Sidwell Obsession

[Anonymous]

Why are so many people on this board obsessed with Sidwell? There are more threads on Sidwell than any other school--by far. It's like it's the gold standard and everyone feels like they must compare their school's academics, athletics or students to Sidwell's. I think it's a good school too, but the attention that it gets on this board seems excessive.

[Anonymous]

Maybe I haven't read enough of the posts, but I haven't thought people were obsessed with it. I think it's a very good school, but hardly the gold standard.

[Anonymous]

I think it is funny. I'm an alum and when I went there I always thought NCS and St Albans were the real schools. We were just a bunch of reasonably smart but totally frumpy kids. We mostly went to great colleges but in those days they weren't that hard to get into.

And now my own kids can't go to the school (and actually don't want to).

[Anonymous]

I'm obsessed because my house is a block away, and my aunt's is right in front - her driveway was awash in black vehicles and she was afraid of snipers on her roof on the First Daughter's first day of school there. The children all look quite happy there, but the line of Escalades et al. waiting to pick them up is less lovely. What is up with the pick-up at that school???

[Anonymous]

I would love to have an Escalade--they are awesome!

[Anonymous]

People on DCUM are obsessed with being the "best". And to them they are the best, their private school, their college and their WPSSI scores. A quick perusal of posts here says it all quite clearly.

[Anonymous]

1. Sidwell is not the gold standard;

2. The statements regarding Sidwell's athletics, hiring of a child molester, the misogynistic Senior essay, et al. are factual; and

3. The only obsession lies with the Sidwell parents who continue to deny reality and have to resort to slinging mud at schools like Landon, using terms like "meathead", etc.

[Anonymous]

I am new to the forum, and this is my round at applying at the so-called Top 3 schools for PK-4. I toured Sidwell, Beauvoir, and WIS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are so many people on this board obsessed with Sidwell? There are more threads on Sidwell than any other school--by far. It's like it's the gold standard and everyone feels like they must compare their school's academics, athletics or students to Sidwell's. I think it's a good school too, but the attention that it gets on this board seems excessive.

Oh look, a deflection cloaking itself as a thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. Sidwell is not the gold standard;

2. The statements regarding Sidwell's athletics, hiring of a child molester, the misogynistic Senior essay, et al. are factual; and

3. The only obsession lies with the Sidwell parents who continue to deny reality and have to resort to slinging mud at schools like Landon, using terms like "meathead", etc.

If Sidwell isn't the gold standard, what is?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. Sidwell is not the gold standard;

2. The statements regarding Sidwell's athletics, hiring of a child molester, the misogynistic Senior essay, et al. are factual; and

3. The only obsession lies with the Sidwell parents who continue to deny reality and have to resort to slinging mud at schools like Landon, using terms like "meathead", etc.

1. You would have better luck convincing people of your insider knowledge of Sidwell's flaws if you paid more attention to your DCUM reading comprehension. The most recent DCUM controversy was about a senior poem, not essay.
2. I find those like you who harp only on football more than a little sexist, if not misogynistic--no mention of or caring about girls' sports. Only football matters to you and the three others who posted 50 pages on that topic.
3. Sadly, any Excellent school can get burned in hiring (I wonder if we can think of any examples in Northwest DC? Oh right, Beauvoir.

Why the obsession with Sidwell?
1. Chelsea Clinton
2. Malia Obama
3. Sasha Obama
4. Lots of apps and thus rejections. We all want what is hard-to-get (e.g., Bill Gates trying to join Augusta National Golf Club).
5. Some of this perceived fenzy appears to be just a few people churning posts.

We are a proud Cathedral family but recognize the excellence of Sidwell, seen in our adult friends who are alums and in current students we know. It is not a perfect place and not every kid is a genius, but the same can be saidmof Harvard, Yale, Stanford.

[Anonymous]

I would have to agree. And schools that are hardest to get into (i.e. Sidwell, STA, NCS, GDS) often take the hardest and hits, because people don't like to feel excluded. Plus, in a place like Washington where there are lots of pompous and entitled people, it's probably hard for them to accept that they can't always get what they want.

Anonymous wrote:People on DCUM are obsessed with being the "best". And to them they are the best, their private school, their college and their WPSSI scores. A quick perusal of posts here says it all quite clearly.

[Anonymous]

I would have to agree. And schools that are hardest to get into (i.e. Sidwell, STA, NCS, GDS) often take the hardest hits, because people don't like to feel excluded. Plus, in a place like Washington where there are lots of pompous and entitled people, it's probably hard for them to accept that they can't always get what they want.

Anonymous wrote:People on DCUM are obsessed with being the "best". And to them they are the best, their private school, their college and their WPSSI scores. A quick perusal of posts here says it all quite clearly.

[Anonymous]

And when "Chinese mom" grooms the "best" product "DCUM mom" will primordially kick, scream and fight until her last intoxicated breath of entitlement.

Anonymous wrote:
People on DCUM are obsessed with being the "best". And to them they are the best, their private school, their college and their WPSSI scores. A quick perusal of posts here says it all quite clearly.

Explains it all.

[Anonymous]

What a dumb question OP. Are you serious? Sidwell was hot enough before the President's kids decided to go there. Now, it's super hot. The location is convenient for a lot of people...central DC and close to the metro for kids who want to be grown up and come on there on without being seen in their parental vehichles.