Big 3 Nightmare

[Anonymous]

I went to public high school and there was no “college counseling” whatsoever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of disenchanted GDS senior parents (like me) lurking here.

Lots of good stuff about this school academically but the CCO is highly variable, but more so is entirely devoid of facts and data, and runs the process like mindful meditation seminar sophomore and junior year and then 0 to 100 senior fall with no straight answers to yes or no questions on whether i should apply here or there.

My favorite was the junior year parents meeting where they started with 5 minutes on whether college is right for your kid. I mean WTF guys - we are at a college prep school.

For the next kid, I will be much more in command of the process, bringing data, and calling out their lack of numerical approach

I also think the 10 school cap has to be raised to 12 or 15. It mostly protects middle of the pack kids but the number hasnt changed in 10 years+. Meanwhile apps are up +20% per year every year since that time.

The limit set at 10 helps the registrar and the CCOs but not the kids.

At the very least, they can make state flagships unlimited.

Some of us are Sidwell...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread seems to be primarily about GDS. Is Sidwell similar or STA/NCS?

Also, how does GDS address the needs of families who are seeking need based and merit aid? Do they allow those families to apply more broadly? DC is on considerable FA at another school and I would not be ok if DC had to limit options for matching with a school with adequate funding because of arbitrary school rules.

The NCS process is much more transparent and you have access to more data. That does not mean everyone at NCS is thrilled with their outcomes or with the process, but having been through it at both schools, we found the NCS approach less stressful. There are very few scenarios where having less information is better than having more information.

You may have more data at NCS but there are plenty of unhappy parents and students regarding college outcomes at NCS.
Yes, the education is outstanding but it is hard for students not to question why they worked so hard in HS to end up at a school like Bates or Wisconsin.
Not throwing shade at these schools. They are excellent but lots of kids who had a more chill HS experience also end up at the same place. How is the stress and crazy amount of work at top high schools like GDS and NCS worth it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of disenchanted GDS senior parents (like me) lurking here.

Lots of good stuff about this school academically but the CCO is highly variable, but more so is entirely devoid of facts and data, and runs the process like mindful meditation seminar sophomore and junior year and then 0 to 100 senior fall with no straight answers to yes or no questions on whether i should apply here or there.

My favorite was the junior year parents meeting where they started with 5 minutes on whether college is right for your kid. I mean WTF guys - we are at a college prep school.

For the next kid, I will be much more in command of the process, bringing data, and calling out their lack of numerical approach

I also think the 10 school cap has to be raised to 12 or 15. It mostly protects middle of the pack kids but the number hasnt changed in 10 years+. Meanwhile apps are up +20% per year every year since that time.

The limit set at 10 helps the registrar and the CCOs but not the kids.

At the very least, they can make state flagships unlimited.

Why?

Aren't the state flagships generally the land of the middle-of-the-pack kids?

If you allow your top kids to apply to them, then where do the middle kids go?

Serious question. Limiting apps protects everyone from the top 20% kids. This used to work until this year when
SOME (not all) top 20% kids started getting shut out of the top 0-30 schools. The kids likely applied to a few
safeties in the 30-70 range and are now attending one of these. But if you give them the ability to apply to unlimited state
schools in the 30-70 range, then where do the kids who traditionally matched with those schools (the middle-of-the-packers) go?

It's a tenuous balance but these limits are there to help spread the wealth of the admits across the class and protect
the lower ranked kids from losing their spots to the top 20% kids.

i buy into the theory of your case but i'd love some analysis or description why 15 would break things for lower students and 10 does not.

See the thing is, like much of the rest of GDS CCO, it's a data free zone.

And yes my kid was one of the top 20% of class shut out this year. Will never know but 5 more targets would have really helped this kid given the math.

So your DC was not accepted at a single school this cycle?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread seems to be primarily about GDS. Is Sidwell similar or STA/NCS?

Also, how does GDS address the needs of families who are seeking need based and merit aid? Do they allow those families to apply more broadly? DC is on considerable FA at another school and I would not be ok if DC had to limit options for matching with a school with adequate funding because of arbitrary school rules.

The NCS process is much more transparent and you have access to more data. That does not mean everyone at NCS is thrilled with their outcomes or with the process, but having been through it at both schools, we found the NCS approach less stressful. There are very few scenarios where having less information is better than having more information.

You may have more data at NCS but there are plenty of unhappy parents and students regarding college outcomes at NCS.
Yes, the education is outstanding but it is hard for students not to question why they worked so hard in HS to end up at a school like Bates or Wisconsin.
Not throwing shade at these schools. They are excellent but lots of kids who had a more chill HS experience also end up at the same place. How is the stress and crazy amount of work at top high schools like GDS and NCS worth it?

Better college prep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of disenchanted GDS senior parents (like me) lurking here.

Lots of good stuff about this school academically but the CCO is highly variable, but more so is entirely devoid of facts and data, and runs the process like mindful meditation seminar sophomore and junior year and then 0 to 100 senior fall with no straight answers to yes or no questions on whether i should apply here or there.

My favorite was the junior year parents meeting where they started with 5 minutes on whether college is right for your kid. I mean WTF guys - we are at a college prep school.

For the next kid, I will be much more in command of the process, bringing data, and calling out their lack of numerical approach

I also think the 10 school cap has to be raised to 12 or 15. It mostly protects middle of the pack kids but the number hasnt changed in 10 years+. Meanwhile apps are up +20% per year every year since that time.

The limit set at 10 helps the registrar and the CCOs but not the kids.

At the very least, they can make state flagships unlimited.

Why?

Aren't the state flagships generally the land of the middle-of-the-pack kids?

If you allow your top kids to apply to them, then where do the middle kids go?

Serious question. Limiting apps protects everyone from the top 20% kids. This used to work until this year when
SOME (not all) top 20% kids started getting shut out of the top 0-30 schools. The kids likely applied to a few
safeties in the 30-70 range and are now attending one of these. But if you give them the ability to apply to unlimited state
schools in the 30-70 range, then where do the kids who traditionally matched with those schools (the middle-of-the-packers) go?

It's a tenuous balance but these limits are there to help spread the wealth of the admits across the class and protect
the lower ranked kids from losing their spots to the top 20% kids.

No that’s more GMU type schools. Unless you mean flagships in sparsely populated states.

The middle of the class at GDS is not historically (up to and including 2022 at least) matriculating to GMU. They're attending much better schools.

Check out the 2022 Instagram which almost represents the class in full. Your guess is as good as mine as to who the middle 50% kids are but there is no one going to GMU (and very few to similarly ranked schools) and definitely not the full middle 50%.
https://www.instagram.com/gdsseniors22/

2022 was an outlier class for sundry reasons

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of disenchanted GDS senior parents (like me) lurking here.

Lots of good stuff about this school academically but the CCO is highly variable, but more so is entirely devoid of facts and data, and runs the process like mindful meditation seminar sophomore and junior year and then 0 to 100 senior fall with no straight answers to yes or no questions on whether i should apply here or there.

My favorite was the junior year parents meeting where they started with 5 minutes on whether college is right for your kid. I mean WTF guys - we are at a college prep school.

For the next kid, I will be much more in command of the process, bringing data, and calling out their lack of numerical approach

I also think the 10 school cap has to be raised to 12 or 15. It mostly protects middle of the pack kids but the number hasnt changed in 10 years+. Meanwhile apps are up +20% per year every year since that time.

The limit set at 10 helps the registrar and the CCOs but not the kids.

At the very least, they can make state flagships unlimited.

Why?

Aren't the state flagships generally the land of the middle-of-the-pack kids?

If you allow your top kids to apply to them, then where do the middle kids go?

Serious question. Limiting apps protects everyone from the top 20% kids. This used to work until this year when
SOME (not all) top 20% kids started getting shut out of the top 0-30 schools. The kids likely applied to a few
safeties in the 30-70 range and are now attending one of these. But if you give them the ability to apply to unlimited state
schools in the 30-70 range, then where do the kids who traditionally matched with those schools (the middle-of-the-packers) go?

It's a tenuous balance but these limits are there to help spread the wealth of the admits across the class and protect
the lower ranked kids from losing their spots to the top 20% kids.

No that’s more GMU type schools. Unless you mean flagships in sparsely populated states.

The middle of the class at GDS is not historically (up to and including 2022 at least) matriculating to GMU. They're attending much better schools.

Check out the 2022 Instagram which almost represents the class in full. Your guess is as good as mine as to who the middle 50% kids are but there is no one going to GMU (and very few to similarly ranked schools) and definitely not the full middle 50%.
https://www.instagram.com/gdsseniors22/

2022 was an outlier class for sundry reasons

Why was it an outlier class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where is the evidence that there are firm quotas on # of kids that a college will accept from a given school? For example, Dartmouth’s Dean of Admissions has said that is not the case. For highly selective schools, you are competing against best students from across the globe. Why do you assume that DC lost spot to someone else from your school?

I don’t think there’s a quota, but when 6 kids got into Tufts ED, it came off DC’s list.

yeah that was a signal that Tufts RD was a lost cause for our kid too. Also Tufts is one of the schools that takes very high % of kids from ED. RD is a lost cause anyway

Should GDS prevented 6 kids from applying Tufts ED in order to preserve it as an option for kids in RD?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of disenchanted GDS senior parents (like me) lurking here.

Lots of good stuff about this school academically but the CCO is highly variable, but more so is entirely devoid of facts and data, and runs the process like mindful meditation seminar sophomore and junior year and then 0 to 100 senior fall with no straight answers to yes or no questions on whether i should apply here or there.

My favorite was the junior year parents meeting where they started with 5 minutes on whether college is right for your kid. I mean WTF guys - we are at a college prep school.

For the next kid, I will be much more in command of the process, bringing data, and calling out their lack of numerical approach

I also think the 10 school cap has to be raised to 12 or 15. It mostly protects middle of the pack kids but the number hasnt changed in 10 years+. Meanwhile apps are up +20% per year every year since that time.

The limit set at 10 helps the registrar and the CCOs but not the kids.

At the very least, they can make state flagships unlimited.

Why?

Aren't the state flagships generally the land of the middle-of-the-pack kids?

If you allow your top kids to apply to them, then where do the middle kids go?

Serious question. Limiting apps protects everyone from the top 20% kids. This used to work until this year when
SOME (not all) top 20% kids started getting shut out of the top 0-30 schools. The kids likely applied to a few
safeties in the 30-70 range and are now attending one of these. But if you give them the ability to apply to unlimited state
schools in the 30-70 range, then where do the kids who traditionally matched with those schools (the middle-of-the-packers) go?

It's a tenuous balance but these limits are there to help spread the wealth of the admits across the class and protect
the lower ranked kids from losing their spots to the top 20% kids.

i buy into the theory of your case but i'd love some analysis or description why 15 would break things for lower students and 10 does not.

See the thing is, like much of the rest of GDS CCO, it's a data free zone.

And yes my kid was one of the top 20% of class shut out this year. Will never know but 5 more targets would have really helped this kid given the math.

I’m sorry that the process has been so stressful and disappointing but what do you mean by shut out? Shot out from Ivies? Shut out from Top 25 schools? Or Shut out more broadly? I am not a current GDS HS parent but I have been in the past. I understand the frustration about the lack of data.

Can one of the GDS senior parents answer this? What is mean when top 20% kids are talked about as being "shut out?" Is it shut out of top 20? top 40? all schools?
Where (please give a generic example) might these kids be now matriculating in the fall?
Thank you! As a lower high school parent it's hard to know what to think or how much to worry or what to talk to the school about if we don't understand what is happening this year.

Senior parent. I want to be careful since this is public but my kid was top 20% of class. hard to know exactly but pretty sure. very high 1400s/1500 SAT. Co head of multiple clubs blah blah. national award in something he's passionate about academically. involved at school and outside like most GDS kids. 3.8 gpa unweighted had a B+ in couple UL classes - otherwise all A range since 9th grade started. Multiple UL classes junior and senior.

0 acceptances in top 35-40 schools by US News. Multiple waitlists.

Top acceptance was just under #40 US News.

Got into 2 safeties and 2 target. Going to a target. I dont want to name the target for obvious reasons. Kid is happy now but last two weeks of readouts were TERRIBLE for the ego.

Target school types for this kid were: Wm & Mary, Brandeis, Case Western, St Andrews, Univ Edinburgh, Santa Clara, Occidental etc. Think something along that line for where kid will attend.

Just didnt win the lottery this year. Mostly upset the game changed after 2019 and private school UMC white kids no longer wanted.

My gripes w/ GDS - as I've posted here before 1) capping at 10 schools unrealistic w/ applications now up 2x in 4 years 2) no data used/shown by CCO to parents/kids on odds by school for GPA/test 3) the entire approach to AP tests, AP courses, etc

Similar for my kid - not GDS. Higher GPA and test scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of disenchanted GDS senior parents (like me) lurking here.

Lots of good stuff about this school academically but the CCO is highly variable, but more so is entirely devoid of facts and data, and runs the process like mindful meditation seminar sophomore and junior year and then 0 to 100 senior fall with no straight answers to yes or no questions on whether i should apply here or there.

My favorite was the junior year parents meeting where they started with 5 minutes on whether college is right for your kid. I mean WTF guys - we are at a college prep school.

For the next kid, I will be much more in command of the process, bringing data, and calling out their lack of numerical approach

I also think the 10 school cap has to be raised to 12 or 15. It mostly protects middle of the pack kids but the number hasnt changed in 10 years+. Meanwhile apps are up +20% per year every year since that time.

The limit set at 10 helps the registrar and the CCOs but not the kids.

At the very least, they can make state flagships unlimited.

Or how about they charge you $50 for each additional application (or whatever they deem the cost is plus some), up to a limit of 15.

But equity....

seriously though....exactly. Many ways to solve this. When asked multiple times about the 10 limit on parent webinar, I've been grinf*cked by head of the office.

"but equity"...aren't the majority of students fully pay, or close to it? So give waivers adjusted accordingly based on how much tuition you pay. I get why they limit, because really nobody needs to apply to 20+ colleges, you can't possibly really want to attend all Ivies as they are really different schools. So force kids to pick at most 4-5 T20-30 schools, then 4-5 Targets and 4-5 safeties. In the new test optional environment where so many are applying to many more schools I get that 10 may not be enough.
I'd be pissed if I paid that much for HS and was limited to only 10

yeah I was kidding on the equity line. That's what GDS would say.

I'm right there with you. they should increase to 15. I'm not sure they can tell kids where to apply or even say 3 to 5 in this range or that. I actually am not sure they can legally do that

In fact on limiting to 10, they proudly say that UC and UCAS (Uk) both count as one. So in reality kids who apply UCs and UCAS can be maxing to nearly 20+ schools.

But here's what they dont say - UCs have become AP course dependent and weighted GPA focused. GDS does not do well there now having dropped AP. UC was a wasted application at GDS this year except maybe UC Davis and the tier below. And UKAS require 4 to 5 AP tests which until last september GDS told parents to not take for last 3 years.

so yeah...

I wonder what would happen if a parent actually lawyered up and challenged the 10 cap with a letter from counsel. GDS does not disclose the 10 cap until junior spring parent meeting. At that point, you have paid deposit on senior year. There is zero transparency when you are applying to GDS that college is capped at 10. When it's brought up junior spring, it's said "of course you all know we limit to 10"

Well I didnt know. No other parents knew unless they had been through this before.

I would like to say, "I can't believe you used the phrase 'lawyered up,' " but it's DC, so, of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of disenchanted GDS senior parents (like me) lurking here.

Lots of good stuff about this school academically but the CCO is highly variable, but more so is entirely devoid of facts and data, and runs the process like mindful meditation seminar sophomore and junior year and then 0 to 100 senior fall with no straight answers to yes or no questions on whether i should apply here or there.

My favorite was the junior year parents meeting where they started with 5 minutes on whether college is right for your kid. I mean WTF guys - we are at a college prep school.

For the next kid, I will be much more in command of the process, bringing data, and calling out their lack of numerical approach

I also think the 10 school cap has to be raised to 12 or 15. It mostly protects middle of the pack kids but the number hasnt changed in 10 years+. Meanwhile apps are up +20% per year every year since that time.

The limit set at 10 helps the registrar and the CCOs but not the kids.

At the very least, they can make state flagships unlimited.

Why?

Aren't the state flagships generally the land of the middle-of-the-pack kids?

If you allow your top kids to apply to them, then where do the middle kids go?

Serious question. Limiting apps protects everyone from the top 20% kids. This used to work until this year when
SOME (not all) top 20% kids started getting shut out of the top 0-30 schools. The kids likely applied to a few
safeties in the 30-70 range and are now attending one of these. But if you give them the ability to apply to unlimited state
schools in the 30-70 range, then where do the kids who traditionally matched with those schools (the middle-of-the-packers) go?

It's a tenuous balance but these limits are there to help spread the wealth of the admits across the class and protect
the lower ranked kids from losing their spots to the top 20% kids.

No that’s more GMU type schools. Unless you mean flagships in sparsely populated states.

The middle of the class at GDS is not historically (up to and including 2022 at least) matriculating to GMU. They're attending much better schools.

Check out the 2022 Instagram which almost represents the class in full. Your guess is as good as mine as to who the middle 50% kids are but there is no one going to GMU (and very few to similarly ranked schools) and definitely not the full middle 50%.
https://www.instagram.com/gdsseniors22/

2022 was an outlier class for sundry reasons

Why was it an outlier class?

High profile legacies, kids with national profiles, etc. I understand that the parents of the '23 class were even cautioned that they shouldn't consider this a benchmark.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread seems to be primarily about GDS. Is Sidwell similar or STA/NCS?

Also, how does GDS address the needs of families who are seeking need based and merit aid? Do they allow those families to apply more broadly? DC is on considerable FA at another school and I would not be ok if DC had to limit options for matching with a school with adequate funding because of arbitrary school rules.

The NCS process is much more transparent and you have access to more data. That does not mean everyone at NCS is thrilled with their outcomes or with the process, but having been through it at both schools, we found the NCS approach less stressful. There are very few scenarios where having less information is better than having more information.

You may have more data at NCS but there are plenty of unhappy parents and students regarding college outcomes at NCS.
Yes, the education is outstanding but it is hard for students not to question why they worked so hard in HS to end up at a school like Bates or Wisconsin.
Not throwing shade at these schools. They are excellent but lots of kids who had a more chill HS experience also end up at the same place. How is the stress and crazy amount of work at top high schools like GDS and NCS worth it?

Clearly you are throwing shade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like lots of disenchanted GDS senior parents (like me) lurking here.

Lots of good stuff about this school academically but the CCO is highly variable, but more so is entirely devoid of facts and data, and runs the process like mindful meditation seminar sophomore and junior year and then 0 to 100 senior fall with no straight answers to yes or no questions on whether i should apply here or there.

My favorite was the junior year parents meeting where they started with 5 minutes on whether college is right for your kid. I mean WTF guys - we are at a college prep school.

For the next kid, I will be much more in command of the process, bringing data, and calling out their lack of numerical approach

I also think the 10 school cap has to be raised to 12 or 15. It mostly protects middle of the pack kids but the number hasnt changed in 10 years+. Meanwhile apps are up +20% per year every year since that time.

The limit set at 10 helps the registrar and the CCOs but not the kids.

At the very least, they can make state flagships unlimited.

Or how about they charge you $50 for each additional application (or whatever they deem the cost is plus some), up to a limit of 15.

But equity....

seriously though....exactly. Many ways to solve this. When asked multiple times about the 10 limit on parent webinar, I've been grinf*cked by head of the office.

"but equity"...aren't the majority of students fully pay, or close to it? So give waivers adjusted accordingly based on how much tuition you pay. I get why they limit, because really nobody needs to apply to 20+ colleges, you can't possibly really want to attend all Ivies as they are really different schools. So force kids to pick at most 4-5 T20-30 schools, then 4-5 Targets and 4-5 safeties. In the new test optional environment where so many are applying to many more schools I get that 10 may not be enough.
I'd be pissed if I paid that much for HS and was limited to only 10

yeah I was kidding on the equity line. That's what GDS would say.

I'm right there with you. they should increase to 15. I'm not sure they can tell kids where to apply or even say 3 to 5 in this range or that. I actually am not sure they can legally do that

In fact on limiting to 10, they proudly say that UC and UCAS (Uk) both count as one. So in reality kids who apply UCs and UCAS can be maxing to nearly 20+ schools.

But here's what they dont say - UCs have become AP course dependent and weighted GPA focused. GDS does not do well there now having dropped AP. UC was a wasted application at GDS this year except maybe UC Davis and the tier below. And UKAS require 4 to 5 AP tests which until last september GDS told parents to not take for last 3 years.

so yeah...

I wonder what would happen if a parent actually lawyered up and challenged the 10 cap with a letter from counsel. GDS does not disclose the 10 cap until junior spring parent meeting. At that point, you have paid deposit on senior year. There is zero transparency when you are applying to GDS that college is capped at 10. When it's brought up junior spring, it's said "of course you all know we limit to 10"

Well I didnt know. No other parents knew unless they had been through this before.

First of all, you are wrong about the UC schools. Every year multiple kids get into the top UC schools. This year at least one GDS kid is going to UCLA. I don’t know if he did any AP exams or not. And it would be madness to lawyer up. The CCO has to write a rec for your kid. Be smart about ED1 and ED2. That would be my advice. EA is not really an advantage. And there are many excellent schools that are in the 30-50 range.

OK so we are going to rely on anecdotes here? 1 kid going to UCLA?

Look at the UC data by source school, before dropping AP courses, GDS had many multiple kids a year admitted to UCB and UCLA. It dried up 2 years ago and it's not just UCs focusing on in-state.

Here's hard data: UCs literally have 2.9% to 4.8% admit rate for OOS kids who take < 5 AP courses and GDS ULs dont count. GDS never mentioned that to us. Did they mention it to you?

It's the reliance on feelings that makes the process at GDS so weird. I just don't understand how parents like some here settle for this and think this is normal or OK validates.

BTW, i agree with ED1 and ED2 as the only thing you have. It forces kid to pick a college they love summer /fall senior. What a tall ask for a 17 year old. But that's where this all has ended up because colleges want to fill their class early and not be bothered to really read the 100k apps in RD (read Selingo article 2 weeks ago for validation)

But keep in mind that many strong kids were deferred/rejected ED1/ED2 this year so be in it for the long haul. Some got in during RD after a deferral but others did not. Mentally be prepared for the scenario that you won't know until mid to late March and to do the full slog of applications beyond ED1/ED2.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread seems to be primarily about GDS. Is Sidwell similar or STA/NCS?

Also, how does GDS address the needs of families who are seeking need based and merit aid? Do they allow those families to apply more broadly? DC is on considerable FA at another school and I would not be ok if DC had to limit options for matching with a school with adequate funding because of arbitrary school rules.

The NCS process is much more transparent and you have access to more data. That does not mean everyone at NCS is thrilled with their outcomes or with the process, but having been through it at both schools, we found the NCS approach less stressful. There are very few scenarios where having less information is better than having more information.

You may have more data at NCS but there are plenty of unhappy parents and students regarding college outcomes at NCS.
Yes, the education is outstanding but it is hard for students not to question why they worked so hard in HS to end up at a school like Bates or Wisconsin.
Not throwing shade at these schools. They are excellent but lots of kids who had a more chill HS experience also end up at the same place. How is the stress and crazy amount of work at top high schools like GDS and NCS worth it?

Not to mention the cost! You can pay for med school or law school with the costs of these High schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread seems to be primarily about GDS. Is Sidwell similar or STA/NCS?

Also, how does GDS address the needs of families who are seeking need based and merit aid? Do they allow those families to apply more broadly? DC is on considerable FA at another school and I would not be ok if DC had to limit options for matching with a school with adequate funding because of arbitrary school rules.

The NCS process is much more transparent and you have access to more data. That does not mean everyone at NCS is thrilled with their outcomes or with the process, but having been through it at both schools, we found the NCS approach less stressful. There are very few scenarios where having less information is better than having more information.

You may have more data at NCS but there are plenty of unhappy parents and students regarding college outcomes at NCS.
Yes, the education is outstanding but it is hard for students not to question why they worked so hard in HS to end up at a school like Bates or Wisconsin.
Not throwing shade at these schools. They are excellent but lots of kids who had a more chill HS experience also end up at the same place. How is the stress and crazy amount of work at top high schools like GDS and NCS worth it?

Bates parent here from a highly regarded DMV public school. Your mindset is 1990s. The median GPA for my kid's HS for Bates was 4.6w. Wisconsin is a similarly tough admit nowadays. None of the kids who go to these schools from the DC area had a "chill HS experience." Sorry that your kid has to slum with mine, we're very glad that we chose not to put our kids in overpriced mediocre privates only to end up in the exact same place as hardworking public school kids. Hope your kid didn't inherit your sense of entitlement.