Public Middle to Private High School

[Anonymous]

Which private high schools offer the smoothest transition for kids coming from public middle? Places where there are a decent percentage of kids coming from public, where a lot of kids are coming in new and it's easy to make friends, where the student body is diverse and welcoming, etc? Also, if your son went from public middle to private high, can you say how his transition was and which school he came from/went to? Thank you, beginning this process for my seventh grade son who is currently in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Socially—kids will have an easier transition from mcps to private if moving to a school that starts in HS (vs a k-12 school) or a k-12 that significantly expands in grade sizes from MS to HS. Most if not all privates are able to do more transition/welcome type activities than public simply based on their smaller size and investment in community building.

Academically—this is impossible to answer but your best bet is to network with parents with similar profiles at the schools you are targeting. Some private high schools are considerably more challenging than public MS and others will be more similar to what your kid would experience in stepping up to HS level work in public. It will also depend on what classes your child has been taking in mcps. Some of DS’s friend had next to no hw in mcps MS but others had a comparable amount to the private school kids. There’s a big variance here.

[Anonymous]

Burke. Class size about doubles in 9th and I think half of new students come from a public school.

[Anonymous]

GDS's class grows by about 50%, adding 40-50 new students. After middle school, everyone is ready for new friends. All 9th grade classes except math are on level (no honors classes), which may make the academic transition easier.

[Anonymous]

The ones that only do high school, like Georgetown Prep

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The ones that only do high school, like Georgetown Prep

This is the answer. There might be a large cohort from one of the private K-8 feeders at the school but there will also be plenty of kids from elsewhere, including public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GDS's class grows by about 50%, adding 40-50 new students. After middle school, everyone is ready for new friends. All 9th grade classes except math are on level (no honors classes), which may make the academic transition easier.

GDS added more than 60 this year.

[Anonymous]

Most of the schools have summer events, get the kids really familiar with the school even before the first day. The current kids get excited for new friends-I get its the unknown which is scary but they will be great anywhere.