Bullis, Sidwell, Landon, Maret, Georgetown Day, Potomac ... does this ranking make sense?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unless you kid is an elite AAU basketball player, don't bother with Bullis.[/q

[Anonymous]

Bullis is a wonderful school that prepares students well for college and life success. Please don't suggest that the number of Ivy admits is any measure of a school's abilty to nurture students to meet their potential. What St. Alban's, like most schools, doesn't tell you is - how many of the Ivy admits are legacies.

Our job as parents is to figure out which school will help our children reflect their true academic potential, identify passions and develop into responsible and caring community members. The right answer is different for every family and child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bullis is a wonderful school that prepares students well for college and life success. Please don't suggest that the number of Ivy admits is any measure of a school's abilty to nurture students to meet their potential. What St. Alban's, like most schools, doesn't tell you is - how many of the Ivy admits are legacies.

Our job as parents is to figure out which school will help our children reflect their true academic potential, identify passions and develop into responsible and caring community members. The right answer is different for every family and child.

I don't think you can have it both ways. You argue that Ivy admissions is not a measure of a school's ability to nurture potential -- okay, I'd agree with that. Then you basically suggest that the only reason STA has 10x as many Ivy admits as Bullis is that they are all legacies, which is absurd. By way of comparing using another metric, check out the chart comparing the percentage of National Merit Semifinalists at the area schools: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AnukIDABt_JKdDdZYXlQbnFUQ0VfMHRpTFp1SUIxS2c&hl=en_US#gid=5

STA has 14.5% over the aggregated years in the survey, Bullis 0%. For 2011, the Washington Examiner published a list of NMSFs for the area public and privates: STA had 11, Bullis had zero. http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/2011/09/areas-national-merit-semifinalists/118321. In 2010, STA had at least 11 NMSFs (they finished with 11 Finalists -- see http://www.stalbansschool.org/page.aspx?pid=1762). So, in the past two years, STA has had 22 National Merit Semifinalists, compared to two for Bullis. I would argue that this blows the "STA boys only get into Ivies because they are legacies" argument out of the water -- clearly they are scoring big on standardized tests, which are big factors in college admissions.

Again, this is not to denigrate Bullis or the quality of the teaching or its "fit" for any particular child. But to suggest that the academic cohort is the same as between Bullis or STA/Sidwell/NCS/GDS etc. just doesn't make sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bullis is a wonderful school that prepares students well for college and life success. Please don't suggest that the number of Ivy admits is any measure of a school's abilty to nurture students to meet their potential. What St. Alban's, like most schools, doesn't tell you is - how many of the Ivy admits are legacies.

Our job as parents is to figure out which school will help our children reflect their true academic potential, identify passions and develop into responsible and caring community members. The right answer is different for every family and child.

Excellent point. St. Albans/Sidwell/NCS/Holton/GDS/Maret Ivy-League admits must be all rich legacies as compared to Bullis, that school that draws all its students from the wrong side of the tracks. Yep, that must be it.

[Anonymous]

There are Ivy legacies at almost every private school in this area, including Bullis -- I know of several -- and at many, if not most, public schools as well. That said, I do think Bullis gets knocked on this board by many folks who don't seem to know all that much about the school. (Our kids don't go there, BTW, but do attend one of the other schools mentioned in the original post.)

[Anonymous]

I agree that sometimes Bullis takes it on the chin on this forum. At the same time, I think sometimes the "piling on" effect comes as a reaction to the insistence by certain posters that all schools are equally selective or all students at area schools are equally academically gifted or all college acceptance records are equally comparable. It makes people want to argue back -- somewhat weirdly, maybe, as it's the adults doing it instead of the kids -- but there is an impulse to "correct the record" when some of the more far-fetched claims are made.

[Anonymous]

More fuel for the Bullis "renegade" sports factory angle -- they admitted a lacrosse player as a SENIOR who came from Landon. The reputable schools in this area don't admit seniors, let alone steal them from other league schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that sometimes Bullis takes it on the chin on this forum. At the same time, I think sometimes the "piling on" effect comes as a reaction to the insistence by certain posters that all schools are equally selective or all students at area schools are equally academically gifted or all college acceptance records are equally comparable. It makes people want to argue back -- somewhat weirdly, maybe, as it's the adults doing it instead of the kids -- but there is an impulse to "correct the record" when some of the more far-fetched claims are made.

Yeah -- agree with your description of the dynamic among posters on this and other threads -- too often, the argument becomes black/white, with no shades of grey. W/re to selectivity, as a Sidwell parent, I'd say that the perception many folks have that every kid there is an academic high-flyer is way wrong, but I'd also say that a pretty high percentage of kids fit that description. Conversely, we also know quite a few Bullis kids -- many are teammates of my kids -- and I can definitely say that you'll find students there who are just as bright and intellectually curious as the top students at Sidwell -- maybe just not as high a percentage of the class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More fuel for the Bullis "renegade" sports factory angle -- they admitted a lacrosse player as a SENIOR who came from Landon. The reputable schools in this area don't admit seniors, let alone steal them from other league schools.

1. Bullis is not a "renegade" sports school. They don't do nearly the recruiting of athletes or the hard-core focus on athletics that many IAC/WCAC schools have.

2. The player in question was not "stolen" from Landon. He is a good player, but left for Bullis because Landon is stacked and Bullis, while a very good lacrosse team this year, offers more opportunity to play/shine.

I have nothing to do with Bullis or Landon, just a parent who knows lax in this area. You have no idea what you are talking about.

[Anonymous]

Bullis may not have recruited as much with the last headmaster but things are different with the new one. They very much want to be a much stronger sports school and that is reflected in the kids that are applying and being accepted.

The player in question left landon because he had issues with the coach. He was not getting any playing time even though he had committed to a D1 Lacrosse program in his sophomore year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More fuel for the Bullis "renegade" sports factory angle -- they admitted a lacrosse player as a SENIOR who came from Landon. The reputable schools in this area don't admit seniors, let alone steal them from other league schools.

1. Bullis is not a "renegade" sports school. They don't do nearly the recruiting of athletes or the hard-core focus on athletics that many IAC/WCAC schools have.

2. The player in question was not "stolen" from Landon. He is a good player, but left for Bullis because Landon is stacked and Bullis, while a very good lacrosse team this year, offers more opportunity to play/shine.

I have nothing to do with Bullis or Landon, just a parent who knows lax in this area. You have no idea what you are talking about.

Again, the reputable private schools in the IAC do not take senior transfers. The fact that Bullis would take a Landon transfer for athletic purposes does show why the other IAC schools see it as increasingly slimy. The new Bullis head brags that Bullis doesn't even require the SSAT from every applicant -- this is all about recruiting and making the Bullis community feel good for a while with transfer-filled sports teams.

[Anonymous]

More in the Bullis Rogue Athletic Program files -- see the Washington Post article today -- they hired a new girls' basketball coach who was fired from his last full-time head coaching position (after only one year at Bishop McNamara). http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/girls-basketball-rod-hairston-in-kira-orr-out-as-bullis-coach/2012/03/16/gIQArMyDHS_story.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More fuel for the Bullis "renegade" sports factory angle -- they admitted a lacrosse player as a SENIOR who came from Landon. The reputable schools in this area don't admit seniors, let alone steal them from other league schools.

1. Bullis is not a "renegade" sports school. They don't do nearly the recruiting of athletes or the hard-core focus on athletics that many IAC/WCAC schools have.

2. The player in question was not "stolen" from Landon. He is a good player, but left for Bullis because Landon is stacked and Bullis, while a very good lacrosse team this year, offers more opportunity to play/shine.

I have nothing to do with Bullis or Landon, just a parent who knows lax in this area. You have no idea what you are talking about.

Again, the reputable private schools in the IAC do not take senior transfers. The fact that Bullis would take a Landon transfer for athletic purposes does show why the other IAC schools see it as increasingly slimy. The new Bullis head brags that Bullis doesn't even require the SSAT from every applicant -- this is all about recruiting and making the Bullis community feel good for a while with transfer-filled sports teams.

I guess Bullis hasn't gotten much bang for the buck yet from stealing Landon's lacrosse player -- they got embarrassed by Gonzaga 12-2. (Maybe they can steal some Prep guys before next year's game.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that sometimes Bullis takes it on the chin on this forum. At the same time, I think sometimes the "piling on" effect comes as a reaction to the insistence by certain posters that all schools are equally selective or all students at area schools are equally academically gifted or all college acceptance records are equally comparable. It makes people want to argue back -- somewhat weirdly, maybe, as it's the adults doing it instead of the kids -- but there is an impulse to "correct the record" when some of the more far-fetched claims are made.

Yeah -- agree with your description of the dynamic among posters on this and other threads -- too often, the argument becomes black/white, with no shades of grey. W/re to selectivity, as a Sidwell parent, I'd say that the perception many folks have that every kid there is an academic high-flyer is way wrong, but I'd also say that a pretty high percentage of kids fit that description. Conversely, we also know quite a few Bullis kids -- many are teammates of my kids -- and I can definitely say that you'll find students there who are just as bright and intellectually curious as the top students at Sidwell -- maybe just not as high a percentage of the class.

Past Bullis parent here. Thanks for the thoughtful post. My daughter, a Bullis graduate, is now a first-year at a top LAC. Her class has 3 St. Alban's graduates, 2 Holton graduates and 2, I think, from GDS - don't know about the other area private schools. Bullis definitely has a policy of academic diversity - there are many average kids who end up at big state U but I'd say about a third of the graduates end up at very competitive schools - Ivies and USNews top 25 national universities and USNews top 25 LAC's. Definitely a different model than the academically elite schools, but not without its merits IMHO.

[Anonymous]

Didn't Bullis used to be an elite prep school for the US Naval Academy. My uncle graduated from Bullis in the '60s, but it was in Silver Spring and it was an all boys boarding school - is that a different school? I can tell you he went on the USNA, retired a Captian and then had an extremely successful and lucrative 2nd career in the IT industry.