Sidwell Vs Maret vs NCS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parents of kids at Sidwell and Maret (since you have identified yourself in this thread), did any of you make these separate decisions for children starting in K? We have a child at one of these schools and we feel like the opposite would be best for our other DC who is now applying.

We did k-8. Our children ended up at different high schools. They are different kids with unique needs, personalities, and interests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very different. My daughter did not like NCS because it felt joyless and was single sex. Everyone was very nice but it felt like everyone was tired. Sidwell was opposite. Sort of intense happiness and coed. Had all the high school stuff we wanted except formal AP classes. Ruled out Maret immediately because it had a quirkier bunch of kids, felt a small (literally smaller grades), limited campus and sort of felt heavy with DEI —even more than Sidwell. And for my kid, she was tapped out on some of that. As she says “no hate but can we talk about something else for a change.” So OP you really need to visit and pursue and I think also cast a wider net. NCS and Sidwell are very hard to get into. Maret not nearly as competitive but it’s not a shoe in at all.

This is helpful about Maret and part of the reason we ruled out GDS. While we are progressive, given where we live I don't think kids here suffer from a lack of education about DEI.

When we toured Maret, it was far more in your face with DEI compared to the GDS tour. Maret is also very hard to gain admittance because it is so small.
Don't rule out GDS. They claim that part of being open is being open to all points of view. You should visit and see whether they walk the walk on that.

We have not found GDS to be overly DEI - we expected it to be more in your face. At a few points in considering GDS their push was over the top DEI -but that changed by the time our younger one entered at HS. Remember the Maret literally has a DEI essay (GDS does not).

Neither school bothered us - but then again - we value being in a community that values diversity and acceptance of others.

Also - even though Sidwell doesn't advertise so much on the DEI message - we experienced overt DEI pushes while one of our children was there. Again - it didn't bother us - but it was more than anything we experienced at GDS from the parent perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: First and foremost consider how your kid will hold up in varying degrees of intensity and stress. Ncs seems to usually poll the highest and that’s certainly the experience of our friends who have kids at all of these schools. I’d personally take a hard pass. Maret is known for a bit less homework and seems to have college outcomes pretty much the same. For some kids that’s way way more impt than whether they have a bit too much DEI. Gds is definitely a lot of work but at least they try to put joy into the process and take the stress down a notch. Sidwell maybe somewhere in between gds and ncs. The most impt thing is where your kid will thrive - not things like cool buildings and who overcooks the dei.

That's super helpful, we are also looking for joy! How would Holton Arms comapre to NCS in terms of intensity and stress?

GDS is definitely the win for joy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: First and foremost consider how your kid will hold up in varying degrees of intensity and stress. Ncs seems to usually poll the highest and that’s certainly the experience of our friends who have kids at all of these schools. I’d personally take a hard pass. Maret is known for a bit less homework and seems to have college outcomes pretty much the same. For some kids that’s way way more impt than whether they have a bit too much DEI. Gds is definitely a lot of work but at least they try to put joy into the process and take the stress down a notch. Sidwell maybe somewhere in between gds and ncs. The most impt thing is where your kid will thrive - not things like cool buildings and who overcooks the dei.

That's super helpful, we are also looking for joy! How would Holton Arms comapre to NCS in terms of intensity and stress?

GDS is definitely the win for joy.

And PS - don't mistake that joy for lack of serious-ness. Because there are very hard courseloads a student can take there for top schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: First and foremost consider how your kid will hold up in varying degrees of intensity and stress. Ncs seems to usually poll the highest and that’s certainly the experience of our friends who have kids at all of these schools. I’d personally take a hard pass. Maret is known for a bit less homework and seems to have college outcomes pretty much the same. For some kids that’s way way more impt than whether they have a bit too much DEI. Gds is definitely a lot of work but at least they try to put joy into the process and take the stress down a notch. Sidwell maybe somewhere in between gds and ncs. The most impt thing is where your kid will thrive - not things like cool buildings and who overcooks the dei.

That's super helpful, we are also looking for joy! How would Holton Arms comapre to NCS in terms of intensity and stress?

This is so kid dependent. My child loves NCS and has had a ton of joy there. She’s not super intense. It really really depends on your kid.

People at places like Sidwell/NCS that say this don't fully understand the joy at GDS. It's one thing to say a child is joyful for their school (which obviously happens at Sidwell/NCS) - it's different to have a total school culture of joy. You can literally feel the difference as a parent in the building during the school day. (we had children at both GDS and one of the others)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: First and foremost consider how your kid will hold up in varying degrees of intensity and stress. Ncs seems to usually poll the highest and that’s certainly the experience of our friends who have kids at all of these schools. I’d personally take a hard pass. Maret is known for a bit less homework and seems to have college outcomes pretty much the same. For some kids that’s way way more impt than whether they have a bit too much DEI. Gds is definitely a lot of work but at least they try to put joy into the process and take the stress down a notch. Sidwell maybe somewhere in between gds and ncs. The most impt thing is where your kid will thrive - not things like cool buildings and who overcooks the dei.

That's super helpful, we are also looking for joy! How would Holton Arms comapre to NCS in terms of intensity and stress?

This is so kid dependent. My child loves NCS and has had a ton of joy there. She’s not super intense. It really really depends on your kid.

People at places like Sidwell/NCS that say this don't fully understand the joy at GDS. It's one thing to say a child is joyful for their school (which obviously happens at Sidwell/NCS) - it's different to have a total school culture of joy. You can literally feel the difference as a parent in the building during the school day. (we had children at both GDS and one of the others)

And just wanted to highlight that again this is one person’s experience. I also have kids at GDS and Sidwell and honestly have no idea what this supposed culture of joy is! Both kids are very happy at their respective schools but the one at GDS is not more joyful than the one at Sidwell and I don’t feel that life at GDS is more joyful, it really feels extremely similar.
If anything my Sidwell kid is much more relaxed, but that is a most likely a personality thing and not down to the schools.

[Anonymous]

I was supportive of DEI in schools until they start teaching my kid about white privilege. I am non white and I oppose teaching kids to define whether a person is good or bad depending on the skin color, specially when a lot of nonwhite privileged families attend schools and very few underprivileged whites families are part of the community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was supportive of DEI in schools until they start teaching my kid about white privilege. I am non white and I oppose teaching kids to define whether a person is good or bad depending on the skin color, specially when a lot of nonwhite privileged families attend schools and very few underprivileged whites families are part of the community.

Troll better please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: First and foremost consider how your kid will hold up in varying degrees of intensity and stress. Ncs seems to usually poll the highest and that’s certainly the experience of our friends who have kids at all of these schools. I’d personally take a hard pass. Maret is known for a bit less homework and seems to have college outcomes pretty much the same. For some kids that’s way way more impt than whether they have a bit too much DEI. Gds is definitely a lot of work but at least they try to put joy into the process and take the stress down a notch. Sidwell maybe somewhere in between gds and ncs. The most impt thing is where your kid will thrive - not things like cool buildings and who overcooks the dei.

That's super helpful, we are also looking for joy! How would Holton Arms comapre to NCS in terms of intensity and stress?

This is so kid dependent. My child loves NCS and has had a ton of joy there. She’s not super intense. It really really depends on your kid.

People at places like Sidwell/NCS that say this don't fully understand the joy at GDS. It's one thing to say a child is joyful for their school (which obviously happens at Sidwell/NCS) - it's different to have a total school culture of joy. You can literally feel the difference as a parent in the building during the school day. (we had children at both GDS and one of the others)

And just wanted to highlight that again this is one person’s experience. I also have kids at GDS and Sidwell and honestly have no idea what this supposed culture of joy is! Both kids are very happy at their respective schools but the one at GDS is not more joyful than the one at Sidwell and I don’t feel that life at GDS is more joyful, it really feels extremely similar.
If anything my Sidwell kid is much more relaxed, but that is a most likely a personality thing and not down to the schools.

I find it hard to believe that as a HS parent attending school events that you cannot see a large difference in how Sidwell and GDS present. I do agree to each their own. I also have one child that is more serious and chose Sidwell but they would never describe it as a joyful place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: First and foremost consider how your kid will hold up in varying degrees of intensity and stress. Ncs seems to usually poll the highest and that’s certainly the experience of our friends who have kids at all of these schools. I’d personally take a hard pass. Maret is known for a bit less homework and seems to have college outcomes pretty much the same. For some kids that’s way way more impt than whether they have a bit too much DEI. Gds is definitely a lot of work but at least they try to put joy into the process and take the stress down a notch. Sidwell maybe somewhere in between gds and ncs. The most impt thing is where your kid will thrive - not things like cool buildings and who overcooks the dei.

That's super helpful, we are also looking for joy! How would Holton Arms comapre to NCS in terms of intensity and stress?

This is so kid dependent. My child loves NCS and has had a ton of joy there. She’s not super intense. It really really depends on your kid.

People at places like Sidwell/NCS that say this don't fully understand the joy at GDS. It's one thing to say a child is joyful for their school (which obviously happens at Sidwell/NCS) - it's different to have a total school culture of joy. You can literally feel the difference as a parent in the building during the school day. (we had children at both GDS and one of the others)

And just wanted to highlight that again this is one person’s experience. I also have kids at GDS and Sidwell and honestly have no idea what this supposed culture of joy is! Both kids are very happy at their respective schools but the one at GDS is not more joyful than the one at Sidwell and I don’t feel that life at GDS is more joyful, it really feels extremely similar.
If anything my Sidwell kid is much more relaxed, but that is a most likely a personality thing and not down to the schools.

I find it hard to believe that as a HS parent attending school events that you cannot see a large difference in how Sidwell and GDS present. I do agree to each their own. I also have one child that is more serious and chose Sidwell but they would never describe it as a joyful place.

I 100 percent agree. Very different vibes at these schools. I don’t love everything about it gds but they do that well

[Anonymous]

To the poster who asked about Holton Arms, I don’t know as much about that school but I can’t imagine it has the same intensity or vibe of ncs.

[Anonymous]

NCS has a LOT more work than Maret. Like double the homework every night according to the kids who moved from one school to the other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: First and foremost consider how your kid will hold up in varying degrees of intensity and stress. Ncs seems to usually poll the highest and that’s certainly the experience of our friends who have kids at all of these schools. I’d personally take a hard pass. Maret is known for a bit less homework and seems to have college outcomes pretty much the same. For some kids that’s way way more impt than whether they have a bit too much DEI. Gds is definitely a lot of work but at least they try to put joy into the process and take the stress down a notch. Sidwell maybe somewhere in between gds and ncs. The most impt thing is where your kid will thrive - not things like cool buildings and who overcooks the dei.

That's super helpful, we are also looking for joy! How would Holton Arms comapre to NCS in terms of intensity and stress?

This is so kid dependent. My child loves NCS and has had a ton of joy there. She’s not super intense. It really really depends on your kid.

People at places like Sidwell/NCS that say this don't fully understand the joy at GDS. It's one thing to say a child is joyful for their school (which obviously happens at Sidwell/NCS) - it's different to have a total school culture of joy. You can literally feel the difference as a parent in the building during the school day. (we had children at both GDS and one of the others)

And just wanted to highlight that again this is one person’s experience. I also have kids at GDS and Sidwell and honestly have no idea what this supposed culture of joy is! Both kids are very happy at their respective schools but the one at GDS is not more joyful than the one at Sidwell and I don’t feel that life at GDS is more joyful, it really feels extremely similar.
If anything my Sidwell kid is much more relaxed, but that is a most likely a personality thing and not down to the schools.

I find it hard to believe that as a HS parent attending school events that you cannot see a large difference in how Sidwell and GDS present. I do agree to each their own. I also have one child that is more serious and chose Sidwell but they would never describe it as a joyful place.

I 100 percent agree. Very different vibes at these schools. I don’t love everything about it gds but they do that well

I'm PP and would also agree. I'll add that no school is perfect and people have different...whether that be in their goals, personalities etc. If you find you only get into one of these highly competitive schools - just go and deal with what comes with it. But if you get into multiple - culture can make a big difference for a kid....even one that would still choose the less-joy school after the fact would tell you so.

And to be clear - no matter which school your child attends - if they are gunning for the top track classes and college admissions - it will be hard work and you will discover in senior year that many top admissions go to kids with hooks (and be careful - this is not to say every hooked student has top admissions). So don't have this be your goal. Your goal should be a school your child will thrive in on many dimensions - and this includes having adult mentors and supportive friends and positive memories.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: First and foremost consider how your kid will hold up in varying degrees of intensity and stress. Ncs seems to usually poll the highest and that’s certainly the experience of our friends who have kids at all of these schools. I’d personally take a hard pass. Maret is known for a bit less homework and seems to have college outcomes pretty much the same. For some kids that’s way way more impt than whether they have a bit too much DEI. Gds is definitely a lot of work but at least they try to put joy into the process and take the stress down a notch. Sidwell maybe somewhere in between gds and ncs. The most impt thing is where your kid will thrive - not things like cool buildings and who overcooks the dei.

That's super helpful, we are also looking for joy! How would Holton Arms comapre to NCS in terms of intensity and stress?

GDS is definitely the win for joy.

New to GDS and the emphasis on joy is evident. We are pleasantly surprised by it as we didn't expect it to be emphasized as much as it is. It is intentional and cultivated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: First and foremost consider how your kid will hold up in varying degrees of intensity and stress. Ncs seems to usually poll the highest and that’s certainly the experience of our friends who have kids at all of these schools. I’d personally take a hard pass. Maret is known for a bit less homework and seems to have college outcomes pretty much the same. For some kids that’s way way more impt than whether they have a bit too much DEI. Gds is definitely a lot of work but at least they try to put joy into the process and take the stress down a notch. Sidwell maybe somewhere in between gds and ncs. The most impt thing is where your kid will thrive - not things like cool buildings and who overcooks the dei.

That's super helpful, we are also looking for joy! How would Holton Arms comapre to NCS in terms of intensity and stress?

This is so kid dependent. My child loves NCS and has had a ton of joy there. She’s not super intense. It really really depends on your kid.

I agree. My kid loved NCS and had so much joy there. The skills she learned there and confidence in being able to navigate college and problem solving will serve her so well in life. And her friendships from there remain strong a few years out. NCS gets a bad rap here, but it’s a special and amazing place for so many.