Sidwell vs. Georgetown Day School -- pros and cons

[Anonymous]

My DC was accepted to both for 9th grade a few years ago. After doing a shadow day at each, they chose GDS - and it wasn't a hard choice for them, they just felt more comfortable there. And it ended up being a great choice.

There are families where one child goes to GDS and the other to Sidwell. So I'd leave it up to your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was wondering if folks with experience at either/both schools would like to weigh in.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

GDS
1. Less structured teaching/classroom environment;
2. No high school cafeteria/lunch program;
3. CCO restricts the number of college applications to 12;
4. No AP courses offered, and the AP exam is NOT administered on campus; and
5. Founded as a racially integrated school in 1945 (on the right side of history).

Sidwell
1. More structured/traditional teaching and classroom environment;
2. High school cafeteria (lunch included in tuition cost);
3. CCO does NOT restrict students’ college applications;
4. No AP courses offered, however, the AP exam is administered on campus; and
5. Founded in 1883 and racially segregated until 1956 (NOT on the right side of history).

I would add to this that Sidwell has an open campus and many students go out for lunch. So unless you have clear expectations with your child, you could end up paying for lunch anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS chose GDS over Sidwell bc he is more focused on the arts. He is an athlete, but knows he is not good enough to play on Sidwell's basketball team. AT GDS, he knew he would get playing time, which was important to him. The sense at GDS is that the admin really lets kids decide for themselves what their strengths are and pretty much will support that choice. At Sidwell, there is more conformity with regard to what is understood as excellence. College outcomes are very similar, though they vary from year to year.

As a Sidwell alum and current GDS parent, I think this is a very accurate and important difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell is not a secular school if that matters to you. They talk about God and they have worship meetings in line with being a Quaker school. That’s at least one big difference.

Good point.

I have not heard that word used once. So you can’t possibly know since you’ve obviously only read about SFS

I said “good point” because they mentioned God during our tour there this fall. I was honestly surprised. I knew it was a Quaker school and that Quakerism is a Christian denomination, but I thought of the School is having Quaker value as well being secular in practice. They didn’t talk about Jesus, but God definitely came up a couple of times. For many people this isn’t a big deal, including us since that’s where my child will be going, but I think it is worth noting for anyone who isn’t expecting it to be at least minimally religious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell is not a secular school if that matters to you. They talk about God and they have worship meetings in line with being a Quaker school. That’s at least one big difference.

Good point.

I have not heard that word used once. So you can’t possibly know since you’ve obviously only read about SFS

I said “good point” because they mentioned God during our tour there this fall. I was honestly surprised. I knew it was a Quaker school and that Quakerism is a Christian denomination, but I thought of the School is having Quaker value as well being secular in practice. They didn’t talk about Jesus, but God definitely came up a couple of times. For many people this isn’t a big deal, including us since that’s where my child will be going, but I think it is worth noting for anyone who isn’t expecting it to be at least minimally religious.

Sorry for the typos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was wondering if folks with experience at either/both schools would like to weigh in.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

GDS
1. Less structured teaching/classroom environment;
2. No high school cafeteria/lunch program;
3. CCO restricts the number of college applications to 12;
4. No AP courses offered, and the AP exam is NOT administered on campus; and
5. Founded as a racially integrated school in 1945 (on the right side of history).

Sidwell
1. More structured/traditional teaching and classroom environment;
2. High school cafeteria (lunch included in tuition cost);
3. CCO does NOT restrict students’ college applications;
4. No AP courses offered, however, the AP exam is administered on campus; and
5. Founded in 1883 and racially segregated until 1956 (NOT on the right side of history).

Thanks for this. All of 2-5 above were evident from the application process. I would love to understand more about the first point. What does an “unstructured teaching environment” actually look like?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are no material differences. Let your kid pick. Those who say they are very different are way too immersed in the insular world of the expensive DC private school scene.

It truly does not matter.

Not true. Personally, I would never send a boy to GDS.

Why?

Because he doesn't need a steady diet of how horrible and oppressive he is, simply because he is a male. And because their sports program is embarrassingly weak, across the board. And no one seems to care, which is a problem in and of itself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was wondering if folks with experience at either/both schools would like to weigh in.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

GDS
1. Less structured teaching/classroom environment;
2. No high school cafeteria/lunch program;
3. CCO restricts the number of college applications to 12;
4. No AP courses offered, and the AP exam is NOT administered on campus; and
5. Founded as a racially integrated school in 1945 (on the right side of history).

Sidwell
1. More structured/traditional teaching and classroom environment;
2. High school cafeteria (lunch included in tuition cost);
3. CCO does NOT restrict students’ college applications;
4. No AP courses offered, however, the AP exam is administered on campus; and
5. Founded in 1883 and racially segregated until 1956 (NOT on the right side of history).

I would add to this that Sidwell has an open campus and many students go out for lunch. So unless you have clear expectations with your child, you could end up paying for lunch anyway.

It’s evident from some of these posts that many of your children are running the show. It took no more than 2 minutes for me to make it crystal clear that we (the parents) weren’t paying for any off-campus lunches. Our $60,000 per year tuition payment to Sidwell covers that.
If my child wants to dine off-campus for lunch (while ignoring the perfectly fine cuisine on campus), she knows that she will pay for it with her own money. Since her allowance is $20/month, good luck with that! It’s called parenting, and some of you should try it (unless you want to pay for two lunches/day).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are no material differences. Let your kid pick. Those who say they are very different are way too immersed in the insular world of the expensive DC private school scene.

It truly does not matter.

Not true. Personally, I would never send a boy to GDS.

Why?

Because he doesn't need a steady diet of how horrible and oppressive he is, simply because he is a male. And because their sports program is embarrassingly weak, across the board. And no one seems to care, which is a problem in and of itself.

This is also our view and why we left in. We are a very progressive family but I don't need my son's school day focused on: "Because he doesn't need a steady diet of how horrible and oppressive he is, simply because he is a male.". This comes from the TOP down and trickles into the entire school. This happens a lot less at Sidwell, and a bit more at Maret.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are no material differences. Let your kid pick. Those who say they are very different are way too immersed in the insular world of the expensive DC private school scene.

It truly does not matter.

Not true. Personally, I would never send a boy to GDS.

Why?

Because he doesn't need a steady diet of how horrible and oppressive he is, simply because he is a male. And because their sports program is embarrassingly weak, across the board. And no one seems to care, which is a problem in and of itself.

This is also our view and why we left in. We are a very progressive family but I don't need my son's school day focused on: "Because he doesn't need a steady diet of how horrible and oppressive he is, simply because he is a male.". This comes from the TOP down and trickles into the entire school. This happens a lot less at Sidwell, and a bit more at Maret.

I do worry about this for my son as well. Any sense at this point of what type of leader they might be seeking to replace Russell?

[Anonymous]

Have your kid shadow both schools and see where their preference is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are no material differences. Let your kid pick. Those who say they are very different are way too immersed in the insular world of the expensive DC private school scene.

It truly does not matter.

If you child likes one more than the other - let them choose.

But as a parent with children at both schools - they are not the same. And it does matter on a variety of dimensions. But how and how much depends on the kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are no material differences. Let your kid pick. Those who say they are very different are way too immersed in the insular world of the expensive DC private school scene.

It truly does not matter.

If you child likes one more than the other - let them choose.

But as a parent with children at both schools - they are not the same. And it does matter on a variety of dimensions. But how and how much depends on the kid.

I’d love to hear more about the actual day to day differences. Kid and we have slight preference for Sidwell at the moment but it’s very hard to know what life would actually be like at these schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are no material differences. Let your kid pick. Those who say they are very different are way too immersed in the insular world of the expensive DC private school scene.

It truly does not matter.

Not true. Personally, I would never send a boy to GDS.

Why?

Because he doesn't need a steady diet of how horrible and oppressive he is, simply because he is a male. And because their sports program is embarrassingly weak, across the board. And no one seems to care, which is a problem in and of itself.

This is also our view and why we left in. We are a very progressive family but I don't need my son's school day focused on: "Because he doesn't need a steady diet of how horrible and oppressive he is, simply because he is a male.". This comes from the TOP down and trickles into the entire school. This happens a lot less at Sidwell, and a bit more at Maret.

I do worry about this for my son as well. Any sense at this point of what type of leader they might be seeking to replace Russell?

Our white son does not feel oppressed at GDS. Learning history and observing life using a broader lens is not the same as pointing fingers and he knows this.

[Anonymous]

Congrats OP—two great choices. Maybe consider the daily schedules and how that fits for your family. I have a kid at GDS so I only know their schedule. They are on a block schedule with 75 minute classes. HS starts at 8:45am—they have a class then community time, then another class, followed by lunch and two classes after lunch. After school sports /programs are optional. Many HS kids hang out in the forum or gym after school. The classes are every other day (so they don’t have homework assigned one day and due the next which is nice). GDS generally does not have homework over breaks.
GDS has busses that drop off at school at 8am (lots of kids hang in the forum or library until 8:45am when school starts). The busses leave school around 3:40. You pay by the day so we always use the morning bus, and either use the afternoon bus or carpool home if staying for sports, drama, buddy program, etc. School closed around 8pm.