Why is everyone at Holton-Arms leaving?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Not a HA parent. But in looking at the college matriculations for this cycle, something appeared off. It’s not the HA of even a few years ago.

The college admission results are almost identical to previous years (about 20 percent of girls going to HYPSM, Duke, UChicago, UPenn, Cornell, Brown, Northwestern). This year’s class was very strong academically. But, compared with previous years, there were very few athletes going to top schools.

The impact on college admissions will take awhile to play out.

Not really. Past classes have been stronger. The range of matriculations was more top 20 heavy compared to now.

Other all-girls in the area have done just as well, if not better this cycle. Visi and SR are strong this year. The Co-Ed’s = very impressive.

Either other schools have upped their college counseling, or Holton is lackluster. But still a great school.

I love it when ppl talk without looking at the data

If you go back and examine the Holton over the past 5 years, you will see that the proportion of girls going to the above schools is basically the same.

If you want to compare with Stone Ridge, please do so carefully. The SR Insta page has 92 out of 93 commits. Out of 93 girls, only 3 are going to the top schools mentioned above (that’s less than 5 percent of the graduating class). And 2 of 3 are athletes.

I’ve been watching this results quite closely for many years. Have friends kids that went to several of these schools, including Holton.

Again, reading is fundamental.

I shared that either other schools have upped their game and are now posting just as strong, if not stronger results than Holton this year, or Holton’s results appear more lackluster than the past.

Visi had another very strong year. And SJC— wow. Look at the arts matriculations—Berkeley and Julliard. SR has typically been a range lower than Holton, but I think that they did fine.

Madeira; Sidwell. I’ll stop there.

Holton used to stand apart a lot more in the past. Not so much anymore.

Look, let me first say that I am not a fan of the HOS, and I am concerned about the number of great teachers leaving.

That said, there is a difference between your impressions (based on anecdotes) and the actual data. The latter show that college admission outcomes this year are in line with Holton’s performance in previous years. As a parent, I have been tracking the actual data for many years too.

With the number of teachers leaving, this will have seismic effects a year or two down the road. HA was already behind the DC schools and this is not helping.

I fully agree that there would be damage down the road. But let me push back on the dramatic statement that HA is behind other schools.

Here are this year’s college admissions results from some of the schools mentioned above.

Based on Insta posts and Claude’s analysis (which took 5 mins), the proportion of students going to T20 schools (USNWR) is as follows:

Holton Arms: 30 percent (30 out of 99)
NCS: 31 percent (21 out of 68)
GDS: 25 percent (29 out of 115)
Madeira: 19 percent (11 out of 58)
Visi: 20 percent (21 out of 107)
Stone Ridge: 12 percent (11 out of 93)

The corresponding proportions for Ivy+ schools are as follows:

Holton Arms: 17 percent (17 out of 99, 2 athletes)
NCS: 25 percent (17 out of 68, 4 athletes)
GDS: 17 percent (19 out of 115)
Madeira: 12 percent (7 out of 58)
Visi: 7 percent (7 out of 107, 3 athletes)
Stone Ridge: 3 percent (3 out of 93, 2 athletes)

Note that NCS has more recruited athletes this year.

What about last year and the year before? We are asking as concerned parents what will be the effect of this mass exodus of teachers on our students who will be in HS in a year or 2. Thanks for clarifying!

Here is the official matriculation numbers during 2022-25:

https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1755023338/holtonarms/k3jgh39rwkljepnmugcy/schoolprofilesy20251.pdf

Based on those, the proportion of T25 is 25 percent (93 out of 387) and Ivy+ is 15 percent (60 out of 387).

Again, you are not reading what I am sharing. You must be an admissions counselor to have all of this detail that is not on Instagram.

On Insta, only 95 posts are listed for HA. Of those, based on USNWR, only 28 of the 95 are matriculating top 20. That's about 29%. UMichigan is your top school, followed by Vandy. You have 3 each at Duke, Cornell and Wash U. Everything else is a one-off mainly.

Again, I never said that this was not decent. What I said was that other all girls & Co-Ed schools did pretty well also. Infact, outside of UMichigan, the matriculations were okay. We all know that there are many factors that go into matriculations, not just grades and test scores.

At Visi, which reported 107 matriculations, nearly 10 are headed to ND. Another 3 to Columbia and then another 3 to UMichigan. So they seem pretty even here.

Its the next Top 20-Top 30 that send a clear message.
-Holton has 6 going to UVA (Visit has 4 headed there);
-Holton has 3 going to Georgetown (Visi has 3 also);
-Visi then has 1 Chapel Hill and 1 USC. Plus Visi has 4 headed to Villanova, 2 headed to West Point and 4 to Boston College.

Again, I am not saying that Holton did poorly. What I am saying is that other schools like Visi and Madeira, also did well. Madeira has 28% that are matriculating into top 20 colleges, plus 3 headed to UVA and 3 headed to Georgetown.

What makes Madeira's list very good is the higher concentration of top 10 matriculations -- Princeton (2) Stanford (1) Yale (2) U Chicago (1) Duke (1) and Northwestern (1). Holton has 10 and Madeira had 7. So they are close there. UVA and GU numbers are similar across schools.
So overall, based on a smaller class size, Madeira punched pretty well based on what I see -- nearly as good as Holton across the board.

SJC had a different visual, but it is interesting since Holton and SJC are the two arts schools. Berkelee and Julliard stand out a lot.

But you were right -- SR hits lower than these, and I didn't look at NCS this time. No need to look at Sidwell, GDS, etc. They always do well.

Again. Visi and Madeira had very nice results this year. Not saying that Holton didn't have nice results, but it has looked better in past years. These days, Visi and Madeira are posting very strong results and keeping right up there with Holton.

Maybe instead of hyper-analyzing the very personal, hard, and thoughtful decisions of some 17 and 18 year olds, you should shift your focus on social interaction. maybe touch grass??

It's disturbing seeing fully grown adults so obsessed with our personal lives.

Touch grass? Let’s see, back on page five and fully on page 13, a few parents talk about how all of the challenges being experienced at HA could have an impact on college counseling and admissions.

It’s been a question woven into this thread throughout. Some of us point out the obvious with college admissions and we are labeled as obsessive trolls.

Here’s a quote from an earlier page

“How does this issue affect our student college admissions outcomes? With so many teachers leaving, we wonder if this is going to affect the quality of education and HS. This is worrisome.
If there is one thing that I’ve learned from this one thread, is that there are a few nasty responses given to anyone who does not worship HA at all costs.

No need to worship HA, but the posts would be more credible if the criticism were more constructive. Saying that a Head of School should be fired because she cries is not very constructive.

[Anonymous]

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Penny caused two schools to struggle, and y'all still don't see the real issue. She’s only at Holton because Marriott was upset about DEI and the Christine Ford testimony against Justice Kavanaugh.

They threatened to cut funding and reached out to Gov. Youngkin. Penny is close to Youngkin. He gave her son a job, helped him get into college, and secured his entrance into the KA fraternity.


Youngkin recommended Penny, and as a result, she left her previous position as the head of a school in Richmond and moved her talents to Holton.

She's just a racist and homophobic political appointee who sucks at her job.

If this is true, this is serious scoop.

Some of this might be turn, but the part about her leaving her job at Collegiate to take the Holton job is incorrect. She was asked to leave (or her first contract wasn't renewed), and I believe there were two academic years covering the gap between leaving Richmond and starting at Holton. Youngkin might have recommended her, but that was after she left Collegiate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What on earth does Youngkin have to do with a private school in Maryland?

He sent his daughter to NCS, I do not think he is connected to Holton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What on earth does Youngkin have to do with a private school in Maryland?

He sent his daughter to NCS, I do not think he is connected to Holton.

Where he sends his daughter to school has nothing to do with his relationship with Penny, Kavanaugh, or the board.

I have no idea why people give Trump associates the benefit of the doubt. Putting unqualified people in places of power to carry out agendas is about as Trumper as it gets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What on earth does Youngkin have to do with a private school in Maryland?

He sent his daughter to NCS, I do not think he is connected to Holton.

Where he sends his daughter to school has nothing to do with his relationship with Penny, Kavanaugh, or the board.

I have no idea why people give Trump associates the benefit of the doubt. Putting unqualified people in places of power to carry out agendas is about as Trumper as it gets.

Collegiate (Richmond) and PE had a falling out because she had a "LIBERAL" agenda for the school. This association with Kavanaugh is laughable. Marriott's send their children to a lot of DMV schools.

Younkin has nothing to do with Holton. Try Georgetown Prep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What on earth does Youngkin have to do with a private school in Maryland?

He sent his daughter to NCS, I do not think he is connected to Holton.

Where he sends his daughter to school has nothing to do with his relationship with Penny, Kavanaugh, or the board.

I have no idea why people give Trump associates the benefit of the doubt. Putting unqualified people in places of power to carry out agendas is about as Trumper as it gets.

Collegiate (Richmond) and PE had a falling out because she had a "LIBERAL" agenda for the school. This association with Kavanaugh is laughable. Marriott's send their children to a lot of DMV schools.

Younkin has nothing to do with Holton. Try Georgetown Prep.

You're just repeating Penny's spin about why she was asked to leave. She wasn't too liberal for Collegiate. She is not liberal at all. She is incompetent though. Collegiate know, St Paul's knows, And people at Holton know now too.

[Anonymous]

right from the website. historically joining the school after the admissions cycle was not advertised.....I am curious which grades have space.

"Limited spaces are available for 2026–2027 in select grades. Come visit us and see for yourself how rigor and joy go hand in hand at Holton."

[Anonymous]

And new employment opportunities posted almost daily

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:right from the website. historically joining the school after the admissions cycle was not advertised.....I am curious which grades have space.

"Limited spaces are available for 2026–2027 in select grades. Come visit us and see for yourself how rigor and joy go hand in hand at Holton."

This is crazy. Must be a first over the past 10 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:right from the website. historically joining the school after the admissions cycle was not advertised.....I am curious which grades have space.

"Limited spaces are available for 2026–2027 in select grades. Come visit us and see for yourself how rigor and joy go hand in hand at Holton."

This is crazy. Must be a first over the past 10 years.

Can’t speak to Holton, but almost every private school does an official (or often unofficial) round 2. There’s just variation in whether they publicize it.

For example, Sidwell always has been open on their website that they’ll consider post-cycle apps — probably because they don’t want to shut out super strong applicants who move here in the spring.

[Anonymous]

Even Landon was posting about limited spots. This is definitely not a first. This is DC and people move suddenly and spaces become available.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:right from the website. historically joining the school after the admissions cycle was not advertised.....I am curious which grades have space.

"Limited spaces are available for 2026–2027 in select grades. Come visit us and see for yourself how rigor and joy go hand in hand at Holton."

This is crazy. Must be a first over the past 10 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:right from the website. historically joining the school after the admissions cycle was not advertised.....I am curious which grades have space.

"Limited spaces are available for 2026–2027 in select grades. Come visit us and see for yourself how rigor and joy go hand in hand at Holton."

This is crazy. Must be a first over the past 10 years.

I had never heard of open spots after the regular admission cycle. Wow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:right from the website. historically joining the school after the admissions cycle was not advertised.....I am curious which grades have space.

"Limited spaces are available for 2026–2027 in select grades. Come visit us and see for yourself how rigor and joy go hand in hand at Holton."

This is crazy. Must be a first over the past 10 years.

I had never heard of open spots after the regular admission cycle. Wow.

Very common for private schools in the DMV, including Holton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even Landon was posting about limited spots. This is definitely not a first. This is DC and people move suddenly and spaces become available.

+1. This conversation happens every year Nearly every school continues admissions into this summer, they're just not all direct/clear about it. I would guess that it's less about families leaving DC and individual spaces popping up (although that definitely happens too), but more general practicality. If an applicant calls your school in May and they would definitely get in during the regular cycle anyway, it's silly to make them wait a year if you can avoid it.

(A few schools do say, we're absolutely full and not considering anyone, but I think that's more common with places like GDS and Potomac that are known to have strict neighborhood agreements)