STA or Landon for a STEM nonathletic boy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of these schools can fully prepare you for a STEM college major at top schools, full stop. The people saying otherwise are just trying to justify their tuition. I went to public school and didn’t take anything beyond Calc in high school and was totally fine. The focus on acceleration at all costs by some parents actually means the students don’t really have the basics down and are forced to retake courses in college anyways.

This minus the justification of tuition part. I think there are many reasons why people get wrapped up in comparing multivariate vs number theory in high school.

I would choose the school with the best social environment for your son, the one where he’ll have a good group of supportive friends and not a lot of harassment or bullying. For me, this meant looking at a class-by-class basis. I talked to over 40 parents the year my child was applying at many different schools. We found a school with a very small number of kids in the advanced science and math classes (not to mention clubs) where the kids in that class were tight-knit. We see this as a risk, because one fight could lead to a miserable experience, but so far it has been great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of these schools can fully prepare you for a STEM college major at top schools, full stop. The people saying otherwise are just trying to justify their tuition. I went to public school and didn’t take anything beyond Calc in high school and was totally fine. The focus on acceleration at all costs by some parents actually means the students don’t really have the basics down and are forced to retake courses in college anyways.

I'm the STA poster and I'm simply posting about the STEM program options because OP asked about STEM. The reality is that STA doesn't push STEM acceleration at all but will simply teach advanced classes to a small cohort of boys if they arrive in 9th grade needing it or develop an aptitude along the way. It's actually a very thoughtful math program and the opposite of acceleration for acceleration's sake. My own son is strong at math but not super advanced and we feel that they've given him the appropriate level of challenge. he came from public where he was accelerated for acceleration's sake (because if you're "smart" in public you generally get pushed ahead in math) and we were happy that this slowed down at STA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:DS is really into anything math, science, and tech related. He does have a slight interest in tennis and golf, but otherwise isn't sporty. He likes running around outside to blow off steam, but won't willingly participate in a game of pick up sports. He's into Legos and video games as well. He's a mostly A student and quiet and introverted. He's overwhelmed by the sheer number of students at public school and prefers to be in an environment where people want to learn and be respectful(not get in trouble). SAAS is on our list as well. One non-negotiable on our list is that the school must have a sizable minority population. We are looking for middle school at the moment, but may reevaluate for high school, if needs and wants change.

Neither this is an absurd question

Neither of those schools would be good for your student from a stem pov

If you must no question STA

Landon stem no there are not enough good students in math or the curriculum to be very successful in college

STA has fantastic STEM. They routinely offer math 3-4 levels beyond BC calculus for the tiny handful of boys who need it. They had boys admitted to Stanford, Princeton, and Cambridge to specifically study math this past year (and probably the best college admissions overall among DMV privates). Science courses are also great.

It's a very hard admit but worth applying to. we've had kids at 3 DMV schools, we're not fancy people and STA is our favorite school by far.

Uh, no they don’t. They offer linear algebra, which is one year beyond BC Calc.

Upper school math at STA is rigorous and well-taught (or has been), but middle school math is unbelievably weak. STEM overall is OK but not comparable to schools like TJ.

No, this year they have at least 3 boys in a class beyond linear algebra (they took HLAVC in 11th) . Last year they graduated several boys who were 1-2 levels beyond this.

No. Linear Algebra in most universities is a 1/2 semester course. Multivariate is also a 1/2 semester course. Similarly BC Calc is also an 1/2 semester load. Upper school kids take more classes than college ones and can’t fit the 1/2 semester in a 1/2 high school semester. Therefore they take Calc for 1 year, linear for 1 year and multivariate for 1 year. Which is not 2 years beyond BC.

Also MIT and Cal Tech make them retake it.

You can skip Calc at MIT with a 5 on the AP test, and you can also test out of other levels of Math.

I think you mean that MIT won’t give credit for HS advanced math, but you always have the option to test out of higher levels. Most don’t do that unless you score very high on the placement test.

[Anonymous]

Landon and Bullis have STEM facilities, but they also have a lot of outgoing athletic students. Both of those schools are fine, but they are not a great fit for OP's DS.

For this particular child St Albans is a better choice. For some other students then Landon or Bullis would be the best choice.

[Anonymous]

Op here. Thanks for all of the responses. Since we are applying for 6th grade, specific colleges and majors aren't on our radar yet. Right now, we want STEM extracurriculars and also the possibility of taking math beyond Calculus/Statistics in high school. A few posts mention that incoming 9th graders are typically on the advanced track. What about current students? Is it harder for current students to take advanced math courses?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is really into anything math, science, and tech related. He does have a slight interest in tennis and golf, but otherwise isn't sporty. He likes running around outside to blow off steam, but won't willingly participate in a game of pick up sports. He's into Legos and video games as well. He's a mostly A student and quiet and introverted. He's overwhelmed by the sheer number of students at public school and prefers to be in an environment where people want to learn and be respectful(not get in trouble). SAAS is on our list as well. One non-negotiable on our list is that the school must have a sizable minority population. We are looking for middle school at the moment, but may reevaluate for high school, if needs and wants change.

In recent years Landon I would say for certain has a more sizable minority population especially African American and also is much more religiously diverse.

OP’s kid is not into sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Landon and Bullis have STEM facilities, but they also have a lot of outgoing athletic students. Both of those schools are fine, but they are not a great fit for OP's DS.

For this particular child St Albans is a better choice. For some other students then Landon or Bullis would be the best choice.

STA has the same competitive sports teams as Landon, yet is a smaller school. They are in the same conference.

Are you claiming the personality of the STA athletes is different then the Landon athletes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thanks for all of the responses. Since we are applying for 6th grade, specific colleges and majors aren't on our radar yet. Right now, we want STEM extracurriculars and also the possibility of taking math beyond Calculus/Statistics in high school. A few posts mention that incoming 9th graders are typically on the advanced track. What about current students? Is it harder for current students to take advanced math courses?

yes and no. Unlike public, they won't do something like test the entire grade to see who can jump into a higher class (which our public did). The math tends to go a lot deeper. We came from public and my kid ended up dropping down and repeating his last class (received consistent high As in public, got a 65% on the first private school math test and dropped down). The same thing happened with his close friend at his new school. That said, they will push ahead kids who really need acceleration at any point in time--if they're a real outlier they'll be given the opportunity to take move up, skip classes, etc as needed.

[Anonymous]

Our son is like this, and also artsy. He’s at Landon and likes it a lot. The facilities and the teachers are great. Good overall balance of education (arts sciences etc). He’s found a few like minded friends. But yes the vast majority are into team sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our son is like this, and also artsy. He’s at Landon and likes it a lot. The facilities and the teachers are great. Good overall balance of education (arts sciences etc). He’s found a few like minded friends. But yes the vast majority are into team sports.

What does your son do to fulfill the sports requirement?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our son is like this, and also artsy. He’s at Landon and likes it a lot. The facilities and the teachers are great. Good overall balance of education (arts sciences etc). He’s found a few like minded friends. But yes the vast majority are into team sports.

What does your son do to fulfill the sports requirement?

Pp here — he actually enjoys the sports but does no team sports. So, cross country (loves it), wrestling, tennis etc. individualistic sports. He has friends in these sports though — sometimes they run together

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our son is like this, and also artsy. He’s at Landon and likes it a lot. The facilities and the teachers are great. Good overall balance of education (arts sciences etc). He’s found a few like minded friends. But yes the vast majority are into team sports.

What does your son do to fulfill the sports requirement?

Pp here — he actually enjoys the sports but does no team sports. So, cross country (loves it), wrestling, tennis etc. individualistic sports. He has friends in these sports though — sometimes they run together

So your son then is not at STA or Landon correct otherwise he would have to be on a team sport at least one or two seasons?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thanks for all of the responses. Since we are applying for 6th grade, specific colleges and majors aren't on our radar yet. Right now, we want STEM extracurriculars and also the possibility of taking math beyond Calculus/Statistics in high school. A few posts mention that incoming 9th graders are typically on the advanced track. What about current students? Is it harder for current students to take advanced math courses?

yes and no. Unlike public, they won't do something like test the entire grade to see who can jump into a higher class (which our public did). The math tends to go a lot deeper. We came from public and my kid ended up dropping down and repeating his last class (received consistent high As in public, got a 65% on the first private school math test and dropped down). The same thing happened with his close friend at his new school. That said, they will push ahead kids who really need acceleration at any point in time--if they're a real outlier they'll be given the opportunity to take move up, skip classes, etc as needed.

You don't know what it is like at all private schools do you? I am not understanding your posts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our son is like this, and also artsy. He’s at Landon and likes it a lot. The facilities and the teachers are great. Good overall balance of education (arts sciences etc). He’s found a few like minded friends. But yes the vast majority are into team sports.

What does your son do to fulfill the sports requirement?

Pp here — he actually enjoys the sports but does no team sports. So, cross country (loves it), wrestling, tennis etc. individualistic sports. He has friends in these sports though — sometimes they run together

So your son then is not at STA or Landon correct otherwise he would have to be on a team sport at least one or two seasons?

Oh interesting — had no idea. He’s in lower school at one of those schools as I’ve said and he does those three sports. Good to know about middle and upper! We’ll see how that works out but I’m sure it will end up being fine.

[Anonymous]

Definitely not Landon for a non sporty boy.