Walt Whitman High School versus Bethesda Chevy Chase?

[Anonymous]

Without provoking a partisan firestorm can anyone give me a real clue as to the difference between these two schools and the two sets of zip codes they cover. Picking a high school and a new community from out of town is quite difficult! Tempted to move to Georgetown but that involves applying for private school (along with 7,000 administration people) so considering suburbs (help - got all my identity from being a creative urbanite). Worried about Mercedes-driving students and weekend beer parties - but attracted to houses with real kitchens and an end to all the inconveniences of town living (dragging groceries upstairs for a start). Can you kind moms give me some (gentle please) advice? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I'm a parent in the BCC district, although my children are not yet at HS so I can't speak at all to the environment and your question about fancy-pants students. These are both great schools from all that I can tell, and I think it would be hard to go wrong at either one. You can get all the info from the MCPS website for each school. From what I can tell, Whitman has always had the superior reputation, and its average test scores are definitely higher. The feeder elementaries for Whitman have amazing statistics as well, also marginally higher than those that feed into BCC. For that reason when we first moved here, I always figured we'd try to move to Whitman before HS.

On the other hand, if you care about this stuff, Whitman and its associated lower schools are less diverse (both ethnically and economically) at least according to the numbers. And perhaps most importantly, the college placement statistics - which are published every spring by Bethesda magazine - are pretty much equivalent for both schools. Not identical of course, but over 5 years of keeping tabs I've been really pleasantly surprised that BCC seems to do on par with Whitman and the Potomac HS at sending its graduates to a wide range of very competitive schools. For me those numbers make me very happy to stay in the BCC district, and my very limited experience with the elementaries in this district has been very positive.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the PP (although I too don't have kids in either school). I think for most practical purposes there isn't enough difference between the two to worry about picking a house based on which school you are in.

Generally speaking, I think Whitman has a reputation for having higher test scores, and being a little more high pressure. BCC is more diverse, was recently renovated and has an IB program.

[Anonymous]

Hey I'm a DCer so I can't tell you about the schools but I wanted to say congratulations on the election! (Your post makes it sound like you're coming to work for Obama.)

Welcome to the belly of the beast!

[Anonymous]

You still might find Mercedes driving teens at BCC but there will be less of them! Weekend beer parties will be prevalent at ALL schools in the area (private and public). There's actually quite a bit of cocaine and MJ as well to think about (and I'm talking about the suburban schools/ private schools here).

I know students attending both schools and like them equally. I think BCC is definitely more diverse socio economically because of the availability of affordable (relatively speaking) apartments/ townhouses in Downtown. Also, BCC is walking distance to downtown and the metro so the kids are out and about a bit more. My husband employs a BCC student part time and she is terrific. There are similar opportunities for AP classes and good sports teams at both schools.

If I ever decide to move to Bethesda, I'd go with BCC.

But, I live in DC and don't plan on moving so it will likely be School without Walls or Wilson for my kiddos. If you do want to live in Georgetown, don't rule out public schools. I would seriously look at School without Walls- I've met many many teens who go there and have been quite impressed by the talent and caliber of the graduates. I know students who have gone on to Yale, U Chicago, Wesleyan, etc. Their parents are store owners, attorneys, doctors, lobbyists, etc. And the benefit of GW classes and credit for free is quite nice.

BTW, I am a professional who works with teens so I'm pretty familiar with all of the local schools (private and public).

[Anonymous]

BCC district will allow you to maintain more of an urban lifestyle and allow you to walk/Metro to restaurants, shops, school, work and you and DC won't have to get in a care every time you want to go somewhere. It's a great school with the IB program top exmissions. 20815, definitely, and 20814 -- at least part of the zip code. In Whitman, I think you need to be prepared to drive everywhere.

Good luck and welcome to Washington. Warning -- DC does not have the style of Chicago. Hopefully this will change with the incoming administration.

[Anonymous]

Both BCC and Walt Whitman will permit your children to "shadow" a student. Whitman does 7 a.m. - 2 p.m. (all day) while BCC does only 7 a.m. - 11 a.m. (1/2 day, unless your child already knows someone with whom to eat lunch). We did this and asked the kids for their feedback regarding which school they preferred as important input into our decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Warning -- DC does not have the style of Chicago. Hopefully this will change with the incoming administration.

Of course, it doesn't have the world-class corruption, either. Systemic incompetence that sometimes borders on graft, but flat out pay-to-play machine political corruption, no. Nobody in DC is either that competent or that avaricious.

[Anonymous]

Harriette Walters was! (OK, so not pay-to-play, but still pretty impressive.)

[Anonymous]

I would think the BCC area would be better suited to the lifestyle you describe than Whitman.

[Anonymous]

As a Whitman student graduate, I have to say to go to Whitman. Although, there is more pressure on the students, I felt as though that pressure pushed me to do better in school. I don't come from a rich family or drove a Mercedes but I felt like I fit it with all the students there. It depends on who you meet just like in any other schools. the snobby kids or the down-to-earth kids?

[Anonymous]

From what I've heard, Whitman puts more pressure on the students but the two are comparable in all major areas. B-CC usually ranks higher in Newsweek anyway, and is more diverse. So I would say, for all intents and purposes, B-CC. They also have the IB program.

[Anonymous]

BCC has lower test scores but ranks higher in newsweek because of the number of IB tests that the kids take. The IB program, which is non magnet, is appealing. Whitman has a higher percentage of high performing kids. Both are great schools and smart kids will do well at either one.

Whitman may not be as racially diverse as BCC but has a very high number of international families.

Obviously the OP is presumably settled now since this thread was started 2 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Whitman has very little diversity. Look at the stats. They have a much lower % of kids on free lunches than BCC. Both have lots of Jewish kids if you're Jewish.

[Anonymous]

Great conversation. As a parent Whitman, I can assure you your kids will get an excellent academic education there. I believe, however, it can come at a cost. Everything is competitive, from sports to taking a leadership position in a small club to getting a letter of recommendation for colleges. My older daughter is in the midst of applying to colleges - good student, has taken many APs, good test scores and is essentially "competing against" students with near perfect grades and near perfect test scores. I've had moments when I wish we had stayed in the District and sent our kids to Wilson.