GDS vs Maret

[Anonymous]

Have a kid at GDS with friends at Maret. They all started new in 9th. Both are great schools. Both have inclusive communities and solid academics (think GDS is known for having a bit more homework and a bigger course catalog than Maret). Where they seem to diverge a bit is maybe due to the size difference, Maret seems more nurturing and GDS seems to require more independence/executive functioning out of the gate for HS. GDS kids need to quickly get comfortable calling their teachers by their first names, being responsible on an open campus, and forming and expressing their opinions. GDS will take roughly double the number of new students in 9th than Maret. Alll in all, GDS may take more growing into for some kids; Maret may have some growing out of it for some kids. Kind of depends in which environment your child would best thrive in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GDS is known nationally. Similar to Sidwell. Maret is a local school with less cache if that matters. It is not in the same category as GDS/Sidwell/Potomac. We do through this every year and every year, stats show us that this is correct. Plus...Whittle thing is just strange.

None of the DC schools are really known nationally. Only the New England boarding schools (Exeter, Andover, St. Paul's, Deerfield, etc.), Elite NY day schools (Horace Mann, Trinity, Dalton, Collegiate, etc.) and Harvard-Westlake have a real "national" profile.

Sidwell is only known because of the Obamas/Clinton

The schools this forum obsesses over are just cute local schools for children upper-middle class lawyers, consultants, and lobbyists. The true "elites" don't live in DC unless they're in the White House.

I’m not a Sidwell parent, but the Sidwell haters are real!

It doesn’t matter WHY a school is nationally known. It just matters that it’s nationally known—and Sidwell fits the bill. I heard about Sidwell, before I was married and had children, when I lived in Los Angeles. It’s been written about in newspapers from across the country and the world.

DP. Actually Episcopal and Madeira are national known. Both are boarding school that have a long history of students coming from out of state. Many families from other states have a tradition of sending kids to these schools and make plans to send their kid there. So you can talk to people in Richmond, New York, Charleston, New Orleans, etc and they will know Episcopal high school. Sidwell not so much.

Sidwell is not well known outside of the DC area. The Obama and Clinton cachet was big in the DC area but it was a long time ago and few people outside of DC remember it.

Maybe you should start a thread on this? This conversation does not belong in this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have a kid at GDS with friends at Maret. They all started new in 9th. Both are great schools. Both have inclusive communities and solid academics (think GDS is known for having a bit more homework and a bigger course catalog than Maret). Where they seem to diverge a bit is maybe due to the size difference, Maret seems more nurturing and GDS seems to require more independence/executive functioning out of the gate for HS. GDS kids need to quickly get comfortable calling their teachers by their first names, being responsible on an open campus, and forming and expressing their opinions. GDS will take roughly double the number of new students in 9th than Maret. Alll in all, GDS may take more growing into for some kids; Maret may have some growing out of it for some kids. Kind of depends in which environment your child would best thrive in.

That's a great description.
-Parent of GDS 9th grader

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have a kid at GDS with friends at Maret. They all started new in 9th. Both are great schools. Both have inclusive communities and solid academics (think GDS is known for having a bit more homework and a bigger course catalog than Maret). Where they seem to diverge a bit is maybe due to the size difference, Maret seems more nurturing and GDS seems to require more independence/executive functioning out of the gate for HS. GDS kids need to quickly get comfortable calling their teachers by their first names, being responsible on an open campus, and forming and expressing their opinions. GDS will take roughly double the number of new students in 9th than Maret. Alll in all, GDS may take more growing into for some kids; Maret may have some growing out of it for some kids. Kind of depends in which environment your child would best thrive in.

That's a great description.
-Parent of GDS 9th grader

Adding: my son has found that teachers are happy to help and support him. But he has to go to them -- no one is chasing him down. It's good practice for college but requires a lot of executive function and confidence, both of which are still growing for him.

[Anonymous]

It's only the parents on this board that argues which school is better. My DC who attends Maret was invited by Sidwell kid to prom, for example. They all socialize and I hear the high school kids are now planning the same venue for spring break.

They're all the same academically, same college results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live in Virginia and are looking at Maret. I was shocked that Maret’s literature states: 8% of students reside in Virginia. That has to be the lowest of the Sidwell, GDS, STA/NCS cohort? I tried to look up the others but without success.

Maret is much more a 'neighborhood' school. like lots of kids are actually walking distance to school - much more than the sidwells of the world. It is a nice, relatively low-stress option if you are local and have money. A bunch of our neighbors in upper NW chose it for this reason. For HS, lots of people come there after either Sheridan or St Pats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell is known nationally but not because of its education program or resources such as Andover. It's know. Because of the DC folks who have attended the school. Not the same thing.

Exactly, it's known because of Presidents' daughters. And, among colleges, strong students from any of the competitive DMV schools are regarded highly. All of these schools will prepare your DC for college and will have rigorous courses for them.

Despite what has been said above in this thread, any of these schools is a hard admit for HS and it fluctuates annually depending on what the schools need to fill in the rising HS cohort. So apply to ones your child is interested in and then see where they get accepted, that's when you have a choice.

We know examples of all of these scenarios - there is no clear pecking order; getting into GDS but not Maret, Sidwell but not Maret, Sidwell but not GDS, GDS but not Potomac, Sidwell but not Potomac, GDS but not Sidwell, Potomac but not Maret, Sidwell, GDS, Maret but not Potomac....it is all over the map. (left out STA/NCS single sex)

I'm also not convinced it's really that much more prestigious than the other DC schools among the elites. The Obamas wanted GDS, but couldn't because the campus wasn't secure enough. They settled on Sidwell because the Biden kids were already enrolled there and it was easier for secret service to have them all in the same place. Maret and NCS were also on the finalist list for the Obama girls.

All of the elite DC schools are very popular and nationally recognized. However, none of them are truly in the national scene or known outside of the DC bubble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell is known nationally but not because of its education program or resources such as Andover. It's know. Because of the DC folks who have attended the school. Not the same thing.

Exactly, it's known because of Presidents' daughters. And, among colleges, strong students from any of the competitive DMV schools are regarded highly. All of these schools will prepare your DC for college and will have rigorous courses for them.

Despite what has been said above in this thread, any of these schools is a hard admit for HS and it fluctuates annually depending on what the schools need to fill in the rising HS cohort. So apply to ones your child is interested in and then see where they get accepted, that's when you have a choice.

We know examples of all of these scenarios - there is no clear pecking order; getting into GDS but not Maret, Sidwell but not Maret, Sidwell but not GDS, GDS but not Potomac, Sidwell but not Potomac, GDS but not Sidwell, Potomac but not Maret, Sidwell, GDS, Maret but not Potomac....it is all over the map. (left out STA/NCS single sex)

I'm also not convinced it's really that much more prestigious than the other DC schools among the elites. The Obamas wanted GDS, but couldn't because the campus wasn't secure enough. They settled on Sidwell because the Biden kids were already enrolled there and it was easier for secret service to have them all in the same place. Maret and NCS were also on the finalist list for the Obama girls.

All of the elite DC schools are very popular and nationally recognized. However, none of them are truly in the national scene or known outside of the DC bubble.

And none of that has anything to do with the quality of education or whether a school is a good fit for a particular student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in Virginia and are looking at Maret. I was shocked that Maret’s literature states: 8% of students reside in Virginia. That has to be the lowest of the Sidwell, GDS, STA/NCS cohort? I tried to look up the others but without success.

Maret is much more a 'neighborhood' school. like lots of kids are actually walking distance to school - much more than the sidwells of the world. It is a nice, relatively low-stress option if you are local and have money. A bunch of our neighbors in upper NW chose it for this reason. For HS, lots of people come there after either Sheridan or St Pats.

Do not know about “lots of people come there after Sheridan or St Pat”. It has a 5-8% acceptance rate in 9th grade. Lower if you take out sibling preference. In a good year 1-2 kids from these schools would get in. Though those same kids get into every school they applied to because they are top students.

We went to the US open house and our last name started with “H”. DS gave name and the staffer checked off his name. This was from a clip board holding all the names. The first page was single spaced with four columns. The staffer went seven pages deep before getting to our name. It seems like you are uninformed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GDS is known nationally. Similar to Sidwell. Maret is a local school with less cache if that matters. It is not in the same category as GDS/Sidwell/Potomac. We do through this every year and every year, stats show us that this is correct. Plus...Whittle thing is just strange.

None of the DC schools are really known nationally. Only the New England boarding schools (Exeter, Andover, St. Paul's, Deerfield, etc.), Elite NY day schools (Horace Mann, Trinity, Dalton, Collegiate, etc.) and Harvard-Westlake have a real "national" profile.

Sidwell is only known because of the Obamas/Clinton

The schools this forum obsesses over are just cute local schools for children upper-middle class lawyers, consultants, and lobbyists. The true "elites" don't live in DC unless they're in the White House.

I’m not a Sidwell parent, but the Sidwell haters are real!

It doesn’t matter WHY a school is nationally known. It just matters that it’s nationally known—and Sidwell fits the bill. I heard about Sidwell, before I was married and had children, when I lived in Los Angeles. It’s been written about in newspapers from across the country and the world.

DP. Actually Episcopal and Madeira are national known. Both are boarding school that have a long history of students coming from out of state. Many families from other states have a tradition of sending kids to these schools and make plans to send their kid there. So you can talk to people in Richmond, New York, Charleston, New Orleans, etc and they will know Episcopal high school. Sidwell not so much.

Sidwell is not well known outside of the DC area. The Obama and Clinton cachet was big in the DC area but it was a long time ago and few people outside of DC remember it.

Maybe you should start a thread on this? This conversation does not belong in this thread.

Sure, Jan. 😂

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in Virginia and are looking at Maret. I was shocked that Maret’s literature states: 8% of students reside in Virginia. That has to be the lowest of the Sidwell, GDS, STA/NCS cohort? I tried to look up the others but without success.

Maret is much more a 'neighborhood' school. like lots of kids are actually walking distance to school - much more than the sidwells of the world. It is a nice, relatively low-stress option if you are local and have money. A bunch of our neighbors in upper NW chose it for this reason. For HS, lots of people come there after either Sheridan or St Pats.

Do not know about “lots of people come there after Sheridan or St Pat”. It has a 5-8% acceptance rate in 9th grade. Lower if you take out sibling preference. In a good year 1-2 kids from these schools would get in. Though those same kids get into every school they applied to because they are top students.

We went to the US open house and our last name started with “H”. DS gave name and the staffer checked off his name. This was from a clip board holding all the names. The first page was single spaced with four columns. The staffer went seven pages deep before getting to our name. It seems like you are uninformed.

Since they publish neither how many people apply nor how many they accept, how could you possibly know this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell is known nationally but not because of its education program or resources such as Andover. It's know. Because of the DC folks who have attended the school. Not the same thing.

Exactly, it's known because of Presidents' daughters. And, among colleges, strong students from any of the competitive DMV schools are regarded highly. All of these schools will prepare your DC for college and will have rigorous courses for them.

Despite what has been said above in this thread, any of these schools is a hard admit for HS and it fluctuates annually depending on what the schools need to fill in the rising HS cohort. So apply to ones your child is interested in and then see where they get accepted, that's when you have a choice.

We know examples of all of these scenarios - there is no clear pecking order; getting into GDS but not Maret, Sidwell but not Maret, Sidwell but not GDS, GDS but not Potomac, Sidwell but not Potomac, GDS but not Sidwell, Potomac but not Maret, Sidwell, GDS, Maret but not Potomac....it is all over the map. (left out STA/NCS single sex)

I'm also not convinced it's really that much more prestigious than the other DC schools among the elites. The Obamas wanted GDS, but couldn't because the campus wasn't secure enough. They settled on Sidwell because the Biden kids were already enrolled there and it was easier for secret service to have them all in the same place. Maret and NCS were also on the finalist list for the Obama girls.

All of the elite DC schools are very popular and nationally recognized. However, none of them are truly in the national scene or known outside of the DC bubble.

Some of you love lying on Sidwell to make yourselves feel better about [insert name of whatever random school your children attend].

“A number of great schools were considered,” Lelyveld said. “In the end, the Obamas selected the school that was the best fit for what their daughters need right now.”

The selection comes after weeks of speculation about whether President-elect Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, would choose a public or private school. Michelle Obama toured Sidwell Friends and Georgetown Day School two weeks ago by herself and then again earlier this week with her daughters and her mother, who will be moving to Washington with the Obama family.

Only Sidwell and GDS were seriously considered. They didn’t even bother to tour NCS or Maret. In the end, they chose the best school. Deal with it.

https://www.politico.com/...nds-015878

[Anonymous]

why do we care whether the Obama girls attend Sidwell or not? How are they doing now post college? have the achieved something on their own without their parents' name paving the way?

[Anonymous]

Educational consultant. Maret and GDS known in DC. Sidwell people have heard of but it's not seen as an elite or forward-thinking school. Good school but traditional and not innovative. Great facilities is really what separates it from GDS and Maret. A lot of overlap in applications between GDS, Maret, and Sidwell. Similar kids in many ways. In various years, kids transfer from Sidwell to Maret, GDS to Maret, Maret to Sidwell. College profiles are similar. Competitive to get in to either one of these schools due to preference given to most siblings---which makes it seem like schools are even more elite but they actually start with very few spaces. High profile families have chosen all three schools at various points---this says something since these families tend to have their choice of school. The attempts to elevate any of these schools is arrogant and silly.

[Anonymous]

As a long-time Maret parent, I will say that the new Head of School has been a real disappointment and his leadership is weak at best. Our youngest child is in the eleventh grade and we are just going to ride it out until graduation, but if I was a parent looking at schools during an entry year, I would probably not consider Maret.