Social fit vs academics

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree with those thinking academics should be the only factor. Social fit is really important, especially for the teen years. Look at St. Andrew's or Bullis (if they work for you geographically). The two schools are similar, but the their differences might also meet the needs of all of your kids. The two schools are about 10 minutes apart, so you could split your kids up. If you do put your kids at different schools, I would compare the school calendars to see when breaks/holidays occur to see what the overlap is like.

Op here. This is on our list. Both schools have an athletics requirement. Our more introverted kid doesn't play sports at all.

Field has sports teams but their requirement can be fulfilled by playing a team sport or by doing another team based activity (theater and robotics team both count, those are what my kid is interested in so I’m not sure what else).

[Anonymous]

Unless you have a serious academic contender - or see the interest / potential to be... I'd imagine any school that has gen pop / honors / AP options will meet your child's academic needs. I wouldn't push my kid into a specific school for academics / college placement purposes unless I envision he/she shooting for T25 with a chance to actually make the cut. Beyond T25 - there are plenty of great options and your DC wouldn't need any specific grinder school to get in from. I've been around the high school & college track a few times and see now how so much of the worrying is unfounded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:St. Andrew's and Bullis? Or maybe Field/Burke and a choice for your athletic kids?

St. Andrew's definitely has quirky kids. That's what it's known for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Choose different schools for your different kids. They each need something different -- academic and social/cultural fit is important.

I only have two kids, but they've attended different schools their whole lives because they have different needs.

I've seen this too, OP. It's a lot more work but it is worth considering.

We did this for a while with two kids. It was the right thing for the kids but exhausting because the schools were not located near each other and the schedules were not aligned (we also both work and were going into the office). That said — it can work if you have more scheduling flexibility, good school bus availability, or schools in proximity to each other, like SAES and Bullis.

[Anonymous]

Re the athletics requirement at St. Andrew’s — recommend checking the website and/or asking. There are different ways of satisfying that requirement, including outside fitness activities (at least in the upper school). It’s worth looking into. There are a range of kids at St. Andrew’s including very academic kids, so it’s worth checking to see if it would work for all your kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Re the athletics requirement at St. Andrew’s — recommend checking the website and/or asking. There are different ways of satisfying that requirement, including outside fitness activities (at least in the upper school). It’s worth looking into. There are a range of kids at St. Andrew’s including very academic kids, so it’s worth checking to see if it would work for all your kids.

Okay thank you! We'll look into this