Fact versus Fiction re: GDS
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Anonymous
We are a current GDS family. For better or worse, they are very, very covid conservative. It's not affecting the kids, but they will be the last to let non-students onto campus or drop masks. They also require vaccines for 12+, are encouraging the younger kids to get vaccines when they can (and are hosting a vaccine clinic), and will require vaccines for everyone next year. |
Anonymous
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If this ends up generating helpful posts, I think it’s a really great topic to do for all the most talked about schools on this board.
Sidwell: (1) joyless pressure cooker full of virtue signaling but also prestige-obsessed parents who start cool in LS but ultimately will *cut* your kid and the college counseling office by flooding them not just with death threats but with pictures of someone else’s kid partying with all the other really hard partying sidwell kids (their kid was practicing for olympic ice skating that night thank you); or (2) holy grail of all private school admissions that is impossible to get in (despite the fact that tons of relatively similar kids from relatively similar backgrounds actually do get in, year in and year out) that no one ever turns down (even though they do) or that if they do turn down will be forever blacklisted at the school and in the Quaker records and maybe the democratic “who’s who” list; or (3) rigorous, serious school with a recent turn toward performative wokeness…and on and on I gather from the boards. Would be very helpful to dispel most if not all of what I said…. Same with NCS, STA, and Maret…So much craziness on these boards. If this works for GDS, I hope we can get other schools straight too! |
Anonymous
| GDS’ mission is anti-racism. They take it very seriously and it will be incorporated into their teaching everyday. If you don’t believe strongly in that mission and how they teach it, you probably won’t be happy there. The admissions team will basically tell you this in your parent interview. |
Anonymous
I see more ostentatious displays of wealth from GDS than for example Sidwell. Probably the same levels of wealth, but a lot fewer luxury cars for example. I feel like one of those big ass Mercedes SUVs with a GDS sticker on the back is part of the GDS parent uniform. |
Anonymous
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I am not a part of the GDS community, but I have lived in DC for over 30 years. I have many friends and colleagues whose kids attended GDS. Other than being founded on an anti-racism bent, there is nothing in this thread that is accurate to my experiences.
take it for what it is worth. |
Anonymous
| Since when are Mercedes SUVs ostentatious? It’s just a car. Nobody cares about what people drive. It’s not the 1980s. |
Anonymous
Mercedes suvs, BMW x series, range rovers, denalis, suburbans. That is the big 3 fleet. |
Anonymous
| Very, very competitive students and the parents are helicopters with sharp elbows and large checkbooks. |
Anonymous
| Most of the GDS students that I know are anything but competitive. |
Anonymous
Seems pretty contradictory to professed social justice values. It’s the prototypical “limousine liberal” mentality. One doesn’t have to live impoverished to be true to liberalism but living the bling lifestyle while saying that you care about equality at minimum demonstrates your professed beliefs about equality are superficial. |
Anonymous
From my limited experience, these are the trends I generally see: Mercedes SUVs = GDS BMW SUVs = Maret Range Rovers, Jeeps, Denalis and Suburbans = STA/NCS Mini Coopers and Teslas = Sidwell |
Anonymous
| We have been a GDS family for about eleven years and have had kids in the LMS and the HS. Don’t believe everything you read on this Board. Some people are irrationally anti-GDS, and others are irrationally pro-GDS. It is an excellent school, but no school is for everyone. On the whole, the teachers and administrators are very good at what they do, and care deeply about the kids. The LMS has vastly improved since we first came in 2010, and is a kind place that really wakes up kids’ love of learning. The MS used to be very stressful for kids, and now they have changed the curriculum so that kids are prepared for HS without being overly stressed or burdened. The new building is beautiful and it is nice having the whole school in one location. The HS is a great place, and benefits from the influx of new kids in 9th. People on this Board like to trash GDS for how many kids are admitted at 9th, but most schools would benefit from an influx of new kids at 9th. The HS tends to meet kids where they are, and not push them into competition. Some kids are super driven, and operate with a high degree of stress, but others are pretty low key and happy go lucky. And some happy go lucky kids are top students, and others are not, but everyone is supported. We have been pleased with the college placement process, which we found to be well informed and empathetic. I would talk to people you know who have kids there and do whatever virtual events you can. Regarding excessive displays of wealth, that has not been my experience. There is no top private in DC that does not have a lot of wealthy families—that’s the unfortunate nature of the private school model, and holding GDS to a different standard than other privates in the area seems unfair. GDS as an institution shies away from ostentatious displays of wealth. There is no annual auction for instance, which is usually the wealth flaunting Super Bowl for most schools. So I do think they try to demonstrate their commitment to their mission in how they operate. |
Anonymous
So all those pro-marriage conservatives on their second, third or fourth marriages can be ignored as well, right? Or is being a pro-marriage conservative trying to have as many marriages as you can? |
Anonymous
| “Liberals aren’t allowed to be materialistic” is one of the most illogical takes I see posted repeatedly on DCUM. |
Anonymous
| One more thing: you can absolutely thrive at GDS even if you aren't into performing arts. |