2025 rankings of best private schools in the DMV

[Anonymous]

Days later, BIM poster still winning.

[Anonymous]

If by "winning" you mean fake five-star Amazon reviews, yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Public colleges also have selective admissions and charge tuition. That doesn't make them private.

As trivial examples, over in the Colleges forum, there are annual complaints that VT Engineering is too selective, that UVA (all undergrad schools) is too selective, and that W&M is too selective — yet all are public and all charge tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Genuine question: I always had the impression that NCS was a big three? Do I have outdated information? I haven’t paid close attention the last couple of years but I did investigate schools pretty intensely in 2019. Has it really changed that dramatically?

Also surprised to see Maret ranked so low (although I thought it was maybe overrated in 2019). My kid doesn’t go to either of these schools, and I have no particular investment in these ordering, but I am curious.

The Big 3 changes over time. Currently, it is Sidwell, BIM, and Madeira.

BIM is a public school and should be in public forum.

BASIS Independent McLean, which is located in Tysons, is neither a charter school nor is it public. There are no charter schools in Fairfax/Arlington/Alexandria/Falls Church. BIM is a for-profit owned by Primavera Capital, which is a (PRC) Chinese entity. This all is public information.

BASIS in DC IS a public charter school. I believe there is some sort of lottery for admission, not sure about the details.

More importantly, if confusing to many here, the BASIS schools got split apart a few years ago. The BASIS public charter schools are now totally separate from the “BASIS Independent” for-profit chain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Genuine question: I always had the impression that NCS was a big three? Do I have outdated information? I haven’t paid close attention the last couple of years but I did investigate schools pretty intensely in 2019. Has it really changed that dramatically?

Also surprised to see Maret ranked so low (although I thought it was maybe overrated in 2019). My kid doesn’t go to either of these schools, and I have no particular investment in these ordering, but I am curious.

The Big 3 changes over time. Currently, it is Sidwell, BIM, and Madeira.

BIM is a public school and should be in public forum.

BASIS Independent McLean, which is located in Tysons, is neither a charter school nor is it public. There are no charter schools in Fairfax/Arlington/Alexandria/Falls Church. BIM is a for-profit owned by Primavera Capital, which is a (PRC) Chinese entity. This all is public information.

BASIS in DC IS a public charter school. I believe there is some sort of lottery for admission, not sure about the details.

More importantly, if confusing to many here, the BASIS schools got split apart a few years ago. The BASIS public charter schools are now totally separate from the “BASIS Independent” for-profit chain.

No one is confused. BIM is a public charter school that charges tuition. BIM pretends to be a private school, but it is not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was curious about BIM, so I decided to dig a little deeper. I found out that they had one Regeneron/Intel scholar in 2024. This is a big deal right there. I don't remember the last a big 3 or big 5 private school had produced a Regeneron/Intel scholar.
I mean between that, their NMSFS ratio and college placements, I can see why Sidwell & Co feel threaten by BIM. They are disturbing the status quo and the pecking order of things.

It's a completely different model. A parent who would choose Sidwell wouldn't consider BIM.

Not true. Lots of kids get accepted to GDS, Sidwell, the Cathedral’s, Potomac, etc., but choose BIM instead.

The fact that someone would send their children to BIM in the first place shows poor decision making skills. If that person also selected BIM over GDS, Sidwell, the Cathedral’s, Potomac (unlikely), then I would call that borderline child abuse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Genuine question: I always had the impression that NCS was a big three? Do I have outdated information? I haven’t paid close attention the last couple of years but I did investigate schools pretty intensely in 2019. Has it really changed that dramatically?

Also surprised to see Maret ranked so low (although I thought it was maybe overrated in 2019). My kid doesn’t go to either of these schools, and I have no particular investment in these ordering, but I am curious.

The Big 3 changes over time. Currently, it is Sidwell, BIM, and Madeira.

BIM is a public school and should be in public forum.

BASIS Independent McLean, which is located in Tysons, is neither a charter school nor is it public. There are no charter schools in Fairfax/Arlington/Alexandria/Falls Church. BIM is a for-profit owned by Primavera Capital, which is a (PRC) Chinese entity. This all is public information.

BASIS in DC IS a public charter school. I believe there is some sort of lottery for admission, not sure about the details.

More importantly, if confusing to many here, the BASIS schools got split apart a few years ago. The BASIS public charter schools are now totally separate from the “BASIS Independent” for-profit chain.

TL;DR

If you need an explanation this long to explain BIM, you’re already losing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Days later, BIM poster still winning.

This is truly a master class in DCUM posting.

Bravo to the scrappy BIM posters.

[Anonymous]

All this vitriol from parents with kids at other private schools is just amusing.

The fact is that BIM students are enjoying their rank as the #2 private school in the DMV, and laughing all the way to T20 admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Days later, BIM poster still winning.

This is truly a master class in DCUM posting.

Bravo to the scrappy BIM posters.

You are THE BIM poster (there’s only one—you). All of the other sane posters (plural) here will outlast you.
Keep the BIM fan fiction coming! 😝

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All this vitriol from parents with kids at other private schools is just amusing.

The fact is that BIM students are enjoying their rank as the #2 private school in the DMV, and laughing all the way to T20 admissions.

We’re laughing at BIM parents for paying for a Basis education that other students are getting for free. BIM students “enjoy” the same standardized test grind and subpar facilities that Basis DC students are getting for free. 😂

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was curious about BIM, so I decided to dig a little deeper. I found out that they had one Regeneron/Intel scholar in 2024. This is a big deal right there. I don't remember the last a big 3 or big 5 private school had produced a Regeneron/Intel scholar.
I mean between that, their NMSFS ratio and college placements, I can see why Sidwell & Co feel threaten by BIM. They are disturbing the status quo and the pecking order of things.

It's a completely different model. A parent who would choose Sidwell wouldn't consider BIM.

Not true. Lots of kids get accepted to GDS, Sidwell, the Cathedral’s, Potomac, etc., but choose BIM instead.

Not in the same basket. BIM fills a very different need.

[Anonymous]

Niche isn't measuring the "best" schools. It is tabulating data based on the opinions and unverified, self-reported data of its users.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Niche isn't measuring the "best" schools. It is tabulating data based on the opinions and unverified, self-reported data of its users.

And everyone proclaiming BIM the absolute best school in the universe based on that dubious method is just showing how much they really know about social science analysis of any kind.

It's GIGO when you use bad statistical inputs. Crowing about it is either willfully ignorant or just demented.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Niche isn't measuring the "best" schools. It is tabulating data based on the opinions and unverified, self-reported data of its users.

And everyone proclaiming BIM the absolute best school in the universe based on that dubious method is just showing how much they really know about social science analysis of any kind.

It's GIGO when you use bad statistical inputs. Crowing about it is either willfully ignorant or just demented.

And everyone spending days - days! - responding to the BIM poster to refute the ranking and argue their school should actually be ranked higher. In these silly rankings?

Priceless.