Why is SJC the "It" school this year

[Anonymous]

Because it's so cheap???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As we await decisions today or tomorrow, a quick question. I understand that parish elementary schools play a big role in deciding which of their students is
admitted to each of the Catholic high schools. Is this always true with respect to SJC? Does SJC rely completely on the preferences of the elementary school
Principals in making its admissions decisions?

Do you mean middle school? Elementary school has no weight.

Oh, honey, you have a lot to learn about Catholic schools! Lol

[Anonymous]

GDS is clearly the “it” school, and has been for at least five years running.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More down to earth social atmosphere.

Much more of a middle class culture at STJ than at other area privates.

Thats a good thing.

Absolutely ... many avoid the wealthy and if you don’t know why ... we’ll it’s hard to explain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GDS is clearly the “it” school, and has been for at least five years running.

Lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More down to earth social atmosphere.

Much more of a middle class culture at STJ than at other area privates.

Thats a good thing.

Absolutely ... many avoid the wealthy and if you don’t know why ... we’ll it’s hard to explain.

If you need evidence, look at poster 00:42. That attitude +1000 is why People like that are avoided.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What makes it public school? Some people kill me on this board. If a school isn't 40k plus a year, low diversity, and 3 plus hours of homework a night isn't given its substandard. Children who go to SJC can score the same on the SAT that Big 3 students do. Only difference is their parents paid $80k while you paid $160k.

I think because it is an alternative for families who do not want to send their kids to Wilson...it is the "public" school with more bells and whistles, including a smaller overall class size. My son also shadowed there and receive the scholarship, but decided he wanted a more "unique" high school experience and went elsewhere.

That could be a fair point , but its still a Catholic school and so my questions would be:

1) what are the requirements in terms of religion classes and do they require that the faith histories of all religions are taught as the Episcopal schools do ?
2) What is the sex education requirement and are HS students educated about safe sex, birth control
3) what about gay identifying kids is there a LGBT support group and are they comfortable there

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cheaper and co-ed, and a less restrictive environment than many other schools. I hear it described by the kids as "a public school with uniforms." My DD came from a straight-laced K-8 and was taken aback by the unruliness on her shadow day. I thought it was a fluke so we sent her back again (DH is an alum and hoped she'd go too) but it only made things worse and she declined a nice scholarship. Second DD visited last year but didn't apply. Son may go eventually.

That's interesting. I've always heard people refer to Good Counsel as that, not SJC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most definitely not for the academics.

Why would you post something like this? It is both incorrect and rude.

Definitely second rate school. It’s the kids who do t get in else where.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It definitely is more popular with our VA catholic. Several kids went last year. It used to be you only went for the Benilde program.

Long time families in this circuit know it just isn’t a very good education. Families from Virginia might not know this. It does have nicer facilities now than some others. But the pros don’t out weigh the cons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SJC goes in and out of favor at our K-8 as well. It tends to go in waves based on prior year’s graduation class matriculation. It’s a fine school and if your child is in the honors program it can be a solid curriculum and peer group. Of course it is also a good value with the more modest tuition.

My child attended SJC and the lack of certified teachers showed. Outdated and ineffective pedagogy was common. Not enough professional development to improve teaching. Maybe things have changed recently but it was not as strong academically as a good DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:About 80% of my daughters class applied to SJC. Over the last month I have overheard parents mention they were calling in favors for admission. I normally would expect this behavior for Big 3 but SJC, really? Originally it ranked #3 per my DD but all of a sudden it's #1.

It’s popular with Catholics who don’t want to pay 45-50k tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SJC goes in and out of favor at our K-8 as well. It tends to go in waves based on prior year’s graduation class matriculation. It’s a fine school and if your child is in the honors program it can be a solid curriculum and peer group. Of course it is also a good value with the more modest tuition.

My child attended SJC and the lack of certified teachers showed. Outdated and ineffective pedagogy was common. Not enough professional development to improve teaching. Maybe things have changed recently but it was not as strong academically as a good DCPS.

Not surprised. Two kids both got presidential scholarship ($20K). Attended scholars brunch for first one and the teachers were unimpressive. That was main reason we crossed it off. We applied for DD this year and also got presidential scholarship and didn't consider because she did not like her shadow day. We applied as a safety school. Yes, we are going to pay $40K a year, but you get what you pay for.

[Anonymous]

Under Armour.

The influx of larger amounts of $ from the alum that started Under Armour, particularly to the sports program.

Fwiw, he left Georgetown Prep due to poor academic performance and behavioral issues and transferred to St John’s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Under Armour.

The influx of larger amounts of $ from the alum that started Under Armour, particularly to the sports program.

Fwiw, he left Georgetown Prep due to poor academic performance and behavioral issues and transferred to St John’s.

In 2015, Plank pledged $16 million to St. John's College High School in Washington, DC, to fund athletics, academics and entrepreneurship initiatives.