Does anyone on Capitol Hill send their kid to an elementary in upper NW?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with not doing the commute, unless one parent doesn’t work. Find an ES on the hill where they are safe and happy, supplement heavily, and move for MS. For the amount of time you spend commuting for ES you might as well be supplementing.

Wise advice.

[Anonymous]

Send kids to local schools for elementary and middle and save money for a private high school. That's a better solution then any large competitive public schools in suburbs.

[Anonymous]

Any high performing student coming from DCPS would see a lot more success in college admissions than similar level peers from a hot suburban school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Send kids to local schools for elementary and middle and save money for a private high school. That's a better solution then any large competitive public schools in suburbs.

All depends what your kid and family is into academically and in terms of ECs and what you can afford. My eldest, at BASIS, wants a public high school with a strong orchestra, math as advanced as BASIS (past AP BC calc), along with post-AP instruction in the language we speak at home. We're not finding any of that at parochial high schools in this area (we can't afford Sidwell, GDS etc.). We're thinking seriously of moving to a suburb just for HS, then returning to our house on CH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Send kids to local schools for elementary and middle and save money for a private high school. That's a better solution then any large competitive public schools in suburbs.

All depends what your kid and family is into academically and in terms of ECs and what you can afford. My eldest, at BASIS, wants a public high school with a strong orchestra, math as advanced as BASIS (past AP BC calc), along with post-AP instruction in the language we speak at home. We're not finding any of that at parochial high schools in this area (we can't afford Sidwell, GDS etc.). We're thinking seriously of moving to a suburb just for HS, then returning to our house on CH.

This is surprising to you?!

It’s like every CH family thinks that they are the first families to have kids go through MS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any high performing student coming from DCPS would see a lot more success in college admissions than similar level peers from a hot suburban school.

Maybe but the real goal is how prepared they will be for college against peers who have had much more rigorous academics from middle and high school…..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Send kids to local schools for elementary and middle and save money for a private high school. That's a better solution then any large competitive public schools in suburbs.

All depends what your kid and family is into academically and in terms of ECs and what you can afford. My eldest, at BASIS, wants a public high school with a strong orchestra, math as advanced as BASIS (past AP BC calc), along with post-AP instruction in the language we speak at home. We're not finding any of that at parochial high schools in this area (we can't afford Sidwell, GDS etc.). We're thinking seriously of moving to a suburb just for HS, then returning to our house on CH.

You can afford to buy a house in the suburbs but can't afford private school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Send kids to local schools for elementary and middle and save money for a private high school. That's a better solution then any large competitive public schools in suburbs.

All depends what your kid and family is into academically and in terms of ECs and what you can afford. My eldest, at BASIS, wants a public high school with a strong orchestra, math as advanced as BASIS (past AP BC calc), along with post-AP instruction in the language we speak at home. We're not finding any of that at parochial high schools in this area (we can't afford Sidwell, GDS etc.). We're thinking seriously of moving to a suburb just for HS, then returning to our house on CH.

You can afford to buy a house in the suburbs but can't afford private school?

Yes? This seems pretty normal, especially if you have multiple children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Send kids to local schools for elementary and middle and save money for a private high school. That's a better solution then any large competitive public schools in suburbs.

All depends what your kid and family is into academically and in terms of ECs and what you can afford. My eldest, at BASIS, wants a public high school with a strong orchestra, math as advanced as BASIS (past AP BC calc), along with post-AP instruction in the language we speak at home. We're not finding any of that at parochial high schools in this area (we can't afford Sidwell, GDS etc.). We're thinking seriously of moving to a suburb just for HS, then returning to our house on CH.

You can afford to buy a house in the suburbs but can't afford private school?

Yes? This seems pretty normal, especially if you have multiple children.

also your kid actually has to get accepted to a private school within reasonable commuting distance (the whole original topic of this thread). far from guaranteed! we can afford private but are not assuming admission.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Send kids to local schools for elementary and middle and save money for a private high school. That's a better solution then any large competitive public schools in suburbs.

All depends what your kid and family is into academically and in terms of ECs and what you can afford. My eldest, at BASIS, wants a public high school with a strong orchestra, math as advanced as BASIS (past AP BC calc), along with post-AP instruction in the language we speak at home. We're not finding any of that at parochial high schools in this area (we can't afford Sidwell, GDS etc.). We're thinking seriously of moving to a suburb just for HS, then returning to our house on CH.

You can afford to buy a house in the suburbs but can't afford private school?

Yes? This seems pretty normal, especially if you have multiple children.

also your kid actually has to get accepted to a private school within reasonable commuting distance (the whole original topic of this thread). far from guaranteed! we can afford private but are not assuming admission.

If you're currently in DCPS and are thinking about private later, it looks really bleak over on the Private board. It seems like very few kids are getting in from DCPS to 9th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Send kids to local schools for elementary and middle and save money for a private high school. That's a better solution then any large competitive public schools in suburbs.

All depends what your kid and family is into academically and in terms of ECs and what you can afford. My eldest, at BASIS, wants a public high school with a strong orchestra, math as advanced as BASIS (past AP BC calc), along with post-AP instruction in the language we speak at home. We're not finding any of that at parochial high schools in this area (we can't afford Sidwell, GDS etc.). We're thinking seriously of moving to a suburb just for HS, then returning to our house on CH.

You can afford to buy a house in the suburbs but can't afford private school?

Yes? This seems pretty normal, especially if you have multiple children.

also your kid actually has to get accepted to a private school within reasonable commuting distance (the whole original topic of this thread). far from guaranteed! we can afford private but are not assuming admission.

If you're currently in DCPS and are thinking about private later, it looks really bleak over on the Private board. It seems like very few kids are getting in from DCPS to 9th grade.

I'm not sure the private school board paints an accurate picture, but the past few years have been extremely competitive and you are at a disadvantage coming from public. Plus, your kid really needs to be a straight A student with interesting extracurriculars. We just went through the process and it gave me a glimpse into what college applications are going to feel like. We have a very high performing kid and my partner and I both still assumed kid might be shut out - the competition is real. Luckily my kid was accepted to their top choice, but it felt very discouraging there for a bit. We always thought we would "go private" when DCPS (or DCPCS in our case) didn't work for us anymore, and it was rather eye opening that our fallback wasn't a guarantee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Send kids to local schools for elementary and middle and save money for a private high school. That's a better solution then any large competitive public schools in suburbs.

All depends what your kid and family is into academically and in terms of ECs and what you can afford. My eldest, at BASIS, wants a public high school with a strong orchestra, math as advanced as BASIS (past AP BC calc), along with post-AP instruction in the language we speak at home. We're not finding any of that at parochial high schools in this area (we can't afford Sidwell, GDS etc.). We're thinking seriously of moving to a suburb just for HS, then returning to our house on CH.

You can afford to buy a house in the suburbs but can't afford private school?

Yes? This seems pretty normal, especially if you have multiple children.

also your kid actually has to get accepted to a private school within reasonable commuting distance (the whole original topic of this thread). far from guaranteed! we can afford private but are not assuming admission.

Yep. The privates aren’t begging for new admits, even the mediocre Catholic schools.

If you're currently in DCPS and are thinking about private later, it looks really bleak over on the Private board. It seems like very few kids are getting in from DCPS to 9th grade.

I'm not sure the private school board paints an accurate picture, but the past few years have been extremely competitive and you are at a disadvantage coming from public. Plus, your kid really needs to be a straight A student with interesting extracurriculars. We just went through the process and it gave me a glimpse into what college applications are going to feel like. We have a very high performing kid and my partner and I both still assumed kid might be shut out - the competition is real. Luckily my kid was accepted to their top choice, but it felt very discouraging there for a bit. We always thought we would "go private" when DCPS (or DCPCS in our case) didn't work for us anymore, and it was rather eye opening that our fallback wasn't a guarantee.