GDS - Wow!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it a surprise a woke school gets kids into woke schools? They want different. Every essay is about your identity and difference.

Use of "woke" term. Ugh.

Too much FOX news.

Most conservatives don't watch Fox. It's old people and RINO's.

Yet MAGA still rules the primaries. Hmmm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actual Parent: here's what's posted on the Insta page in terms of top tier
Other kids may have gotten in places but have not posted yet.
3 harvard
2 cornell
1 princeton
1 penn
1 Columbia
1 Vanderbilt
This seems good but not Stellar
Let's see what happens tommorrow with Northwestern Etc

Looks pretty impressive to me.

NOT a GDS parent

GDS has built an amazing reputation and track record with Ivy admissions deans, including those at Harvard and other top Ivies. Congrats to another incredible class of GDS seniors!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let me sum up the private school world, in brief:

There are people who want very very badly to be special. To this end, they will buy the things they are told will make them special: be that clothing, cars, or education brand names for their kids. I have a friend whose five year old was shut out one year in NYC? She moved to another country where the elite schools are easier to get into.

I think this was kind of sad.

Most private schools subsisted for decades (centuries) on diet of a very insular, homogenized class of students whose families came from the right banks and law firms and chambers of government. As American wealth expanded more people wanted seats at the same table. That stodgey fairly sheltered environment began to be seen as something to be envied, coveted. A way in. A seat at the table. A commodity beyond tuition fees. A future.

A lifestyle.

Now such things still exist for those of you who think you need it. I'm not denying that good schools provide excellent educations. They do. But education's not that hard, and if all you're worried about is the merit and prestige of getting your kid into Harvard... You're missing what was supposed to be the point of going to a school like Harvard.

Nah, you don't get it. You don't go to Harvard to make connections anymore. You go go St Ann's.

Actually gds started bc some Jewish families and African-American families got together in the 1940s so their kids could go to school together which wasn’t possible in most of the US - hardly Ivy League hobnobbing. But besides that and the other falsehoods in your post, I agree.

Am amazing but quite predictable journey for a trailblazing school that set out to educate students to change the world.

[Anonymous]

Very underwhelming. Do better next time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What an amazing set of outcomes already!

I know it's ALMOST as good as one of the magnet programs in FCPS/MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actual Parent: here's what's posted on the Insta page in terms of top tier
Other kids may have gotten in places but have not posted yet.
3 harvard
2 cornell
1 princeton
1 penn
1 Columbia
1 Vanderbilt
This seems good but not Stellar
Let's see what happens tommorrow with Northwestern Etc

Looks pretty impressive to me.

NOT a GDS parent

GDS has built an amazing reputation and track record with Ivy admissions deans, including those at Harvard and other top Ivies. Congrats to another incredible class of GDS seniors!

Is it still when “amazing” and “incredible” you remove the legacy, connected, potential $$$ donors, and athletes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That would have been WOW a few years ago. Now word is out about some of those schools. A Harvard/Penn/Cornell/Columbia degree is going to worth far less and it's going to be easier to get in. Harvard already admits they have fewer applicants and more people turned down ED. A lot of workplaces don't want to be concerned that you can can't cope with diversity. Jews may only be something like .2% of the population, but you need to be able to be respectful of Jewish clients and coworkers. The degree alone will make people side-eye you unless it is from the era post first round of Jewish quotas and pre Jew hate...so maybe 70s, 80s or 90s are OK.

I can't disagree. Even before the recent antisemitism and the revelation that the current president is a bona fide plagiarist and the less than impressive handling / enabling / cover up of it all that does strongly suggest unflattering internal politics and ideologies, it was already becoming apparent a Harvard degree didn't guarantee the kind of graduate you could take for granted in the past. In recruiting for consulting roles we were effectively dividing the applicants into top 50%, comparable to past decades, and the bottom 50%, who were clearly admitted for identity reasons. The gap between the two is glaring.

It's not exclusive to Harvard, most of the elite schools practice similar ideologies these days and the outcome is that an elite college degree alone doesn't impress me any more. The changes in the last 10 years have been pronounced.

The irony, perhaps, is that if the elite schools' stranglehold on "prestige" is substantially weakening and badly damaged, it makes the whole college world more equitable! Just not in the way the elite schools might have expected.

The only people who get into these schools these days are wealthy legacies and athletes. It has little to do with merit. Eventually, this will impact their reputation and perceived value.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Last year, 84 percent of accepted students at Harvard college enrolled in the college - highest yield by far. The REA came down a bit from historically high rates post COVID. I am pretty sure Harvard is going to be just fine.

They will be just fine, particularly after they clean house and remove Claudine Gay not just as president but as a tenured professor. A small number of publications to her name and half seem to be plagiarized. What an embarrassment to a (once) storied university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let me sum up the private school world, in brief:

There are people who want very very badly to be special. To this end, they will buy the things they are told will make them special: be that clothing, cars, or education brand names for their kids. I have a friend whose five year old was shut out one year in NYC? She moved to another country where the elite schools are easier to get into.

I think this was kind of sad.

Most private schools subsisted for decades (centuries) on diet of a very insular, homogenized class of students whose families came from the right banks and law firms and chambers of government. As American wealth expanded more people wanted seats at the same table. That stodgey fairly sheltered environment began to be seen as something to be envied, coveted. A way in. A seat at the table. A commodity beyond tuition fees. A future.

A lifestyle.

Now such things still exist for those of you who think you need it. I'm not denying that good schools provide excellent educations. They do. But education's not that hard, and if all you're worried about is the merit and prestige of getting your kid into Harvard... You're missing what was supposed to be the point of going to a school like Harvard.

Nah, you don't get it. You don't go to Harvard to make connections anymore. You go go St Ann's.

Actually gds started bc some Jewish families and African-American families got together in the 1940s so their kids could go to school together which wasn’t possible in most of the US - hardly Ivy League hobnobbing. But besides that and the other falsehoods in your post, I agree.

Am amazing but quite predictable journey for a trailblazing school that set out to educate students to change the world.

And now caters to the rich and powerful, thus perpetuating inequity, despite all the great rhetoric on their web site.

#GDS$50k

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let me sum up the private school world, in brief:

There are people who want very very badly to be special. To this end, they will buy the things they are told will make them special: be that clothing, cars, or education brand names for their kids. I have a friend whose five year old was shut out one year in NYC? She moved to another country where the elite schools are easier to get into.

I think this was kind of sad.

Most private schools subsisted for decades (centuries) on diet of a very insular, homogenized class of students whose families came from the right banks and law firms and chambers of government. As American wealth expanded more people wanted seats at the same table. That stodgey fairly sheltered environment began to be seen as something to be envied, coveted. A way in. A seat at the table. A commodity beyond tuition fees. A future.

A lifestyle.

Now such things still exist for those of you who think you need it. I'm not denying that good schools provide excellent educations. They do. But education's not that hard, and if all you're worried about is the merit and prestige of getting your kid into Harvard... You're missing what was supposed to be the point of going to a school like Harvard.

Nah, you don't get it. You don't go to Harvard to make connections anymore. You go go St Ann's.

Actually gds started bc some Jewish families and African-American families got together in the 1940s so their kids could go to school together which wasn’t possible in most of the US - hardly Ivy League hobnobbing. But besides that and the other falsehoods in your post, I agree.

Am amazing but quite predictable journey for a trailblazing school that set out to educate students to change the world.

And now caters to the rich and powerful, thus perpetuating inequity, despite all the great rhetoric on their web site.

#GDS$50k

The self righteousness and hypocrisy is almost hilarious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last year, 84 percent of accepted students at Harvard college enrolled in the college - highest yield by far. The REA came down a bit from historically high rates post COVID. I am pretty sure Harvard is going to be just fine.

They will be just fine, particularly after they clean house and remove Claudine Gay not just as president but as a tenured professor. A small number of publications to her name and half seem to be plagiarized. What an embarrassment to a (once) storied university.

Although there are plagiarism concerns, you're exaggerating; nevertheless, I think this happens when you hire to meet diversity as your criterion instead of merit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last year, 84 percent of accepted students at Harvard college enrolled in the college - highest yield by far. The REA came down a bit from historically high rates post COVID. I am pretty sure Harvard is going to be just fine.

They will be just fine, particularly after they clean house and remove Claudine Gay not just as president but as a tenured professor. A small number of publications to her name and half seem to be plagiarized. What an embarrassment to a (once) storied university.

You're laying it on pretty thick. Back off a little before people stop listening. Such an eager beaver you

[Anonymous]

I don’t usually comment on only these mostly mean spirited threads. However, some of these comments are just sad. I am a GDS parent. Yes, of course, the parent body at the school does reflect the demographic of NW DC -a highly connected and very intellectual group of adults in certain zip codes. The school has also worked to reflect the broader demographics of Washington DC. Is it perfect? No. But it is an ongoing and real effort, and it shows. It results in a school with a very different student body than you’ll find at its competitor schools. I am also the parent of one of the kids admitted to a great school in the ED round. My child has worked their butt off (using the non identifying pronoun on purpose) and is not an athlete/legacy/etc. They have benefited from the school’s incredible education. We are grateful. The legacies admitted so far stand on their own academically as well. I also support, like many people, the erasure of legacy privilege. This needs to happen. But it isn’t particular to GDS. Many of the Whitman and BCC kids who were successful in the early rounds are also legacies. It is unfortunately still a factor.

[Anonymous]

Worse outcome than a public high school in fairfax county. Shameful.

[Anonymous]

It's not just because of enviable Ivy admissions, but GDS arguably is DC's leading independent school now. The Cathedral schools are too inflexible and stuck in the past. Sidwell has been cruising on its reputation for a long time. But without the buzz from presidential or vice presidential children on its campuses, Sidwell's stagnation is showing.