QO vs. Good Council or St. Andrews

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP, I know St. Andrew’s, MCPS and the local Catholics pretty well. I also have a son with a similar profile and understand how complicated the situation can be. If your son is happy, thriving, and you can afford it, I’d be tempted to keep him at St. Andrew’s, unless HE really wants to transfer out. Change can upset everything.

Bear in mind that college admissions will be stronger from QO because the grade inflation in MCPS and less rigorous classes will make it easier for him to rank highly and get an overinflated GPA. Although if he has not mastered turning in homework, that will be an issue no matter where he goes — one that could lower his grades. And many MCPS teachers are completely demoralized - read the threads in the MD public schools forum. Does he have neighborhood friends at QO?

Academically, socially, emotionally - everything at any of these schools will be a step down from St. Andrew’s. Since you say he gets into mischief, I’d avoid all boys schools, so that would disqualify Gonzaga.

Are you Catholic? The Catholic schools here are pretty insular. I’d check out Our Lady of Good Counsel carefully. Will they let him take advanced classes such as AP, or is there a restrictive gate on advanced classes such as at St. John’s? If he can get into Scholars at SJCHS, consider it. It is like a “school within a school” in many ways. To get in to Scholars, he will need to score in the 99th percentile to get into Scholars, and the HPST will require considerable prep, particularly for the English / grammar sections.

LOL. That's a loaded statement Suzy Q!

[Anonymous]

Not just loaded but clueless. Grade inflation means that everyone at the same school is "benefiting" too, at which point no one actually benefits because all college admissions offices know what the true baseline is for any given HS. Having a 4.0 doesn't help if that still only puts you middle of the pack.

[Anonymous]

Relax tiger moms... she isn’t looking at s school that will get her son into Harvard.

She has a child that struggles and needs help.

I have heard that QO is strong when it comes to kids that struggle but GC has the ryken program that is amazing and StA is also amazing.

Visit all of them and let your son decide that place that he likes the best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are asking folks to make a comparison of apples to oranges. You are also referencing schools where there is little overlap in terms of family communities. While an episcopal school, St. Andrew’s is not a parochial school such as the others you’ve mentioned. I really doubt too many folks look at it while also seriously considering parochial. Everything about St. Andrew’s is different - the teaching training and model, diverse community, etc. St. Andrew’s is priced like a private, not a parochial. It is certainly worth your consideration as it seems to only receive positive reviews here on DCUM and seems to be a school that would offer a student of your child’s profile a good learning and growing experience, but the only way to compare is to go, look, and make your own assessment.

Huh? If you are referring to Our Lady of Good Counsel High School, it is NOT a parochial school. Not sure you understand the word. Do some research before you post like you know what you are talking about.

That’s just misleading and splitting hairs. Only those within the catholic education community would say a Xaverian Brothers Sponsored School isn’t a parochial school. To the rest of the world, including secular colleges, all the catholic schools are considered to be parochial.

New poster here. Parochial school most commonly refers to a school supported by an individual parish or SPECIFIC church not by an order or by THE Church. Also, the term is not even restricted to a Catholic schools. For instance an Episcopal parish school could be referred to as parochial.
And despite your assertion, yes, the rest of the world knows this. I’m not even Christian and I understand the difference.

I think we’d be hard pressed to find anyone outside the catholic school community that differentiates based on how the school is subsidized as to whether they associate a catholic secondary school education with the parochial system. I agree that for those who are in the community there are different levels of catholic schools, but for the rest of the world catholic and parochial are interchangeable and refer to schools that are intended to indoctrinate students into a specific mode of associated values, which are much less inclusive than those of any other faith associated models, especially Quaker and episcopal, which are both considered to be more in line with traditional independent school path & caliber.

[Anonymous]

18:35 is incorrect. I worked in admissions at a highly selective college for years. We *certainly* know the difference between the various levels of Catholic schools.

Sounds like you have an axe to grind.