson is the least snobby school of the W schools.
You would be shocked to hear the names Whitman kids called WJ kids.

Hello, bored teenager. Stop lying your head off and go back to Tik Tok.

Lying about what? You must be new to the county.

[Anonymous]

If you have these concerns, take a closer look at Silver Spring or Takoma Park.

[Anonymous]

Transplant_1 wrote:OP here. I'd appreciate serious conversations on this thread.

Thank you 9:13 for your thoughts. Yes, am posting to try to break though the assumptions. So I appreciate your thoughts.

Do you -- or others -- have a sense of BCC and Whitman? They are the two wealthier areas (at least based on home prices. I know BCC has an area in its zone that is not, but kids life in sub-cultures/sub-groups so still trying to figure out what the experience would be like for us.)

DP. I am not really sure what you're getting at, but I live a block from BCC and pass it on my morning commute and I can assure you that most kids do not arrive in a flashy car. Lots take the bus, many take the county bus (a regular, non-school bus) from the Silver Spring area. Many also walk.

As a PP said, most kids who live in the most expensive area (Edgemoor) go to private schools, and some parts of that neighborhood many not even be zoned for BCC anyway. I'm not sure of that but as you get further and further in, you're far close to Whitman than BCC.

There are a lot of kids at BCC who live in the various apartments of Bethesda, many of which are pretty low-rent looking to be honest; and many who live in apartments or houses in Silver Spring.

You can find a wealthy, materialist culture at any school. You can also find counter-cultures at every school. BCC is absolutely enormous and there will be enough of every kind of culture for your kids to join. It is really up to your kids what they find attractive.