Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:no consideration for campus, sports, location, etc

Cathedral Schools
Sidwell
GDS
Holton Arms
Potomac

WIS ranks above most of those.

lol. No it doesn’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A typical student of a top private would not last a quarter at Basis, particularly if he/she/they entered later in the curriculum after (borderline irresponsible) middle school content acceleration has kicked in.. many of the top privates are already doing away with APs out of fear from having their students perform poorly. In contrast, Basis pushes a lot of APs and integrates the AP grades into the students course grades shown in their transcripts... meaning that if you flunk an AP there are real repercussions to the grade of that subject in the transcript... if you do well, there are good repercussions !

You’re joking right? Our school did away with APs because teachers know it’s a joke and didn’t want to teach to the test.
. 99.9 percent of students in this area take APs. It’s become irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. BIM
2. Sidwell
3. GDS
4. STA/NCS
5. Maret

How is Potomac not on this list if we are talking National Merit semifinalists? At least beats 2 of these schools.

Potomac is not top 5. Plain and simple.

It’s better than BIM, which makes it #1

What does BIM have to do with anything? Niche doesn’t even have them in the top 10 anymore.

Potomac may be #1 in McLean. I think Madeira is better for girls though. For boys, I think Potomac is the #1 in McLean.

Well this post is specifically asking about academics. There is no objective metric by which Potomac is #1 academically over Basis. Not by a long shot. But Potomac definitely deserves to be on that top 5 list over some of the Maryland/DC schools.

Potomac doesn't belong on that list.

Ok Potomac hater. You made your point even though its wrong. What happened - your kid got rejected?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Saint Anselms seems as academic as STA

Why do you say that? Have you been to both?

Actually yes I do have experience with both which is why I say Saint Anselms is just as academic as STA. It just doesn’t have the rich student body with hooked families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:no consideration for campus, sports, location, etc

Cathedral Schools
Sidwell
GDS
Holton Arms
Potomac

Sidwell is on top of all (that is why most presidents send their kids there).

Sounds like it is just these 6 schools with some subjective ranking. They are the most competitive to get in and have excellent college admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A typical student of a top private would not last a quarter at Basis, particularly if he/she/they entered later in the curriculum after (borderline irresponsible) middle school content acceleration has kicked in.. many of the top privates are already doing away with APs out of fear from having their students perform poorly. In contrast, Basis pushes a lot of APs and integrates the AP grades into the students course grades shown in their transcripts... meaning that if you flunk an AP there are real repercussions to the grade of that subject in the transcript... if you do well, there are good repercussions !

You’re joking right? Our school did away with APs because teachers know it’s a joke and didn’t want to teach to the test.
. 99.9 percent of students in this area take APs. It’s become irrelevant.

Unbelievably dumb take. If 99.9% of students in this area take it (not even close to being true but let’s say you’re right), then that is precisely one of the reasons why it’d be a relevant objective factor in comparing abilities among students. Now tell me the % of students that score 4s and 5s in STEM-related subjects on those AP tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:no consideration for campus, sports, location, etc

Cathedral Schools
Sidwell
GDS
Holton Arms
Potomac

Sidwell is on top of all (that is why most presidents send their kids there).

Sounds like it is just these 6 schools with some subjective ranking. They are the most competitive to get in and have excellent college admissions.

Correct, that is the list of the schools with the most competitive admissions. But the relationship between that and college admissions is very likely correlation, not causation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Saint Anselms seems as academic as STA

Why do you say that? Have you been to both?

Actually yes I do have experience with both which is why I say Saint Anselms is just as academic as STA. It just doesn’t have the rich student body with hooked families.

What is your “experience?”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:no consideration for campus, sports, location, etc

Cathedral Schools
Sidwell
GDS
Holton Arms
Potomac

Sidwell is on top of all (that is why most presidents send their kids there).

Sounds like it is just these 6 schools with some subjective ranking. They are the most competitive to get in and have excellent college admissions.

Correct, that is the list of the schools with the most competitive admissions. But the relationship between that and college admissions is very likely correlation, not causation.

Absolutely. As these schools also have highest legacy kids and other hooks, plus all the wealth.

[Anonymous]

Here's a metric based on students taking the same test

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)
Bullis (3)
St Anselm's Abbey (3)
Georgetown Visitation (2)
St Albans (2)
Edmund Burke (1)
Maret (1)
Washington International (1)
Berman Hebrew Academy (1)

[Anonymous]

This is an interesting list, and good for Holton for producing that many!

For the sake of comparison, it’s also useful to contextualize these numbers by looking at the size of each class. For example, some of these schools have graduating classes in the triple digits, and others (Berman, St. Anselm’s) are considerably smaller.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is an interesting list, and good for Holton for producing that many!

For the sake of comparison, it’s also useful to contextualize these numbers by looking at the size of each class. For example, some of these schools have graduating classes in the triple digits, and others (Berman, St. Anselm’s) are considerably smaller.

To be fair, students at DC privates face a higher PSAT cutoff (225) to be a NMSF than MD and VA (224). DC always has their cutoff set to the cutoff of the best performing state (NJ and MA this year who also have 225 as cutoff). Whether that one point would close the gap between DC based NCS and Sidwell vs. MD based Holton Arms and VA based Basis, only the National Merit data people know for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's a metric based on students taking the same test

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)
Bullis (3)
St Anselm's Abbey (3)
Georgetown Visitation (2)
St Albans (2)
Edmund Burke (1)
Maret (1)
Washington International (1)
Berman Hebrew Academy (1)

The problem with looking at this number for WIS, in particular, is that the school very explicitly teaches to the IB bilingual diploma, not to any of the US college admissions tests like the SAT, ACT, or PSAT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's a metric based on students taking the same test

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)
Bullis (3)
St Anselm's Abbey (3)
Georgetown Visitation (2)
St Albans (2)
Edmund Burke (1)
Maret (1)
Washington International (1)
Berman Hebrew Academy (1)

The problem with looking at this number for WIS, in particular, is that the school very explicitly teaches to the IB bilingual diploma, not to any of the US college admissions tests like the SAT, ACT, or PSAT.

I think you'd be hard pressed to find a private school parent whose kid is getting instruction tailored to a specific US college admissions test. Kids prep independently for these exams and the PSAT is just math and reading--both of which are covered under the IB diploma.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A typical student of a top private would not last a quarter at Basis, particularly if he/she/they entered later in the curriculum after (borderline irresponsible) middle school content acceleration has kicked in.. many of the top privates are already doing away with APs out of fear from having their students perform poorly. In contrast, Basis pushes a lot of APs and integrates the AP grades into the students course grades shown in their transcripts... meaning that if you flunk an AP there are real repercussions to the grade of that subject in the transcript... if you do well, there are good repercussions !

You’re joking right? Our school did away with APs because teachers know it’s a joke and didn’t want to teach to the test.
. 99.9 percent of students in this area take APs. It’s become irrelevant.

This! My kid at a private with limited APs just started her first ones. She said how easy they are and she is on track for an A+.