Does your "Big 3" Graduate have a job? Are they self supporting?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try to get your hands on an alumni magazine that shows what these kids are up to as they graduate, etc. Personally, the NCS alumni magazine is what convinced us that it's worth the money. These girls go on to do amazing things in life and not always related to making tons of money. Very successful, well-rounded women.

Right but to be fair they're only going to highlight the success stories in the alumni mag. Definitely a skewed perspective.

Eh, I graduated from ncs and the alum mag is pretty representative of what people are doing.

My husband hates when it arrives becasue he says it sparks up an inferiority complex in me. (I didn't clerk for a Supreme Court feeder judge, just a regular old district judge, etc etc).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD graduated big 3 and then college last spring. Has a stimulating and well-paying job in Manhattan with lots of travel, making enough to live completely independently. None of her group of close friends are "bounce backs", all seem to have good jobs in a range of areas from political consulting to media/journalism, to real estate development, to banking, to management consulting. Two started l tech companies already with good venture backing.

I have one who graduated last speing as well. All of her big 3 friends working in Manhattan are being subsidized by parents. They set them up in apartments and help with the rent.

[Anonymous]

DS graduated from a Big 5 in 2009 (FA family, single mom). Has a good, regular person job (that he earned by working hard in college) in the sciences field. Shy, introspective kid that might have gotten lost in the bigger public school but was supported and thrived at Big 5.

[Anonymous]

They're not "my" Big 3 grad, but FWIW, we have 2 neighbors who are Big 3 grads in their 30s. One is a mid-level government regulatory lawyer. The other runs social justice oriented non-profit. Both have husbands with normal, not high profile, typical DC jobs. So, they are self-supporting, yes, but their jobs are not super lucrative. The non-profit person comes from family money; it clearly sends their 3 kids to privates. The other family sends their 3 kids to the local public. Both are lovely, smart women, seem happy, and seem to have found good work/life balance in their own lives, which is nice to see. Their kids are also all well adjusted, good kids.

[Anonymous]

What''s Big 5?

[Anonymous]

Silly question. You choose a kindergarten for what your child is like as a preschooler. And you choose a high school based on what your child needs then. It is absurd to predict what kind of job your DC will have based on high school. Lots of terrible high school students find their groove in college or later and become great adults. And serious mental illnesses like schizophernia and bipolar disorders come crashing down on some very high achieving young people in their 20s.

We chose a "Big 3" because DC is "intellectually" oriented. DC may decide to become an academic and consign himself to fighting for a $40,000/year junior faculty position when he's 30. Or he could follow a law school or Wall St. path that could have him earn 10x that much. But, I'd be just as delighted (maybe prouder) if he chooses to take the much riskier paths of an entrepreneur or an artist. The value of our hard work and money is to give him lots of options and lots of alternatives and safety nets to take risks.

I don't have any fear that he's going to be sitting in the basement playing video games and getting stoned all day long. And if he did, it wouldn't be because of the k-12 school he attends. And I may be pretty disappointed if he becomes totally risk-averse and only chose the safest path to the most boring and conventional middle-class careers (engineer, accountant, etc.) but those would be his choices and I would love him just as much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try to get your hands on an alumni magazine that shows what these kids are up to as they graduate, etc. Personally, the NCS alumni magazine is what convinced us that it's worth the money. These girls go on to do amazing things in life and not always related to making tons of money. Very successful, well-rounded women.

Right but to be fair they're only going to highlight the success stories in the alumni mag. Definitely a skewed perspective.

Eh, I graduated from ncs and the alum mag is pretty representative of what people are doing.

My husband hates when it arrives becasue he says it sparks up an inferiority complex in me. (I didn't clerk for a Supreme Court feeder judge, just a regular old district judge, etc etc).

+1 Not an NCS alum, but know many. NCS has always drawn the competitive, creme de la creme student. You would have to work to find those who were not highly successful.

Outsiders think NCS, STA, HYP, etc. are all bastions of nepotism full of coasters. Might you and the slacker child of a senator at STA? Yes, but they are the notable exceptions.

[Anonymous]

pp - somehow autocorrected.

Should be,

Might you find the slacker child of a senator at STA? Yes, but they are the notable exceptions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Silly question. You choose a kindergarten for what your child is like as a preschooler. And you choose a high school based on what your child needs then. It is absurd to predict what kind of job your DC will have based on high school. Lots of terrible high school students find their groove in college or later and become great adults. And serious mental illnesses like schizophernia and bipolar disorders come crashing down on some very high achieving young people in their 20s.

We chose a "Big 3" because DC is "intellectually" oriented. DC may decide to become an academic and consign himself to fighting for a $40,000/year junior faculty position when he's 30. Or he could follow a law school or Wall St. path that could have him earn 10x that much. But, I'd be just as delighted (maybe prouder) if he chooses to take the much riskier paths of an entrepreneur or an artist. The value of our hard work and money is to give him lots of options and lots of alternatives and safety nets to take risks.

I don't have any fear that he's going to be sitting in the basement playing video games and getting stoned all day long. And if he did, it wouldn't be because of the k-12 school he attends. And I may be pretty disappointed if he becomes totally risk-averse and only chose the safest path to the most boring and conventional middle-class careers (engineer, accountant, etc.) but those would be his choices and I would love him just as much.

Newly-minted engineers are doing way cooler stuff than lawyers and number-crunchers. (Signed, a lawyer married to a lawyer with sibs who are lawyers and investment bankers, but with kids who are studying engineering.)

[Anonymous]

Big 5 is a catch-all for the great schools that aren't the Big 3 (so, Holton, Landon, GDS, Potomac, Maret, etc.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Silly question. You choose a kindergarten for what your child is like as a preschooler. And you choose a high school based on what your child needs then. It is absurd to predict what kind of job your DC will have based on high school. Lots of terrible high school students find their groove in college or later and become great adults. And serious mental illnesses like schizophernia and bipolar disorders come crashing down on some very high achieving young people in their 20s.

We chose a "Big 3" because DC is "intellectually" oriented. DC may decide to become an academic and consign himself to fighting for a $40,000/year junior faculty position when he's 30. Or he could follow a law school or Wall St. path that could have him earn 10x that much. But, I'd be just as delighted (maybe prouder) if he chooses to take the much riskier paths of an entrepreneur or an artist. The value of our hard work and money is to give him lots of options and lots of alternatives and safety nets to take risks.

I don't have any fear that he's going to be sitting in the basement playing video games and getting stoned all day long. And if he did, it wouldn't be because of the k-12 school he attends. And I may be pretty disappointed if he becomes totally risk-averse and only chose the safest path to the most boring and conventional middle-class careers (engineer, accountant, etc.) but those would be his choices and I would love him just as much.

Engineers and accountants are "boring and conventional middle-class careers???"

Oh my goodness. What are you, a GS-9?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Silly question. You choose a kindergarten for what your child is like as a preschooler. And you choose a high school based on what your child needs then. It is absurd to predict what kind of job your DC will have based on high school. Lots of terrible high school students find their groove in college or later and become great adults. And serious mental illnesses like schizophernia and bipolar disorders come crashing down on some very high achieving young people in their 20s.

We chose a "Big 3" because DC is "intellectually" oriented. DC may decide to become an academic and consign himself to fighting for a $40,000/year junior faculty position when he's 30. Or he could follow a law school or Wall St. path that could have him earn 10x that much. But, I'd be just as delighted (maybe prouder) if he chooses to take the much riskier paths of an entrepreneur or an artist. The value of our hard work and money is to give him lots of options and lots of alternatives and safety nets to take risks.

I don't have any fear that he's going to be sitting in the basement playing video games and getting stoned all day long. And if he did, it wouldn't be because of the k-12 school he attends. And I may be pretty disappointed if he becomes totally risk-averse and only chose the safest path to the most boring and conventional middle-class careers (engineer, accountant, etc.) but those would be his choices and I would love him just as much.

Engineers and accountants are "boring and conventional middle-class careers???"

Oh my goodness. What are you, a GS-9?

Seriously, the PP needs to get over herself. She thinks she is SO enlightened, but obviously a total bore. If you were my mom, trust me, I'd be getting stoned in the basement just to get away from you (no matter how "intellectually oriented" I'm feeling).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The adults I know started their own 'companies' funded by their parents.

+1

+2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Silly question. You choose a kindergarten for what your child is like as a preschooler. And you choose a high school based on what your child needs then. It is absurd to predict what kind of job your DC will have based on high school. Lots of terrible high school students find their groove in college or later and become great adults. And serious mental illnesses like schizophernia and bipolar disorders come crashing down on some very high achieving young people in their 20s.

We chose a "Big 3" because DC is "intellectually" oriented. DC may decide to become an academic and consign himself to fighting for a $40,000/year junior faculty position when he's 30. Or he could follow a law school or Wall St. path that could have him earn 10x that much. But, I'd be just as delighted (maybe prouder) if he chooses to take the much riskier paths of an entrepreneur or an artist. The value of our hard work and money is to give him lots of options and lots of alternatives and safety nets to take risks.

I don't have any fear that he's going to be sitting in the basement playing video games and getting stoned all day long. And if he did, it wouldn't be because of the k-12 school he attends. And I may be pretty disappointed if he becomes totally risk-averse and only chose the safest path to the most boring and conventional middle-class careers (engineer, accountant, etc.) but those would be his choices and I would love him just as much.

Engineers and accountants are "boring and conventional middle-class careers???"

Oh my goodness. What are you, a GS-9?

Seriously, the PP needs to get over herself. She thinks she is SO enlightened, but obviously a total bore. If you were my mom, trust me, I'd be getting stoned in the basement just to get away from you (no matter how "intellectually oriented" I'm feeling).

Agree! It's not a silly question and the PP obviously should not be responding because their children are not graduates yet. My Big 3 grad is an "artist" and while I am proud of them and their "art" I struggle with how much to subsidize. DC works in a restaurant to pay the bills and lives outside beltway to afford rent. We don't help except gave DC an old car and is on our health insurance. We could help more but not sure we should. DC is a bit directionless right now but at least is learning to support themselves and stand on their own two feet. I think in retrospect a big 3 is not the best place for an "artist" but is certainly a great education. What I HAVE learned is if your teenager is happy and has self confidence in high school that is worth way more than sending them to a certain school just because you think it's a ticket to something greater. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Met one Maret graduate who is an uber driver. ANother Potomac one who transferred to Georgetoen Prep who is now a waiter.