Agree to disagree, supporting by the data. |
Admissions teams can look for excellence beyond academics in areas like athletics and the arts. The goal for admissions teams isn't always to maximize test scores. College admissions is about a lot more than test scores. As a parent you can decide what matters to you. |
Emphasis on the athetes at McDonogh, who get significant discounts to attend. |
It is widely considered the best high school for athletes in Maryland. |
I don’t disagree, but it results in a weird campus dichotomy between the normal kids and the large number of athletic recruits. If you want your kid to have a chance to participate in varsity athletics, don’t send them to McDonogh unless they are a recruit. But if your kid is an athletic recruit, they will do great in college admissions, far better than their classmates, if they can maintain that status for college. |
To continue on this note, I believe this is what is driving a lot of parents to Saint Paul’s over McDonogh. A lot fewer athletic recruits and Saint Paul’s has integrated its upper schools, creating a fairly coed environment. Families I know seem very happy there. |
That is not really true. Their athletes compete at a high level but the overwhelming majority of the student athletes are not recruits. For example, their middle school athletics program is quite strong and prepares students for their varsity athletics. In case you haven't kept up with college admissions, using sports during college admissions is normal. Like their peer schools, McDonogh has great outcomes for both athletes and non athletes. At all schools, there can be some dichotomy between the football students, for example, and non-athletes but that is just life. It is possible to be great at sports and also do other things well. |
Firstly, McDonogh starts bringing in athletic recruits in middle school, so it even affects kids at that level. Secondly, they don’t just recruit for football — it’s across the board, lacrosse, swimming, squash, soccer, etc. . I’d encourage interested parents to look at the McDonogh Senior insta page to see just how many kids are college athlete recruits, and how their placements compare to their non athlete peers —MCDclassof2025, etc . . |
It is really no different from GIlman or Bryn Mawr. Your fixation on McDonogh is curious to say the least. |
Neither of those schools currently gives tuition discounts to athletic recruits, so no. Perhaps similar to Loyola or Boys Latin, but even those schools recruit on a much more limited basis. Here’s a very timely example. McDonogh graduated an athletic recruit from a ciritical skill position in soccer last year. Did they promote from within this year? No, their coach recruited a senior from another state. It’s IMG lite. |
You clearly have an axe to grind against McDonogh. None of these schools, including McDonogh, gives "discounts" to athletic recruits. However each school does have an admissions office and a financial aid office with websites you can look into. To the poster with a chip on their shoulder, I wish you well. |
I guess the truth hurts. McDonogh directs the majority of its merit scholarships to athletes. This is well known fact in the Baltimore private school community, although for some reason, they don’t disclose this on their website. Perhaps because giving athletic scholarships is technically against conference rules. |
They do not have a merit based aid program. It does not exist. This really is exhausting. |
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The pearl clutching associated with sports recruiting practices in this city is truly entertaining.
Far more entertaining than striver parents desperately keeping tallies of NMSF every year.... And less depressing than trying to keep track of which private school has harbored the highest number of sexual predators and pedophiles in the past 50 years. Gossip is fun! |
Perhaps they no longer call it merit ( they have in the past) but McDonogh offers substantially more “aid” to athletically gifted children to attend the schools than any other school in the conference to the point of seeking kids out in nearby states who play a position of need, even for be year rentals. |