Others to Add to the Middle School List

[Anonymous]

We are looking seriously at privates for SY27/28 starting in 6th grade. We're more interested in schools with a MS/HS option given the effort to apply and adjust in. However, right now our short list seems quite competitive, and I think we need to expand and add a couple more. We're currently thinking Maret, Burke, GDS (seems far fetched but DD is interested) as our top choices, and I know those are all quite competitive even at 6th grade. Field is harder for us to get to other than driving and tuition is high, so I'm not sure that's worth it to apply (we haven't toured yet though). What else might we want to consider? Should we try for some of the MS only schools like Sheridan or Lowell, knowing that in just 3 years we'll have to reapply to schools all over again? We're in NW DC by Cleveland Park and we do value having a school that's in the city, but would entertain other ideas. We're somewhat open to Catholic but have been focused on non-religious options, but maybe we're missing a great suggestion. I wish there were some non-religious privates that were larger, more like St Johns size in HS, but that seems to be an outlier in the privates?

[Anonymous]

Part of what you’re paying for with independent privates is the small size, so you aren’t going to find non-Catholic private schools at that midpoint that is larger than independent private but smaller than public. Schools at that size (in this area) are Catholic.

[Anonymous]

I think those three (Maret, Burke, GDS) are the right group, given your location and parameters. I would add a K-8 (my choice would be Sheridan) just to give yourself some options. It's an unpredictable process!

[Anonymous]

Field runs shuttles to/from the subway, so it shouldn't be that much harder to get to than other schools (GDS also will expect her to take public transportation or carpool). I also don't think it's that much more expensive when you consider what's included/not included compared to other schools (or at least wasn't when we last looked several years ago).

[Anonymous]

OP here, good to know about Field's shuttle and also input on their higher tuition. I guess we should still tour it rather than dismiss it on paper. Sheridan is also a good add, I hate the idea of re-doing applications in 2-3 years again, but at least their website claims they are very helpful with that process. GDS is easy for DD to get to with bus public transport, so that's no issue but the discussions on the super heavy workload later on are not very appealing to us.

Should we bother with more K-8? I had been thinking a list of ~5 schools should be enough, I don't want to overwhelm our DD.

[Anonymous]

what's wrong with the publics where you live? they seem fine.

[Anonymous]

You are right that 5 schools should be enough. Don't add more just to add more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:what's wrong with the publics where you live? they seem fine.

Here come people like you, that just can’t help themself. This is a private school forum and they don’t owe you an explanation. If you can’t answer the question just don’t respond.

[Anonymous]

We started out with a long list and pared it down to 3 at the end. There were a few factors including application fatigue and realizing how much school DC would miss for tours etc. If we were going private or bust, we would have added more, but we weren’t. Depending on where you are, you could look at Capitol Hill Day School.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, good to know about Field's shuttle and also input on their higher tuition. I guess we should still tour it rather than dismiss it on paper. Sheridan is also a good add, I hate the idea of re-doing applications in 2-3 years again, but at least their website claims they are very helpful with that process. GDS is easy for DD to get to with bus public transport, so that's no issue but the discussions on the super heavy workload later on are not very appealing to us.

Should we bother with more K-8? I had been thinking a list of ~5 schools should be enough, I don't want to overwhelm our DD.

We were worried about the workload at GDS too, and it's been a non-issue. There was virtually no homework in middle school and even in HS, my son is getting As in the most rigorous classes with no more than 2 hours a night. For whatever reason, I think admissions likes to exaggerate the workload.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:what's wrong with the publics where you live? they seem fine.

Having played the 5th grade MS lottery already, our only certain public option will be Deal. Deal seems like a good school but for this DD we think having some other options to choose amongst is best for our family. Maybe this time next year we will pick Deal, but if we don't apply to any privates we will have no other options we're excited about other than Deal. I've learned that a lot can change with our kids, school and family within a year, and having a choice is important to us.

Thanks for the feedback also on GDS workload, it seems very important to be touring and analyzing all the schools ourselves since you hear a lot of different things about all of them!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, good to know about Field's shuttle and also input on their higher tuition. I guess we should still tour it rather than dismiss it on paper. Sheridan is also a good add, I hate the idea of re-doing applications in 2-3 years again, but at least their website claims they are very helpful with that process. GDS is easy for DD to get to with bus public transport, so that's no issue but the discussions on the super heavy workload later on are not very appealing to us.

Should we bother with more K-8? I had been thinking a list of ~5 schools should be enough, I don't want to overwhelm our DD.

We almost dismissed Field on paper for similar reasons, but our kid wanted to go to the open house because a friend was going and he fell in love with the school. He has been very happy so far. (The friend didn’t like it at all and wound up happy at Burke)

Another thing we did was make a spreadsheet to compare total cost across schools we were interested in since many have fees in addition to the listed tuition, and some require book purchases while others do not. We were able to find that info on the websites, but had to drill down a bit past the listed tuition number.

[Anonymous]

As another person said, if you want to look carefully at the cost of attending each school, investigate all the added expenses, but based on base tuition alone, from highest to lowest it’s GDS, Field, Maret, Burke. Admissions are competitive across the board. Apply to them all.

[Anonymous]

Washington Episcopal School (WES) is just over the border in Bethesda. The SY 27-28 sixth grade class is smaller than others and I know they’re looking to expand that grade. As a WES middle school parent I couldnt recommend WES for middle school more. It’s been a really wonderful experience for our family. Full disclosure we aren’t applying to high schools yet but from all I’ve heard from WES parents who have gone through it, the school is very focused on finding the right school for each kid.

(And I swear I’m just a parent even though this reads like ad copy. )

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what's wrong with the publics where you live? they seem fine.

Having played the 5th grade MS lottery already, our only certain public option will be Deal. Deal seems like a good school but for this DD we think having some other options to choose amongst is best for our family. Maybe this time next year we will pick Deal, but if we don't apply to any privates we will have no other options we're excited about other than Deal. I've learned that a lot can change with our kids, school and family within a year, and having a choice is important to us.

Thanks for the feedback also on GDS workload, it seems very important to be touring and analyzing all the schools ourselves since you hear a lot of different things about all of them!

Absolutely yes to the bolded. And try to talk to current parents, not so much about whether they like the school or not, but about why -- something that makes me really like a school may be a negative for you, or vice versa.