What makes Potomac so great?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:The social connections are phenomenal. My husband and I now attend great dinner parties with great people.

You use your kids for your own social climbing? I guess it is worth $50K. It says it all. It is not about education. But social climbing.

Are you part of the poors? You haven't figured out that it's not what you know, it's who you know.

I figured this out long ago, through my schooling, the many countries I have lived in, and my career. What kind of loser will try to get to know powerful people through their kid's school? And what powerful people do they expect to meet in Potomac, who are not available in many other communities?

You are obviously a troll. This is the independent schools forum. People aren't discussing Potomac the town in Maryland. They are discussing Potomac, the independent school in McLean, VA.

Yes, the school Potomac, what fancy people do you expect to meet here who are not available in other communities? The town in Mclean is even worse. Just a suburb.

All the top private schools have their celebrities. A lot of the rich and famous of tyson's and mclean go there.

Nobody rich/famous lives in Tyson's. That's one big office complex. And the rich/famous of McLean don't send their kids to Potomac.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The social connections are phenomenal. My husband and I now attend great dinner parties with great people.

You use your kids for your own social climbing? I guess it is worth $50K. It says it all. It is not about education. But social climbing.

Are you part of the poors? You haven't figured out that it's not what you know, it's who you know.

I figured this out long ago, through my schooling, the many countries I have lived in, and my career. What kind of loser will try to get to know powerful people through their kid's school? And what powerful people do they expect to meet in Potomac, who are not available in many other communities?

You are obviously a troll. This is the independent schools forum. People aren't discussing Potomac the town in Maryland. They are discussing Potomac, the independent school in McLean, VA.

Yes, the school Potomac, what fancy people do you expect to meet here who are not available in other communities? The town in Mclean is even worse. Just a suburb.

All the top private schools have their celebrities. A lot of the rich and famous of tyson's and mclean go there.

Like who?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:It used to have superior college admissions to local public, but now the public schools are outpacing them admission wise. McLean Langley and Yorktown have more Ivy admissions.

I’m often critical of various aspects of the school, but their college admissions are incredible by any measure.

Yes, recent results look impressive, but I don’t think the school — especially the college counseling office - has much to do with the results.

I’m pp. Agreed.

Just couldn’t really justify the idea that the students aren’t matriculating to excellent schools at a very high rate.

I can't speak to whether the college counseling office drove Potomac's matriculation results (which quite frankly are incredible this year and have been for quite some time) but I'm going to give a nod to Potomac based on the full day workshop they host for parents (and for students) with with admissions officers from top schools from across the country to go through in small group sessions 3 common app case studies. This type of access and insight differentiates Potomac from your local public when applying to college if we are being totally honest...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It used to have superior college admissions to local public, but now the public schools are outpacing them admission wise. McLean Langley and Yorktown have more Ivy admissions.

I’m often critical of various aspects of the school, but their college admissions are incredible by any measure.

Yes, recent results look impressive, but I don’t think the school — especially the college counseling office - has much to do with the results.

I’m pp. Agreed.

Just couldn’t really justify the idea that the students aren’t matriculating to excellent schools at a very high rate.

I can't speak to whether the college counseling office drove Potomac's matriculation results (which quite frankly are incredible this year and have been for quite some time) but I'm going to give a nod to Potomac based on the full day workshop they host for parents (and for students) with with admissions officers from top schools from across the country to go through in small group sessions 3 common app case studies. This type of access and insight differentiates Potomac from your local public when applying to college if we are being totally honest...

Sidwell and GDS hosted an event that matches that exact description. It's not unique to Potomac.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It used to have superior college admissions to local public, but now the public schools are outpacing them admission wise. McLean Langley and Yorktown have more Ivy admissions.

I’m often critical of various aspects of the school, but their college admissions are incredible by any measure.

Yes, recent results look impressive, but I don’t think the school — especially the college counseling office - has much to do with the results.

I’m pp. Agreed.

Just couldn’t really justify the idea that the students aren’t matriculating to excellent schools at a very high rate.

I can't speak to whether the college counseling office drove Potomac's matriculation results (which quite frankly are incredible this year and have been for quite some time) but I'm going to give a nod to Potomac based on the full day workshop they host for parents (and for students) with with admissions officers from top schools from across the country to go through in small group sessions 3 common app case studies. This type of access and insight differentiates Potomac from your local public when applying to college if we are being totally honest...

Sidwell and GDS hosted an event that matches that exact description. It's not unique to Potomac.

Listen genius, I specifically said it differentiates Potomac from the local public school (which PP raised as a comparator) Tell me which public school in Virginia hosted this same session. GDS/Sidwell and Potomac all have equivalent college matriculation. And I would aruge their matriculation is better than publics on a per capita basis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Their confusing mission, now low HS standards, and high faculty turn over?

We have multiple kids at the school, and very little in this thread is correct. We have been very happy there, and our kids love the school. Not worth arguing with strangers on here, but I’ll just add that when we were looking at schools, I noticed an uptick in strange posts re our top choices this time of year and through Feb. Not sure if it’s people screwing with others and hoping accepted families will turn down spots they want or what, but I’d caution anyone to get school information from an anonymous forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It used to have superior college admissions to local public, but now the public schools are outpacing them admission wise. McLean Langley and Yorktown have more Ivy admissions.

I’m often critical of various aspects of the school, but their college admissions are incredible by any measure.

Yes, recent results look impressive, but I don’t think the school — especially the college counseling office - has much to do with the results.

I’m pp. Agreed.

Just couldn’t really justify the idea that the students aren’t matriculating to excellent schools at a very high rate.

I can't speak to whether the college counseling office drove Potomac's matriculation results (which quite frankly are incredible this year and have been for quite some time) but I'm going to give a nod to Potomac based on the full day workshop they host for parents (and for students) with with admissions officers from top schools from across the country to go through in small group sessions 3 common app case studies. This type of access and insight differentiates Potomac from your local public when applying to college if we are being totally honest...

Sidwell and GDS hosted an event that matches that exact description. It's not unique to Potomac.

Listen genius, I specifically said it differentiates Potomac from the local public school (which PP raised as a comparator) Tell me which public school in Virginia hosted this same session. GDS/Sidwell and Potomac all have equivalent college matriculation. And I would aruge their matriculation is better than publics on a per capita basis.

I'm LOLing. Sidwell and GDS have far better matriculation than Potomac. Sidwell is winning the rat race this year by a massive margin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It used to have superior college admissions to local public, but now the public schools are outpacing them admission wise. McLean Langley and Yorktown have more Ivy admissions.

I’m often critical of various aspects of the school, but their college admissions are incredible by any measure.

Yes, recent results look impressive, but I don’t think the school — especially the college counseling office - has much to do with the results.

I’m pp. Agreed.

Just couldn’t really justify the idea that the students aren’t matriculating to excellent schools at a very high rate.

I can't speak to whether the college counseling office drove Potomac's matriculation results (which quite frankly are incredible this year and have been for quite some time) but I'm going to give a nod to Potomac based on the full day workshop they host for parents (and for students) with with admissions officers from top schools from across the country to go through in small group sessions 3 common app case studies. This type of access and insight differentiates Potomac from your local public when applying to college if we are being totally honest...

I hate to tell you, but the much-scoffed-at (by DCUM) SSSAS does exactly this event as well. Maybe it distinguishes Potomac from public schools, but not from other privates.

[Anonymous]

And a public school in Virginia outperforms them all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Their confusing mission, now low HS standards, and high faculty turn over?

We have multiple kids at the school, and very little in this thread is correct. We have been very happy there, and our kids love the school. Not worth arguing with strangers on here, but I’ll just add that when we were looking at schools, I noticed an uptick in strange posts re our top choices this time of year and through Feb. Not sure if it’s people screwing with others and hoping accepted families will turn down spots they want or what, but I’d caution anyone to get school information from an anonymous forum.

+1 - from another Potomac parent

[Anonymous]

Rich people in VA who don’t want cross a bridge to the good schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It used to have superior college admissions to local public, but now the public schools are outpacing them admission wise. McLean Langley and Yorktown have more Ivy admissions.

I’m often critical of various aspects of the school, but their college admissions are incredible by any measure.

Yes, recent results look impressive, but I don’t think the school — especially the college counseling office - has much to do with the results.

I’m pp. Agreed.

Just couldn’t really justify the idea that the students aren’t matriculating to excellent schools at a very high rate.

I can't speak to whether the college counseling office drove Potomac's matriculation results (which quite frankly are incredible this year and have been for quite some time) but I'm going to give a nod to Potomac based on the full day workshop they host for parents (and for students) with with admissions officers from top schools from across the country to go through in small group sessions 3 common app case studies. This type of access and insight differentiates Potomac from your local public when applying to college if we are being totally honest...

Sidwell and GDS hosted an event that matches that exact description. It's not unique to Potomac.

I can hire a counselor for a lot less than $200,000.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sold it's worth it in the elementary years -- but having visited and having many friends with kids at other privates (e.g. sidwell, gds, beauvoir), they're all very similar, certainly no better, and potomac has the advantage of a better campus than many. my kids seem to have way more public speaking opportunities, there is way more flexibility in curriculum and more attention to differentiation than our very good local public, way less time spent on standardized testing, a bit more time outside. my kids also seem to have more fun -- part of this is curricular (teachers can allow kids to engage longer on something they're enjoying, can have an extra recess without jumping through any hoops, have more materials/resources for fun projects), and part of this is the environment (less emphasis on always being in line, sitting still, not talking in the hall etc). I imagine all of this stuff is the same at other good privates.

that said, my kids were having quite a good experience at our local public with teachers, friends, etc. and they would have had a good experience through elementary had we stayed. my own anxiety about middle and high school probably led me to apply earlier than I should have for private.

You made the right decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And a public school in Virginia outperforms them all.

Why are you on the private school forum?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And a public school in Virginia outperforms them all.

You still have to apply to TJ. Good luck.