Sidwell vs Beauvoir

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is true that rejected acceptances are filed away for later and if you ever might consider reapplying, think carefully before you do!

We are even worried that rejection of an acceptance for our older child to a certain school will affect our younger child's chances of being accepted to that school (even though younger child will not be a match for the school that their older sibling chose to attend)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One consideration re Beauvoir is that admission to Sidwell at 4th or later grades is challenging no matter how great your child is. I recall hearing that Sidwell generally admits something like only 3-6 Beauvoir students at 4th. I can think of 4-5 friends off top of my head who had hoped to switch over at 4th from Beauvoir but had to wait until later grades to get admitted from NCS/STA (or in one case never got admitted after repeated tries). Just beware the switch is not easy.

80-85% of BVR kids will go on to STA and NCS.

Many BVR kids are well-nurtured, but not necessarily super bright.

BVR has 80-84 kids in each graduating class. 70-75 kids will go to NCS/STA where they have admissions preference. Some kids are rejected because they don’t score well on entrance exams. For 4th grade, the schools are asking the kids to take entrance exams that assess their skills and intelligence.

It’s true that only the brightest or the most well-connected get into Sidwell. That’s true of applying to any competitive school. Only 10-15 kids are accepted at NCS and STA at 4th.

DD was one of two accepted from BVR the year she applied. However, I think the low admissions rate has to do somewhat with the fact that Sidwell wants a high yield, and they know most of the BVR girls will attend NCS.

DD made it clear Sidwell was her first choice, and she scored extraordinarily well on the WISC and Sidwell’s entrance exam.

I would still choose BVR over Sidwell for the early grades. BVR puts early childhood education front and center, whereas Sidwell’s focus is more on US. Early grades at Sidwell seemed more academic in a not good way.

DD is happy at Sidwell now, but I am not fond of the administration and the hyper-competitive parent culture,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is true that rejected acceptances are filed away for later and if you ever might consider reapplying, think carefully before you do!

We are even worried that rejection of an acceptance for our older child to a certain school will affect our younger child's chances of being accepted to that school (even though younger child will not be a match for the school that their older sibling chose to attend)

Yes, the school keeps records.

BS that it is a deal breaker for them.

However, you do need to make it clear that you really want to attend if you’ve declined in the past. Write a first choice letter.

[Anonymous]

Gross. Stop social climbing. Find a school that fits your child. Not your ambitions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gross. Stop social climbing. Find a school that fits your child. Not your ambitions.

Beauvoir and Sidwell are food fits for plenty of children.

[Anonymous]

Hi. I am a Sidwell parent. My DD entered in K and is currently in Upper School. At the time, we applied to Sidwell, JPDS, Sheridan, Lowell, WIS - and got into all. Our intention was to send DD to JPDS for Lower School, then apply to Sidwell later. I asked for advice everywhere at the time. The consistent advice I received was that if I wanted to have DD attend Sidwell eventually, then take the offer for Lower School. That is what we did.

In terms of the posters above, I can say that Sidwell Lower School does prepare well for Sidwell Upper School. A very few students get "counseled out". Yes, some parents get tutors for their children, especially in Middle School, when academics start to get tough. I really cannot say if these are parents of legacy kids who might not have gotten in otherwise, or just parents who have money to throw at tutors. We never hired tutors, and everything was fine.

I can say that a few Beauvior kids get into Sidwell every year, and they do quite well. I think your child will have an excellent education either way. Congrats.

[Anonymous]

If you really see your (rising K) child at Sidwell later on, if you yourselves love the school, and if you happen to get into both, I'd advise you to choose Sidwell no matter how lovely you think Beauvoir is. If you love it but don't get in, I'd probably advise you to try at the end of 2nd and also the end of 3rd just bc it's truly your first choice and they have more spots at 3rd vs 4th. That said, if you TRULY don't know at all where you would like to see your child at 4th grade, and you happen to get into both, and you wouldn't mind the "backup" of STA/NCS, go with BVR. But if you do get into both, be very clear with yourselves about what YOU want for your child 4th-12th bc it's fairly different. A bright kid will do fine at both. But honestly no one really knows what kind of "ding" will work against you if you happen to get admitted at K and decline only to re-apply later. Unless you are REALLY wealthy, well-connected or a DCesque celeb (like a Pulitzer Prize/Nobel laureate/big wig.

I say this as a parent of kids who went thru BVR (applied to both BVR and Sidwell at pre-K, admitted to B, w/l at S, went to B, future kids went to B). We thought we'd re-evaluate at 4th but really loved STA/NCS so never did re-evaulaute.

[Anonymous]

We applied to a variety for K and didn’t get into a lot of them. I love where we ended up - but I spent a lot of time daydreaming about which I’d choose, and we didn’t end up with all the options. So I wouldn’t obsess about this quite yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We applied to a variety for K and didn’t get into a lot of them. I love where we ended up - but I spent a lot of time daydreaming about which I’d choose, and we didn’t end up with all the options. So I wouldn’t obsess about this quite yet.

This! We got WL everywhere for K: BVR, Sidwell, Maret, GDS, NPS and St. Pats. Don’t stress until you know your options. We ended up getting only into SSSAS so that was it.