Is it really as simple as "just go private for middle + high school"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, if that's your HHI, by all means, check out the top rated schools. Why not? They could be a great fit.
Personally, I also really like SSFS. Sandy Springs may be a hike and it does seem they are in a bit if transition right now, but it also is a darling school.
Good luck to you!!

Is money all you need to get into the top rated schools? I would think it's harder than that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some people are active in their church and move their kid to their parish school after elementary school.

Some apply out after 3rd to schools that start / have expansion in 4th.

I do not know anyone who had realistic expectations who got "shut-out"

That's good to hear. I think our expectations are realistic although I don't want to send my kids to a religious school - will that eliminate a lot of the options?

I don't really care about getting into the "best" school, I just want a middle and high school option for my kids that is safe and academically challenging.

Yes, "no religious schools" will remove a lot of options. Wipes out the entire lower-cost section of the market, much of the midrange, and a reasonable proportion of the extremely pricey schools. Though even the low-cost private schools in this area are not cheap. What's your budget and your flexibility? The standard other option is to high-tail it to the suburbs.

+1 this limits you to about 12 schools, with a mix of low admit schools (GDS, Maret), and some that will take anyone who can pay (BASIS DC, Fusion), with a few in the middle (Bullis, Burke).

BASIS Independent is the private school.

[Anonymous]

OP, we have a similar income and I would suggest you apply a now. We got our child into a “ Big 3” for pre-K, have sent a second child there and it’s been really nice to lock up a spot now. It is so competitive for 9th and 6th. If you can afford it, why wait? We often hear others in our part of town (the Hill) talk about doing driving for 6th but the reality is that there aren’t enough spaces at the top schools for all these great kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, it is not simple. You should do a real assessment of your finances and be honest with yourself about what year you can afford to start and begin applying in that year.

This will also force you to evaluate whether or not you can even afford the option at all.

OP here. We have a HHI of $750k or higher (depending on bonuses and stock performance). Our current PITI is <$3k with a mortgage we could pay off tomorrow if we wanted to, but we don't because it's 3.5%. For us the money is there, we just have to decide if we want to spend it on private school for 2 kids or a mortgage on a new pricey house with a good in bounds. We're genuinely very torn. We love our DC public and aren't very competitive people, we just want our kids to be happy, well rounded, and reasonably challenged academically.

So it's less about whether the money is there and more about whether this is how we want to spend it. This thread has been really helpful though, so thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to reply.

I truly don't understand why you would muck around with DCPS or public charters past like 3rd grade. I am also not a competitive person and I get not wanting to send kids to Big 3 type environments. But there are lots of private schools that have nurturing environments with strong academics and basically none of the random BS you find in even the best DCPS schools. I guess it's nice to send kids to a neighborhood school and to have friends in the neighborhood. So maybe you do that for PK and a couple years of elementary. But especially on CH people will start peeling off for private or charters like Latin or BASIS by late elementary anyway. So why wait for that to happen when it might impact your ability to get into the school you want -- just go.

This is not a know on DCPS but I just can't imagine rolling the dice in this way by waiting if you know that you're going to want private anyway and can definitely afford it. I also think you will quickly discover that neighborhood schools are overrated in DC as a source of friendship-- people are super transient anyway and the lottery means classmates might not even live nearby plus you would be surprised by how easy it is to maintain a neighborhood friendship while kids attend different schools.

[Anonymous]

Why deal with any public school when you have better options?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, it is not simple. You should do a real assessment of your finances and be honest with yourself about what year you can afford to start and begin applying in that year.

This will also force you to evaluate whether or not you can even afford the option at all.

OP here. We have a HHI of $750k or higher (depending on bonuses and stock performance). Our current PITI is <$3k with a mortgage we could pay off tomorrow if we wanted to, but we don't because it's 3.5%. For us the money is there, we just have to decide if we want to spend it on private school for 2 kids or a mortgage on a new pricey house with a good in bounds. We're genuinely very torn. We love our DC public and aren't very competitive people, we just want our kids to be happy, well rounded, and reasonably challenged academically.

So it's less about whether the money is there and more about whether this is how we want to spend it. This thread has been really helpful though, so thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to reply.

I truly don't understand why you would muck around with DCPS or public charters past like 3rd grade. I am also not a competitive person and I get not wanting to send kids to Big 3 type environments. But there are lots of private schools that have nurturing environments with strong academics and basically none of the random BS you find in even the best DCPS schools. I guess it's nice to send kids to a neighborhood school and to have friends in the neighborhood. So maybe you do that for PK and a couple years of elementary. But especially on CH people will start peeling off for private or charters like Latin or BASIS by late elementary anyway. So why wait for that to happen when it might impact your ability to get into the school you want -- just go.

This is not a know on DCPS but I just can't imagine rolling the dice in this way by waiting if you know that you're going to want private anyway and can definitely afford it. I also think you will quickly discover that neighborhood schools are overrated in DC as a source of friendship-- people are super transient anyway and the lottery means classmates might not even live nearby plus you would be surprised by how easy it is to maintain a neighborhood friendship while kids attend different schools.

OP here and I know this sounds crazy but the truth is we're just happy where we are, and we'd rather not. I KNOW that one day I might regret this but it's really hard to make this huge change to our finances, uproot our kids, and add whatever commute to our daily lives, because we're trying to avoid some theoretical future pain. Our lives feel so easy and, to be honest, perfect right now. Of course the threat of ~3rd/4th grade is looming over our heads, but it still makes it hard to pull the parachute right now. I'm not saying I'm right, I'm just explaining where we're at. We keep saying "one more year" and that has turned into 3 years. And maybe one more, who is to say. You could also argue that we should just sell our house and move to upper NW and probably we should, but the god honest answer is we don't want to. We like it where we are and, most of all, we like the financial flexibility that our current lifestyle gives us. It's probably immature of us but that's what it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, it is not simple. You should do a real assessment of your finances and be honest with yourself about what year you can afford to start and begin applying in that year.

This will also force you to evaluate whether or not you can even afford the option at all.

OP here. We have a HHI of $750k or higher (depending on bonuses and stock performance). Our current PITI is <$3k with a mortgage we could pay off tomorrow if we wanted to, but we don't because it's 3.5%. For us the money is there, we just have to decide if we want to spend it on private school for 2 kids or a mortgage on a new pricey house with a good in bounds. We're genuinely very torn. We love our DC public and aren't very competitive people, we just want our kids to be happy, well rounded, and reasonably challenged academically.

So it's less about whether the money is there and more about whether this is how we want to spend it. This thread has been really helpful though, so thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to reply.

I truly don't understand why you would muck around with DCPS or public charters past like 3rd grade. I am also not a competitive person and I get not wanting to send kids to Big 3 type environments. But there are lots of private schools that have nurturing environments with strong academics and basically none of the random BS you find in even the best DCPS schools. I guess it's nice to send kids to a neighborhood school and to have friends in the neighborhood. So maybe you do that for PK and a couple years of elementary. But especially on CH people will start peeling off for private or charters like Latin or BASIS by late elementary anyway. So why wait for that to happen when it might impact your ability to get into the school you want -- just go.

This is not a know on DCPS but I just can't imagine rolling the dice in this way by waiting if you know that you're going to want private anyway and can definitely afford it. I also think you will quickly discover that neighborhood schools are overrated in DC as a source of friendship-- people are super transient anyway and the lottery means classmates might not even live nearby plus you would be surprised by how easy it is to maintain a neighborhood friendship while kids attend different schools.

Well $45-55k is a lot of money even if you make $800k, so if you can get a good education for free, why not?

Also, everyone but the biggest rube knows that all elementary school education is basically the same. People like you are how private schools pay the bills for the upper school. Send your kid to Stoddert or key or Mann and they’ll get a better education than you can get paying for it anywhere in town. Sixth grade is a different story, but only a real donut would consider paying for any elementary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, it is not simple. You should do a real assessment of your finances and be honest with yourself about what year you can afford to start and begin applying in that year.

This will also force you to evaluate whether or not you can even afford the option at all.

OP here. We have a HHI of $750k or higher (depending on bonuses and stock performance). Our current PITI is <$3k with a mortgage we could pay off tomorrow if we wanted to, but we don't because it's 3.5%. For us the money is there, we just have to decide if we want to spend it on private school for 2 kids or a mortgage on a new pricey house with a good in bounds. We're genuinely very torn. We love our DC public and aren't very competitive people, we just want our kids to be happy, well rounded, and reasonably challenged academically.

So it's less about whether the money is there and more about whether this is how we want to spend it. This thread has been really helpful though, so thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to reply.

I truly don't understand why you would muck around with DCPS or public charters past like 3rd grade. I am also not a competitive person and I get not wanting to send kids to Big 3 type environments. But there are lots of private schools that have nurturing environments with strong academics and basically none of the random BS you find in even the best DCPS schools. I guess it's nice to send kids to a neighborhood school and to have friends in the neighborhood. So maybe you do that for PK and a couple years of elementary. But especially on CH people will start peeling off for private or charters like Latin or BASIS by late elementary anyway. So why wait for that to happen when it might impact your ability to get into the school you want -- just go.

This is not a know on DCPS but I just can't imagine rolling the dice in this way by waiting if you know that you're going to want private anyway and can definitely afford it. I also think you will quickly discover that neighborhood schools are overrated in DC as a source of friendship-- people are super transient anyway and the lottery means classmates might not even live nearby plus you would be surprised by how easy it is to maintain a neighborhood friendship while kids attend different schools.

Well $45-55k is a lot of money even if you make $800k, so if you can get a good education for free, why not?

Also, everyone but the biggest rube knows that all elementary school education is basically the same. People like you are how private schools pay the bills for the upper school. Send your kid to Stoddert or key or Mann and they’ll get a better education than you can get paying for it anywhere in town. Sixth grade is a different story, but only a real donut would consider paying for any elementary.

You can’t get a good education for free. Elementary is actually very important and not all the same. The quality of peer families and teachers is quite important, among other things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, it is not simple. You should do a real assessment of your finances and be honest with yourself about what year you can afford to start and begin applying in that year.

This will also force you to evaluate whether or not you can even afford the option at all.

OP here. We have a HHI of $750k or higher (depending on bonuses and stock performance). Our current PITI is <$3k with a mortgage we could pay off tomorrow if we wanted to, but we don't because it's 3.5%. For us the money is there, we just have to decide if we want to spend it on private school for 2 kids or a mortgage on a new pricey house with a good in bounds. We're genuinely very torn. We love our DC public and aren't very competitive people, we just want our kids to be happy, well rounded, and reasonably challenged academically.

So it's less about whether the money is there and more about whether this is how we want to spend it. This thread has been really helpful though, so thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to reply.

I truly don't understand why you would muck around with DCPS or public charters past like 3rd grade. I am also not a competitive person and I get not wanting to send kids to Big 3 type environments. But there are lots of private schools that have nurturing environments with strong academics and basically none of the random BS you find in even the best DCPS schools. I guess it's nice to send kids to a neighborhood school and to have friends in the neighborhood. So maybe you do that for PK and a couple years of elementary. But especially on CH people will start peeling off for private or charters like Latin or BASIS by late elementary anyway. So why wait for that to happen when it might impact your ability to get into the school you want -- just go.

This is not a know on DCPS but I just can't imagine rolling the dice in this way by waiting if you know that you're going to want private anyway and can definitely afford it. I also think you will quickly discover that neighborhood schools are overrated in DC as a source of friendship-- people are super transient anyway and the lottery means classmates might not even live nearby plus you would be surprised by how easy it is to maintain a neighborhood friendship while kids attend different schools.

Well $45-55k is a lot of money even if you make $800k, so if you can get a good education for free, why not?

Also, everyone but the biggest rube knows that all elementary school education is basically the same. People like you are how private schools pay the bills for the upper school. Send your kid to Stoddert or key or Mann and they’ll get a better education than you can get paying for it anywhere in town. Sixth grade is a different story, but only a real donut would consider paying for any elementary.

Elementary academics are largely the same. But elementary peer groups and environment are not especially in the upper grades in DC. And if you read the post above you would understand that the reason for leaving for private is not because you will get such a vastly better education in private but because it will become harder to jump to the private of your choice if you wait until 6th grade.

Anyway OP's response is pretty telling and I actually agree with OP that they are basically being immature. Not because they are choosing to stay but because I think they have some competing desires and are refusing to reconcile them and just hoping they will work out and I think they probably won't. They don't want to move because they like their lifestyle. But they clearly do not like their middle school and high school options. They like their elementary school but largely because it's easy and they are comfortable -- they like not having to commute and it's what they are already familiar with.

They might get lucky and score spots at Latin in 5th (I do not think they would like BASIS which is not a knock -- I am also not into BASIS). And they might get lucky and easily find a private they like at 6th and it all works out. But if neither of those things happen I think OP will be flipping out about how CH doesn't have good middle school options and real estate in upper NW is so unfairly priced and admissions at private schools are opaque and unfair. But they will be in that situation because they chose to stay in a neighborhood and school system out of convenience and complacency when they had ample opportuntiy to find another solution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, it is not simple. You should do a real assessment of your finances and be honest with yourself about what year you can afford to start and begin applying in that year.

This will also force you to evaluate whether or not you can even afford the option at all.

OP here. We have a HHI of $750k or higher (depending on bonuses and stock performance). Our current PITI is <$3k with a mortgage we could pay off tomorrow if we wanted to, but we don't because it's 3.5%. For us the money is there, we just have to decide if we want to spend it on private school for 2 kids or a mortgage on a new pricey house with a good in bounds. We're genuinely very torn. We love our DC public and aren't very competitive people, we just want our kids to be happy, well rounded, and reasonably challenged academically.

So it's less about whether the money is there and more about whether this is how we want to spend it. This thread has been really helpful though, so thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to reply.

I truly don't understand why you would muck around with DCPS or public charters past like 3rd grade. I am also not a competitive person and I get not wanting to send kids to Big 3 type environments. But there are lots of private schools that have nurturing environments with strong academics and basically none of the random BS you find in even the best DCPS schools. I guess it's nice to send kids to a neighborhood school and to have friends in the neighborhood. So maybe you do that for PK and a couple years of elementary. But especially on CH people will start peeling off for private or charters like Latin or BASIS by late elementary anyway. So why wait for that to happen when it might impact your ability to get into the school you want -- just go.

This is not a know on DCPS but I just can't imagine rolling the dice in this way by waiting if you know that you're going to want private anyway and can definitely afford it. I also think you will quickly discover that neighborhood schools are overrated in DC as a source of friendship-- people are super transient anyway and the lottery means classmates might not even live nearby plus you would be surprised by how easy it is to maintain a neighborhood friendship while kids attend different schools.

Well $45-55k is a lot of money even if you make $800k, so if you can get a good education for free, why not?

Also, everyone but the biggest rube knows that all elementary school education is basically the same. People like you are how private schools pay the bills for the upper school. Send your kid to Stoddert or key or Mann and they’ll get a better education than you can get paying for it anywhere in town. Sixth grade is a different story, but only a real donut would consider paying for any elementary.

Elementary academics are largely the same. But elementary peer groups and environment are not especially in the upper grades in DC. And if you read the post above you would understand that the reason for leaving for private is not because you will get such a vastly better education in private but because it will become harder to jump to the private of your choice if you wait until 6th grade.

Anyway OP's response is pretty telling and I actually agree with OP that they are basically being immature. Not because they are choosing to stay but because I think they have some competing desires and are refusing to reconcile them and just hoping they will work out and I think they probably won't. They don't want to move because they like their lifestyle. But they clearly do not like their middle school and high school options. They like their elementary school but largely because it's easy and they are comfortable -- they like not having to commute and it's what they are already familiar with.

They might get lucky and score spots at Latin in 5th (I do not think they would like BASIS which is not a knock -- I am also not into BASIS). And they might get lucky and easily find a private they like at 6th and it all works out. But if neither of those things happen I think OP will be flipping out about how CH doesn't have good middle school options and real estate in upper NW is so unfairly priced and admissions at private schools are opaque and unfair. But they will be in that situation because they chose to stay in a neighborhood and school system out of convenience and complacency when they had ample opportuntiy to find another solution.

Lol ouch. OK maybe some fair tough love. My only defense is that at our current salaries and with a small mortgage and no school tuition costs, we are putting away $300k+ per year. Some of that is toward retirement but we are keeping a very decent chunk in a brokerage specifically with the idea that we might one day use it to upgrade our house. So moving to upper NW is our plan B (or maybe our plan A?) and it gets financially more attainable for us every year. House prices are going up but not as much as our savings are. So that's the only thing I'll say in my defense; otherwise this is all probably a fair critique. My question here was more about whether private was a decision we had to make NOW, or would actually be an easy decision to make when we get to middle school. Sounds like some mixed reviews here.

[Anonymous]

YES, OP, WITH THAT KIND OF MONEY MANY PROBLEMS JUST GO AWAY.

Sorry for shouting, but this is a universal truth. Most families struggle because private school is too expensive, which means they need to decide whether leaving DC makes sense, to go to MCPS in MoCo or FCPS in NoVa, and benefit from in-state tuition at UMD or UVA.

Next time you post, please bear your privilege in mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, it is not simple. You should do a real assessment of your finances and be honest with yourself about what year you can afford to start and begin applying in that year.

This will also force you to evaluate whether or not you can even afford the option at all.

OP here. We have a HHI of $750k or higher (depending on bonuses and stock performance). Our current PITI is <$3k with a mortgage we could pay off tomorrow if we wanted to, but we don't because it's 3.5%. For us the money is there, we just have to decide if we want to spend it on private school for 2 kids or a mortgage on a new pricey house with a good in bounds. We're genuinely very torn. We love our DC public and aren't very competitive people, we just want our kids to be happy, well rounded, and reasonably challenged academically.

So it's less about whether the money is there and more about whether this is how we want to spend it. This thread has been really helpful though, so thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to reply.

I truly don't understand why you would muck around with DCPS or public charters past like 3rd grade. I am also not a competitive person and I get not wanting to send kids to Big 3 type environments. But there are lots of private schools that have nurturing environments with strong academics and basically none of the random BS you find in even the best DCPS schools. I guess it's nice to send kids to a neighborhood school and to have friends in the neighborhood. So maybe you do that for PK and a couple years of elementary. But especially on CH people will start peeling off for private or charters like Latin or BASIS by late elementary anyway. So why wait for that to happen when it might impact your ability to get into the school you want -- just go.

This is not a know on DCPS but I just can't imagine rolling the dice in this way by waiting if you know that you're going to want private anyway and can definitely afford it. I also think you will quickly discover that neighborhood schools are overrated in DC as a source of friendship-- people are super transient anyway and the lottery means classmates might not even live nearby plus you would be surprised by how easy it is to maintain a neighborhood friendship while kids attend different schools.

Well $45-55k is a lot of money even if you make $800k, so if you can get a good education for free, why not?

Also, everyone but the biggest rube knows that all elementary school education is basically the same. People like you are how private schools pay the bills for the upper school. Send your kid to Stoddert or key or Mann and they’ll get a better education than you can get paying for it anywhere in town. Sixth grade is a different story, but only a real donut would consider paying for any elementary.

Elementary academics are largely the same. But elementary peer groups and environment are not especially in the upper grades in DC. And if you read the post above you would understand that the reason for leaving for private is not because you will get such a vastly better education in private but because it will become harder to jump to the private of your choice if you wait until 6th grade.

Anyway OP's response is pretty telling and I actually agree with OP that they are basically being immature. Not because they are choosing to stay but because I think they have some competing desires and are refusing to reconcile them and just hoping they will work out and I think they probably won't. They don't want to move because they like their lifestyle. But they clearly do not like their middle school and high school options. They like their elementary school but largely because it's easy and they are comfortable -- they like not having to commute and it's what they are already familiar with.

They might get lucky and score spots at Latin in 5th (I do not think they would like BASIS which is not a knock -- I am also not into BASIS). And they might get lucky and easily find a private they like at 6th and it all works out. But if neither of those things happen I think OP will be flipping out about how CH doesn't have good middle school options and real estate in upper NW is so unfairly priced and admissions at private schools are opaque and unfair. But they will be in that situation because they chose to stay in a neighborhood and school system out of convenience and complacency when they had ample opportuntiy to find another solution.

Lol ouch. OK maybe some fair tough love. My only defense is that at our current salaries and with a small mortgage and no school tuition costs, we are putting away $300k+ per year. Some of that is toward retirement but we are keeping a very decent chunk in a brokerage specifically with the idea that we might one day use it to upgrade our house. So moving to upper NW is our plan B (or maybe our plan A?) and it gets financially more attainable for us every year. House prices are going up but not as much as our savings are. So that's the only thing I'll say in my defense; otherwise this is all probably a fair critique. My question here was more about whether private was a decision we had to make NOW, or would actually be an easy decision to make when we get to middle school. Sounds like some mixed reviews here.

Moving to private school becomes harder as they grow older.

You seem like a pretty chill person, so I’d advise you keep the status quo. Even if you get shut out of private schools later, you can buy a house in a nice area and go to the zoned school with all the money you’ve saved by staying put.

The only people I’d advise moving are those who aren’t flexible and believe their kids will only thrive at specific schools, etc.

[Anonymous]

You are free to remain oblivious to what you are missing out on and keep pocketing the savings at the expense of your children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi,
I live in a part of DC with decent elementary schools but bad middle and high schools. Something I hear casually said among the other parents at our elementary school is that they might "just go private" for middle or high school.

Is it really that straightforward? Are there just tons of private schools with openings in 6th grade? I think my fear is that we count on that and then end up not getting in anywhere. And what kind of criteria do they use to admit kids? Is it based on the kid's academic / extracurricular performance? Do siblings get in automatically?

I guess I just need a complete primer on privates. Thank you for any info and for taking pity on a total novice.

It's a striver wannabe / miser thing to say. Nobody who can afford private primary says this. And it's deluded because you can't make up for lost time. k-6th is 7 pivotal years of life. Your kid is not on the same rung when they transfer in at age 12 or 13; from academics, to socially, and everything in-between.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are free to remain oblivious to what you are missing out on and keep pocketing the savings at the expense of your children.

+1. These deluded misers really think they're gaming the system, playing some clever angle, and "saving" money. It's comical.