Thoughts on Potomacs Lower School

[Anonymous]

In a perfect world, all the admissions people would be perfect too. I hope that people make their evaluations on more than simply one encounter with someone in admissions.

[Anonymous]

Potomac's waitlist letter was just about the coldest admissions-related letter I've ever read. I shudder to imagine what their rejection letters read like.

And, for the community's sake, hopefully their acceptance letters are a bit more welcoming.

[Anonymous]

We also received a wait list letter from Potomac, but it seems fine to me. It is just a letter saying our child is wait listed and to call if we want to stay on the list. Nothing wrong with being normal and direct. I would not expect any tearful apologies or gushy compliments, followed by a non-acceptance. That would be worse.

[Anonymous]

bump

[Anonymous]

Make that 4 posters who had poor experiences with Potomac's interviewing process. Cold and distant personalities from Admissions and poor communication.

Also the only school we applied to that did a token visiting day of 2 hours instead of a full day. When I went to pick up my child, he was sitting in the lobby unsupervised with no adults around to follow up with me. His first words when we got to the car were "I don't want to go here." - and he loved all the other schools.

Spouse and I felt there was a definite wall put up between the school and parents and if our child went here, we would never feel welcome. It was our last choice out of all the schools to which we applied.

[Anonymous]

PP - my child missed the normal playdates and never even got a tour at Potomac. I realize the snow caused issues, but it was very interesting to my child, who remarked on that as we were driving away.

As to whether Potomac welcomes parents, I can tell you from knowing many Potomac families (particularly the parents) very well, that Potomac is one of the private schools with tremendous parental involvement ... including what some describe as pressure for parental involvement. I.e., at least one of the parent is at the school for several hours each week in some volunteer capacity or another plus there are many many class assemblies, shows, plays, events to attend. It becomes a very insular environment, where the only families that Potomac families eventually associate with are other Potomac families (we have lost good friends to this). And it is really hard to meet a parent around McLean for the first time and not have something in the first 5 minutes cause them to blurt out that their child goes to Potomac School, even if that is off-topic. (I know many people whose children go to other prestigious schools in town and Potomac is the only school this happens with.) All this is to say that the Admissions process may be off-putting, but that doesn't mean that the school discourages parental involvement or that parents don't end up very invested in the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Make that 4 posters who had poor experiences with Potomac's interviewing process. Cold and distant personalities from Admissions and poor communication.

Also the only school we applied to that did a token visiting day of 2 hours instead of a full day. When I went to pick up my child, he was sitting in the lobby unsupervised with no adults around to follow up with me. His first words when we got to the car were "I don't want to go here." - and he loved all the other schools.

Spouse and I felt there was a definite wall put up between the school and parents and if our child went here, we would never feel welcome. It was our last choice out of all the schools to which we applied.

This PP is a regular "anti Potomac" poster - the "wall between the school and parents" gives it away. Obviously their child was rejected. Do a search from a few years ago and you'll see.

What makes this funny is that Potomac could not be any more opposite from what this poster describes. The parents are VERY involved in the place and if your child goes there, you better be prepared to go by the school at least once every one or two weeks for an event related to your kids.

Get over it PP.

[Anonymous]

10:31 poster here, pp and this the FIRST time I've ever posted about Potomac! This forum is a bigger place than you think. Child btw was WL - we were accepted to our other 3 schools.

Just maybe not everyone who applied to Potomac falls in love with it..... Careful before you cast those stones.

[Anonymous]

Although it is for 9th, we were accepted. It is fourth place on our list of acceptances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can only speak to a lousy admissions experience with the assistant AD for lower school, Anna. What a nasty, mean person. We could tell that they had no interest in our DC despite his awesome test scores and sweet nature the second we started our parent interview with her. Why they let someone like that be the face of the school is beyond me. I don't care how noninterested you are, you have to treat prospective parents nicely and with respect. We had heard such great things about Potomac and have several friends with children there, and were completely nonplussed by the experience.

Our DC is going to a big 3 instead, BTW!

We had a similar experience in our parent interview--awful. The only positive is that I wasn't surprised when I got our WL letter. Actually, I was, since I expected a rejection. Oh well. I had a great impression of Potomac from all my friends who went there (back in the Stone Age), but schools change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Potomac's waitlist letter was just about the coldest admissions-related letter I've ever read. I shudder to imagine what their rejection letters read like.

And, for the community's sake, hopefully their acceptance letters are a bit more welcoming.

I totally agree; I thought it was a rejection letter at first. Maybe their rejections are just the word "No" on their letterhead. Of course, their acceptance letters were one page too, apparently.

[Anonymous]

After we were waitlisted for K many years ago, I was wondering whether we ought to reapply for 9 next year. But after reading this thread I remembered the downright rude reception we received, and I went on the web and saw the same old faces, and I thought -- no, it would be the same old song and dance. Too bad, b/c the school has a lovely reputation and for those of us with boys in the mclean/great falls area, it's certainly the most convenient private school option.

[Anonymous]

This is so sad and frustrating. Potomac is a great school. We've been there from LS to US and just love it.

[Anonymous]

It may well be a great school. My kids go to CDS, so I know lots of Potomac families. I think that you find the mix there that you find in so many private schools around here. Some of the parents are wonderful - down to earth, warm, kind, involved. However, some of them are status-driven and status-conscious to the nth degree. I don't think Potomac has it any worse than other schools in that way.