Does this sound like Maret?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maret is a good school. Much lower percentage of National Merit Semifinalists (an imperfect metric but one of the only ones to exist) than Sidwell/GDS/Cathedral schools. Maybe because they let in a higher % of the ultimate graduating class at the lower grades and don't have as many 9th grade admits with very strong test scores? Not sure. But, again, a very nice place with good teaching.

National Merit Semifinalist is metric that measures the ability of students who are admitted to a school, not the impact of the school on those students. There is a strong correlation between entrance exam performance and PSAT performance. Even for students who attend a school a full four years, the PSAT is administered just after the halfway point if the school experience.

There is absolutely NO correlation between PSAT performance and entrance exam performance which is based on more an "achievement test" than the PSAT which is a reasoning based exam preapring the student for the upcoming SAT exam. This is all part of the raging controversy over the value of the PSAT and SAT. No colleges ever see the PSAT and is only a guide for students to focus on in preparatin for the SAT.

This is so wrong it's not even worth trying to parse it out - suffice it say that juniors can take the SAT before the PSAT.

Sure, any junior can take the SAT before the SAT as a sophmore or freshman? The PSAT is offered in October of the junior year..there's only one chance that a junior can take the SAT before the PSAT. THis is such a ridiculous post is not evne woth responding any further.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Below is the list distilled down to matriculation (the colleges with a star)


Barnard College*
Boston College*
Boston University*
Bowdoin College*
?Brown University*
Case Western Reserve University*
Colby College*
Colorado College*
Cornell College*
?Cornell University*?
Emory University*
Eugene Lang College*
Franklin & Marshall College* (6)?
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering*
George Washington University*
Georgetown University*
?Hamilton College*
Harvard University*
Haverford College*
Hobart and William Smith Colleges*
Kenyon College*
?McGill University*
Muhlenberg College*
New York University*
Northwestern University*
?Oberlin College*
?Occidental College*
Pomona College*
?Pratt Institute*
Princeton University*
Samford University*
Sarah Lawrence College*
Skidmore College*
Stanford University*
Swarthmore College*
Syracuse University*
?Tulane University*
University of Maryland - College Park*
University of Pittsburgh*
University of Toronto*
Virginia Polytechnic Institute*
Washington University in St. Louis*
Wesleyan University?*
Williams College*
Wittenberg University*
Wofford College*
?Yale University*

Since there are people attending Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford, no, it was not just one student who got those spots. It seems to me that mostly people attend top universities and liberal arts schools. There are only a handful of second tier schools in this list, and it doesn't look all that different from lists people have been discussing of NCS/STA. A lot of the acceptances seem to be safety schools.

It seems to me that often people on this forum forget that many schools have specialized major programs that kids may school or they may get an athletic scholarship to attend or their family cannot afford $60k a year in tuition. And some students simply visit and like a school, regardless of how prestigious others may think it is. Regardless, this seems to me like a pretty impressive list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Below is the list distilled down to matriculation (the colleges with a star)


Barnard College*
Boston College*
Boston University*
Bowdoin College*
?Brown University*
Case Western Reserve University*
Colby College*
Colorado College*
Cornell College*
?Cornell University*?
Emory University*
Eugene Lang College*
Franklin & Marshall College* (6)?
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering*
George Washington University*
Georgetown University*
?Hamilton College*
Harvard University*
Haverford College*
Hobart and William Smith Colleges*
Kenyon College*
?McGill University*
Muhlenberg College*
New York University*
Northwestern University*
?Oberlin College*
?Occidental College*
Pomona College*
?Pratt Institute*
Princeton University*
Samford University*
Sarah Lawrence College*
Skidmore College*
Stanford University*
Swarthmore College*
Syracuse University*
?Tulane University*
University of Maryland - College Park*
University of Pittsburgh*
University of Toronto*
Virginia Polytechnic Institute*
Washington University in St. Louis*
Wesleyan University?*
Williams College*
Wittenberg University*
Wofford College*
?Yale University*

Since there are people attending Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford, no, it was not just one student who got those spots. It seems to me that mostly people attend top universities and liberal arts schools. There are only a handful of second tier schools in this list, and it doesn't look all that different from lists people have been discussing of NCS/STA. A lot of the acceptances seem to be safety schools.

It seems to me that often people on this forum forget that many schools have specialized major programs that kids may school or they may get an athletic scholarship to attend or their family cannot afford $60k a year in tuition. And some students simply visit and like a school, regardless of how prestigious others may think it is. Regardless, this seems to me like a pretty impressive list.

+1. I know a number of students who turned down bigger name schools for "lesser" name schools because they were offered an athletic scholarship or received more financial aid.

[Anonymous]

As a parent, one element of Maret that I loved was that they didn't push the kids to go to "the best school" that they got into, but to find the best fit. This is pretty unusual in this crazy town.

[Anonymous]

I second the "big drug problems" at the school.

[Anonymous]

This thread had an interesting discussion about St, Andrew's.

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/347131.page

It also mentioned a local blog that described St. Andrew's curriculum very positively, likewise with Maret. It was a cool resource in general, very detailed:

http://process999.wordpress.com/2013/12/01/assessing-the-private-school-curriculum-what-does-better-look-like/

Had not heard about drug problems there. Is the school taking action? That is disturbing.

[Anonymous]

Their current school sounds more like Burke or Field if they need in DC and St. Andrews or Burgandy Farms in the burbs. Maret is a pressure cooker, in part because they don't always accept the most academic kids (boosting their athletics?) but then they pressure them to become academic by loading on hours of homework. By High School that translates into a fair amount of "self-medicating" to deal with the pressure.