Comparing all boys schools in the area.

[Anonymous]

My husband and I starting to look into a few all boys schools in the area for our DC who is now in 8th grade. We are looking at schools like Georgetown Prep, Landon, St Albans, and Gonzaga. Our DC is currently in a FCPS middle school and we will be looking for an all boys high school which suits him well. We wanted to start the search early so we had a few months to decide which schools we(as a family) would be comfortable with to apply to. We are not Christian, but we don't mind sending him to any of the religious schools. Could anyone please provide me with some details about the amount of enforcement of religion in GP, STA, and Gonzaga? How would rank them in terms of academics and athletics? I believe my DC is quite an all rounder whose grades are straight A's and he also plays NCSL Division 1 soccer. From my understanding, would these rankings make sense from strongest to weakest? Thank you.
Academics: STA, Landon, GP, Gonzaga.
Athletics: Landon, GP, Gonzaga, STA.

[Anonymous]

First part of your question: Landon has no religious component. STA has 20-25 minute chapel twice a week, and I believe 2 semesters of religion courses in the upper school. STA chapel is often more values/ethics centered than religious; for example, no communion/ Eucharist. I have heard that Prep, run by Jesuits, also has a more intellectual bent to the religion requirements. Not sure about Gonzaga.

Second part: the academic rankings look relatively reasonable, although I think Prep and Landon are fairly comparable academically (and Gonzaga is good too--these are 4 excellent schools!). Athletics is tougher--it really depends very much by sport, so I would advise if your son prefers soccer to specifically research each of those programs. Overall, I think the balance of power has shifted and Prep is now the strongest athletically, but again, depends on the sport--Gonzaga beats them all in basketball, Prep and Landon lead the way in lacrosse, St. Albans has the strongest baseball and cross-country, STA and Gonzaga have great crew programs, etc. I just don't know about soccer--Sidwell has actually been the best in the area in the past few years.

[Anonymous]

Brief addition: Gonzaga soccer is the best of the four soccer programs.

[Anonymous]

I think there are more differences in these 4 schools academically than athletically. Plus the athletics changes depending on the year and coaching changes too. Just because a school is the best this year doesn't mean it will be by the time your son gets there, nor is it a guarantee he will play that sport or make varsity. When we looked at schools, we looked to make sure the school offered the sports my sons played, and that they would have a good chance t play them. Whether they were #1 or not mattered less to us.

Academically, I would not automatically put Landon in front of the two catholic schools, and not because of their current "issues." My understanding from the admissions process is that it is much harder to get into Gonzaga and GP than Landon, but that might be because Gonzaga (at least) is significantly cheaper. There is a GP booster who will undoubtedly post about how GP is best of all 4. You can do your researh and decide these things for yourself rather than from an anonymous message board.

Given you are in FCPS, you should also think about the commute and which of the schools have boys from your area. He will be spending LOTS os time there. STA's VA constituency is fairly considerable, with many families from Arlington, McLean and even from Alexandria/Great Falls and beyond. Gonzaga also has significant VA kids, but you should do your own homework there.

I think the 4 schools are very different, with the exception that they are all boys. Which one might be the best fit for your son will be up to you to figure out as you visit and learn more.

[Anonymous]

Interestingly soccer is not a big sport at most of these schools. We visited a couple in the last couple of years and at Prep there was an article in their school paper begging the boys to come out and support the soccer team. STA seems to go up and down - the plus is that the dir of admissions is the varsity soccer coach so Div 1 NCSL will be a plus there. My DC was waitlisted and a friend of his who is a better soccer player, but not a smarter kid, was accepted (although chose not to go - went to one of the other boys schools you listed).

We visited prep and I did not feel comfortable there as a non catholic. It is about 70% catholic and the religion component is pretty serious.

[Anonymous]

Interestingly, Sidwell Friends has had the most powerful/nationally recognized soccer program in the area over the last 4 years.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for all of the insightful posts so far. From what i've seen so far, I believe that I would look into Landon more than the other schools for the fact that it seems to be competitive school and is not religious. However, I am comfortable to sending my DC to any of these schools. In terms of academics and athletics, as a family, academics are our first priority and then athletics. In terms of academics, I've understood that STA is the strongest is one of the finest schools for academics. Prep and Landon seem to be very comparable and Gonzaga just a tad down. How does Landon stack up (academics) against schools like Sidwell, Potomac, and STA?

[Anonymous]

Frankly speaking, if you take away all of the current drama which Landon is going through, Landon is a pretty top notch school from what i've heard. Before all of this drama, Landon was regarded one of the fine schools in this area with well built academics program. Lots of Landon boys who I know(who now graduated) are in top ivy leagues such as Harvard and then in schools like Duke, UVA, Princeton, etc. So my guess is that Landon still does "stack up" pretty well against Sidwell and STA.

[Anonymous]

Disagree. The academics at Landon does not compare. When my DS was accepted a few years ago, they told us "we are improving" in that realm. An old family friend who is probably 50 and an alum told us they have been saying that for years.

I'm not saying top students don't go there. I'm not saying they don't have good college placement (most in the so called top schools are recruited athletes so be weary of statistics). I'm not saying they don't have strong teachers or lots of AP offerings. I am saying that their academic reputation does not compare to Sidwell or STA. Or even GDS, Maret. We considered the school, and partially driven by the secularity issue. Our child would have been top of the class there and skated through. Especially with the current drama, we are so happy we decided to go the other route -- to a more rigorous academic environment where he is surrounded by classmates who challenge him and won't have that blemish to deal with when colleges look at him to be honest.

[Anonymous]

PP, i'll disagree with you a bit. Landon's academics seem to be as strong as Maret and GDS. Before all of this messy news incidents, Landon was a pretty well regarded institution for its academics which was up there with the best. Yes, I can believe that it probably doesn't "stack up" with Sidwell or STA but it is probably just a tiny notch down. The SAT score average isn't too far off between most of these top 10 independent schools in this area.

[Anonymous]

I have done my share of criticizing Landon--I think their Board is over-involved in the day-to-day running of the school--but I've been fairly impressed by the curriculum and what I've heard about the teaching. They have a great Humanities course (in the junior year, I think?), for one thing. I do think that STA is probably a bit more rigorous, and that perhaps the student cohort is stronger across the board (Landon's top kids would certainly shine anywhere), but Landon's academics are good. Culturally there are maybe some issues, but I have met boys of all different personalities who have thrived there--I think just continue to investigate, visit, etc.

Of the four boys schools you list, I think STA has one feature that is distinct and I would consider an advantage--they have very close coordination with NCS, the girls' school, even to the extent of having all junior English classes co-ed (most electives in the upper school are also co-ed). The performing arts, and some teams, are also functionally co-ed. I think it offers a healthy opportunity to interact and form platonic friendships with girls.

[Anonymous]

Landon is in transition. It will be much easier to get in to then STA. While Landon deserves a break, i'd wait at least a year before joining that community. There is bound to be a lot of extremely raw feelings among parents and the school - and I would want to see how the school sorts that out.

[Anonymous]

I honestly do not see what the big deal is about Landon. They had a graduate who allegedly murdered someone. I am sure other elite schools have had their share of bad publicity too. Does anyone still talk about how the Unibomber went to Harvard? Nope. Do they blame that school for his actions? Nope. Why should Landon take any blame for what one of their grads did?

[Anonymous]

Regarding strictly college placement...
Saying Landon has placed a few kids into top ivies doesn't necessarily mean it can even come close to stacking up to STA, Sidwell, or even GDS/Maret. Of course Landon is a very prestigious and highly regarded school both academically and athletically. And there are certainly many top students and smart boys at Landon. But STA and Sidwell, for decades, have been sending waves of students each year to Ivies, top NESCAC schools, Stanford, Northwestern, WashU, Duke, UVA, Michigan etc. Landon may send a small, top percentile of its students to some of these schools, but certainly not with the same regularity or consistency as STA or Sidwell.

[Anonymous]

Maybe no publicity is bad publicity. How is it that even when Landon is relegated to a separate forum, it becomes the chief topic of discussion?