Anyone choose Potomac school over a big 3?

[Anonymous]

Whoops.. Left out NCS by accident ^^

[Anonymous]

Chose Potimac over Gds. Rught choice for DC, has been a great fit and community. Pick what will work best for your family, we are fortunate to have so many great options in this area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The schools with old DC gravitas for different reasons are

Gonzaga
Holton
Landon
Georgetown Prep
Georgetown Visitation
Dematha (my opinion).

LOL. whatever...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GDS is not big 3. Neither is Potomac, and one of my kids who goes there.

Sidwell, NCS and STA. Those are the Big 3. Period.

You can get an excellent education at all of these schools and indeed, GDS and Potomac are absolutely phenomenal schools. But, the Big 3 connotes something else, something neither GDS nor Potomac have: gravitas, connections, history, old-school Washington.

You must be new to the area. Potomac is old-school Washington. Founded in 1904 in Dupont Circle, attended by none other than Katharine Graham.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GDS is not big 3. Neither is Potomac, and one of my kids who goes there.

Sidwell, NCS and STA. Those are the Big 3. Period.

You can get an excellent education at all of these schools and indeed, GDS and Potomac are absolutely phenomenal schools. But, the Big 3 connotes something else, something neither GDS nor Potomac have: gravitas, connections, history, old-school Washington.

You must be new to the area. Potomac is old-school Washington. Founded in 1904 in Dupont Circle, attended by none other than Katharine Graham.

Nope, not new, and that does not make it a big 3 or old-school Washington. Move along.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GDS is not big 3. Neither is Potomac, and one of my kids who goes there.

Sidwell, NCS and STA. Those are the Big 3. Period.

You can get an excellent education at all of these schools and indeed, GDS and Potomac are absolutely phenomenal schools. But, the Big 3 connotes something else, something neither GDS nor Potomac have: gravitas, connections, history, old-school Washington.

Period? LOL.

[Anonymous]

STA and Potomac have always been THE schools among a certain class of Washingtonians.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:STA and Potomac have always been THE schools among a certain class of Washingtonians.

While I find this topic to be utterly unimportant, I will chime in and note that Potomac's population changed when it opened a high school to some extent. The old WASPy DC types used to go there in droves, and then to other places for HS. Now it is more of a rich NoVA crowd with others mixed in, for sure. But the statement above is not really the case any longer. Potomac is a great school--bottom line--and if I lived in McLean it sure would be my top choice.

[Anonymous]

Click on "Independent Schools" above or below, and then select the very first thread for 17 pages of fun on this topic. No re-hash needed!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Click on "Independent Schools" above or below, and then select the very first thread for 17 pages of fun on this topic. No re-hash needed!

+1 Make DC Urban Moms Great Again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The schools with old DC gravitas for different reasons are

Gonzaga
Holton
Landon
Georgetown Prep
Georgetown Visitation
Dematha (my opinion).

LOL. whatever...

+1 You are right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:STA and Potomac have always been THE schools among a certain class of Washingtonians.

While I find this topic to be utterly unimportant, I will chime in and note that Potomac's population changed when it opened a high school to some extent. The old WASPy DC types used to go there in droves, and then to other places for HS. Now it is more of a rich NoVA crowd with others mixed in, for sure. But the statement above is not really the case any longer. Potomac is a great school--bottom line--and if I lived in McLean it sure would be my top choice.

Yep. Lot of money at Potomac. We are very well off and feel poor there. Lot of it is new money some of it old. Bottom line is it was our first choice for a plethora of reasons.

[Anonymous]

We live in NW DC. Our DC got into both a big-3 in NW DC and Potomac School. We actually liked Potomac more (e.g., not as extreme left-leaning; amazing campus) but ended up accepting at Big-3 largely for logistical reasons. DC is doing great now at big-3...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live in Virginia and am wondering if anyone chose a "big 3" for Potomac school over a DC school for commuting reasons? How were academics? Just as strong! Tia

At the risk of sounding like a jerk, your post has so many errors that I assume that English is not your native language. I only bring this up because it is possible that what is important to you culturally is not what is important to the average DCUM poster.

Many people chose Potomac over a Big 3 school. My kids are at the Cathedral Schools and we live in Virginia. There are many sensible reasons to pick one over the other. If you are asking if some Virginia folks choose Potomac over Big 3 schools in part because of the commute, then yes, of course they do. If you are asking if the academics are equal between Potomac and the Big 3, then I think the consensus is that Potomac is not quite as strong. But I also think the consensus is that they are very close and most people think academics are just one of many factors to consider.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in Virginia and am wondering if anyone chose a "big 3" for Potomac school over a DC school for commuting reasons? How were academics? Just as strong! Tia

At the risk of sounding like a jerk, your post has so many errors that I assume that English is not your native language. I only bring this up because it is possible that what is important to you culturally is not what is important to the average DCUM poster.

Many people chose Potomac over a Big 3 school. My kids are at the Cathedral Schools and we live in Virginia. There are many sensible reasons to pick one over the other. If you are asking if some Virginia folks choose Potomac over Big 3 schools in part because of the commute, then yes, of course they do. If you are asking if the academics are equal between Potomac and the Big 3, then I think the consensus is that Potomac is not quite as strong. But I also think the consensus is that they are very close and most people think academics are just one of many factors to consider.

Isn't this entire post right here reason enough to choose Potomac over "the Cathedral Schools?"