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When I see people applying to both Beauvoir and GDS. . .
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Anonymous
I'm trying to decide whether this comment is more condescending towards people who live in trailor parks or toward Beauvoir parents. Who exactly cares whether you think it's a good or bad thing to live in trailor park, or for "white" girls to wear hairbows? And why do you think that parents at Beauvoir have the same mean-spirited preconceptions about how lower-income people dress that you evidently do? |
Anonymous
To begin with, it's "trailer" park. Not to worry, whether at Beauvoir or GDS, your DD will learn excellent spelling and proofreading skills (as well as in later years great drills on the use of the apostrophe). More to the point, your reference to the race of the girls in question seems unnecessary. Either you are subtly trying to send some type of message by doing so, or at a subconscious level, race is always a simmering issue. |
Anonymous
| I was trying to make a point that some of us who send our children to the so-called big three may be just the people you exclude and look down on...hense the comments above about my terrible spelling,etc...yes its TRUE I GREW UP POOR WHITE TRASH and PROUD that my DD will get a much better education than myself.....too bad she has to deal with the likes of people on this board, but in the end we are still happy that we are able to provide a great education for her and very thankful that these schools obviously look beyond where the parents came from and what they do for a livng. I was just making a comment about the perception of the two schools (hairbows vs sweatpants) and how sad it really is that people think like they do. Good Luck to all of you. For your information because I know it will be asked, my daughter goes to GDS, scored around 80th percentile on WPPSI and we do get financial aid (not 100 % but a little over 50%). We also got into Beauvoir even though we are nobody's but glad we choose GDS. We applied to the "Big Three" and those were the two we got in and this was last year for K. Had we not gotten into GDS we would have gone Beauvoir as public school in our neighborhood is terrible. |
Anonymous
OP here. PP's explanation makes sense to me. I asked this question because I have a child at one of these schools but have applied to the other for our second child. The reason for this is simply that we felt the first school was a good fit for the first child, but the second is a better fit for the second child. I have direct experience with only one of the two schools, granted, but our perception is that they are quite different in approach. For the second child we applied only to schools that seem to share a specific philosophy, or close to it anyway. That's all. We may regret this decision. But the thread has veered off in directions that I couldn't have anticipated. And no, sweatpants and hair bows actually didn't enter into the question at all. I won't tell you which side of the hair bow continuum our kids tend toward. Sorry to disappoint! 
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Anonymous
OP, thanks for bringing us back on topic. Could you please describe what differences in approach you perceive? Maybe give some examples? That would probably help move the discussion forward. I'd really like to hear your answer and what others have to say about these substantive differences (since I'm not really interested in hairbows or sweatpants). Thanks. |
Anonymous
We have direct experience with Beauvoir. But most of our closest friends and DH's colleagues who send their kids to private choose GDS. One of Beauvoir's biggest advantage, that it ends at 3rd grade, is a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing for all of the reasons that PC, the AD, and the brochures say. It's a curse because they need to outplace their kids in 4th grade. Despite popular belief, STA/NCS are not automatic feeds. For this reason, especially at the end of 2nd grade, you'll see very bright kids get sent off to private or in-school tutoring, to ensure they're ready for the ERBs and other tests. GDS doesn't have to obsess about this, because, well the kids aren't going anywhere for awhile! That's really the big substantive difference - GDS has the luxury of letting kids achieve and learn at their own pace. But don't totally disregard the messages regarding the Big Bows. The constant reference in these threads is not just snark or flip - it does point to some fundamental differences in "feel" between the schools. Check the other threads to flesh that out. I'd be happy to myself, but it's off to pick up for my little Big Bow. |
Anonymous
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ENOUGH with the big bows. People on this board use the term "big bow" in a mean-spirited, insulting way. Whoever started the term "big bow" was ticked off that their kid didn't get in. Plain and simple.
FWIW I know nothing about a lot of these schools and I toured Beauviour on Jan 8. It is a lovely place and I didn't see one big bow the whole 2.5 hours I was there. I would be delighted if my DC was accepted. |
Anonymous
| We applied to both GDS and Beauvoir because of the numbers game. There are very few spots and a great many applicants, and one has to be practical. Both schools will provide a great education and we want our DD to go to private school since our public does not feel like an option. If we had a viable backup school, we would only have applied to one of them as we do have a clear preference. |
Anonymous
So this is where I get slightly lost. There are LOTS of private schools in the DC area. Some are more like Beauvoir, some more like GDS. So do you have a list like GDS, Sheridan, Lowell, Green Acres, Beauvoir, or a list like Beauvoir, St. Pat's, NPS, GDS. Or is it GDS, Beauvoir, Sidwell, Maret? |
Anonymous
| Interestingly enough, we are applying to Beauvoir and GDS because of the same reason that OP described his/her situation. The list is the latter. |
Anonymous
OP again. I've probably outed my family enough on here! I'd say 16:46 accurately summed up some of the differences I perceive. I generally think of schools in DC/MD along the lines of two lists, one progressive (GDS, Lowell, Green Acres, and Sheridan and Maret to a lesser extent), one traditional (Beauvoir et al.). Sidwell falls in the middle, I suppose. So I'm just surprised when I see someone applying to GDS and Beauvoir simultaneously and wonder how they arrived at that combination. I may be entirely wrong. It wouldn't be the first time! |
Anonymous
| We applied to both. We had just arrived in DC from NYC and knew virtually nothing about how the private school system operated here. In NYC, the private schools tend to sort by academic ability first and foremost. So we kind of naively assumed that the "top" dc schools would be the most academically challenging. It was only through the admissions process that we got to know the "feel" of the different schools, and only over time that we realized that the DC admissions system is nothing at all like the NYC one. In retrospect, we should have hired a consultant to advise us, but that seemed way too high maintenance for us. I can only imagine what the admissions offices thought of our lists (Beauvoir, Sidwell, Maret, GDS, etc.) - now I know that looks bad, but we thought we were applying to all the most academically challenging schools for our 99%-ile kid. Oops. |
Anonymous
| We will apply to all the "best" because they are perceived to be the best. However, we are mindful of the numbers game, |
Anonymous
Our consultant suggested exactly this list of schools. |
Anonymous
| And for the reason you mentioned--Sidwell and NCS were touted as the most academically challenging; Maret and GDS were there to round out the list. |