When parents are only applying to Maret, GDS and Sidwell...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could this seriously be an educational decision for elementary school or is it just pure social climbing strategy?

This can't be pure social climbing if they are not applying to STA/NCS.

+1 Yeah, doing Maret and not STA/NCS seems odd. But Maret is full of legacy kids, so maybe that's the reason.

What if the kid doesn't want single sex and parents want to be in DC. In that case, doesn't seem so odd only to apply to GDS, Maret, and Sidwell (in alphabetical order).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Social climb to what? This isn’t 18th century France.

+1 They're expensive private schools in an area of solid to great public schools depending on where you live. The demand for these schools is not infinite, and for some people it doesn't make sense to spend 30-40k per year per kid for a private that isn't highly regarded (although GDS and Sidwell are better than Maret academically from what I've seen).

Oh! The Maret folk will be out to get you for that comment. Don't you know? Maret is THE BEST SCHOOL EVER!

With the BEST ATHLETIC FACILITIES!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Social climb to what? This isn’t 18th century France.

+1 They're expensive private schools in an area of solid to great public schools depending on where you live. The demand for these schools is not infinite, and for some people it doesn't make sense to spend 30-40k per year per kid for a private that isn't highly regarded (although GDS and Sidwell are better than Maret academically from what I've seen).

Oh! The Maret folk will be out to get you for that comment. Don't you know? Maret is THE BEST SCHOOL EVER!

With the BEST ATHLETIC FACILITIES!

Did they ever fix the roof leak in the newly-renovated athletic area roof that ruined the brand-new dance studio floor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Could this seriously be an educational decision for elementary school or is it just pure social climbing strategy?

It could be both. As others have mentioned, it could also be proximity to home, etc. The schools all seem different enough, though, as far as community vibe, so one or more might not be the best fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regular UMC people aren't going to pay $$$ for an education/school experience if they can get a comparable one at public school for free. So they only apply to privates that they think offer some real advantage over the good publics in the area. That might just be those 3

Paying $100k for a middling private is only worth it if you have a kid that needs more individualized attention or wants to play a specific sport or something like that (unless you are so rich that it's not a stretch)

m

Please speak for yourself rather than as if your value judgement represents a universal truism. -
Brand name private schools may only be worth it to you.

We have a lot of experience at both public and private schools. There are many other factors that make good private schools worth it to us:
- extensive research shows that most girls do better at all girls schools (emphasis on female leadership);
- better partnerships between home and school;
- teachers knowing your child in deep ways;
- bullying/ emotional health addressed head on by school counselors;
- presence of school nurse for inevitable injuries/ emergency meds needed;
- emphasis on balance of arts/ athletics/ academics/ spiritual growth and community service;
- ability to play team sports even if not coached from a young age or even any experience with new sports at all;
- dress codes and uniforms that reduce peer group pressure to wear designer labels/ trendy gear and implicitly place emphasis on school being a place of learning rather than a fashion show;
- writing programs at good privates far superior to writing skills taught in public schools;
- freedom to start obscure quirky social clubs of interest to individual students; and
- being well prepared for college (studies show students who attend private school much more likely to graduate in 4-6 years).

That said, public schools have many advantages not mentioned yet in this thread (Apart from obvious huge financial savings, public schools allow finding friends in one’s neighborhood, free school buses, less privileged entitlement (although at our local public HS, the student cars are just as expensive as at our private), more access to summer internships and national competitions in STEM/ specialties and less preppy atmosphere).

For us, and many friends I have talked to, deciding whether to go public or private and which privates to apply to, are
not simple calculations based on brand name recognition/ status.

+1 anyone who chooses private schools based solely on brand name value knows little about quality education and finding the right fit … your children are not status objects but people with unique needs.

[Anonymous]

Is Maret the safety?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We applied to only those three schools for our kids because we wanted a secular, co-ed, K-12 school that was convenient for our location, and those three have the best reputations within that small set of criteria.

Sidwell is not secular.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is Maret the safety?

Don’t feed the troll

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is Maret the safety?

Don’t feed the troll

The troll is fanning the flames but he’s not wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is Maret the safety?

Don’t feed the troll

The troll is fanning the flames but he’s not wrong.

He is. And you’re a troll too.

Among these choices, it’s about fit/preference.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think Maret is a safety though. Small class sizes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think Maret is a safety though. Small class sizes.

We are not at Maret but for many it is their first choice. I don't think it is a safety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We applied to only those three schools for our kids because we wanted a secular, co-ed, K-12 school that was convenient for our location, and those three have the best reputations within that small set of criteria.

Sidwell is not secular.

It’s not Quaker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think Maret is a safety though. Small class sizes.

We are not at Maret but for many it is their first choice. I don't think it is a safety.

That was probably a joke … admission stats similar to Ivy League universities …

[Anonymous]

GDS is the “easiest” to get into out of the three … but arguably, it has the most impressive alumni list. It would be easy to feel like a loser at any of these schools though …



Sidwell (7% admit rate)
"Sidwell Friends School alumni"

A
• Elizabeth Alexander (poet)
• Alida Anderson
• Damali ayo
B
• William Bayer
• Jon Bernthal
• Tom Bernthal
• David G. Bradley
C
• Setsuko, Princess Chichibu
• Sonya Clark
• Chelsea Clinton
• Tricia Nixon Cox
D
• John Dickerson (journalist)
• Giselle Donnelly
E
• Margaret Edson
• Julie Nixon Eisenhower
F
• Dan Froomkin
G
• Doug Gansler
• Ana Gasteyer
• Olivia Gentile
• Charles Gibson
• Walter Gilbert
• Anand Giridharadas
• Daniel S. Goldman
• Hanna Holborn Gray
H
• Michael Heller (law professor)
• Tony Horwitz
K
• John Katzenbach
• Philip S. Khoury
L
• Mark Lesko
• Charles Lindbergh
M
• Ellen McLaughlin
• Tracye McQuirter
• Nana Meriwether
N
• Bill Nye
O
• Malia Obama
• Sasha Obama
• Eliza Orlins
R
• Archibald Roosevelt
S
• Omar Soliman
• Steven D. Stark
• Lorin Stein
T
• Katherine Tai
• Merle Thorpe Jr.
• Walter Nathan Tobriner
V
• Gore Vidal
W
• Vanessa Wruble



Maret (10-16% admit rate)
Notable alumni

• Peter Matthew Bauer: Musician
• Sean Davis: Professional football player for the Pittsburgh Steelers
• Luka Garza: Professional basketball player for the Detroit Pistons
• Sonja Lyubomirsky: Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside and the author of The How of Happiness
• J. Lorand Matory: Anthropology Professor at Duke University
• Christof Putzel: Journalist
• Theodore Shapiro: American composer best known for film scores, including State and Main, 13 Going on 30, Along Came Polly, The Devil Wears Prada, Fun with Dick and Jane, etc.[4]
• Yeardley Smith: Actress best known for voicing Lisa Simpson on The Simpsons
• Josh Stamberg: Actor
• Rosalind Wiseman: Author of New York Times best-selling book Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence, released in 2002, was the basis of the 2004 film Mean Girls.[11]


GDS (16%)
Notable alumni
• Elliot Ackerman, decorated veteran and author
• James Alefantis, owner of Comet Ping Pong
• Kelly AuCoin, actor
• Schuyler Bailar, first openly transgender NCAA Division I swimmer[10]
• Jake Blount, musician, scholar and activist.
• Sean Fine, documentary filmmaker, best known for the Academy Award-nominated War/Dance
• Ruben Fleischer, film director
• Franklin Foer, The New Republic editor
• Jonathan Safran Foer, novelist and professor of creative writing at New York University
• Joshua Foer, freelance journalist and author of Moonwalking with Einstein
• Gina Gionfriddo, playwright and television writer. Twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
• Jonathan Glickman, film producer and studio executive.[16]
• Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer prize winning American author
• Matt Jackson, holder of the 5th longest winning streak on Jeopardy
• Judy Kuhn, Tony-nominated theatre actress, known for her originating roles in Les Misérables, Chess, and Fun Home, as well as being the singing voice for Pocahontas in the Disney film Pocahontas
• Ben Mankiewicz, host of Turner Classic Movies producer and actor
• Thurgood Marshall Jr., partner at Bingham McCutchen, LLP, chairman of the Board of the Governors USPS, Assistant to the President and Secretary to the Cabinet at Clinton Administration
• Judith Martin, journalist, author, and etiquette authority
• Sam Means, comedy writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,[24] 30 Rock, and Parks and Recreation; producer on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
• Guy Picciotto, singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, and producer most widely known for his role as guitarist and vocalist in Fugazi and Rites of Spring
• Members of Gray Matter (band).
• Alice Randall, American author and songwriter of African-American descent. She is perhaps best known for her novel The Wind Done Gone, a reinterpretation and parody of the popular 1936 novel Gone with the Wind.
• Jamie Raskin, elected to House of Representatives from Maryland
• David Reich, geneticist and professor in the department of genetics at Harvard Medical School, and an associate of the Broad Institute, whose research studies compare the human genome with those of chimpanzees, Neanderthals and Denisovans
• Noah Robbins, American actor
• Paul Shapiro, vice president of farm animal protection for the Humane Society of the United States
• Kevin Sheekey, political operative
• Ethan Slater, actor, singer, writer, and composer, best known for his Tony nominated role as SpongeBob SquarePants in the musical SpongeBob SquarePants
• Sarah Stillman, journalist and winner of the 2012 George Polk Award, the 2012 Hillman Prize, and a 2016 MacArthur Fellowship
• Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, author and activist
• Olivia Wilde, film and television actress, starred in House
• Sophia Yilma, journalist and politician