Maret/GDS US - pressure cooker or more laid back but still academically rigorous?

[Anonymous]

Our DD is entering 8th grade and we are in MoCo, zoning eventually to BCC. She told us last night that she is interested in looking at private schools as well as BCC. We, and she, are hoping for a high school experience where she is pushed to excel but without 4 hours of homework on top of extracurriculars.

She has made all As (or MoCo equivalent) the last couple of years. She is very bright and loves learning and reading and is better than average at soccer but not pro level or anything. Looking over past threads, it seems to me that a school like Maret or GDS may fit the bill? Do I have an accurate sense of the USs at those schools? Others to consider?

[Anonymous]

Field

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our DD is entering 8th grade and we are in MoCo, zoning eventually to BCC. She told us last night that she is interested in looking at private schools as well as BCC. We, and she, are hoping for a high school experience where she is pushed to excel but without 4 hours of homework on top of extracurriculars.

GDS is not that school -- unless DD will deliberately structure her schedule to leave herself time for other things and won't write herself off academically if she's not always taking the hardest courses and getting the best grades. The workload actually gets heavier -- not lighter -- for the (somewhat self-identified) very bright kids.

[Anonymous]

Either school could be a good fit. My DD was at GDS US, and had a great experience there, but it is very academically rigorous. The amount of homework is not unreasonable in 9th grade, and after that, it really depends on course selection, how efficient your DC is, and how driven she is to be in the absolutely most challenging class in every subject. For instance junior year, if taking BC Calc and wants to take the very very challenging but rewarding AP US history class with one specific teacher, not also taking particularly challenging AP science classes that have double periods to fit in the labs. The block scheduling helps kids adjust night to night what they have to get done because every class doesn't meet every day. The work was not "busy" work, and the kids really learn to write and to manage large projects. The relatively small size of the school means that if your DD is a well-trained and competent soccer player who has played travel soccer in MS, she would likely make varsity in 9th or 10th grade. The girls team has actually been pretty good in ISL terms the past few years, and given that the field is literally right next to the school, lots of kids drop by games and cheer both girls and boys teams on, so being a soccer player does tend to get one "known" quickly in the school.

[Anonymous]

Any of the so-called big 3/5/15 whatever, are going to be rigorous and have lots of homework. It is the nature or the beast.

[Anonymous]

GDS can be rigorous if the kid wants it or laid back if the kid wants that. I don't know any GDS kids who are really suffering under the pressure. The kids who take the rigorous schedule are the ones who love that sort of thing.

Because maret is smaller, the course selection is less varied so there really is no less rigorous option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know any GDS kids who are really suffering under the pressure. The kids who take the rigorous schedule are the ones who love that sort of thing.

Wow, then we either know different GDS kids or have a different definition of "suffering." The rigorous schedule kids I know have been really stressed out junior year. Some of this is self-inflicted (course selection), but there are also structural and/or cultural issues. AP US History, for example, shouldn't be taught on a 3 day a week schedule. There are other U.S. History options, but the kids all seem to believe (and tell each other that) they would be taking themselves out of competition for top tier colleges if they passed on APUSH. So I don't really see the rigorous course schedules as coming out of love so much as out of fear, ego, competitiveness, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know any GDS kids who are really suffering under the pressure. The kids who take the rigorous schedule are the ones who love that sort of thing.

Wow, then we either know different GDS kids or have a different definition of "suffering." The rigorous schedule kids I know have been really stressed out junior year. Some of this is self-inflicted (course selection), but there are also structural and/or cultural issues. AP US History, for example, shouldn't be taught on a 3 day a week schedule. There are other U.S. History options, but the kids all seem to believe (and tell each other that) they would be taking themselves out of competition for top tier colleges if they passed on APUSH. So I don't really see the rigorous course schedules as coming out of love so much as out of fear, ego, competitiveness, etc.

Every college bound kid at every private school is stressed out junior year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know any GDS kids who are really suffering under the pressure. The kids who take the rigorous schedule are the ones who love that sort of thing.

Every college bound kid at every private school is stressed out junior year.

or at any good public...that's what Junior year seems to be about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know any GDS kids who are really suffering under the pressure. The kids who take the rigorous schedule are the ones who love that sort of thing.

Every college bound kid at every private school is stressed out junior year.

or at any good public...that's what Junior year seems to be about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know any GDS kids who are really suffering under the pressure. The kids who take the rigorous schedule are the ones who love that sort of thing.

Wow, then we either know different GDS kids or have a different definition of "suffering." The rigorous schedule kids I know have been really stressed out junior year. Some of this is self-inflicted (course selection), but there are also structural and/or cultural issues. AP US History, for example, shouldn't be taught on a 3 day a week schedule. There are other U.S. History options, but the kids all seem to believe (and tell each other that) they would be taking themselves out of competition for top tier colleges if they passed on APUSH. So I don't really see the rigorous course schedules as coming out of love so much as out of fear, ego, competitiveness, etc.

Every college bound kid at every private school is stressed out junior year.

If that's true, then it's an argument for sticking with public. I've certainly seen high-performing Whitman kids get through junior year without being miserable. Then again, I've seen WIS kids do that too. I don't think it's a public vs. private divide -- it's more school-specific.

That said, to me one distinctive marker of parents at pressure cooker schools is how often their response to these issues is "it's normal" or "it's crazy but the kids love it," or "it's excellent prep for college and/or real life." No, it's not. Something's seriously messed up when bright, hardworking kids who by all objective measures are doing exceptionally well in school feel like failures, disappointments, or burnouts in HS and feel oppressed by and resentful of schoolwork. If a school community can't sustain the excitement and joy these same kids got from learning in the L/MS years, then something's wrong. And refusing to acknowledge that means that what's wrong is unlikely to get fixed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know any GDS kids who are really suffering under the pressure. The kids who take the rigorous schedule are the ones who love that sort of thing.

Wow, then we either know different GDS kids or have a different definition of "suffering." The rigorous schedule kids I know have been really stressed out junior year. Some of this is self-inflicted (course selection), but there are also structural and/or cultural issues. AP US History, for example, shouldn't be taught on a 3 day a week schedule. There are other U.S. History options, but the kids all seem to believe (and tell each other that) they would be taking themselves out of competition for top tier colleges if they passed on APUSH. So I don't really see the rigorous course schedules as coming out of love so much as out of fear, ego, competitiveness, etc.

That's because the college reps who visit the schools are telling them this. I actually heard a rep from Amherst say that it was "nice" that a woman's son chose to take regular US History over AP but that it basically put him out of the running to be considered for acceptance. You must take the most rigorous courseload offered at a school AND get better grades each consecutive year of HS AND start a club.

[Anonymous]

At which point the school has a series of options -- e.g. don't offer APUSH, offer it but devote 2 course periods to it (as they do to math and science APs), limit the number of APs a kid can take each year.

Basically, the college has defined its position in a way that leaves it up to the HS how pressured the most rigorous courseload can be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know any GDS kids who are really suffering under the pressure. The kids who take the rigorous schedule are the ones who love that sort of thing.

Every college bound kid at every private school is stressed out junior year.

or at any good public...that's what Junior year seems to be about.

As my son's junior year (at a private outside the immediate DC area but not too far away) comes to an end, I find myself so appreciative of how my approach to parenting has been informed by his school experience. He is a very high achiever - 35 ACT, 2320 SAT - and when he moved from public to private school in 9th grade, we were seeking "rigor." He really liked school from the start, but we - his parents - were a little disappointed in the lack of homework, and the non-existence of honors sections for freshmen. Everyone told us it would get harder, especially junior year.

Well, it has gotten a little harder - though not terribly so - through his junior year. But what's also happened in the intervening years is that he's had the room to breathe, to try new things in athletics and extra-curriculars, and to develop a meaningful and deep-seated academic interest in a subject that he's pursued in his own time (online through CTY and then in the summer) because it's not offered at his school. He has become that kind of outstanding student with a demonstrated commitment to a "passion" that highly selective schools seem to find so enticing. As a result, his counselor tells us that he has a realistic shot at HYP (even while making sure we all understand that a "realistic shot" is still probably less than 50-50 but also more than 5 percent). More than that, he is happy and confident. And it strikes me that if he had been weighted down with 4 hours of homework every night, he probably could have handled the workload and still made good grades, but there's no way he would have taken up 2 sports, and no way he would have had the time or mental energy to study an additional subject for at least a couple of hours every week. In short, the academic rigor would have forestalled him from ever doing anything except working rigorously on homework.

What I had initially viewed as a shortcoming of his school now looks like wisdom to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know any GDS kids who are really suffering under the pressure. The kids who take the rigorous schedule are the ones who love that sort of thing.

Every college bound kid at every private school is stressed out junior year.

or at any good public...that's what Junior year seems to be about.

As my son's junior year (at a private outside the immediate DC area but not too far away) comes to an end, I find myself so appreciative of how my approach to parenting has been informed by his school experience. He is a very high achiever - 35 ACT, 2320 SAT - and when he moved from public to private school in 9th grade, we were seeking "rigor." He really liked school from the start, but we - his parents - were a little disappointed in the lack of homework, and the non-existence of honors sections for freshmen. Everyone told us it would get harder, especially junior year.

Well, it has gotten a little harder - though not terribly so - through his junior year. But what's also happened in the intervening years is that he's had the room to breathe, to try new things in athletics and extra-curriculars, and to develop a meaningful and deep-seated academic interest in a subject that he's pursued in his own time (online through CTY and then in the summer) because it's not offered at his school. He has become that kind of outstanding student with a demonstrated commitment to a "passion" that highly selective schools seem to find so enticing. As a result, his counselor tells us that he has a realistic shot at HYP (even while making sure we all understand that a "realistic shot" is still probably less than 50-50 but also more than 5 percent). More than that, he is happy and confident. And it strikes me that if he had been weighted down with 4 hours of homework every night, he probably could have handled the workload and still made good grades, but there's no way he would have taken up 2 sports, and no way he would have had the time or mental energy to study an additional subject for at least a couple of hours every week. In short, the academic rigor would have forestalled him from ever doing anything except working rigorously on homework.

What I had initially viewed as a shortcoming of his school now looks like wisdom to me.

So how many students does this private school normally send to HYP, Stanford, etc. every year?

There is a difference between private schools and "elite" private and public schools that send 20% + of their graduating class to elite colleges year after year. And yes, they are ALL pressure cookers.