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"Big 3" Virginia schools?
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Anonymous
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Looking at lower school admissions.
What's the relative reputations of The Potomac School, The Langley School, and St. Stephens St. Agenes? Would you consider these the Big 3 for lower school in VA? |
Anonymous
| We have lots of friends who live in NOVA, especially the Alexandria are and Arlington/McLean, and used to live there ourselves before picking a DC private and moving to DC. I would say STSA and Potomac, yes, definitely. Little Langley? No way. |
Anonymous
That's the problem with VA for privates. If your frame of reference and expectations are informed by the DC privates, only 2 arguably fit into the same discussion of the "elite" privates in NW - Potomac, and to a lesser extent, STSA. And if you're looking at Potomac simply because it's more convenient, you my find the Cathedral Schools, GDS, and Maret aren't that much farther away. |
Anonymous
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I think Langley is just as good, if not better, than Potomac. It gets much less notice because it only goes through 8th grade. It puts all of its focus on the younger students, and the Jr. High school students get a lot of leadership opportunities at a school that only goes through 8th. If you want a place that goes through high school and has competitive HS sports teams, then you should look at a school that goes through high school. Langley has a very good outplacement to area private high schools.
I would pick the three you chose as top schools, and maybe add Flint Hill and Nysmith to the list for a top 5 that include lower schools. |
Anonymous
| What about Browne Academy and Alexandria Country Day? Are those considered competitive with the ones you mentioned? |
Anonymous
| Yes to Potomac and Congressional. No to Langley. Not familiar with the Alexandria schools and don't really like that part of NoVA. I agree, the commute to the GDS, Maret and others would be okay. |
Anonymous
| We chose Burgundy Farm over Alexandria Country Day, Browne, SSSAS, and Potomac. Most of the top students at Burgundy are not interested in going to SSSAS or Potomac. Most of them this year are applying to GDS, Sidwell, and Maret. Last year many went to Gonzaga, Madeira, and Episcopal. |
Anonymous
| I forgot to add that many of Burgundy's top students go to TC Williams. Two Burgundy students who graduated from TC last year went on to Penn and Dartmouth. |
Anonymous
Congressional??  Congressional is not on par with the Big 3 or Potomac. As others have said, there are some really excellent schools in the Alexandria area.
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Anonymous
| Definitely Potomac for lower school to high. (For high school, add Epsicopal) NO WAY for Langley. I don't know how it's been for the last 3 yrs, but they have a history of struggling to attract and keep kids. Potomac and the local public school (which parents favor over Langley) are their competition. |
Anonymous
| Is Langley really having trouble attracting students? How do you know? When I toured the school I was told that they have 50+ applicants to K each year. I would love any info before I consider applying. Thanks! |
Anonymous
"Little " Langley is very popular. With increasing class sizes and decreasing education quality for middle class and above , I suspect it will become more popular. Mclean are schools might have up to the state maximum of 34 in classes since FCPS will not cut extra programs and administrators. Flint Hill is in Oakton and SSSA is in Alexandria. SSSA has a different geographic market. Potomac is in Mclean and close to the DC schools like Sidwell and Beauvoir. |
Anonymous
| I'm a Langley parent, and I don't think they're having trouble attracting students. The classes are all full, except the preschool class (only about 8 kids in each class), which they purposely keep very small so they can accept more Junior Kindergarten and Kindergarten applicants. The upper grades are all full too - they just added a new 5th or 6th grade section, so now they have larger grades than they used to. There are about 50 kids in 3 kindergarten classes, with a bit over half potentially transitioning from the JK classes, although I imagine some each year move to public schools, leaving more vacancies. Its not Sidwell, I really don't think they have 100 applicants per spot or anything, but they aren't able to accept every applicant either. |
Anonymous
| It sounds like there is someone disgruntled with little Langley on this board. I have lived in McLean for 20 years and have never heard anything but good things. The children I have seen go there have always seemed to do very well after and the parents all seem happy. I would definitely consider it one of the top in Nova. |
Anonymous
| I'm sure certain circles in NoVA would argue that Potomac/Episcopal are the only Virginia schools that come within sight of the "elite category" discussed on this board. All the other smaller schools jockey for position year after year and families migrate to the schools with the most buzz (Burgundy being the exception because it is so unique and has a larger draw)- There is lots of turnover in the other schools that go through grade 8, and my own impression has been that schools can be "in" one year and "out" the next - I'm not sure whether the schools or squeaky wheel parents that drive this - but there has always been a lot of school surfing in McClean, Arlington and Alexandria. Another reason may be that there are so many more public school options (and right now it is very "in" to go public for the lower grades which has likely lowered VA private applications Virginia power families with academic kids seem to opt for DC schools even if their school goes through HS. Just stating some trends for those looking at Virginia schools - for the record, I'm not saying that VA schools are inferior, but there is no doubt that the top three dc schools have a following and demand beyond compare.... |