Potomac School pressure cooker or not

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have concerns about the level of pressure, you should definitely try to talk to a range of US parents (not LS or IS). Also, be aware that many students have tutors outside of school, which is not only expensive, but time consuming on top of sports requirements and other activities. The workload is manageable if your child does not select honors classes, but that will impact the college admissions process, if that matters to you / your child.

What a trade off, you will still get to go to Potomac, but won’t get into a good college.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The class composition largely drives the US experience-there are a couple of classes that are not cohesive and kids don’t speak to each other unless they are part of the same “group”. The prior comments about nepotism in athletics and some of the coaches ruining the athletic experience have also been true in our experience. And several teachers do not return work in a timely manner-not just English with papers etc. All in all a disappointing experience and we will be glad to be moving on!

Gotta take the sour grapes with a grain of salt. Sorry your family had a negative experience. That is no t the case for vast majority though.

NP here. I think "vast majority" would be vastly overstating that. It's often the people behind the problems who are oblivious to it. OP: while the administration has finally taken a few steps to address the academic pressures--mostly with the block schedule--there still remains quite a bit of pressure that comes from within the student body. There are lots of things to like about Potomac, but some pretty major issues persist, as with many schools.

Please speak to your experience as I will speak to mine. While nothing is perfect, we have been thrilled with almost every aspect of Potomac. It is truly a first rate school that does recognize that not all students are high flyers. Remember that the students who were admitted in the LS may not be the strongest in the US. They certainly know that and teach accordingly. 100% agree with PP that it is the parents who add to whatever potential stress is in any top notch school.

This back and forth alone says a lot about the parent community…

Well, the PP says she'll speak to her own experience after claiming to speak for the "vast majority." Then she talks about "high flyers." This is definitely the kind of parent who is sending the kids who cause the problems to Potomac. They are the ones who call kids "stupid" in front of classmates, talk about them behind their backs to anybody who will listen, question their college acceptances. They are so competitive and insecure at the same time that they can't just worry about themselves.

I actually interpreted the reference to "high flyers" as saying the school supports a wider range of students (and that PP's kids might be included in that wider range) - not as PP having a high flyer.

PP here - that is exactly what I meant. Thank you!

You are welcome! The rant implying your family was a problem and feeding into toxic pressure seemed completely the opposite of what you had written.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The class composition largely drives the US experience-there are a couple of classes that are not cohesive and kids don’t speak to each other unless they are part of the same “group”. The prior comments about nepotism in athletics and some of the coaches ruining the athletic experience have also been true in our experience. And several teachers do not return work in a timely manner-not just English with papers etc. All in all a disappointing experience and we will be glad to be moving on!

Gotta take the sour grapes with a grain of salt. Sorry your family had a negative experience. That is no t the case for vast majority though.

NP here. I think "vast majority" would be vastly overstating that. It's often the people behind the problems who are oblivious to it. OP: while the administration has finally taken a few steps to address the academic pressures--mostly with the block schedule--there still remains quite a bit of pressure that comes from within the student body. There are lots of things to like about Potomac, but some pretty major issues persist, as with many schools.

Please speak to your experience as I will speak to mine. While nothing is perfect, we have been thrilled with almost every aspect of Potomac. It is truly a first rate school that does recognize that not all students are high flyers. Remember that the students who were admitted in the LS may not be the strongest in the US. They certainly know that and teach accordingly. 100% agree with PP that it is the parents who add to whatever potential stress is in any top notch school.

This back and forth alone says a lot about the parent community…

Well, the PP says she'll speak to her own experience after claiming to speak for the "vast majority." Then she talks about "high flyers." This is definitely the kind of parent who is sending the kids who cause the problems to Potomac. They are the ones who call kids "stupid" in front of classmates, talk about them behind their backs to anybody who will listen, question their college acceptances. They are so competitive and insecure at the same time that they can't just worry about themselves.

I actually interpreted the reference to "high flyers" as saying the school supports a wider range of students (and that PP's kids might be included in that wider range) - not as PP having a high flyer.

PP here - that is exactly what I meant. Thank you!

You are welcome! The rant implying your family was a problem and feeding into toxic pressure seemed completely the opposite of what you had written.

You think the poster who told somebody with legitimate concerns that they just have sour grapes isn't a problem? Okay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

My kid was a top player in their sport both locally and nationally. Easily the top player on Potomac's team and was treated incredibly poorly by the coach, mostly because the coach is a very quirky person, and had a preference for people like them. Went on to play D1 but with absolutely zero support from the school. None from the coach or the AD. The former college counselor was supportive, but nobody in that office knew anything about recruiting either. They really do not care about athletic recruiting. And that is fine. Academics are 100% their priority there, so just know that. If you're looking to play at the D1 level, Potomac is a massive detriment because there isn't a single team or coach there who supports that.

Looks like the boys basketball team sends some kids to D1 schools every so often. Not football though.

well, since Ko has taken over 10 years ago, it will be 5 out of 10 years that they've sent a football player to DI.

[Anonymous]

I think last year they had 11-12 kids commit to play in college. Not sure how many were D1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you elaborate on the nepotism issue? Are these children of board members or large donors?

I think pp is referring to sports, and my guess would be soccer. Some have the view that the coaches favor their club players outside of school.

Of course they do. It happens at most schools. Soccer is one of the most political sports out there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you elaborate on the nepotism issue? Are these children of board members or large donors?

I think pp is referring to sports, and my guess would be soccer.

Some have the view that the coaches favor their club players outside of school. [/quote]

When you see ECNL level players being passed over for 3rd/4th string club players and their coach “happens” to be the asst coach of the school team, well, what else can one reasonably conclude?

DP. Different private. We had kids that didn’t even play soccer outside of high school (no club) make it over done kids that dominate in Club. The nepotism and favoritism was so out of control. And little did I know it started before the kids even got to the high school. And man some of the parental @ss kissing was at levels I never even saw in Club soccer. It really messed with some really great kids/players.

[Anonymous]

That's terrible. This is at the varsity level for certain sports?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's terrible. This is at the varsity level for certain sports?

Freshmen, JV and Varsity at our school, but the varsity soccer is so corrupt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's terrible. This is at the varsity level for certain sports?

Freshmen, JV and Varsity at our school, but the varsity soccer is so corrupt.

Parents are already working their angle with the coach for next year. Fall season. The fix will be in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's terrible. This is at the varsity level for certain sports?

Freshmen, JV and Varsity at our school, but the varsity soccer is so corrupt.

Parents are already working their angle with the coach for next year. Fall season.

The fix will be in.

Huh? What does this mean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's terrible. This is at the varsity level for certain sports?

Freshmen, JV and Varsity at our school, but the varsity soccer is so corrupt.

Parents are already working their angle with the coach for next year. Fall season.

The fix will be in.

Huh? What does this mean?

For our school (not Potomac), it means the Varsity coach picks the team a full year in advance. Most of the team is notified a year in advance they made it already. For incoming Freshmen, there will be a few told they will at least be on JV--some told Varsity. And, this is boys where you can have a kid be 5'2" at the start of Freshmen year and 6'0" at the start of Sophomore year so it's even crazier. Some parents would throw elaborate team parties to schmooze. It's such a sh*tshow. One parent is already having regular conversations with coach about how to get a rising Sophomore onto varsity next Fall. The good thing about soccer: high school means absolutely ZERO for college recruiting. The college coaches have repeatedly said this. But, for kids that really love their school and want to play for spirit and comradery with classmates and get the big scr*w job it's really disheartening. And, as another poster said, it's not talent. Some of these kids committed to D1 soccer schools so it wasn't because they didn't deserve to be on the team.

[Anonymous]

Seems like this thread has moved wildly off topic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you elaborate on the nepotism issue? Are these children of board members or large donors?

I think pp is referring to sports, and my guess would be soccer. Some have the view that the coaches favor their club players outside of school.

Having a local club coach who knows what they are doing is not a negative in my opinion. The club players are stronger than the non club players--in any sport--not just soccer.

Do you not think the AAU bball players get favored by the bball coach. I think its fine to have professional coaches over teacher volunteers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:The class composition largely drives the US experience-there are a couple of classes that are not cohesive and kids don’t speak to each other unless they are part of the same “group”. The prior comments about nepotism in athletics and some of the coaches ruining the athletic experience have also been true in our experience. And several teachers do not return work in a timely manner-not just English with papers etc. All in all a disappointing experience and we will be glad to be moving on!

Gotta take the sour grapes with a grain of salt. Sorry your family had a negative experience. That is no t the case for vast majority though.

NP here. I think "vast majority" would be vastly overstating that. It's often the people behind the problems who are oblivious to it. OP: while the administration has finally taken a few steps to address the academic pressures--mostly with the block schedule--there still remains quite a bit of pressure that comes from within the student body. There are lots of things to like about Potomac, but some pretty major issues persist, as with many schools.

Please speak to your experience as I will speak to mine. While nothing is perfect, we have been thrilled with almost every aspect of Potomac. It is truly a first rate school that does recognize that not all students are high flyers. Remember that the students who were admitted in the LS may not be the strongest in the US. They certainly know that and teach accordingly. 100% agree with PP that it is the parents who add to whatever potential stress is in any top notch school.

This back and forth alone says a lot about the parent community…

Well, the PP says she'll speak to her own experience after claiming to speak for the "vast majority." Then she talks about "high flyers." This is definitely the kind of parent who is sending the kids who cause the problems to Potomac. They are the ones who call kids "stupid" in front of classmates, talk about them behind their backs to anybody who will listen, question their college acceptances. They are so competitive and insecure at the same time that they can't just worry about themselves.

I actually interpreted the reference to "high flyers" as saying the school supports a wider range of students (and that PP's kids might be included in that wider range) - not as PP having a high flyer.

PP here - that is exactly what I meant. Thank you!

You are welcome! The rant implying your family was a problem and feeding into toxic pressure seemed completely the opposite of what you had written.

You think the poster who told somebody with legitimate concerns that they just have sour grapes isn't a problem? Okay.

What I said is that I think they aren't likely to be doing this below (as the PP accused them):

"This is definitely the kind of parent who is sending the kids who cause the problems to Potomac. They are the ones who call kids "stupid" in front of classmates, talk about them behind their backs to anybody who will listen, question their college acceptances. They are so competitive and insecure at the same time that they can't just worry about themselves "