Bishop Ireton vs SSSA?

[Anonymous]

I’ve heard that bishop Oregon is instituting a plan to Increase their student body by a LOT to respond to demand. St Marys middle school threads on here are scary. BI teaches a lot about abstinence anti-choice, etc. SSSAS is increasing tuition but also adding a great new high school facility. With the rush into private school again after the pandemic and after the Alexandria one high school project, I think SSSAS has their pick of top candidates. BI will keep falling behind and SSSAS is becoming a top school for the whole area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SSSAS is a good bit more rigorous and expensive.

Cost-wise, that’s true for pretty much all the major independent schools (including Episcopal ones) vs Catholic schools, at least the diocesan ones, which are subsidized by the church.

Also, SSSAS’s US tuition is going up *partly* because last year, while there was no cafeteria, lunch was not included in tuition. Now they are going back to lunch being included (which is what they did - US only - before the construction).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve heard that bishop Oregon is instituting a plan to Increase their student body by a LOT to respond to demand. St Marys middle school threads on here are scary. BI teaches a lot about abstinence anti-choice, etc. SSSAS is increasing tuition but also adding a great new high school facility. With the rush into private school again after the pandemic and after the Alexandria one high school project, I think SSSAS has their pick of top candidates. BI will keep falling behind and SSSAS is becoming a top school for the whole area.

Sounds like SSSAS would be a much better fit for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve heard that bishop Oregon is instituting a plan to Increase their student body by a LOT to respond to demand. St Marys middle school threads on here are scary. BI teaches a lot about abstinence anti-choice, etc. SSSAS is increasing tuition but also adding a great new high school facility. With the rush into private school again after the pandemic and after the Alexandria one high school project, I think SSSAS has their pick of top candidates. BI will keep falling behind and SSSAS is becoming a top school for the whole area.

This is not accurate at all. Ireton is at capacity. They aren’t getting bigger. They are there with a healthy waitlist.

Again, both good schools. Check them out for yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve heard that bishop Oregon is instituting a plan to Increase their student body by a LOT to respond to demand. St Marys middle school threads on here are scary. BI teaches a lot about abstinence anti-choice, etc. SSSAS is increasing tuition but also adding a great new high school facility. With the rush into private school again after the pandemic and after the Alexandria one high school project, I think SSSAS has their pick of top candidates. BI will keep falling behind and SSSAS is becoming a top school for the whole area.

Of course, it’s Catholic. That’s to be expected.

I don’t think Ireton is planning to expand. Do you have a source for that?

Both are good schools, but obviously different.

[Anonymous]

I think you need to visit both. They are very similar in sports, academics and college placements (yes, they are SSSAS parents). But BI is half the cost. So it comes down to fit for your student and budget.

[Anonymous]

BI will accept pretty much anyone coming in from a private school into HS.

We have several friends whose kids did not make it in to SSSAS but did for BI but I know nobody who got rejected from BI. These would be various MS private school kids applying.

Please explain how both are the same caliber of schools given this?

My feeling is SSSAS is likely academically stronger on some level than BI or there's something different between the 2 schools based on admissions and tuition. Whether one is better for a kid than the other has to do with the kid. Whether the school academics is rigorous enough for the kid is going to be based on the kid. But definitely there is a difference! It could be as simple as certain colleges hold a preference for SSSAS based on reputation but there is definitely a reason why SSSAS is able to reject certain MS kids and why BI takes everyone.

[Anonymous]

BI is much larger and takes a wider swath of applicants. The better students at BI are as strong as the better students at SSSAS, but the bottom students at BI are worse than the bottom students at SSSAS. Up to a point, almost any of the reasonable strong mainstream schools will have comparable academic experiences for strong students who can make the most of their opportunities. But there are students who won’t make the cut to get into SSSAS who can find a place at BI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve heard that bishop Oregon is instituting a plan to Increase their student body by a LOT to respond to demand. St Marys middle school threads on here are scary. BI teaches a lot about abstinence anti-choice, etc. SSSAS is increasing tuition but also adding a great new high school facility. With the rush into private school again after the pandemic and after the Alexandria one high school project, I think SSSAS has their pick of top candidates. BI will keep falling behind and SSSAS is becoming a top school for the whole area.

Depends on how you define area. It's the best of Alexandria, excluding Episcopal, but that's about it. It's Alexandria's version of Flint Hill- a school with beautiful grounds and facilities who will take any applicant able to pay tuition

[Anonymous]

SSSAS and Flint Hill (like the majority of decent schools in DMV) have many more applicants than spots and do reject and waitlist applicants.

[Anonymous]

Ireton waitlists and rejects students, not everyone is accepted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ireton waitlists and rejects students, not everyone is accepted.

Then they are rejecting and waitlisting public school kids. 1000% sure as our friends who got into BI were B/C grade kids out of Pvt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ireton waitlists and rejects students, not everyone is accepted.

Then they are rejecting and waitlisting public school kids. 1000% sure as our friends who got into BI were B/C grade kids out of Pvt.

I know private school kids who were rejected from BI.

The head of school just announced in her welcome letter that BI now has waitlists for all grades.

[Anonymous]

What is the acceptance rate for SSSAS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ireton waitlists and rejects students, not everyone is accepted.

Then they are rejecting and waitlisting public school kids. 1000% sure as our friends who got into BI were B/C grade kids out of Pvt.

Every level four kid my sons year at sandburg who wanted to go to Ireton went to Ireton. The only rejections that we heard about were the Gonzaga and Visitation