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Why do people on DCUM think Beauvoir is the only school worthy of discussion on these posts?
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Anonymous
This is inaccurate information. Beauvoir takes 60 in Pre-K and adds an extra class in K. From K - 3rd Grade, each grade has between 80-84 kids. I do the parent tours so I know these stats are accurate. |
Anonymous
Okay now this I find hard to believe! You don't have to be a Beauvoir parent to know that it isn't the kind of school you are not thrilled to go to! Along with Sidwell it is the most difficult (regardless of spots - you still have way more applications there than to most other schools) school to get into and people who get into the school are thrilled. There are so many other schools they could apply to that I doubt that they are just "stuck" with Beauvoir! If they truly feel that way then they are being lazy and haven't looked around enough for other options for their children. There are so many wonderful schools in DC and my advice would be to look around at other schools and don't send your child to a school you are not happy about going to. |
Anonymous
This is just ridiculous and it is sad that I feel a need to defend the school. There are so many wonderful schools in this city, I don't understand why people feel so angry about Beauvoir. First, the poster quoted above does not have their facts straight. They are completely incorrect when they say "still substanitally greater number of spots at K." And I cannot even go there with the "necessary evil" remark which speaks volumes of the poster's intent. First I want to say I have NEVER criticized another school on this board and actually have defended many. Second, regarding facts about Beauvoir. The school has 20 openings for Kindergarten which is a third of the spots open for Pre-K. Furthermore, just because Beauvoir has a larger intake in Pre-K, has no baring on making it easier to get into than other schools. That would be like saying Harvard is easier to get into than Colgate because it has a larger student body. The school can admit siblings unless there is a strong indicator not to which strengthens its sense of family and community. This is a luxury that other schools cannot offer. So I guess it is easier for siblings to get in due to the size. As for the overall general population, the student body is not as constrained limiting the admissions to one of each type of child, so in that sense this may make a difference to applicants who are equally strong and similiar in terms of their strengths diversity they don't cancel each other out. It is great that the school can offer more spots. Sadly, this does not make it easier to get in. The DC area has so many children that test in the 99% and not enough spots in early entry years for all of these exceptionally bright children be it at Beauvoir or any school. There are way too many strong candidates out there for the number of openings in DC privates. That's why some parents go absolutely crazy over the admissions process and maybe feel compelled to make rude insults about schools. I might add that with Beauvoir's size comes unmatched depth & rescources in early childhood research and development. It's a mini-university. A great example of this is the Associates teachers' program which is comprised of almost all ivy grads with astounding accomplishments who could have their own class room at another school, but these teachers choose to take the lower pay and stature just to have the opportunity to be a part of this extremely special school and because it means a lot to have Beauvoir on their resume. I also believe, that due to it's size and specialized focus on early education, Beauvoir attracts more applicants than many schools who have smaller classes in the early grades. Beauvoir's is nationally known to be arguably one of the (if not the) strongest schools exclusively devoted to early childhood education in the country. Obviously it would not be on the radar of Worth magazine or WSJ because the articles referenced in those articles address college admittance and SATs. However, leading early childhood educators all over the country are very aware of Beauvoir. Be it the LA Power couple Tom & Deede Hudnut of Los Angeles's Harvard Westlake. Deede used to teach at Beauvoir before becoming the AD to the top Pre-school in LA and Tom taught at St. Albans and was head of school of Norwood back in the day. see W magazine article http://www.wmagazine.com/society/2009/06/hudnuts. A few years ago, I had lunch with a friend who teaches second grade at the Spence school in New York and she said that if she moved to DC she would love to teach at Beauvoir. And I might add this was BEFORE I sent my child there, so she had no bias in telling me this. Also, the Director of admissions of the Brearly school in NYC is a Beauvoir grad. My point is that size of the school is an asset and has no bearing on it being easier to get into (except for siblings). I wish all the schools in DC were easier to get into as there are so many incredibly smart applicants and many wonderful schools but not enough spaces. DC schools have some of the strongest reputations in terms of academic excellence. We are fortunate to live in a city where academics are valued. I don't want to take anything away from any of the other wonderful schools in the DC area because so many are very strong and nationally recognized by educators (not necessarily by the general population but by teachers and administrators). It just irks me when people criticize a school with broad sweeping negative statements purely for the sake of putting the school down, especially when they use incorrect information and assumptions. Please use this board as a positive way to share information and not make disparaging remarks based on heresay. |
Anonymous
| Agree completely with PP. One small correction on PreK numbers. About 30 of those spots typically go to siblings so openings available for non-siblings are really more in the 20-30 range depending on the year. |
Anonymous
|
This is just ridiculous and it is sad that I feel a need to defend the school. There are so many wonderful schools in this city, I don't understand why people feel so angry about Beauvoir. First, the poster quoted above does not have their facts straight. They are completely incorrect when they say "still substanitally greater number of spots at K." And I cannot even go there with the "necessary evil" remark which speaks volumes of the poster's intent. First I want to say I have NEVER criticized another school on this board and actually have defended many. Second, regarding facts about Beauvoir. The school has 20 openings for Kindergarten which is a third of the spots open for Pre-K. Furthermore, just because Beauvoir has a larger intake in Pre-K, has no baring on making it easier to get into than other schools. That would be like saying Harvard is easier to get into than Colgate because it has a larger student body. The school can admit siblings unless there is a strong indicator not to which strengthens its sense of family and community. This is a luxury that other schools cannot offer. So I guess it is easier for siblings to get in due to the size. As for the overall general population, the student body is not as constrained limiting the admissions to one of each type of child, so in that sense this may make a difference to applicants who are equally strong and similiar in terms of their strengths diversity they don't cancel each other out. It is great that the school can offer more spots. Sadly, this does not make it easier to get in. The DC area has so many children that test in the 99% and not enough spots in early entry years for all of these exceptionally bright children be it at Beauvoir or any school. There are way too many strong candidates out there for the number of openings in DC privates. That's why some parents go absolutely crazy over the admissions process and maybe feel compelled to make rude insults about schools. I might add that with Beauvoir's size comes unmatched depth & rescources in early childhood research and development. It's a mini-university. A great example of this is the Associates teachers' program which is comprised of almost all ivy grads with astounding accomplishments who could have their own class room at another school, but these teachers choose to take the lower pay and stature just to have the opportunity to be a part of this extremely special school and because it means a lot to have Beauvoir on their resume. I also believe, that due to it's size and specialized focus on early education, Beauvoir attracts more applicants than many schools who have smaller classes in the early grades. Beauvoir's is nationally known to be arguably one of the (if not the) strongest schools exclusively devoted to early childhood education in the country. Obviously it would not be on the radar of Worth magazine or WSJ because the articles referenced in those articles address college admittance and SATs. However, leading early childhood educators all over the country are very aware of Beauvoir. Be it the LA Power couple Tom & Deede Hudnut of Los Angeles's Harvard Westlake. Deede used to teach at Beauvoir before becoming the AD to the top Pre-school in LA and Tom taught at St. Albans and was head of school of Norwood back in the day. see W magazine article http://www.wmagazine.com/society/2009/06/hudnuts. A few years ago, I had lunch with a friend who teaches second grade at the Spence school in New York and she said that if she moved to DC she would love to teach at Beauvoir. And I might add this was BEFORE I sent my child there, so she had no bias in telling me this. Also, the Director of admissions of the Brearly school in NYC is a Beauvoir grad. My point is that size of the school is an asset and has no bearing on it being easier to get into (except for siblings). I wish all the schools in DC were easier to get into as there are so many incredibly smart applicants and many wonderful schools but not enough spaces. DC schools have some of the strongest reputations in terms of academic excellence. We are fortunate to live in a city where academics are valued. I don't want to take anything away from any of the other wonderful schools in the DC area because so many are very strong and nationally recognized by educators (not necessarily by the general population but by teachers and administrators). It just irks me when people criticize a school with broad sweeping negative statements purely for the sake of putting the school down, especially when they use incorrect information and assumptions. Please use this board as a positive way to share information and not make disparaging remarks based on heresay. Well said. |
Anonymous
| THIS is EXACTLY why the Cathedral schools should have their OWN forum. though it probably wouldn't stop them from trolling the other forums to post comments! |
Anonymous
Why do you find it so hard to believe? As a PP mentioned, there are families who had their hearts set on Maret or Sidwell and for whom Beauvoir is a distant second or third choice (often because they don't want NCS/STA for their kids further down the road). Some families also have a bad experience with a teacher or with a peer group in a particular year--something that can happen at any school. Beauvoir is obviously an excellent school. It doesn't need to be oversold. |
Anonymous
PP and the other staunch Beauvoir defender: I will repeat facts and hopefully address your points. Beauvoir is extremely difficult for the kids who don't go to NCRC, Little Folks, perhaps a couple other preschools. Definitely within these 2 preschools, it is relatively speaking easier to get into Beauvoir than Sidwell, GDS, Maret. Every NCRC and Little Folks parent knows this. The reason does have to do with numbers. Even if 25-30 out of the 60 Beauvoir spots go to siblings, the other 30-35 go to outside candidates. The other 3 schools have tiny preK classes in comparison after accounting for its connected families. If you don't think that makes a basic difference to NCRC and Little Folks kids in ease of admission to Beauvoir then you don't understand basic numbers and what they imply. Then the question of why Beauvoir is the necessary evil at NCRC. Whether this board likes it or not, the next level of schools: Lowell, Sheridan, St Pats, WES, are not equivalents of Beauvoir. It is one of the top schools in Washington. So if a NCRC family is into a top school, and most of them are, they are more likely to see their child at Beauvoir than anywhere else. All of the NCRC kids who end up at Beauvoir do not have enthusiastic parents. They attend rather than go to St Pats instead. They would rather have gone to Sidwell (or whatever their top preference was). I will repeat again that Beauvoir is NOT any easier for the run-of-the-mill family in DC than the other top schools. |
Anonymous
| You are correct pp. For people to say Beauvoir is easy to get into -- they are being pretentious. It is not easy to get into. It is easier to get into an Ivy than it is to get into the top DC private schools. I should know -- my child got into the top Ivy and was rejected at Beauvoir when she was applying for pre-k. |
Anonymous
|
That's funny. I didn't know that we were a run-of-the-mill family before. And on the basis of where my child goes to pre-school!
Being run-of-the-mill, my concern is not so much with the angst of NCRC families who are not able to get into the school of their choice. The question I have is how stimulating the school environment is (which I can partially judge by talking to friends and visiting the school) and how interesting and smart the other kids prove to be. The last is hard to tell --- and depends on the quality of the total applicant pool at PK relative to the number of places and the selection criteria the schools use, and whether the selection is correlated with anything useful. And that's a lot tougher to figure out, unfortunately. |
Anonymous
| I think you should check your facts when you say Sheridan is not at the same level as Beauvoir. It has the most amazing faculty, curriculum and because of this wonderful families. Sheridan can only take about 15 new families after they take in the sibs. Before making sweeping assumptions about schools in the city you should go ahead and visit them. |
Anonymous
| Don't know anyone who would willingly pick Sheridan over Sidwell or GDS. If you were into small liberal arts colleges, would you really turn down Swarthmore in favor of .. Gettysburg College? Doesn't mean Gettysburg has nothing to offer. Just you would not turn down Swarthmore. |
Anonymous
| I am not asking this to be arrogant but I am truly curious - if Beauvoir is so easy to get into then why doesn't anyone get in? We are the only family out of at least 20 that I know that applied last year that got accepted (unfortunately - as many of those families are our friends and we would have loved to have them at the school with us)! Also we were told by everyone that it is impossible to get into. |
Anonymous
| Nobody said that it is "so easy to get into." It was simply suggested that it may be easier to get into than certain other schools given the size of its K cohort (about 75 percent larger than Sidwell's and GDS's, four times the size of Maret's), and I think the experience of a number of non-sibling NCRC families bears that out. |
Anonymous
| Beauvoir takes 63 for PreK, 21 in each of the three sections. They open up one additional section in K and add another 21. |