Big 3 Schools and Celebrities

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Celebrities live in New York, Los Angeles, or San Francisco, not here.

Really, except for the "Major" political offices and appointments -- President, or Vice President, Supreme Court Justices, or Senators -- no one here truly possesses sufficient "celebrity" status to make a whit of difference in admissions.

With most of the parents you must consider "celebrities" at your school (note to you, that journalist or deputy such-and-such, isn't a celebrity by any other city's measure), their very limited and inconsequential "influence" and "pull" is not worth an admissions office bending backwards to admit an unqualified candidate -- so their child is certainly their on their merit.

The bolded is flat-out wrong. Did you recently arrive in DC, perhaps from NYC, I'm guessing? You have that immediate "this backwater town sucks, compared to Real Cities" vibe going on.

Schools like St. Albans, Sidwell, Holton and GDS have so many 'Washington famous' progeny precisely because of their parents' Face the Nation, CNN or Rep. Georgia Texas (R) status. Their apps go in a separate pile of qualified applicants, which is a much smaller pile (with better odds) than the pile of general population of qualified applicants.

[I do agree with PP that a "celebrity" in the Merriam Webster sense is someone like Jennifer Garner, and she and her kids live in LA, not DC. The US Attorney General or Secretary of State, or Chuck Todd is not the same as Kanye West; thanks, Capt. Obvious!]

Occasional appearances as a policy wonk on Face The Nation and CNN, being a Congresswoman or Congressman (except for Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker type), writing for the Washington Post, or serving as Undersecretary of This-And-That, do not make one famous -- by any definition (nice putdown of those rubes in the rest of the country who - can you imagine(!) - still rely on a good, old-fashioned Dictionary), except that of the Inside-The-Beltway crowd.

I have lived in Washington for over twenty years, and my children have attended two of the Big 3 schools. Washington is no backwater town, but you certainly sound like a provincial who needs to get out into the real world a bit more if you consider the Big 3 schools to be full of "Celebrity" children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LOL. Probably not GDS either.

I thought that some Trump wannabee real estate developers were the "team of aces" behind GDS big real estate project in Tenleytown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe Donald Trump can have some more kids when he becomes president and send them to private school. I'm not sure he would choose Sidwell though ??

He has a young child

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Celebrities live in New York, Los Angeles, or San Francisco, not here.

Really, except for the "Major" political offices and appointments -- President, or Vice President, Supreme Court Justices, or Senators -- no one here truly possesses sufficient "celebrity" status to make a whit of difference in admissions.

With most of the parents you must consider "celebrities" at your school (note to you, that journalist or deputy such-and-such, isn't a celebrity by any other city's measure), their very limited and inconsequential "influence" and "pull" is not worth an admissions office bending backwards to admit an unqualified candidate -- so their child is certainly their on their merit.

The bolded is flat-out wrong. Did you recently arrive in DC, perhaps from NYC, I'm guessing? You have that immediate "this backwater town sucks, compared to Real Cities" vibe going on.

Schools like St. Albans, Sidwell, Holton and GDS have so many 'Washington famous' progeny precisely because of their parents' Face the Nation, CNN or Rep. Georgia Texas (R) status. Their apps go in a separate pile of qualified applicants, which is a much smaller pile (with better odds) than the pile of general population of qualified applicants.

[I do agree with PP that a "celebrity" in the Merriam Webster sense is someone like Jennifer Garner, and she and her kids live in LA, not DC. The US Attorney General or Secretary of State, or Chuck Todd is not the same as Kanye West; thanks, Capt. Obvious!]

Occasional appearances as a policy wonk on Face The Nation and CNN, being a Congresswoman or Congressman (except for Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker type), writing for the Washington Post, or serving as Undersecretary of This-And-That, do not make one famous -- by any definition (nice putdown of those rubes in the rest of the country who - can you imagine(!) - still rely on a good, old-fashioned Dictionary), except that of the Inside-The-Beltway crowd.

I have lived in Washington for over twenty years, and my children have attended two of the Big 3 schools. Washington is no backwater town, but you certainly sound like a provincial who needs to get out into the real world a bit more if you consider the Big 3 schools to be full of "Celebrity" children.

Why are you so hung up on the question of 'who is famous enough? Do you want to start a new sub-thread with me and others who have also lived in the District for as long as you and I have, and we can hash out just how high up in the Administration or Congress you need to be to get the admissions committee to put the applicant kid in the smaller bucket?

To think: our kids are probably at the same school, and we have exposure to the same parent body. But, you think it's just a stunning coincidence that so many offspring of appointees, elected officials, columnists and talk show regulars were all admitted to this school solely on the basis of their own 5-, 11- or 14-year-old merits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Celebrities live in New York, Los Angeles, or San Francisco, not here.

Really, except for the "Major" political offices and appointments -- President, or Vice President, Supreme Court Justices, or Senators -- no one here truly possesses sufficient "celebrity" status to make a whit of difference in admissions.

With most of the parents you must consider "celebrities" at your school (note to you, that journalist or deputy such-and-such, isn't a celebrity by any other city's measure), their very limited and inconsequential "influence" and "pull" is not worth an admissions office bending backwards to admit an unqualified candidate -- so their child is certainly their on their merit.

The bolded is flat-out wrong. Did you recently arrive in DC, perhaps from NYC, I'm guessing? You have that immediate "this backwater town sucks, compared to Real Cities" vibe going on.

Schools like St. Albans, Sidwell, Holton and GDS have so many 'Washington famous' progeny precisely because of their parents' Face the Nation, CNN or Rep. Georgia Texas (R) status. Their apps go in a separate pile of qualified applicants, which is a much smaller pile (with better odds) than the pile of general population of qualified applicants.

[I do agree with PP that a "celebrity" in the Merriam Webster sense is someone like Jennifer Garner, and she and her kids live in LA, not DC. The US Attorney General or Secretary of State, or Chuck Todd is not the same as Kanye West; thanks, Capt. Obvious!]

Occasional appearances as a policy wonk on Face The Nation and CNN, being a Congresswoman or Congressman (except for Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker type), writing for the Washington Post, or serving as Undersecretary of This-And-That, do not make one famous -- by any definition (nice putdown of those rubes in the rest of the country who - can you imagine(!) - still rely on a good, old-fashioned Dictionary), except that of the Inside-The-Beltway crowd.

I have lived in Washington for over twenty years, and my children have attended two of the Big 3 schools. Washington is no backwater town, but you certainly sound like a provincial who needs to get out into the real world a bit more if you consider the Big 3 schools to be full of "Celebrity" children.

Why are you so hung up on the question of 'who is famous enough? Do you want to start a new sub-thread with me and others who have also lived in the District for as long as you and I have, and we can hash out just how high up in the Administration or Congress you need to be to get the admissions committee to put the applicant kid in the smaller bucket?

To think: our kids are probably at the same school, and we have exposure to the same parent body. But, you think it's just a stunning coincidence that so many offspring of appointees, elected officials, columnists and talk show regulars were all admitted to this school solely on the basis of their own 5-, 11- or 14-year-old merits.

Our children are certainly at the same school, and therefore I have no doubt that we have been exposed to the same parent body. However, I recognize that - sometimes - the children of parents who are sufficiently accomplished and ambitious to appear on the pundit circuits, or report for national news and media outlets, or serve in Congress, or have high-level Administration appointments, will have been given the many advantages of pre-education, preparation, and supplementation, that will make them excellent candidates for admissions.

So, no, I am not surprised to find that the children of successful parents are sometimes themselves successful students. Perhaps, though, unlike you, I focus not on the "Celebrities" who can help my career, connections, and status, but on the students from "average", "normal", "ordinary", or "disadvantaged" backgrounds who - as a majority - populate our schools.

[Anonymous]

Are there more of these kids at the Big 3 than other private schools or well-regarded publics? Surely public schools will have kids with these types of parents, but there are more kids so there may not be a concentrated group.

I have always found it odd that Schools like Sidwell and STA/NCS have so many of those type of people and that people care so much. I guess that's why you pay 40,000 bucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe Donald Trump can have some more kids when he becomes president and send them to private school. I'm not sure he would choose Sidwell though ??

He has a young child

Doesn't he always.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe Donald Trump can have some more kids when he becomes president and send them to private school. I'm not sure he would choose Sidwell though ??

He has a young child

Doesn't he always.

If Donald Trump becomes President I am moving to Canada.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there more of these kids at the Big 3 than other private schools or well-regarded publics? Surely public schools will have kids with these types of parents, but there are more kids so there may not be a concentrated group.

I have always found it odd that Schools like Sidwell and STA/NCS have so many of those type of people and that people care so much. I guess that's why you pay 40,000 bucks.

Rather expensive bragging rights, just to say my DC attends school with the child of .....

[Anonymous]

17:36 Some would consider the fact that you have lived in DC for twenty years makes you pretty provincial.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there more of these kids at the Big 3 than other private schools or well-regarded publics? Surely public schools will have kids with these types of parents, but there are more kids so there may not be a concentrated group.

I have always found it odd that Schools like Sidwell and STA/NCS have so many of those type of people and that people care so much. I guess that's why you pay 40,000 bucks.

Rather expensive bragging rights, just to say my DC attends school with the child of .....

That's not why I, or any of my friends, send our kids to the school they attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there more of these kids at the Big 3 than other private schools or well-regarded publics? Surely public schools will have kids with these types of parents, but there are more kids so there may not be a concentrated group.

I have always found it odd that Schools like Sidwell and STA/NCS have so many of those type of people and that people care so much. I guess that's why you pay 40,000 bucks.

Rather expensive bragging rights, just to say my DC attends school with the child of .....

That's not why I, or any of my friends, send our kids to the school they attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:17:36 Some would consider the fact that you have lived in DC for twenty years makes you pretty provincial.

I suspect that I am older than you, so perhaps your youth limits your ability to imagine the possibilities. I wrote that I have lived in DC for "over twenty years." That is true, but though those twenty-plus years mark my total time in DC, they have not been continuous. I have lived and worked various stints abroad, in Asia and Europe, and domestic, on the west coast, in between.

Perhaps, you are right, I have seen enough of our own country and the world to recognize and humbly acknowledge that most of our Inside-The-Beltway celebrities have no recognition, generate no respect, exercise no influence, and have no power in places from Rye to Riyadh. And frankly, the "DC celebrity" class does not really care, as long as they are perceived and treated as all of those things here in DC (which they are).

Why obsess and envy the 3-5 percent of your children's classmates whom you consider to have "DC celebrity" parents? It seems to bother you, I think wrongly, because you believe that they received preferential treatment in private school admissions. Believe me, most of the ones you consider to be "DC celebrities" are not worth the headache, problems, and heartache of admitting an unqualified candidate.

Enjoy the company of your fellow school parents, most of us just are ordinary people.

[Anonymous]

I am so mad at my self for following this thread over two pages. I have lost brain cells that I will never get back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am so mad at my self for following this thread over two pages. I have lost brain cells that I will never get back.

+1