How good is Maret?

[Anonymous]

Nobody is responding so probably is runout and nothing happened to the band director.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many families chose Maret because they wanted a good academic program without the overwhelming workload of GDS or Sidwell. In our K–8 community, another big factor that parents and kids said yes aside from the less homework was the smaller class sizes. Not every child thrives in large cohorts or intense social environments.

Maret feels similar to Field and Burke in that sense — and we hope it never grows to 150 students per grade. The homework load is manageable, and the current 9th-grade class is truly fantastic.

It’s true that some kids have left for various reasons, and the school has made some errors and even dealt with staffers but many simply wanted a bigger, more varied social scene. Maret isn’t trying to be one of the “Big 3,” and honestly, if it were farther from the city, it might not have the same draw. In our Northwest neighborhood, almost everyone has it on their list — largely because the commute is so convenient.

Thanks for laying out the pros and cons transparently. Not sure why some parents want to claim that Maret is better than other private schools in all dimensions.

I see most Maret families saying they are happy that it doesn’t have the workload of Sidwell/NCS/STA vs saying they are better than them.

Giving busy work does not mean the school is better. It just means there is more homework with no correlation to mastering the subject. Like a gerbil on a wheel in a cage.

How can you be sure other schools assign “busywork”? Could it be deep work that enhances critical thinking and you just don’t know?

It’s call experience with kids who have gone through both types of school. Busy work does not increase critical thinking. Cling to your beliefs about homework load and rigor. College/university courses will cover more material and in great depth vs any advanced course in high school and with less homework. Funny how that works!

Shrug. Neither my kid nor his parents thought the ass-kicking expectations at Sidwell US were makework. Like, almost none. Hopefully that’s the case at Maret too

[Anonymous]

Not that good if you look at national testing outcomes...

National Merit Semifinalists 2026 at DMV Privates
Holton Arms (12)
Basis McLean (9)
Potomac School McLean (9)
National Cathedral School (5)
Landon (5)
St. Andrew’s Episcopal (5)
Sidwell Friends (4)
Georgetown Day School (4)
Georgetown Prep (4)
Bullis (3)
St Anselm's Abbey (3)
Georgetown Visitation (2)
St Albans (2)
Edmund Burke (1)
[b]Maret (1) [b]
Washington International (1)
Berman Hebrew Academy (1)
Heights School (1)

[Anonymous]

I have kids at Maret (older grades). The parent community is pretty welcoming. The coursework gets tougher as they get older. My academically minded kid finds it challenging, but not overly so. I have heard grumblings from some parents about the HOS, but we haven’t had any personal experiences to dislike him. At the end of the day, my kids are happy, are learning, and like school. I can’t argue with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not that good if you look at national testing outcomes...

National Merit Semifinalists 2026 at DMV Privates
Holton Arms (12)
Basis McLean (9)
Potomac School McLean (9)
National Cathedral School (5)
Landon (5)
St. Andrew’s Episcopal (5)
Sidwell Friends (4)
Georgetown Day School (4)
Georgetown Prep (4)
Bullis (3)
St Anselm's Abbey (3)
Georgetown Visitation (2)
St Albans (2)
Edmund Burke (1)
[b]Maret (1) [b]
Washington International (1)
Berman Hebrew Academy (1)
Heights School (1)

I think this a very good metric for academic quality(comparing apples to apples).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many families chose Maret because they wanted a good academic program without the overwhelming workload of GDS or Sidwell. In our K–8 community, another big factor that parents and kids said yes aside from the less homework was the smaller class sizes. Not every child thrives in large cohorts or intense social environments.

Maret feels similar to Field and Burke in that sense — and we hope it never grows to 150 students per grade. The homework load is manageable, and the current 9th-grade class is truly fantastic.

It’s true that some kids have left for various reasons, and the school has made some errors and even dealt with staffers but many simply wanted a bigger, more varied social scene. Maret isn’t trying to be one of the “Big 3,” and honestly, if it were farther from the city, it might not have the same draw. In our Northwest neighborhood, almost everyone has it on their list — largely because the commute is so convenient.

Thanks for laying out the pros and cons transparently. Not sure why some parents want to claim that Maret is better than other private schools in all dimensions.

I see most Maret families saying they are happy that it doesn’t have the workload of Sidwell/NCS/STA vs saying they are better than them.

Giving busy work does not mean the school is better. It just means there is more homework with no correlation to mastering the subject. Like a gerbil on a wheel in a cage.

How can you be sure other schools assign “busywork”? Could it be deep work that enhances critical thinking and you just don’t know?

It’s call experience with kids who have gone through both types of school. Busy work does not increase critical thinking. Cling to your beliefs about homework load and rigor. College/university courses will cover more material and in great depth vs any advanced course in high school and with less homework. Funny how that works!

Shrug. Neither my kid nor his parents thought the ass-kicking expectations at Sidwell US were makework. Like, almost none. Hopefully that’s the case at Maret too

Shrug. The same results can be had with a much more pleasant experience. If you are doing busy work 3-4 hours a day, weekends and over holiday there is not much time for anything else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not that good if you look at national testing outcomes...

National Merit Semifinalists 2026 at DMV Privates
Holton Arms (12)
Basis McLean (9)
Potomac School McLean (9)
National Cathedral School (5)
Landon (5)
St. Andrew’s Episcopal (5)
Sidwell Friends (4)
Georgetown Day School (4)
Georgetown Prep (4)
Bullis (3)
St Anselm's Abbey (3)
Georgetown Visitation (2)
St Albans (2)
Edmund Burke (1)
[b]Maret (1) [b]
Washington International (1)
Berman Hebrew Academy (1)
Heights School (1)

I think this a very good metric for academic quality(comparing apples to apples).

All the haters who have said that Basis Independent McLean is not the best DMV private school can shove it. This list clearly shows they're the best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not that good if you look at national testing outcomes...

National Merit Semifinalists 2026 at DMV Privates
Holton Arms (12)
Basis McLean (9)
Potomac School McLean (9)
National Cathedral School (5)
Landon (5)
St. Andrew’s Episcopal (5)
Sidwell Friends (4)
Georgetown Day School (4)
Georgetown Prep (4)
Bullis (3)
St Anselm's Abbey (3)
Georgetown Visitation (2)
St Albans (2)
Edmund Burke (1)
[b]Maret (1) [b]
Washington International (1)
Berman Hebrew Academy (1)
Heights School (1)

Do you actually have a child at any of these schools? I somehow doubt it because if you did, you'd know that at many of them, the kids don't take the PSAT. They take a practice SAT or ACT on the day the PSAT is administered as juniors, since it's close to impossible to be a finalist in this area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not that good if you look at national testing outcomes...

National Merit Semifinalists 2026 at DMV Privates
Holton Arms (12)
Basis McLean (9)
Potomac School McLean (9)
National Cathedral School (5)
Landon (5)
St. Andrew’s Episcopal (5)
Sidwell Friends (4)
Georgetown Day School (4)
Georgetown Prep (4)
Bullis (3)
St Anselm's Abbey (3)
Georgetown Visitation (2)
St Albans (2)
Edmund Burke (1)
[b]Maret (1) [b]
Washington International (1)
Berman Hebrew Academy (1)
Heights School (1)

Do you actually have a child at any of these schools? I somehow doubt it because if you did, you'd know that at many of them, the kids don't take the PSAT. They take a practice SAT or ACT on the day the PSAT is administered as juniors, since it's close to impossible to be a finalist in this area.

Clearly not impossible if you go to Holton or to BIM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not that good if you look at national testing outcomes...

National Merit Semifinalists 2026 at DMV Privates
Holton Arms (12)
Basis McLean (9)
Potomac School McLean (9)
National Cathedral School (5)
Landon (5)
St. Andrew’s Episcopal (5)
Sidwell Friends (4)
Georgetown Day School (4)
Georgetown Prep (4)
Bullis (3)
St Anselm's Abbey (3)
Georgetown Visitation (2)
St Albans (2)
Edmund Burke (1)
[b]Maret (1) [b]
Washington International (1)
Berman Hebrew Academy (1)
Heights School (1)

Do you actually have a child at any of these schools? I somehow doubt it because if you did, you'd know that at many of them, the kids don't take the PSAT. They take a practice SAT or ACT on the day the PSAT is administered as juniors, since it's close to impossible to be a finalist in this area.

You mean the schools have no confidence their students can score high enough? No guts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not that good if you look at national testing outcomes...

National Merit Semifinalists 2026 at DMV Privates
Holton Arms (12)
Basis McLean (9)
Potomac School McLean (9)
National Cathedral School (5)
Landon (5)
St. Andrew’s Episcopal (5)
Sidwell Friends (4)
Georgetown Day School (4)
Georgetown Prep (4)
Bullis (3)
St Anselm's Abbey (3)
Georgetown Visitation (2)
St Albans (2)
Edmund Burke (1)
[b]Maret (1) [b]
Washington International (1)
Berman Hebrew Academy (1)
Heights School (1)

Do you actually have a child at any of these schools? I somehow doubt it because if you did, you'd know that at many of them, the kids don't take the PSAT. They take a practice SAT or ACT on the day the PSAT is administered as juniors, since it's close to impossible to be a finalist in this area.

Oh please, in my experience, every well-off, college-bound teenager in the DMV area does some form of test prep. It's not like any of these private schools are offering a PSAT class as part of their curriculum, yet somehow, some DMV privates perform better than others...

[Anonymous]

Those with hooked kids are not really interested in the National Merit Scholarship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those with hooked kids are not really interested in the National Merit Scholarship.

So every kid in Maret is "hooked" and doesn't need a scholarship? That's an interesting way to describe your student body (to me, it sounds more like sour grapes.)

[Anonymous]

Perhaps consider the size of these schools if you're looking at the number of kids getting recognition? Some have class sizes of 50-ish, others 200. Simple math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those with hooked kids are not really interested in the National Merit Scholarship.

So every kid in Maret is "hooked" and doesn't need a scholarship? That's an interesting way to describe your student body (to me, it sounds more like sour grapes.)

Actually, more interesting to think no student there is interested in merit or scholarship money. So much for diversity.