Charlotte Private Schools

[Anonymous]

Wondering what the culture is like at the CLT privates. Seems like Charlotte Country Day, Charlotte Latin, and Providence Day are equally strong, is this accurate?

[Anonymous]

Not sure there are very many folks in North Carolina on this board.

[Anonymous]

Those are the big three in Charlotte. I imagine if you asked folks there they'd say CCDS is the best (fwiw, the LS Head at Sidwell worked here before coming to Sidwell), Latin is a bit nerdier and quirkier, and PDS has a less pretentious vibe than CCDS. But CCDS is very big, and the other two are big compared to most K-12 schools here. Hope that's helpful!

[Anonymous]

I went to PDS, but this was many years ago. Then, it typically attracted those with money they had earned themselves (lots of successful small business owners) and Country Day and Latin had more generational wealth type families. Academically, I can't help you. I never paid attention to the other two.

[Anonymous]

We love the culture down here! We just moved from a big 3 in dc and aren’t looking back. We have one at CCDS and one at Latin - and friends at PDS. I don’t think you can go wrong! Would you be new to the area?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We love the culture down here! We just moved from a big 3 in dc and aren’t looking back. We have one at CCDS and one at Latin - and friends at PDS. I don’t think you can go wrong! Would you be new to the area?

Backwoods red neck living. Oh joy. Not appealing to some of us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We love the culture down here! We just moved from a big 3 in dc and aren’t looking back. We have one at CCDS and one at Latin - and friends at PDS. I don’t think you can go wrong! Would you be new to the area?

Backwoods red neck living. Oh joy. Not appealing to some of us.

She’s so happy in Charlotte that “she’s not looking back!” You know, like hanging out in the DCUM Private school forum right before admission notification day. 🙄

[Anonymous]

I'm in Charlotte and have worked with most of the privates here (as well as Cannon School in Cabarrus County and Gaston Day in Gaston County), including the top K-8s.

I found Latin to be the most insular, and others here have said the same thing. The sort of place that if you didn't go to Latin, the parents who did will have no time for you. Beautiful campus, but hands down my least favorite because it's just so unwelcoming. They put a big premium on lifers, as well.

CCDS is a bit less insular, but definitely a lot of legacy kids like Latin. The middle school is a separate campus from lower and upper school. Some love that and some hate it (although the kids almost universally love it). The closest of the Big 3 to the old money neighborhoods.

PD is big into their sports. Some legacy kids but less than the others. Not quite as close to the center of things, but way closer than Latin.

For K-8s, the two best ones are Trinity Episcopal and Charlotte Prep. TES is downtown ("Uptown") which is super convenient for some people, but very small campus. They take the fact that they're Episcopal seriously; they're the only religious-affiliated top school, and they have weekly chapel and faith studies. Very welcoming, they place kids into CCDS, PD, and Latin for 9th every year. CP is close to PD, and uniquely among top tier privates, they have a Montessori early school and take kids as young as 2. Kids can do Montessori or traditional kindergarten, and then from first grade on is traditional. They also have good outplacement.

Charlotte Christian and Charlotte Catholic are definitely a step below CCDS, PD, and Latin for high school (the Catholics here are...... interesting). I'll admit I have no experience with Davidson Day and British International.

[Anonymous]

Yes we are so happy here - here checking updates to support my friends we kept in dc who are waiting on their admissions decisions this week. Nothing weird about that? Goodness!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We love the culture down here! We just moved from a big 3 in dc and aren’t looking back. We have one at CCDS and one at Latin - and friends at PDS. I don’t think you can go wrong! Would you be new to the area?

Backwoods red neck living. Oh joy. Not appealing to some of us.

Why comment if you have nothing nice to say?

[Anonymous]

I'm the PDS alum above, and just a note, these schools are K-12 unlike a lot of private high schools in the DMV.

[Anonymous]

Providence Day seems to have the most spots available to non-hooked families as compared to Latin/Country Day which have become very tough for non-sibling/legacy/urm to get into at K/TK since Covid.

Know some folks at Charlotte Prep who are unhappy as every year there is attrition of people jumping over to one of the big 3 and it feels very transient.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those are the big three in Charlotte. I imagine if you asked folks there they'd say CCDS is the best (fwiw, the LS Head at Sidwell worked here before coming to Sidwell), Latin is a bit nerdier and quirkier, and PDS has a less pretentious vibe than CCDS. But CCDS is very big, and the other two are big compared to most K-12 schools here. Hope that's helpful!

This is a good take. I like add PDS is a little nerdier than CCDS too.

[Anonymous]

Definitely not Latin. That's all I can say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Definitely not Latin. That's all I can say.

thats helpful