How hard is it to get into Potomac?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What demographics do you think they typically need to fill? latin/hispanic?

You would think so, but they don’t need to fill anything

When we toured, there wasn’t much diversity.

Not sure what you saw…

We have 2 kids there. We are POC. US class my daughter is in is about 35% UMR and my 4th grader’s class is about 40% UMR. We feel very comfortable there. Lots of diverse families at the school. Many Asian and South asian families there. Also a decent amount of AA. Not to many Hispanic families though.

Also about admissions, yeah, super hard at 9th. Many recruits come in there, so only really 20 spots of the 30 are for applicants. Most siblings come in at K and 4th. Many siblings get rejected. Best entry year is likely 7th grade as they do not recruit at that grade and there are 20 spots. K is also one to want to try as they start there.

4th, 6th and 9th are super competitive with admit rates around 10%.

Do you mean URM, underrepresented minority? Or what does UMR mean?

I toured the lower school and it was absolutely NOT 40% URM. It looked about 80% white. I did see a few kids who looked mixed or Persian. Middle Easterns I believe are considered white and Asians are not URM.

It probably is 40%. It’s probably just white URM’s accounting for that 40%.

What the heck is a “white URM”??

There are plenty of white hispanics and lots of people claiming to be Native American who look white. There was a time in this country where whites fraudulently enrolled on the Dawes Rolls, often for a bribe of $5, allowing white individuals to claim tribal land allotments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not as hard as Sidwell GDS NCS St Albans and Maret.

It is harder than all of these schools judging by the outplacement at our K-6 last year. Many kids got accepted to many of the above. Only one kid got into Potomac. And then I see people in my neighborhood whose kids go to Potomac and they seem like totally average families with not extraordinary kids. So I really don't have any idea who gets into Potomac.

[Anonymous]

The only people I know who go to Potomac have been going to Potomac forever, since at least elementary school. And every child in their family attends.

Another kid I knew entered in 7th grade. No connection and played a sport, but not necessarily a spectacular or stellar student.

Anyone I know who applied for HS was denied.

[Anonymous]

Only one student from DC’s 8th grade (in a k-8) was accepted to Potomac. Excellent student and athlete, but not the top student or athlete in the grade — the top student (also an excellent athlete) was not admitted. The one student who did get in was also one of the major donors of the class (which I only know because they openly offered a major matching incentive for a fundraising campaign and were thanked by name for doing so in school communications, and have a plaque on the wall).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not as hard as Sidwell GDS NCS St Albans and Maret.

I think it’s harder than those schools. Atleast it was for us.

+1, and we applied from DC so theoretically should have had an easier time at Potomac. Got into some of the others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Potomac values geographic diversity and has many bus routes to other counties / cities and to MD/DC. Slightly easier admit from MD or DC than from VA.

VA has a fair number of K-8 schools, so 9th grade admissions is competitive at many VA private schools, including Potomac.

This doesn't sound true. Potomac has busses but why would it value a chevy chase kid over a mclean kid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you're at a top private K-8, it can be very difficult. If you're also a sibling or a huge donor, it's easier but not a slam-dunk. If you're not from a top private, then its very very difficult.

This is not true at all. My kids are all lifers, and the majority of their friends who have entered in entry years have come from public (a variety of arlington, mclean, nw). They only know a couple of kids who have come from k-8s into 9th. None of their friends have been from big donor families or vips. We also know a fair amount of sibling and alum children who have been rejected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What demographics do you think they typically need to fill? latin/hispanic?

You would think so, but they don’t need to fill anything

When we toured, there wasn’t much diversity.

Not sure what part you toured, but the school is very diverse. We've had friends complain they were not accepted b/c they did not bring any diversity. When we were looking, we found it to be a lot more diverse than most of the other schools. Admissions can give you all the percentages. The bus system helps bring in kids from all over the area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What demographics do you think they typically need to fill? latin/hispanic?

It will depend on where they feel they have a void to fill, but it is likely anyone that isn't white, christian, wealthy, and heterosexual (student or family), generally speaking.

[Anonymous]

Potomac is not an easy admit. Our child got into every top dc private - GDS, Sidwell, Maret, cathedral school - but not to Potomac. FWIW, child excels in a sport that Potomac does not offer and the admissions officer made it clear to us on the tour that he thought we were not a fit because of this. They want smart, sporty kids to fill their teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What demographics do you think they typically need to fill? latin/hispanic?

It will depend on where they feel they have a void to fill, but it is likely anyone that isn't white, christian, wealthy, and heterosexual (student or family), generally speaking.

You are guessing and are wrong. I know Black and Latino kids who applied, were good students, and good athletes that applied. They got waitpiled just like the white kids and nobody got off the waitpile list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Potomac values geographic diversity and has many bus routes to other counties / cities and to MD/DC. Slightly easier admit from MD or DC than from VA.

VA has a fair number of K-8 schools, so 9th grade admissions is competitive at many VA private schools, including Potomac.

This doesn't sound true. Potomac has busses but why would it value a chevy chase kid over a mclean kid?

Because they like to pretend they are a DMV school on par with the nationally known schools that are in DC proper. And you can’t do that when your student population centers around Great Falls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Potomac values geographic diversity and has many bus routes to other counties / cities and to MD/DC. Slightly easier admit from MD or DC than from VA.

VA has a fair number of K-8 schools, so 9th grade admissions is competitive at many VA private schools, including Potomac.

This doesn't sound true. Potomac has busses but why would it value a chevy chase kid over a mclean kid?

Because they like to pretend they are a DMV school on par with the nationally known schools that are in DC proper. And you can’t do that when your student population centers around Great Falls.

In some ways Potomac and some of the privates around Bethesda and Potomac, Md are better than the schools in DC proper. Nobody cares if the school is in DC proper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Potomac values geographic diversity and has many bus routes to other counties / cities and to MD/DC. Slightly easier admit from MD or DC than from VA.

VA has a fair number of K-8 schools, so 9th grade admissions is competitive at many VA private schools, including Potomac.

This doesn't sound true. Potomac has busses but why would it value a chevy chase kid over a mclean kid?

Because they like to pretend they are a DMV school on par with the nationally known schools that are in DC proper. And you can’t do that when your student population centers around Great Falls.

In some ways Potomac and some of the privates around Bethesda and Potomac, Md are better than the schools in DC proper. Nobody cares if the school is in DC proper.

Wrong. Privates in DC proper are the best in the entire region. Holton, Landon, Potomac, Prep, etc have nothing on Sidwell, GDS, Cathedrals, Maret, WIS. DC privates = intellectual kids. MD/VA privates = sunk costs. Your kid is better off going to a public in MD/VA.

[Anonymous]

lol intellectual kids…