TC Williams or private?

[Anonymous]

TC has good attributes. Honestly it depends on peer groups. If you think your kids will hang out with other motivated kids then go for it. I've known kids who have gone to TC who have done really well, but they were in a motivated peer group. Also a lot of good private school admissions are due to legacy status. So take it with a grain of salt. I think you will meet more interesting people at TC Williams.

[Anonymous]

Exactly by this point your snowflake should be tracking into honors and AP/IB and will be fine

There is a very strong cohort of these types of people at TC Williams who get accepted to good great and elite colleges every year

If they haven't you have bigger problems than worrying about TC Williams

[Anonymous]

A quality private will prepare them for work in college much better than TC. I believe, however, the same kid will have better college options coming from TC.

I live in Alexandria and have had kids (and neighbors) in both public and private school, so I think I know of what I speak.

Anecdotally, DD was in a private with a neighbor girl who transferred to ACPS because neighbor was struggling with grades and the workload in the private (it was a lot). At TC, she excelled, getting lots of academic honors she wouldn't have gotten at the private and ended up at a top 25 college. DD and a couple others ended up at slightly lower-ranking schools (they did not apply to any mutuals as far as I know) with higher SATs (2150 for DD).

At university, DD has been doing great - at least in the top 10% (based on Deans List), but neighbor has been struggling and has had to withdraw from a couple of classes, but is not in any serious academic trouble either.

Both girls are happy with how things turned out and in the grand scheme of things, it's probably all a wash (except for the costs).

If you can afford it, let the kid choose. The paths are very different, but the results are not.

[Anonymous]

So what I'm getting from these posts (and other sources too) is that, all else being equal, our kid basically has to choose between option a - private school - getting the best preparation/ appropriate rigor for college but then having less good odds of getting into a competitive college. Or option b - going to a less challenging/rigorous high school but having better odds of getting into a competitive college.

Is this correct?! Am I the only one who thinks this is crazy? How do you make this kind of decision?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A quality private will prepare them for work in college much better than TC. I believe, however, the same kid will have better college options coming from TC.

I live in Alexandria and have had kids (and neighbors) in both public and private school, so I think I know of what I speak.

Anecdotally, DD was in a private with a neighbor girl who transferred to ACPS because neighbor was struggling with grades and the workload in the private (it was a lot). At TC, she excelled, getting lots of academic honors she wouldn't have gotten at the private and ended up at a top 25 college. DD and a couple others ended up at slightly lower-ranking schools (they did not apply to any mutuals as far as I know) with higher SATs (2150 for DD).

At university, DD has been doing great - at least in the top 10% (based on Deans List), but neighbor has been struggling and has had to withdraw from a couple of classes, but is not in any serious academic trouble either.

Both girls are happy with how things turned out and in the grand scheme of things, it's probably all a wash (except for the costs).

If you can afford it, let the kid choose. The paths are very different, but the results are not.

Kind of silly extrapolation from two situations to brag about your kid and make a questionable point about the differences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Recent anecdote: My niece and nephew went to TC. One is at Princeton; the other graduated from Yale a few years ago and is in a graduate program at Cal Tech. Both felt very well prepared for college. Both are highly motivated, self-starter types.

Not so recent anecdote: I went to TC and then to UVA as an Echols Scholar with nearly a year of college credit (AP exams). I was very well prepared. Better prepared then some of my classmates who attended DC-area privates. Went to law school at Yale. I'm a highly motivated, self-starter type.

Future anecdote: My kids will be at Minnie Howard next year and TC proper in 2017 - 2018. Both are highly motivated, self-starter types. I'm confident they'll do well.

Now we're talking. Pp, thank you so much. How did your tc classmates and your niece's and nephew's tc classmates do post high school? Similar experience? Did you all enjoy your high school years?

My niece's and nephew's high school friends are a stellar group of kids. To a person, they landed happily at great colleges. One of my niece's close friends stumbled a bit - transferred from University of Chicago to Georgetown after a hard first year to be closer to home (mother was diagnosed with cervical cancer) - but as a group, they're doing very well. Nephew's friends are either employed and exploring graduate school or in grad school. They both had a great high school experience and remain close with their high school friends.

Same for me: great experience. Crew was a lynchpin for me and my group of friends in high school. My closest and oldest friends are women with whom I went to GW middle school and TC. All successful professionals and, more importantly, really good people. A few weekends ago we were all in the same place celebrating one of our kid's bat mitzvahs. Good times.

I went to TC- went on to UVA and then worked overseas and came back to get my MBA from UVA (in-state tuition is a major bonus- plus outstanding school). Anyway, I did meet the people that the PP mentioned- it does remind me so much of the cliques of Maury and some other schools that were predominantly white and quite capable of sending their kids to private but didn't. Those kids certainly did bond and create a clique together- they were so not inclusive and - hum- arrogant and some other words. This is given we were at a public high school and they made it clear they FELT above others. So- yes, if your child goes keep in mind the cliques are huge. I could name so many cliques - the burn outs, the jocks, the "popular" since I could have gone to a private .. BUT, it's such a large school that it really is easy not to care. I personally would not send my children to TC Williams- despite that academically- it was outstanding in AP and honors classes (which I took). I just don't see the sense to send my kids to such a jungle .. this is my own personal opinion. We don't have the $ to go private so I never considered living in Alexandria. We live in Fairfax County.

[Anonymous]

Crew may be no cut at TC but you do want to be in one of the top boats ... The ones that actually race every week, etc.

[Anonymous]

It depends on which private would be the alternative. We considered the Catholic privates - BI and O'Connell - but TC actually offered far more courses as well as extracurricular and sports options.

[Anonymous]

Went to TC many, many years ago, then on to a top private college and graduated in three years, in part thanks to many AP credits. I had exceptional teachers at TC and was well prepared for college.

My kids are in Fairfax County just over the Alexandria city line, but I have many friends in ACPS and they are all sending their kids to TC or will.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It depends on which private would be the alternative. We considered the Catholic privates - BI and O'Connell - but TC actually offered far more courses as well as extracurricular and sports options.

I've heard the same thing about catholic schools as far as course offerings - and the classes are really big too. The private we are considering is what folks seem to consider one of the "top five" schools which means is is double the cost of a catholic school but supposedly far better academically. If you had that possibility for your kid, would you go with TC or not? And if you are wondering how my kids feels - she is on the fence.

[Anonymous]

Ah, yes, this question. It's as old as time.

[Anonymous]

For parents who have or have had kids at TC - is it tough for boys who are academically motivated but also social? It seems like in middle school the "all rounders" i.e. the boys that are smart, social and athletic have to act like they are not smart/don't care about their grades in order to be cool. Does this get better in high school? This does not seem to be an issue for the girls, who seem to compete over everything from what I can tell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So what I'm getting from these posts (and other sources too) is that, all else being equal, our kid basically has to choose between option a - private school - getting the best preparation/ appropriate rigor for college but then having less good odds of getting into a competitive college. Or option b - going to a less challenging/rigorous high school but having better odds of getting into a competitive college.

Is this correct?! Am I the only one who thinks this is crazy? How do you make this kind of decision?!

No. There is no admissions advantage from TC or an admission penalty at the competitive independent schools. An academically oriented student will do well in either setting, which is why so many previous posters said it was just a matter of preference. For lower-income students, programs like Questbridge and Jack Kent Cooke Foundation are helping those that have overcome a lot to access the top tier colleges. But that isn't a route for the typical upper middle class child of a DCUM parent.

[Anonymous]

I'd talk to some parents of kids who are there. We have neighbors there and the kids are doing well and have a good friend group. I would ultimately let your child decide.

I had a friend whose parents pushed one college over another, and she being an impressionable 18 year old, went against what she wanted. Where she went was a bad fit, she didn't finish the first semester, and she blamed her parents which was a whole other layer of complication. Let her make and own her decision and if it doesn't work out, you can reassess in year.

[Anonymous]

First of all, I would discredit any "advice" regarding TC unless it comes from someone who has actually sent their kids there. In fact, this is true for ACPS in general. ACPS gets such a bad rap but sometimes the people spreading all the horror stories have never stepped foot in the school! Anyways, I have two kids at TC and they like it and so do I. The teachers are fabulous (of course there are always exceptions) and they really care about the kids and their success.