Georgetown Preparatory School Results

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: "how is each school to know which one the applicant truly favors?"
Through communication with the elementary schools - specifically those 7th & 8th grade faculty who guide the high school application process. They well know to which school each has interest. These faculty are the source of inside scoop.

Junior High faculty here. Applicant choice is not something we can communicate in any way to the high schools and I have never had a high school contact me about applications. Sure we know what each child hopes for, but it is not our place to share that with a high school. We complete the forms asked of us to the best of our ability but at that point I usually do not even know for certain where they are applying, much less what is their first choice. I highly doubt our principal would communicate that information either without knowing that the other school was certain to accept the child. The admissions process is difficult and no faculty member would jeopardize an applicant's chances.

Thank you for specifically addressing the topic of first choice, Junior High faculty. Isn't it a stretch, however, to say you 'do not even know for certain where they are applying'?
Pardon my cynicism-but I think some Junior High faculty relish their importance in shaping the outcome of the application process of their students. In such individuals, the relative low pay and low status inherent in elementary education are gladly endured to have such influence over the outcome of the process.
It wouldn't surprise me if Junior High faculty have tremendous predictive ability as to which schools offer which students admission.

Your comment is totally stupid. My DS applied out to HS this year and the MS faculty could not have been any more helpful and really bent over backwards to make sure they portrayed each kid in a positive light to the HS. They were well aware of each child's first choice and provided guidance along the way. The thought that the MS teachers enjoyed "playing God" with some kids HS application is really ignorant. Maybe you are so stupid and vindictive that you would play petty games in retaliation for "low pay and low status" but I think most teachers would not.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know what Prep's typical "yield" is? (i.e., How many people accept the admissions offer verse turn it down?)

[Anonymous]

[quote][i]PP: ... It sounds like your son is PG and you have found an upper school that is a good fit for him, crossing fingers that you get good news. I don't know STA but I do know Prep and with those scores, he will 'outgrow' Prep and most other schools pretty quickly. ...[/i][/quote]

Can anyone provide any alternative recommendations and/or comments about Prep not being able to challege very smart students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: "how is each school to know which one the applicant truly favors?"
Through communication with the elementary schools - specifically those 7th & 8th grade faculty who guide the high school application process. They well know to which school each has interest. These faculty are the source of inside scoop.

Junior High faculty here. Applicant choice is not something we can communicate in any way to the high schools and I have never had a high school contact me about applications. Sure we know what each child hopes for, but it is not our place to share that with a high school. We complete the forms asked of us to the best of our ability but at that point I usually do not even know for certain where they are applying, much less what is their first choice. I highly doubt our principal would communicate that information either without knowing that the other school was certain to accept the child. The admissions process is difficult and no faculty member would jeopardize an applicant's chances.

Thank you for specifically addressing the topic of first choice, Junior High faculty. Isn't it a stretch, however, to say you 'do not even know for certain where they are applying'?
Pardon my cynicism-but I think some Junior High faculty relish their importance in shaping the outcome of the application process of their students. In such individuals, the relative low pay and low status inherent in elementary education are gladly endured to have such influence over the outcome of the process.
It wouldn't surprise me if Junior High faculty have tremendous predictive ability as to which schools offer which students admission.

Your comment is totally stupid. My DS applied out to HS this year and the MS faculty could not have been any more helpful and really bent over backwards to make sure they portrayed each kid in a positive light to the HS. They were well aware of each child's first choice and provided guidance along the way. The thought that the MS teachers enjoyed "playing God" with some kids HS application is really ignorant. Maybe you are so stupid and vindictive that you would play petty games in retaliation for "low pay and low status" but I think most teachers would not.

'but I think most teachers would not' - I agree that most would not 'Play God'.
- and nearly all MS teachers don't 'play God', I likewise agree.
However, there remains a sub-set of MS faculty who perversely manipulate grades and probably color recommendations in such ways that negatively affect certain applicants. I wish it weren't true - but it is.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous][quote][i]PP: ... It sounds like your son is PG and you have found an upper school that is a good fit for him, crossing fingers that you get good news. I don't know STA but I do know Prep and with those scores, he will 'outgrow' Prep and most other schools pretty quickly. ...[/i][/quote]

Can anyone provide any alternative recommendations and/or comments about Prep not being able to challege very smart students. [/quote]

I'm the PP you quoted above. To clarify what I meant, the poster that I was referring to has a DS that is PG and will outgrow Prep, and almost any other school. Her DS is applying to Groton, which seems to be a better fit for him and she is waiting on admission results from them. Prep is a very good school and they have a lot of bright boys there that go on to do very well. Most of the boys there are above 90% on the SSAT. I did not mean to disparage Prep in any way. I was just responding to the PP whose son is PG.

[Anonymous]

[quote][i]... They found us through CTY. DS is an awardee for High Honors CTY (this means verbal and math exceed 600 on SAT in the 8th grade). Yes, there is academic recruitment for HS. [/i][/quote]

I did not realize that high schools recruited students for academic excellence (the way athletes are recruited); which is great news if true. The few private high schools I spoke with said their scholarships were need based only and then I guess factors such as academic and athletic abilities are considered. We are new to the private school search and would appreciate some insight into this issue. Also, what does the acronymn " CTY" and "PG" mean? Thank you.

[Anonymous]

CTY = Center for Talented Youth. It's a test based talent search for gifted kids run out of Johns Hopkins. They offer online classes, camps, etc.

PG = profoundly gifted

This was in another state, but my HS offered 10 merit based academic scholarships per class. I'm not sure how much they are now, but mine cut my tuition in half and made it possible for my parents to send me with some additional FA. You had to maintain a certain GPA to retain the scholarship. It was a great program and I wish all private schools were able to offer something similar.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous][quote][i]... They found us through CTY. DS is an awardee for High Honors CTY (this means verbal and math exceed 600 on SAT in the 8th grade). Yes, there is academic recruitment for HS. [/i][/quote]

I did not realize that high schools recruited students for academic excellence (the way athletes are recruited); which is great news if true. The few private high schools I spoke with said their scholarships were need based only and then I guess factors such as academic and athletic abilities are considered. We are new to the private school search and would appreciate some insight into this issue. Also, what does the acronymn " CTY" and "PG" mean? Thank you. [/quote]

I’m the mom with the kid that applied to Prep and Groton. Hope this clarifies a few things for you. CTY refers to Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. This a great program for gifted kids. The entrance exam is, for the most part, the SCAT. PG stands for Profoundly Gifted. PG is generally defined as an IQ of 180 or greater and that is truly 1 in a million (technically the occurrence is about 1:1.1Million). My son is not PG; he is what’s known as Exceptionally Gifted. His IQ is measured, most recently, at 171; the occurrence of such is about 1:750,000.
So, please know we are talking about an unusual situation. Not a kid with a gifted IQ of 135 but a kid that was able to multiply and divide fractions before Kindergarten, was obsessed with mythology at the age of 3 and was reading Tolkien at the age of 4. I am not bragging, because to be honest with you, this is often not a gift. The upside of an eidetic memory is you remember everything; the bad side is you remember everything. So, not bragging, but trying to give you some context.
So, academic recruitment – I am not aware of any that occurs at the lower school level. In terms of high school, some of the private high school do have programs that are akin to honors programs that require separate testing. If qualified, there’s often merit based financial assistance associated with being accepted into that program. If your child qualifies, it is a great way to afford private HS.

[Anonymous]

10:24 - Thank you for taking the time to share your story. I understand the pros and cons that comes with a child that is extremely intelligent and the challenge with finding a school that will be able to provide a good fit. I agree with the poster that caution about making sure Prep's (or any school for that matter) academic program will be challenging enough for your son. I would appreciate anyone with direct knowledge of Prep sharing their experience(s)/thoughts about Prep's program and their handling of extremely intelligent boys.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]10:24 - Thank you for taking the time to share your story. I understand the pros and cons that comes with a child that is extremely intelligent and the challenge with finding a school that will be able to provide a good fit. I agree with the poster that caution about making sure Prep's (or any school for that matter) academic program will be challenging enough for your son. I would appreciate anyone with direct knowledge of Prep sharing their experience(s)/thoughts about Prep's program and their handling of extremely intelligent boys.[/quote]

My son attended GP and is now a Junior at Duke. He is a very smart boy. Not 171 IQ smart, but very bright. I don't know his IQ, I remember he scored 98% on the SSAT and got high grades at GP.

I thought they did a very nice job with keeping him challenged and engaged. He's not much of a sports guy, he managed to make the baseball team but pretty much warmed the bench most of the season :) He's got a good personality and fits in well pretty much anywhere so he had lots of friends. He had tons of extracurriculars, many friends and really did enjoy his time at GP. I think he went to Duke with 7 AP's under his belt. (forgive me, its been a few years...). It was challenging enough that he wasn't bored but not so impossible that he couldn't enjoy his time too. I will say that many of his friends found the workload to be difficult but not unbearable. DS was well prepared for Duke, he's Dean's list studying engineering on a large merit scholarship. The college counseling office at GP is amazing. They work very closely with each boy - I cant' say enough good things about them. The fact that DS was more aligned with academics and music and less so with sports was not a big deal.

If your son is smart, I wouldn't hesitate to have him apply to GP and schedule a shadow day. He will know if its right for him or not. I'm not saying its perfect, but its worth a look. I wouldn't reject it out of hand based on what a few folks on here say. Most of them have no direct experience with the school.

[Anonymous]

[i][quote]So, please know we are talking about an unusual situation. Not a kid with a gifted IQ of 135 but a kid that was able to multiply and divide fractions before Kindergarten, was obsessed with mythology at the age of 3 and was reading Tolkien at the age of 4. I am not bragging, because to be honest with you, this is often not a gift. The upside of an eidetic memory is you remember everything; the bad side is you remember everything. So, not bragging, but trying to give [/quote][/i]you some context.

10:24 - Have you looked at the public magnet/IB programs for your son? Both Montgomery Blair's magnet program in MD and Thomas Jefferson's program in VA are attended by students who are extremely intelligent and some who are profoundly so. Admissions to both schools/programs is very selective. Depending on where you live, it may be worth it to look at either one of these programs, since your son is unusually intelligent and these programs are designed to challenge these students and give them an academic peer group.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]I’m the mom with the kid that applied to Prep and Groton. Hope this clarifies a few things for you. ... My son is not PG; he is what’s known as Exceptionally Gifted. His IQ is measured, most recently, at 171; the occurrence of such is about 1:750,000.[/quote]

I don't doubt for a minute that your son is quite intelligent, and I hope he ends up at the very best school for him. However, I'd caution you about placing too much weight on his IQ and especially on that 1:750k statistic. There are currently about 430,000 school-age students in the greater DC metro area, including both the NoVA counties and MoCo, spread across 12 grade years. So if you accept as true the 1:750k statistic, that would mean your son is the single most intelligent child the entire DC metro region has encountered in over 20 years. Maybe that's true. I don't know your son, so I cannot tell. But I have met a fair number of highly intelligent children, and my sense is that those IQ statistics might be a little bit skewed. So I'd recommend caution in using them as primary factors when choosing schools.

Of course, I'm sure you yourself are very intelligent, and I'm sure you're taking a wise approach to your son's education, so you probably already are appropriately humble in your attitude.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]I’m the mom with the kid that applied to Prep and Groton. Hope this clarifies a few things for you. CTY refers to Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. This a great program for gifted kids. The entrance exam is, for the most part, the SCAT. PG stands for Profoundly Gifted. PG is generally defined as an IQ of 180 or greater and that is truly 1 in a million (technically the occurrence is about 1:1.1Million). My son is not PG; he is what’s known as Exceptionally Gifted. His IQ is measured, most recently, at 171; the occurrence of such is about 1:750,000.

So, please know we are talking about an unusual situation. Not a kid with a gifted IQ of 135 but [b]a kid that was able to multiply and divide fractions before Kindergarten, was obsessed with mythology at the age of 3 and was reading Tolkien at the age of 4. [/b]I am not bragging, because to be honest with you, this is often not a gift. The upside of an eidetic memory is you remember everything; the bad side is you remember everything. So, not bragging, but trying to give you some context.
So, academic recruitment – I am not aware of any that occurs at the lower school level. In terms of high school, some of the private high school do have programs that are akin to honors programs that require separate testing. If qualified, there’s often merit based financial assistance associated with being accepted into that program. If your child qualifies, it is a great way to afford private HS.
[/quote]

Why didn't you just say your son is a total nerd? It would have saved us all a lot of time.

[Anonymous]

[b][i]... Why didn't you just say your son is a total nerd? It would have saved us all a lot of time. ...[i][b][/i][/b]

I am not the PP. Comments and attitudes like this are disgusting and show the ignorance of the above poster and the shame of what message he/she is sending to their child(ren). Snarky remarks litter this forum, but it is wrong on so many levels when ugly comments are leveled at children.

[Anonymous]

Can anyone with personal knowledge of GP comment about how inclusive or not the school and community are towards minorities (African Americans, Hispanics, Asians) and/or non-Catholic students?