Indulge my fantasy - top private vs. Walls

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good grief. Sidwell should be a great school for the astronomically sum they're charging most of their families. The recent Sidwell grads we know here in Ward 6 haven't gone on to highly competitive colleges. Meanwhile, we know a whole bunch of BASIS, Latin and Walls grads who have. These public-school grads are going to Ivies, MIT, Little Ivies, top public universities (e.g. UC Berkeley, 3% out of state admitted), mostly on substantial fi aid. It's not clear to me what the Sidwell middle-class parents of kids who wind up at pricey 2nd and 3rd tier colleges are paying for. Why do they bother with Sidwell?

Why do they bother? One reason is Sidwell’s lifelong alumni/social network (fostered by the school). IYKYK.

There are very few Sidwell students who live in Ward 6 (basis of knowledge: my children are lifers and I have access to the school directory). So, thanks for telling us about the 1 or 2 Sidwell students you know [shrug].

Btw, the bottom 10% of Sidwell’s class has to go somewhere. A second tier college seems reasonable. Especially when many of those students end up graduating in the top 10-20% from college due to their superior academic preparation in high school. If they graduated from Walls, as the bottom 10%, they most likely would attend UDC or a similar school.

The bottom 10% at Sidwell is dumber than the bottom 10% at Walls. This is because every single Walls student comes in as a Straight A student who was one of the top students at their middle school. Simply not true for Sidwell.

Wrong. I personally know two recent Walls admittees who had at least one B+ on their report cards.

I find it hilarious that you’re trying to compare the intelligence of these two student bodies (so desperate). You have to have a certain level of intelligence to graduate from Sidwell, otherwise you will be counseled out.
I guarantee the bottom 10% at Sidwell is way richer than the bottom 10% at Walls. I’d much rather be rich and smart enough to graduate from Sidwell, than deal with whatever is going on at Walls.

Sidwell person, this is going to blow your mind.

There are some very smart people who actually *don't care about being rich*. I know it feels crazy, but it's true.

I know lots of perfect score SAT people, people with all kinds of degrees from top 10 universities. All of them have original ideas (inventions, books, companies, etc).

Some portion of them are millionaires, usually through selling a company or getting stock options or real estate income. So i think they do appreciate being rich.

But being rich is not the goal. Do you know what all of them actually value?

Freedom. They ALL build their lives so they have freedom in regards to time.

Some of these people send their kids to private school, but more of them send their kids to the best public school that their kids can access.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost two-thirds of Harvard students went to public high schools. No one needs to go to Sidwell (or Walls, for that matter) to get into a prestigious university. Kids from crappy high schools get into the Ivy League too.

Common sense check: That’s because MOST Americans graduate from public schools. However, independent school students (14% of U.S. high school students) are overrepresented at elite colleges. Check Sidwell’s IG for quick reference.

“Private prep schools seem to be the key to success when it comes to getting into an elite college like Dartmouth. After all, 34% of Dartmouth’s Class of 2025 went to “Independent Schools” while only 14% of U.S. high schoolers attend such institutions.

https://www.thedartmouth.com/article/2022/10/cradle-to-cap-and-gown-the-prep-school-to-ivy-pipeline#google_vignette

You're missing the point. It only matters so much where a kid goes to school. If you go to Sidwell and get average grades and average test scores, you're going to be less desirable to admissions officers than a kid with stellar numbers who went to his or her public high school in Iowa City.

No, I’m not missing the point. I responded directly to the PP with facts, not my feelings. Independent students are overrepresented at every elite private university in the U.S.
Now, you’re trying to move the conversation in a different direction because you don’t like the facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is getting ridiculous. Who cares if people know Sidwell or not.

What matters is the quality of the school and hands down Sidwell offers a much better education overall in every department. Yes you have to pay for it. If I had the money, it’s a no brainer to send the kid to Sidwell over Walls. If money was not a factor, 99% would send their kid there.

End of story.

Signed public school parent

Except facts don't bear out your claim. Kids do turn down Sidwell, or choose not to apply there even if they are applying to other schools.

I'm not sure you can even argue that the educational quality is "hands down" better than Walls. Sidwell does have some academic weaknesses.

But even assuming the academics are better, some things about Sidwell are pretty awful. Like do you really want to go to school with the Sidwell poster here, who is so obsessed with money and name-recognition and jockeying for status?

If you haven't, at a minimum, been to both schools and know students well at both schools, then don't make presumptions.

I’m the PP. Of course kids turn down any private school but it is a very small number at Sidwell. The reality is that many kids who don’t apply to Sidwell but Walls is due to cost or that they likely won’t get in. Lots of top kids leave DCPS after middle school to go to privates. Ask any ward 3 parent with a high performer.

Sorry but you are so in total denial if you think the education at Sidwell is not better than Walls. The top kids come out so much better prepared for college. Any Walks parent on here who are taking this stance are just trying to justify their choices.

I'm one of those Ward 3 parents of a high performer. I have first-hand experience with what we're talking about.

Sidwell's excessive workload and unhappy kids are not part of my--or my child's--definition of good education.

The denial is not realizing that even affluent people don't all think in lockstep.

No one said all kids go private but you know very well that many top performers are going private if they get in and not going the DCPS route. Now of course if they don’t get in which some won’t, then that is another story.

The highest concentration of smart kids is always in the high performing publics and everyone knows that. many many families in Scarsdale and Palo Alto who could easily afford private and stick with public. And the MCPS magnets and TJ beat the pants off any private. This is because, and I know it is hard to swallow, truly smart and accomplished people often choose to make lives in fields other than hedge funds and investment banking so they cannot afford private.

Why are you even talking about the schools above? We are talking Walls here not the better schools above. It’s a totally different calculation

The only thing Walls has going for it is that there is a better cohort of kids than your IB. That is it. Nothing else to commend the school about.

On what do you base your assessment?

Based on families whose kids go to Walls. If there is anything else great about the school, please chime in.

Okay, so no first-and experience in your family.

Quite a few positives have been mentioned above in this thread and in the thread of the same name on private school forum. So maybe read before asserting guesses.

I’m the PP and it is second hand info but still accurate info. A few more pages in and I see no one has said anything great about Walls among so many Walls families on here.

Confirms what I was told by families with 1st hand experience. I won’t go into all the negatives they complain about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good grief. Sidwell should be a great school for the astronomically sum they're charging most of their families. The recent Sidwell grads we know here in Ward 6 haven't gone on to highly competitive colleges. Meanwhile, we know a whole bunch of BASIS, Latin and Walls grads who have. These public-school grads are going to Ivies, MIT, Little Ivies, top public universities (e.g. UC Berkeley, 3% out of state admitted), mostly on substantial fi aid. It's not clear to me what the Sidwell middle-class parents of kids who wind up at pricey 2nd and 3rd tier colleges are paying for. Why do they bother with Sidwell?

Why do they bother? One reason is Sidwell’s lifelong alumni/social network (fostered by the school). IYKYK.

There are very few Sidwell students who live in Ward 6 (basis of knowledge: my children are lifers and I have access to the school directory). So, thanks for telling us about the 1 or 2 Sidwell students you know [shrug].

Btw, the bottom 10% of Sidwell’s class has to go somewhere. A second tier college seems reasonable. Especially when many of those students end up graduating in the top 10-20% from college due to their superior academic preparation in high school. If they graduated from Walls, as the bottom 10%, they most likely would attend UDC or a similar school.

The bottom 10% at Sidwell is dumber than the bottom 10% at Walls. This is because every single Walls student comes in as a Straight A student who was one of the top students at their middle school. Simply not true for Sidwell.

Wrong. I personally know two recent Walls admittees who had at least one B+ on their report cards.

I find it hilarious that you’re trying to compare the intelligence of these two student bodies (so desperate). You have to have a certain level of intelligence to graduate from Sidwell, otherwise you will be counseled out.
I guarantee the bottom 10% at Sidwell is way richer than the bottom 10% at Walls. I’d much rather be rich and smart enough to graduate from Sidwell, than deal with whatever is going on at Walls.

Sidwell person, this is going to blow your mind.

There are some very smart people who actually *don't care about being rich*. I know it feels crazy, but it's true.

I know lots of perfect score SAT people, people with all kinds of degrees from top 10 universities. All of them have original ideas (inventions, books, companies, etc).

Some portion of them are millionaires, usually through selling a company or getting stock options or real estate income. So i think they do appreciate being rich.

But being rich is not the goal. Do you know what all of them actually value?

Freedom. They ALL build their lives so they have freedom in regards to time.

Some of these people send their kids to private school, but more of them send their kids to the best public school that their kids can access.

Yep

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost two-thirds of Harvard students went to public high schools. No one needs to go to Sidwell (or Walls, for that matter) to get into a prestigious university. Kids from crappy high schools get into the Ivy League too.

Common sense check: That’s because MOST Americans graduate from public schools. However, independent school students (14% of U.S. high school students) are overrepresented at elite colleges. Check Sidwell’s IG for quick reference.

“Private prep schools seem to be the key to success when it comes to getting into an elite college like Dartmouth. After all, 34% of Dartmouth’s Class of 2025 went to “Independent Schools” while only 14% of U.S. high schoolers attend such institutions.

https://www.thedartmouth.com/article/2022/10/cradle-to-cap-and-gown-the-prep-school-to-ivy-pipeline#google_vignette

You're missing the point. It only matters so much where a kid goes to school. If you go to Sidwell and get average grades and average test scores, you're going to be less desirable to admissions officers than a kid with stellar numbers who went to his or her public high school in Iowa City.

No, I’m not missing the point. I responded directly to the PP with facts, not my feelings. Independent students are overrepresented at every elite private university in the U.S.
Now, you’re trying to move the conversation in a different direction because you don’t like the facts.

Again this is because they are wealthy not because Sidwell makes them smarter

[Anonymous]

I’d be embarrassed if my kid need a vast “lifer” network from a tony high school their parents paid 200k for them to attend to have a good career and life. Come on, hustle kid, make the best of a great college, life and the world of work, as in real life. My kid is at an Ivy post Walls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost two-thirds of Harvard students went to public high schools. No one needs to go to Sidwell (or Walls, for that matter) to get into a prestigious university. Kids from crappy high schools get into the Ivy League too.

Common sense check: That’s because MOST Americans graduate from public schools. However, independent school students (14% of U.S. high school students) are overrepresented at elite colleges. Check Sidwell’s IG for quick reference.

“Private prep schools seem to be the key to success when it comes to getting into an elite college like Dartmouth. After all, 34% of Dartmouth’s Class of 2025 went to “Independent Schools” while only 14% of U.S. high schoolers attend such institutions.

https://www.thedartmouth.com/article/2022/10/cradle-to-cap-and-gown-the-prep-school-to-ivy-pipeline#google_vignette

You're missing the point. It only matters so much where a kid goes to school. If you go to Sidwell and get average grades and average test scores, you're going to be less desirable to admissions officers than a kid with stellar numbers who went to his or her public high school in Iowa City.

No, I’m not missing the point. I responded directly to the PP with facts, not my feelings. Independent students are overrepresented at every elite private university in the U.S.
Now, you’re trying to move the conversation in a different direction because you don’t like the facts.

Again this is because they are wealthy not because Sidwell makes them smarter

Why do public school parents on this thread constantly default to this phantom argument about who is smarter: Walls or Sidwell students? That’s not the issue. There are super smart kids at both schools, but being smart isn’t enough. Aside from a few outliers, the people who run this country were typically born wealthy (or in close proximity to wealth) and were smart ENOUGH to use their wealth and access to their benefit.

This particular exchange isn’t about WHY independent school students are overrepresented at elite colleges. I was just stating the fact that they are (which should come as a surprise to no one).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d be embarrassed if my kid need a vast “lifer” network from a tony high school their parents paid 200k for them to attend to have a good career and life. Come on, hustle kid, make the best of a great college, life and the world of work, as in real life. My kid is at an Ivy post Walls.

Our most recent Presidents (whatever your politics), Supreme Court Justices, business titans, etc are overwhelmingly graduates of elite independent high schools. They had enough hustle to do exceptionally well in their careers. Please save your false pity and embarrassment for someone more deserving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d be embarrassed if my kid need a vast “lifer” network from a tony high school their parents paid 200k for them to attend to have a good career and life. Come on, hustle kid, make the best of a great college, life and the world of work, as in real life. My kid is at an Ivy post Walls.

Our most recent Presidents (whatever your politics), Supreme Court Justices, business titans, etc are overwhelmingly graduates of elite independent high schools. They had enough hustle to do exceptionally well in their careers. Please save your false pity and embarrassment for someone more deserving.

Sidwell isn't going to turn your dullard son into the titan of anything. Sorry. That seems to be the subtext here of your incessant (and tiresome) posting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good grief. Sidwell should be a great school for the astronomically sum they're charging most of their families. The recent Sidwell grads we know here in Ward 6 haven't gone on to highly competitive colleges. Meanwhile, we know a whole bunch of BASIS, Latin and Walls grads who have. These public-school grads are going to Ivies, MIT, Little Ivies, top public universities (e.g. UC Berkeley, 3% out of state admitted), mostly on substantial fi aid. It's not clear to me what the Sidwell middle-class parents of kids who wind up at pricey 2nd and 3rd tier colleges are paying for. Why do they bother with Sidwell?

Why do they bother? One reason is Sidwell’s lifelong alumni/social network (fostered by the school). IYKYK.

There are very few Sidwell students who live in Ward 6 (basis of knowledge: my children are lifers and I have access to the school directory). So, thanks for telling us about the 1 or 2 Sidwell students you know [shrug].

Btw, the bottom 10% of Sidwell’s class has to go somewhere. A second tier college seems reasonable. Especially when many of those students end up graduating in the top 10-20% from college due to their superior academic preparation in high school. If they graduated from Walls, as the bottom 10%, they most likely would attend UDC or a similar school.

The bottom 10% at Sidwell is dumber than the bottom 10% at Walls. This is because every single Walls student comes in as a Straight A student who was one of the top students at their middle school. Simply not true for Sidwell.

Wrong. I personally know two recent Walls admittees who had at least one B+ on their report cards.

I find it hilarious that you’re trying to compare the intelligence of these two student bodies (so desperate). You have to have a certain level of intelligence to graduate from Sidwell, otherwise you will be counseled out.
I guarantee the bottom 10% at Sidwell is way richer than the bottom 10% at Walls. I’d much rather be rich and smart enough to graduate from Sidwell, than deal with whatever is going on at Walls.

Of course thr bottom 10% is richer at Sidwell than Walls. Do you think that says something about the kids themselves? This is a gross statement as if those richer kids mean more than Walls kids.

[Anonymous]

gasp one B+ (probably in PE)

[Anonymous]

who even wants to run the country? lmao

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d be embarrassed if my kid need a vast “lifer” network from a tony high school their parents paid 200k for them to attend to have a good career and life. Come on, hustle kid, make the best of a great college, life and the world of work, as in real life. My kid is at an Ivy post Walls.

Our most recent Presidents (whatever your politics), Supreme Court Justices, business titans, etc are overwhelmingly graduates of elite independent high schools. They had enough hustle to do exceptionally well in their careers. Please save your false pity and embarrassment for someone more deserving.

Sidwell isn't going to turn your dullard son into the titan of anything. Sorry. That seems to be the subtext here of your incessant (and tiresome) posting.

Sidwell has done its job well. Trust me, my children are doing much better than yours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d be embarrassed if my kid need a vast “lifer” network from a tony high school their parents paid 200k for them to attend to have a good career and life. Come on, hustle kid, make the best of a great college, life and the world of work, as in real life. My kid is at an Ivy post Walls.

Our most recent Presidents (whatever your politics), Supreme Court Justices, business titans, etc are overwhelmingly graduates of elite independent high schools. They had enough hustle to do exceptionally well in their careers. Please save your false pity and embarrassment for someone more deserving.

Sidwell isn't going to turn your dullard son into the titan of anything. Sorry. That seems to be the subtext here of your incessant (and tiresome) posting.

Sidwell has done its job well. Trust me, my children are doing much better than yours.

Lololol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d be embarrassed if my kid need a vast “lifer” network from a tony high school their parents paid 200k for them to attend to have a good career and life. Come on, hustle kid, make the best of a great college, life and the world of work, as in real life. My kid is at an Ivy post Walls.

Our most recent Presidents (whatever your politics), Supreme Court Justices, business titans, etc are overwhelmingly graduates of elite independent high schools. They had enough hustle to do exceptionally well in their careers. Please save your false pity and embarrassment for someone more deserving.

The current Supreme Court is split between Catholic schools and public schools ….