Acceptance Rate at St. Patrick's, Norwood, and Potomac

[Anonymous]

This past year at Norwood, there were a ton of siblings for K. I think well over half the class.

[Anonymous]

Most siblings come to St P in nursery or pre-k. K is not a main intake year for them. A few years ago, I think there were 20-30 applicants for ~5 K spots (at least a few of which went to siblings). Please don't take these figures as gospel - I am relying on my memory, not a piece of paper where it is written down. Nursery and pre-K are the big intake years at St Pats, not K.

[Anonymous]

I believe OP asked about pre-K at St Patrick's.

[Anonymous]

St. Patrick's is not nearly as hard to get into as Norwood - and Potomac is frankly in another league and is just as competitive as Sidwell or the Cathedral Schools. That's the truth. Norwood is great and would probably be as hard as Potomac if it had an upper school (similar to what you find at Langley).

[Anonymous]

I am confused about Potomac. Doesn't it sit right in an area of VA with great schools? The issue with Norwood is that it has to compete with strong publics. So thus, less of a scramble. The DC schools have such a high volume of applications that I would expect the low acceptance rates. Why does Potomac have a low acceptance rate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am confused about Potomac. Doesn't it sit right in an area of VA with great schools? The issue with Norwood is that it has to compete with strong publics. So thus, less of a scramble. The DC schools have such a high volume of applications that I would expect the low acceptance rates. Why does Potomac have a low acceptance rate?

You have to understand the surrounding demographics of Potomac. McLean, Great Falls, west Arlington, and eastern Louden counties are some of the most affluent in the country (typically make the top 10 list of wealth by zip code). So, you have a ton of families who can afford a private school education - and Potomac is clearly the best K-12 program in the area. That, combined with the fact that Potomac's bus system pulls in applicants from all over the city, makes it extremely competitive for admissions. (I copied the bus routes from the website below so you get a sense...)

# Bus transportation system includes over 20 neighborhood bus routes and shuttle stop service throughout Washington, DC metro area

* Maryland: Bethesda , Chevy Chase, Marlow Heights and Potomac
* Washington, DC: 16th Street Corridor, Cathedral/Tenleytown, Eastern Market, Foxhall, Georgetown, Spring Valley and Union Station
* Virginia: Arlington, Falls Church, Great Falls, McLean, Oakton, Old Town Alexandria, Reston, Vienna, West Alexandria and Wolftrap

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am confused about Potomac. Doesn't it sit right in an area of VA with great schools? The issue with Norwood is that it has to compete with strong publics. So thus, less of a scramble. The DC schools have such a high volume of applications that I would expect the low acceptance rates. Why does Potomac have a low acceptance rate?

You have to understand the surrounding demographics of Potomac. McLean, Great Falls, west Arlington, and eastern Louden counties are some of the most affluent in the country (typically make the top 10 list of wealth by zip code). So, you have a ton of families who can afford a private school education - and Potomac is clearly the best K-12 program in the area. That, combined with the fact that Potomac's bus system pulls in applicants from all over the city, makes it extremely competitive for admissions. (I copied the bus routes from the website below so you get a sense...)

# Bus transportation system includes over 20 neighborhood bus routes and shuttle stop service throughout Washington, DC metro area

* Maryland: Bethesda , Chevy Chase, Marlow Heights and Potomac
* Washington, DC: 16th Street Corridor, Cathedral/Tenleytown, Eastern Market, Foxhall, Georgetown, Spring Valley and Union Station
* Virginia: Arlington, Falls Church, Great Falls, McLean, Oakton, Old Town Alexandria, Reston, Vienna, West Alexandria and Wolftrap

So, you are saying that there just aren't many competing privates in NVA?
I guess, Norwood has to compete with the likes of Holton, Landon, Sidwell (LS in Bethesda), Gtown Prep, St. Andrews, and WES. Plus, there are tons of other solid local privates like Green Acres, Bullis, Mater Dei, Heights, McLean, JDS, Holy Child, Stone Ridge, Manor, Fourth Presbyterian, Primary Day, Woods, almost all within a 5 to 10 minute drive from Norwood.
Norwood pulls from a smaller demographic mostly in Potomac, Bethesda, Rockville, NW DC, and no extensive bus system. It does have a strong sibling policy. Once one child is in, it is likely that the next will be admitted, (assuming that things have gone well with the first). That has its downside for new families, fewer spots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually, I think St. Pat's might be the hardest, and I am not a SP parent.

This is not true. St. Pat's is a great school but it is not difficult to get into. It is a neighborhood school with many Pre-K and nursery spots and almost everyone who applies gets in. It is considered to be a safety school for those that applied to Big 3 schools and didn't get accepted. That is not to say it isn't a wonderful school because it is - it just isn't competitive or top tier. For some that is a plus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actually, I think St. Pat's might be the hardest, and I am not a SP parent.

This is not true. St. Pat's is a great school but it is not difficult to get into. It is a neighborhood school with many Pre-K and nursery spots and almost everyone who applies gets in. It is considered to be a safety school for those that applied to Big 3 schools and didn't get accepted. That is not to say it isn't a wonderful school because it is - it just isn't competitive or top tier. For some that is a plus.

I wish that we would stop correlating competitive with top tier. I always say that until all school are using best practices, they are not "great", and just about every DC private school has some weakness wrt curriculum.

[Anonymous]

All of these schools have fabulous reputations and worth visiting. I would assume they are all hard to get into... especially if you live in N. Va and are applying to Potomac.

I hope parents focus on the strength of schools academics more than which school is most competitive to get into... that will drive you crazy and really means nothing at the end of the day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of these schools have fabulous reputations and worth visiting. I would assume they are all hard to get into... especially if you live in N. Va and are applying to Potomac.

I hope parents focus on the strength of schools academics more than which school is most competitive to get into... that will drive you crazy and really means nothing at the end of the day.

right on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of these schools have fabulous reputations and worth visiting. I would assume they are all hard to get into... especially if you live in N. Va and are applying to Potomac.

I hope parents focus on the strength of schools academics more than which school is most competitive to get into... that will drive you crazy and really means nothing at the end of the day.

The op asked a question about her chances of getting into these schools. People replied to her question with explanations as to why certain schools were easier to get into ie: second and third tier and not competitive. Sorry if you don't like the answers!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of these schools have fabulous reputations and worth visiting. I would assume they are all hard to get into... especially if you live in N. Va and are applying to Potomac.

I hope parents focus on the strength of schools academics more than which school is most competitive to get into... that will drive you crazy and really means nothing at the end of the day.

People replied to her question with explanations as to why certain schools were easier to get into ie: second and third tier and not competitive. Sorry if you don't like the answers!

Actually I addressed the OP's question about the acceptance rate when I said to assume all of these schools are hard to get into. That being said, it is hard to discern if chances are better or worse than 1 in 5 which the OP used as her limit. It depends on a variety of factors most importantly current siblings entering the Kindergarten class. Also, the OP might want to consider that Kindergarten is not an expansion year at St. Patrick's but I wouldn't rule it out given the current economic culture. OP did not mention whether she had toured the schools. I would definitely encourage her to because they have great reputations. Bottomline, I don't think it's a waste of money to apply to these schools. They are all great. If OP like the schools go for it...

[Anonymous]

OP, it is an intersting question in thos economy. There was a post about Sidwell with the same issue. I would look at all three schools equally. One year, we applied to a school that had a reputation of being easy to get into. We did not take the application too seriously, and at the time, I did not think that the school perceived that, but I might have been wrong. We got into all the hard schools, but not that one. It goes to show that attitude is important.
Keep in mind, that when these schools say we get X applications and have space for Y students, they accept more than they have spots. Also, people apply to so many schools that the chances of getting into one of your top three choices is quite high.

[Anonymous]

We've obviosuly hit on a nerve with some St Patrick's posters here. I honestly don't know much about St. Patrick's - there does not seem to be a lot of discussion of this school on this forum. I'd be interested in learning more. Perhaps PP's could begin a new thread on St Patrick's and tell us more about it.