Landon Admissions

[Anonymous]

I don't want to offer any more details about this, sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
to 09:22
I have noticed your point that Landon "is not for the faint hearted" and would really like to understand it. Can you please give an example or explain?

First off, I should say that this question is best answered by someone with kids there. My perspective is of someone who has multiple acceptances for our sons there, and we did alot of research well before then.

Again, I wil tell you as a preface that we think very highly of Landon. We believe it is overall an excellent school. As you know, it is a male dominated culture with athletics highly esteemed. Being good at athletics is a form of currency at the school, even for just participating on teams. Competitiveness is fostered at the school, both internally and externally. I believe this is done in a healthy manner, and prepares the boys for the real world and also for leadership positions. Alpha males and all of the other things that go with a testosterone laden environment.
And the question is, can a non-athlete flourish there? I am familiar of accounts where this can happen. Certainly, the schools has the richness and diversity of academic and other programs to enable. I believe this can be the case. But as to if a non-athletic, gentler boy can find his way there, I believe it depends on the kid. And I also think it would be valuable for a Landon parent to weigh in here. It is not an issue we have to deal with as each of our boys are athletic (lacrosse, football, basketball) and pretty aggressive. Yet we work hard to make them gentlemen.
The school seems to have done a good job over the last few years correcting the problems that we created though the cheating scandal. Sometimes, an event like that causes the school to be ever vigilant.

Plenty of kids find a niche there without being athletic, at least in sports available at the school. We have three son who love Landon , one was a competitive skiier, the other two decided to pursue music seriously, and felt they had to give up varsity sports in order to do that they way they wanted to do it.. All were/are popular with their fellow students. They have terrific friends. They do avoid a certain party scene--I guess we are lucky in that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, would agree it is a risky proposition to accept then try to walk. Landon has had a good bit of attrition in the past couple of years and maybe they are hoping to grab commitments earlier this year.

Our son got into Landon. We plunked down our money, and then he was taken off the wait-list at STA. We then asked Landon if we could opt out. This was late July early August, a few years ago. The school said yes--they would not want him to be at Landon if he really wanted to go elsewhere. We had him revisit STA--he liked it a lot, but in the end opted for Landon because he loved the atmosphere, and because they had an excellent music teacher in the instrument he was dedicated to. We were really impressed that the Landon people took that attitude.

[Anonymous]

Every school as a degree of a jock culture. Welcome to reality folks. And wait till your son arrives into college too. Wait to he starts working, there are people in the work enviroment are are complete dicks. Its a part of life. Deal with it.

Kids can choose to chase a passion for music or the arts at Landon. Not every single single athlete at Landon is a jock - for the most part, most of the guys are well rounded boys.

Story goes both ways - some of the kids who are picked on at Landon or an STA or wherever, might be worthy of it. If you think elitism just exists in HS sports you are wrong. There are some muscians and kids who play no sports at Landon, who are spoiled and priveledged and have no business being there.

Landon is a great place. Its not gonig anywhere. There will be some serious changes this summer - thats for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every school as a degree of a jock culture. Welcome to reality folks. And wait till your son arrives into college too. Wait to he starts working, there are people in the work enviroment are are complete dicks. Its a part of life. Deal with it.

Kids can choose to chase a passion for music or the arts at Landon. Not every single single athlete at Landon is a jock - for the most part, most of the guys are well rounded boys.

Story goes both ways - some of the kids who are picked on at Landon or an STA or wherever, might be worthy of it. If you think elitism just exists in HS sports you are wrong. There are some muscians and kids who play no sports at Landon, who are spoiled and priveledged and have no business being there.

Landon is a great place. Its not gonig anywhere. There will be some serious changes this summer - thats for sure.

This sounds like a contradiction?

[Anonymous]

Landon might use this in their admissions package:

"Some of the this who are picked on at Landon...might be worthy of it"

Just get the warning out there and let the families decide.

[Anonymous]

I think this is what the previous poster meant to say....

Some boys who are picked on, might very well deserve it. Its not just athletes who are picking on other students its also non athletes.

It seems like everyone is so quick to attack the athletes. There are some kids at Landon - who do no sports, no music and no community service and just getting by in the classroom. Those kids as well as the trouble makers need to find a new HOME.

[Anonymous]

Expect for the sports involvement, you've just described the slampig group.

[Anonymous]

For anyone out there who still thinks landon is just a stupid jock school. please click here. Quite impressive. I found this posted on the schools website two weeks ago way before the marueen dowd article went public. here is the link . http://www.landon.net/page.cfm?p=279&newsid=477

The State of Maryland is awared one national merit scholar a year. Since 2000, 3 national merit scholars have come from the landon school. Remarkable if you ask me. Yes, Landon is a great athletic school but it also has fine arts programs and most importantly they push their boys in the classroom setting.

[Anonymous]

who deserves to be picked on? I don' t get that.

[Anonymous]

Now, why would someone think Landon "is just a stupid jock school" ?

[Anonymous]

who deserves to be picked on? I don' t get that.

I don't get it either. The attitude that any child "deserves" to be picked on by others sends chills down my spine. Aren't we supposed to be teaching our children to be compassionate?

[Anonymous]

What about simply teaching them to get along? This is what Landon in general has trouble with. If the kid isn't a sports star, they are either looked down upon, made fun of or left out. It's usually a combination of those 3 things.

Teaching kids to get along starts at home and should be continued in school.. A good school does this as a matter of course and it's no large deal except for the occasional problem. This getting along isn't a priority at Landon and lots of kids are picked on. It goes either unnoticed or not acted on by the administration. Usually a combination of those 2 things

I will say that LS does a great job of teaching the get along concept and they do pay attention to the boys.

[Anonymous]

Are you a Landon parent?

[Anonymous]

Landon is a sport oriented school. I know they have a strong arts program but many of the boys in MS and US are there because of the sports program and the opportunity to play competitive sports at a high level. There are many boys that are not and seem to find friends that are similar. It is the parents that get upset because all of a sudden their boy is not part of what is perceived as the popular group. Parents need to be more accepting of that and if you don't like this atmosphere then find a school that better meets your son's needs. I see too many boys in my ds class who are not that happy because it is not the right school for them but the parents complain bitterly about the sports, the homework and that their son was not invited to every party. The parents want the Landon diploma .All schools private and public have cliques.It is up to us as parents to help them navigate that and feel positive about their decisions and what they want to do.