Feedback on Potomac Upper School

[Anonymous]

We have children at Potomac Upper School.

At least for us, our experience has been positive and interesting. The school does some things really well, and other things not so much. But overall, Potomac has worked for us and we are proud to send our kids there.

On OP’s wealth Q, we never felt it was an issue for our family or our kids in terms of making friends and fitting in. Our children are friends with kids who are truly private jet uber wealthy, with others at our level (above and below), and with others who haven’t been as lucky and who struggle. They are also friends with kids of famous and well known parents (such as professional athletes, diplomats, political folks, CEOs etc.). It’s about the kids and not us, and I think the Potomac families we know feel the same, so it’s never been an issue for anyone from our experience.

Day to day, the kids seem to figure it all out. They wear school uniforms in the younger grades until they get older, which helps to enforce the idea that everyone should be treated equally. Everyone in the lower grades is invited to birthday parties and there is often (always?) a small gift-spend limit. That translates to the Upper School. In Upper School, some kids are decked out but mostly kids just wear regular casual clothes. Nobody is trying to one-up, and if someone does wear something cool, there is some good natured ribbing and even some shout outs, but it’s friendly and age appropriate. There is also an intentional effort throughout Upper School to talk about kindness and acceptance, and just a general awareness that having things (or not having those things) doesn’t define anyone.

I have seen wealth come into play in other areas. Preferential treatment for kids of large donors, for example, and that’s not great. On the other hand, Potomac does try to promote a sense of community for everyone. And preferential treatment can happen at any school. So on the few occasions where I have seen it, I am not happy. But it is truly occasions, not the norm, and overall families and kids are treated equally and fairly.

There is another poster who rightly focuses on rigor. Potomac offers a very competitive and intense program, and a lot is expected of these kids. It ramps up and the kids can feel it. There is stress and anxiety. Still, it’s not pressure for the sake of pressure, there are lots of resources, almost all of the teachers we know really care and try to work with families, there’s a ton of communication, and the goal is for kids to grow to be the best student and person they can be. Nobody is going out of their way to grind a kid; if anything the opposite, with teachers and staff working with families to make sure that kids are learning and challenging themselves (but not to extremes). So it all balances out, kids find the pace that works for them, and they do their best. Are there exceptions — sure — but that’s our experience.

My only real criticism of the program is the math curriculum, which was concocted by Potomac, was poorly conceived, and should be discarded in its entirety as a well intended failure. It’s a peculiar feature of Potomac administration pride (“we created our own math program and it works so well!”), yet the school’s judgment here is simply wrong and infected with bias. I would love to see a commission of area private school math teachers review Potomac’s math program on a white label basis and then poll Potomac families — and Potomac math teachers — confidentially about their experience with it. Until then, all hail Potomac math.

Like other DMV privates, there is no AP. But there are honors and advanced courses, and there is nothing stopping a student from taking AP exams either. My only complaint here is that honors and advanced classes for STEM are great and start early, but Potomac really doesn’t offer the same level courses for English/History until later. That’s another unforced error. With that said, are those honors and advanced English/History classes excellent? Yes. Are they well taught? Absolutely. Are the teachers running these classes outstanding? Clearly. Can students interested in these subject areas also supplement their overall experience with related electives and independent course work? Of course, and they do (and it works).

The Upper School has a good sports program. I know some teams stand out year over year. I don’t know if Potomac produces a lot of D1 athletes, but we see lots of D3 kids get into excellent athletic conferences every year as far as college admissions goes.

The bus system is robust and works most of the time. By that I simply mean that when it doesn’t work, it really doesn’t work. The transportation office is probably the worst of all the departments, with inconsistent communication (and sometimes outright wrong information). We have seen it all over the years. In fairness though, I think Potomac buses in kids from literally dozens of zip codes, it’s hard (and very expensive) to consistently maintain a fleet of buses, harder still to find bus drivers, plus coordinate all that. Mistakes are going to happen, and when you consider the sheer number of bus runs and kids moved every day, their system is amazing. It’s just really frustrating to see the same mistakes over time by a department that doesn’t seem to want to professionalize itself.

Let me add one disclaimer. This is just our experience. We know families at other DMV privates, and they have the same or equivalent positives and negatives when they share their school experiences with us. There is no perfect school. Potomac has been great for us and we have no regrets, even with its imperfections.

[Anonymous]

Very helpful response. Can we know more about the math curriculum issues?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have children at Potomac Upper School.

At least for us, our experience has been positive and interesting. The school does some things really well, and other things not so much. But overall, Potomac has worked for us and we are proud to send our kids there.

On OP’s wealth Q, we never felt it was an issue for our family or our kids in terms of making friends and fitting in. Our children are friends with kids who are truly private jet uber wealthy, with others at our level (above and below), and with others who haven’t been as lucky and who struggle. They are also friends with kids of famous and well known parents (such as professional athletes, diplomats, political folks, CEOs etc.). It’s about the kids and not us, and I think the Potomac families we know feel the same, so it’s never been an issue for anyone from our experience.

Day to day, the kids seem to figure it all out. They wear school uniforms in the younger grades until they get older, which helps to enforce the idea that everyone should be treated equally. Everyone in the lower grades is invited to birthday parties and there is often (always?) a small gift-spend limit. That translates to the Upper School. In Upper School, some kids are decked out but mostly kids just wear regular casual clothes. Nobody is trying to one-up, and if someone does wear something cool, there is some good natured ribbing and even some shout outs, but it’s friendly and age appropriate. There is also an intentional effort throughout Upper School to talk about kindness and acceptance, and just a general awareness that having things (or not having those things) doesn’t define anyone.

I have seen wealth come into play in other areas. Preferential treatment for kids of large donors, for example, and that’s not great. On the other hand, Potomac does try to promote a sense of community for everyone. And preferential treatment can happen at any school. So on the few occasions where I have seen it, I am not happy. But it is truly occasions, not the norm, and overall families and kids are treated equally and fairly.

There is another poster who rightly focuses on rigor. Potomac offers a very competitive and intense program, and a lot is expected of these kids. It ramps up and the kids can feel it. There is stress and anxiety. Still, it’s not pressure for the sake of pressure, there are lots of resources, almost all of the teachers we know really care and try to work with families, there’s a ton of communication, and the goal is for kids to grow to be the best student and person they can be. Nobody is going out of their way to grind a kid; if anything the opposite, with teachers and staff working with families to make sure that kids are learning and challenging themselves (but not to extremes). So it all balances out, kids find the pace that works for them, and they do their best. Are there exceptions — sure — but that’s our experience.

My only real criticism of the program is the math curriculum, which was concocted by Potomac, was poorly conceived, and should be discarded in its entirety as a well intended failure. It’s a peculiar feature of Potomac administration pride (“we created our own math program and it works so well!”), yet the school’s judgment here is simply wrong and infected with bias. I would love to see a commission of area private school math teachers review Potomac’s math program on a white label basis and then poll Potomac families — and Potomac math teachers — confidentially about their experience with it. Until then, all hail Potomac math.

Like other DMV privates, there is no AP. But there are honors and advanced courses, and there is nothing stopping a student from taking AP exams either. My only complaint here is that honors and advanced classes for STEM are great and start early, but Potomac really doesn’t offer the same level courses for English/History until later. That’s another unforced error. With that said, are those honors and advanced English/History classes excellent? Yes. Are they well taught? Absolutely. Are the teachers running these classes outstanding? Clearly. Can students interested in these subject areas also supplement their overall experience with related electives and independent course work? Of course, and they do (and it works).

The Upper School has a good sports program. I know some teams stand out year over year. I don’t know if Potomac produces a lot of D1 athletes, but we see lots of D3 kids get into excellent athletic conferences every year as far as college admissions goes.

The bus system is robust and works most of the time. By that I simply mean that when it doesn’t work, it really doesn’t work. The transportation office is probably the worst of all the departments, with inconsistent communication (and sometimes outright wrong information). We have seen it all over the years. In fairness though, I think Potomac buses in kids from literally dozens of zip codes, it’s hard (and very expensive) to consistently maintain a fleet of buses, harder still to find bus drivers, plus coordinate all that. Mistakes are going to happen, and when you consider the sheer number of bus runs and kids moved every day, their system is amazing. It’s just really frustrating to see the same mistakes over time by a department that doesn’t seem to want to professionalize itself.

Let me add one disclaimer. This is just our experience. We know families at other DMV privates, and they have the same or equivalent positives and negatives when they share their school experiences with us. There is no perfect school. Potomac has been great for us and we have no regrets, even with its imperfections.

Thank you for the thoughtful and detailed response.

Have you had any experience with the college counseling office? We've heard that a lot of families (more than other selective schools) hire outside counselors as the generally held view is the office is meh...they get things done in time and help students with timeline management but otherwise doesn't not add much value.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the really thoughtful responses. It reflects well on the school. We've been considering Potomac versus a Catholic high school and Potomac has won out by a large margin on all of our criteria except one: phone use/availability. The Catholic school does not seem to have a problem saying phones are forbidden during the school day, while Potomac seems to count on kids to use them appropriately, which is a challenge. Any thoughts on phone use during the school day or if Potomac may join the majority of schools who forbid them during the day? I don't know of any parent who wants their child looking at instagram during lunch, so I don't know why there is not more action on this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have children at Potomac Upper School.

At least for us, our experience has been positive and interesting. The school does some things really well, and other things not so much. But overall, Potomac has worked for us and we are proud to send our kids there.

On OP’s wealth Q, we never felt it was an issue for our family or our kids in terms of making friends and fitting in. Our children are friends with kids who are truly private jet uber wealthy, with others at our level (above and below), and with others who haven’t been as lucky and who struggle. They are also friends with kids of famous and well known parents (such as professional athletes, diplomats, political folks, CEOs etc.). It’s about the kids and not us, and I think the Potomac families we know feel the same, so it’s never been an issue for anyone from our experience.

Day to day, the kids seem to figure it all out. They wear school uniforms in the younger grades until they get older, which helps to enforce the idea that everyone should be treated equally. Everyone in the lower grades is invited to birthday parties and there is often (always?) a small gift-spend limit. That translates to the Upper School. In Upper School, some kids are decked out but mostly kids just wear regular casual clothes. Nobody is trying to one-up, and if someone does wear something cool, there is some good natured ribbing and even some shout outs, but it’s friendly and age appropriate. There is also an intentional effort throughout Upper School to talk about kindness and acceptance, and just a general awareness that having things (or not having those things) doesn’t define anyone.

I have seen wealth come into play in other areas. Preferential treatment for kids of large donors, for example, and that’s not great. On the other hand, Potomac does try to promote a sense of community for everyone. And preferential treatment can happen at any school. So on the few occasions where I have seen it, I am not happy. But it is truly occasions, not the norm, and overall families and kids are treated equally and fairly.

There is another poster who rightly focuses on rigor. Potomac offers a very competitive and intense program, and a lot is expected of these kids. It ramps up and the kids can feel it. There is stress and anxiety. Still, it’s not pressure for the sake of pressure, there are lots of resources, almost all of the teachers we know really care and try to work with families, there’s a ton of communication, and the goal is for kids to grow to be the best student and person they can be. Nobody is going out of their way to grind a kid; if anything the opposite, with teachers and staff working with families to make sure that kids are learning and challenging themselves (but not to extremes). So it all balances out, kids find the pace that works for them, and they do their best. Are there exceptions — sure — but that’s our experience.

My only real criticism of the program is the math curriculum, which was concocted by Potomac, was poorly conceived, and should be discarded in its entirety as a well intended failure. It’s a peculiar feature of Potomac administration pride (“we created our own math program and it works so well!”), yet the school’s judgment here is simply wrong and infected with bias. I would love to see a commission of area private school math teachers review Potomac’s math program on a white label basis and then poll Potomac families — and Potomac math teachers — confidentially about their experience with it. Until then, all hail Potomac math.

Like other DMV privates, there is no AP. But there are honors and advanced courses, and there is nothing stopping a student from taking AP exams either. My only complaint here is that honors and advanced classes for STEM are great and start early, but Potomac really doesn’t offer the same level courses for English/History until later. That’s another unforced error. With that said, are those honors and advanced English/History classes excellent? Yes. Are they well taught? Absolutely. Are the teachers running these classes outstanding? Clearly. Can students interested in these subject areas also supplement their overall experience with related electives and independent course work? Of course, and they do (and it works).

The Upper School has a good sports program. I know some teams stand out year over year. I don’t know if Potomac produces a lot of D1 athletes, but we see lots of D3 kids get into excellent athletic conferences every year as far as college admissions goes.

The bus system is robust and works most of the time. By that I simply mean that when it doesn’t work, it really doesn’t work. The transportation office is probably the worst of all the departments, with inconsistent communication (and sometimes outright wrong information). We have seen it all over the years. In fairness though, I think Potomac buses in kids from literally dozens of zip codes, it’s hard (and very expensive) to consistently maintain a fleet of buses, harder still to find bus drivers, plus coordinate all that. Mistakes are going to happen, and when you consider the sheer number of bus runs and kids moved every day, their system is amazing. It’s just really frustrating to see the same mistakes over time by a department that doesn’t seem to want to professionalize itself.

Let me add one disclaimer. This is just our experience. We know families at other DMV privates, and they have the same or equivalent positives and negatives when they share their school experiences with us. There is no perfect school. Potomac has been great for us and we have no regrets, even with its imperfections.

Thank you for the thoughtful and detailed response.

Have you had any experience with the college counseling office? We've heard that a lot of families (more than other selective schools) hire outside counselors as the generally held view is the office is meh...they get things done in time and help students with timeline management but otherwise doesn't not add much value.

I’m a PP and have experience w/ college counseling. 5 years ago I would have said it wasn’t amazing. Now with a younger student going through it, I think it is well run and together. They seem to have gotten rid of the sub-par counselors, so now they all seem to be good. You’re randomly assigned a college counselor, and it used to be some were great and some were not. About half of our friends do still get outside counselors, but most say it’s so the parents can be completely removed and have another voice to stay on top of the kids. Our experience has been that unless you have a special need (need a college w/ a program to support learning differences or pursuing athletic recruiting), it’s not necessary. The school offers a few things that I think are different and great. One is an optional essay writing camp the week school gets out your junior year. Sure my kid didn’t want to use his first week of summer break doing that but ended up being so appreciative when that was all out of the way in the fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for the really thoughtful responses. It reflects well on the school. We've been considering Potomac versus a Catholic high school and Potomac has won out by a large margin on all of our criteria except one: phone use/availability. The Catholic school does not seem to have a problem saying phones are forbidden during the school day, while Potomac seems to count on kids to use them appropriately, which is a challenge. Any thoughts on phone use during the school day or if Potomac may join the majority of schools who forbid them during the day? I don't know of any parent who wants their child looking at instagram during lunch, so I don't know why there is not more action on this.

I don’t really think phones are actually used at school how you’re envisioning them. The kids are not sitting there being anti-social on their phones. They constantly get reminders to step aside if they need to check something on their phone. Otherwise the phones are not out. It is so helpful to be able to use the phones for logistics w/ family. Just today I have been waiting for my kids to reply to texts to see if their sports games were on this afternoon or rained out and if they’ll have practice so I know if I’m going to campus to watch or which bus each kid should be on. I can see that neither kid took his phone off do not disturb even at lunch so I hope they’ll reply before conference block. They use phones for things like that or to coordinate group projects w/ classmates or mean teachers to set up things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have children at Potomac Upper School.

At least for us, our experience has been positive and interesting. The school does some things really well, and other things not so much. But overall, Potomac has worked for us and we are proud to send our kids there.

On OP’s wealth Q, we never felt it was an issue for our family or our kids in terms of making friends and fitting in. Our children are friends with kids who are truly private jet uber wealthy, with others at our level (above and below), and with others who haven’t been as lucky and who struggle. They are also friends with kids of famous and well known parents (such as professional athletes, diplomats, political folks, CEOs etc.). It’s about the kids and not us, and I think the Potomac families we know feel the same, so it’s never been an issue for anyone from our experience.

Day to day, the kids seem to figure it all out. They wear school uniforms in the younger grades until they get older, which helps to enforce the idea that everyone should be treated equally. Everyone in the lower grades is invited to birthday parties and there is often (always?) a small gift-spend limit. That translates to the Upper School. In Upper School, some kids are decked out but mostly kids just wear regular casual clothes. Nobody is trying to one-up, and if someone does wear something cool, there is some good natured ribbing and even some shout outs, but it’s friendly and age appropriate. There is also an intentional effort throughout Upper School to talk about kindness and acceptance, and just a general awareness that having things (or not having those things) doesn’t define anyone.

I have seen wealth come into play in other areas. Preferential treatment for kids of large donors, for example, and that’s not great. On the other hand, Potomac does try to promote a sense of community for everyone. And preferential treatment can happen at any school. So on the few occasions where I have seen it, I am not happy. But it is truly occasions, not the norm, and overall families and kids are treated equally and fairly.

There is another poster who rightly focuses on rigor. Potomac offers a very competitive and intense program, and a lot is expected of these kids. It ramps up and the kids can feel it. There is stress and anxiety. Still, it’s not pressure for the sake of pressure, there are lots of resources, almost all of the teachers we know really care and try to work with families, there’s a ton of communication, and the goal is for kids to grow to be the best student and person they can be. Nobody is going out of their way to grind a kid; if anything the opposite, with teachers and staff working with families to make sure that kids are learning and challenging themselves (but not to extremes). So it all balances out, kids find the pace that works for them, and they do their best. Are there exceptions — sure — but that’s our experience.

My only real criticism of the program is the math curriculum, which was concocted by Potomac, was poorly conceived, and should be discarded in its entirety as a well intended failure. It’s a peculiar feature of Potomac administration pride (“we created our own math program and it works so well!”), yet the school’s judgment here is simply wrong and infected with bias. I would love to see a commission of area private school math teachers review Potomac’s math program on a white label basis and then poll Potomac families — and Potomac math teachers — confidentially about their experience with it. Until then, all hail Potomac math.

Like other DMV privates, there is no AP. But there are honors and advanced courses, and there is nothing stopping a student from taking AP exams either. My only complaint here is that honors and advanced classes for STEM are great and start early, but Potomac really doesn’t offer the same level courses for English/History until later. That’s another unforced error. With that said, are those honors and advanced English/History classes excellent? Yes. Are they well taught? Absolutely. Are the teachers running these classes outstanding? Clearly. Can students interested in these subject areas also supplement their overall experience with related electives and independent course work? Of course, and they do (and it works).

The Upper School has a good sports program. I know some teams stand out year over year. I don’t know if Potomac produces a lot of D1 athletes, but we see lots of D3 kids get into excellent athletic conferences every year as far as college admissions goes.

The bus system is robust and works most of the time. By that I simply mean that when it doesn’t work, it really doesn’t work. The transportation office is probably the worst of all the departments, with inconsistent communication (and sometimes outright wrong information). We have seen it all over the years. In fairness though, I think Potomac buses in kids from literally dozens of zip codes, it’s hard (and very expensive) to consistently maintain a fleet of buses, harder still to find bus drivers, plus coordinate all that. Mistakes are going to happen, and when you consider the sheer number of bus runs and kids moved every day, their system is amazing. It’s just really frustrating to see the same mistakes over time by a department that doesn’t seem to want to professionalize itself.

Let me add one disclaimer. This is just our experience. We know families at other DMV privates, and they have the same or equivalent positives and negatives when they share their school experiences with us. There is no perfect school. Potomac has been great for us and we have no regrets, even with its imperfections.

Thank you for the thoughtful and detailed response.

Have you had any experience with the college counseling office? We've heard that a lot of families (more than other selective schools) hire outside counselors as the generally held view is the office is meh...they get things done in time and help students with timeline management but otherwise doesn't not add much value.

I don’t know many people who don’t hire an outside counselor. The Potomac office facilitates the process (and you can pay extra for a group essay writing class in the summer) starting at the end of junior year. So it is a work with what you’ve already done situation.

An outside counselor will proactively help think through course selection and summer activities when there is still time to actually do something to improve the application. By the time Potomac comes into the picture it is too late to improve most components of the application.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for the really thoughtful responses. It reflects well on the school. We've been considering Potomac versus a Catholic high school and Potomac has won out by a large margin on all of our criteria except one: phone use/availability. The Catholic school does not seem to have a problem saying phones are forbidden during the school day, while Potomac seems to count on kids to use them appropriately, which is a challenge. Any thoughts on phone use during the school day or if Potomac may join the majority of schools who forbid them during the day? I don't know of any parent who wants their child looking at instagram during lunch, so I don't know why there is not more action on this.

We have a child in a lower division, but have recently heard rumors that Potomac is considering modifying its phone policy in the US to be more restrictive. (I believe it's the only division where the kids can have phones available during the day.) There has been lots of focus lately across the divisions on the impact of phones, social media, etc. on our kids. For example, in April there will a "Parents Association Spotlight" program entitled "Digital Addiction: What’s Happening to Our Kids’ Brains?" one evening in the Upper School. I think the writing is on the wall for a modification of the phone policy.

Congratulations to your DC!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Congratulations to your DD. My DD in US has enjoyed Potomac and has friends with differing socioeconomic backgrounds. In case this is helpful, we were civil servants for a number of years while kids at Potomac and we did not have any issues with feeling out of place.

I do think grading practices have improved in last year vs the issues we observed with older child.

‘Civil servants’ who work for the feds can make over $400,000 combined. Let’s not play.

We need to stop with this BS. That is NOT RICH IN THE DMV. Just because people here are poorer than that I want to be sure you know 400K with 2 kids in private, a mortgage, saving for retirement and paying for groceries, healthcare and more and your whole income is GONE. If you are not making HIGH 6 figures here in this area you are not on easy street. You are riding the struggle bus and one disaster away from being in financial distress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD got into Potomac US. It will be helpful to get perspectives on the following things -

1) how is the socio economic environment of the school? Is it uber wealthy and does that make it harder for working class families with no generational wealth to fit in?

2) Has the grading practices improved? In last threads it seemed like there were delays in providing feedback?

3) any other things that we should know that are typically not shared with admitted families?

There is a lot of wealth at Potomac, but this is true at all the top private schools. It is unavoidable.
I think most social barriers would be the result of self-consciousness rather than ostracization if you are truly working class.
Kids generally don't care about wealth and if they do, they generally hang out among themselves.
If your kid got into Potomac Upper School, your kid is very special. The admit rate for the 20 or so spots at Potomac US is significantly lower than at most ivy+. I would bet that they are exceptional in some way that identifies them way more than your income would identify them.