Is Gonzaga the it school this year for boys?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, only if you can't afford elite private or dislike public.

It's Catholic, not private and it's half the price of the privates. It's the school for super athletes whose parents are Catholic or don't mind a catholic education.

Umm it’s private…I think what you mean is it’s not an independent school (like SR and GP) but rather is a parish school/ associated with a church.

It is not a parish school.

It’s literally connected to a church…

The church is only active for the school. It is not a church with a parish community beyond the school. So it is not supported by a parish community.

Cool. It's still a Catholic Church school.

I'm not knocking it, I'd send my kids there, but it's not the same as an independent private school.

Gonzaga, St. John’s and Good counsel are all independent. Damatha might be also I can’t remember.

That is their legal starting.

Perhaps you have a different definition.

The legal starting is four members of the Jesuit order on the board of trustees and a Jesuit priest as the headmaster. It's a Catholic school... not sure where you're going with this. It's a great education, unreal sports and I'd be happy to let my kids go there because, despite it being a catholic school, many non-catholics choose to go there and have a great experience.

Board of Trustees

https://www.gonzaga.org/about/board-of-trustees

Headmaster

https://www.gonzaga.org/academics/headmasters-welcome

I’m not going anywhere with it. I’m explaining the definition of private school versus independent school to you because you clearly don’t understand it.

Well, this subtle distinction between a private school and an independent school has to do with the legal structure of each, how they are governed, and how they are funded. An independent school has a truly independent board of trustees that oversees the school's operation, while a private school can theoretically be part of another entity, such as a for profit corporation or a not for profit organization such as a church or synagogue

You just proved that Gonzaga is independent. The fact it has a specific board of trustees dedicated only to this school means it is independent. You are confusing schools that are governed by the Archdiocese of Washington. Those tend to be the "parish" schools, and the curriculum and all the regulations are managed at the Archdiocese level. Gonzaga is independent.

The cool thing about the Catholic church is that it's, well, the Catholic church. It has parishes, it has orders, etc but at the end of the day, it's the Catholic church. People have very exhaustively proven that Gonzaga isn't connected to any parish. Cool.

Four members of the board are required to be from the Jesuit order. The headmaster is a Jesuit. Guess what the Jesuit order is part of... (hint: it's not a local parish, so you don't need to guess that!)

Even better, when the school was accused of discriminating against a former teacher in 2017, the school used (in part) the "ministerial exception", and the school's lawyers argued that the ex-teacher couldn't sue because:

"Moreover, as a teacher, it is clear that Plaintiff was a representative of the Catholic school,
was required to convey the Church’s message and carry out its mission. It would be absurd to
determine that a teacher of a Catholic school, tasked with the job duties of educating its students
of the Church’s teachings and beliefs, is not a “minister” for the purposes of the “ministerial
exception.” Therefore, because Plaintiff qualifies as a “minister” of the Catholic faith, his claims
alleging racial discrimination and retaliation are barred by the “ministerial exception,” and must
be dismissed with prejudice. "

So... yeah, it's part of the Catholic church. (They won that case, though not on the ministerial exception grounds—the appeals court declined to settle that one, but I think if the school SAYS its part of the Catholic church, we should believe them.)

LOL you went to a lot of trouble to tell me Gonzaga is part of the Catholic church?

There are lots of independent schools that are associated with the Catholic faith. They are independent because they have their own curriculum which is not dictated by any the archdiocese. Being a Catholic school means you include teachings of the Catholic faith, have Masses, and operate in a manner that instills morals of the Catholic faith. That can be achieved in any number of ways that the independent school is free to decide.

Schools that operate under the ADW are not independent and have to conform to their curriculum and rules. There are only two high schools in the ADW. The rest in the DC/MD area are all independent.

It's a Catholic school! Glad we agree!

And it's independent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Considering Gonzaga for our DS, but are concerned about the commute time since we are in Chevy Chase, MD. I was looking at their college decisions instagram page (which is pretty impressive btw) and noticed a fair number of students are listed as coming from CC or Bethesda. Do most take the metro? Plugging it into GoogleMaps it shows almost an hour one way. Wondering if someone with experience with this commute could speak to this.

My DS graduated from Gonzaga a couple of years ago and we are in Virginia. Most of his friends were in carpools for the morning commute. There were 5 families in our carpool and we each drove in one day a week. We met in a parking lot that was centrally located for all of us and not too far from our homes. The boys took metro home because they all had different schedules: sports, volunteering after school, meeting with a teacher, clubs, etc. My DS started driving himself and one other person his junior year. I really enjoyed the two years I did carpool - it was fun to listen to the boys chatter/banter in the morning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Considering Gonzaga for our DS, but are concerned about the commute time since we are in Chevy Chase, MD. I was looking at their college decisions instagram page (which is pretty impressive btw) and noticed a fair number of students are listed as coming from CC or Bethesda. Do most take the metro? Plugging it into GoogleMaps it shows almost an hour one way. Wondering if someone with experience with this commute could speak to this.

Could you post the link to the college decisions page? Apparently I stink at finding it.

DS is graduating from Gonzaga this year and going to one of the private “new ivies” 😉 I can say that many of his friends will decide Wednesday which true ivy they will attend. And many of them will not submit their info to the ig page.

The ig is self-reported. Of DS’s friend group, the kids going to the highest rated colleges have not/ will not post. And many are deciding on the May 1 deadline.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jesuit education is strong. Georgetown, Notre Dame, Boston College, Villanova, etc have also had a big surge (always popular---but even more in this day and age as people turn away from the Ivies).

You’d have to come from a fairly conservative background to think a Catholic education at both the high school and college level is preferable to a top public or private plus Ivy education. I do realize Trumpists are all about bashing Ivies these days to appeal to populist sentiments and Jewish voters, but even so relatively few are going to confuse Notre Dame with HYP or BC and Villanova with Dartmouth or Brown.

Just in case you needed a reality check.

You clearly know nothing about Catholics or Catholic highs schools and colleges. You are really embarrassing yourself.

[Anonymous]

I really dislike the “it” tag. Gonzaga has been around 200 years — it’s as in/out as it’s always been. For us, 3rd kid will graduate next month and he’s loved his experience and landed well in college placement. Similar experience to his uncle 40 years ago and his cousins scattered over the last 5-20 years. Boys should shadow and see if it feels right for them.

[Anonymous]

Any MD commuters?? How’s that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, only if you can't afford elite private or dislike public.

It's Catholic, not private and it's half the price of the privates. It's the school for super athletes whose parents are Catholic or don't mind a catholic education.

Umm it’s private…I think what you mean is it’s not an independent school (like SR and GP) but rather is a parish school/ associated with a church.

It is not a parish school.

It’s literally connected to a church…

The church is only active for the school. It is not a church with a parish community beyond the school. So it is not supported by a parish community.

Cool. It's still a Catholic Church school.

I'm not knocking it, I'd send my kids there, but it's not the same as an independent private school.

Yes, it is, just as St. Albans and NCS are independent private schools, while connected to the National Cathedral and Episcopal church.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jesuit education is strong. Georgetown, Notre Dame, Boston College, Villanova, etc have also had a big surge (always popular---but even more in this day and age as people turn away from the Ivies).

You’d have to come from a fairly conservative background to think a Catholic education at both the high school and college level is preferable to a top public or private plus Ivy education. I do realize Trumpists are all about bashing Ivies these days to appeal to populist sentiments and Jewish voters, but even so relatively few are going to confuse Notre Dame with HYP or BC and Villanova with Dartmouth or Brown.

Just in case you needed a reality check.

You clearly know nothing about Catholics or Catholic highs schools and colleges. You are really embarrassing yourself.

Actually, I know quite a bit about the former, and it was enough to steer us away from the latter. But go ahead and pretend that Gonzaga is new St. Albans or that Notre Dame is the new Yale. Your friends at OLGC or Saint Bernadette's will be impressed, and that's probably what matters to you.

[Anonymous]

It is the high school that accepts the largest number of boys, so it can feel like "everyone" is going there. There are 960+ boys there. DeMatha is almost as big.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, only if you can't afford elite private or dislike public.

I don't think this is fair. There are plenty of families that turn down the "big 3" for Gonzaga.

Gonzaga is great for boys that are very sporty and want a quality high school education that will not overwhelm them. Gonzaga is much bigger in size than the elite privates and the student body is more down-to-earth.

Not everyone wants to do 5 hours of homework a night just to end up with a 3.6 GPA and admission to Wisconsin.

My son is thriving at Gonzaga. By far, our best family decision. As I've said before, my son would live in the basement of Gonzaga if they would allow him. His APs are challgenging, he plays a Varsity sport and so far, his college counselor has been so very helpful and offered many ideas. Honestly, I don't think 33K is inexpensive but maybe for this area it's considered a bargain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Considering Gonzaga for our DS, but are concerned about the commute time since we are in Chevy Chase, MD. I was looking at their college decisions instagram page (which is pretty impressive btw) and noticed a fair number of students are listed as coming from CC or Bethesda. Do most take the metro? Plugging it into GoogleMaps it shows almost an hour one way. Wondering if someone with experience with this commute could speak to this.

My son knows a ton of boys from the Chevy Chase area. Our area - Alexandria - had zip code parties that encouraged relationships and commutes. We had a carpool for 2 years; would gather at an accessible parking lot at a designated time. Worked so well! I do think the zip code parties are DMV wide.

My son knows boys who commute from Frederick. It's possible and worth the commute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jesuit education is strong. Georgetown, Notre Dame, Boston College, Villanova, etc have also had a big surge (always popular---but even more in this day and age as people turn away from the Ivies).

You’d have to come from a fairly conservative background to think a Catholic education at both the high school and college level is preferable to a top public or private plus Ivy education. I do realize Trumpists are all about bashing Ivies these days to appeal to populist sentiments and Jewish voters, but even so relatively few are going to confuse Notre Dame with HYP or BC and Villanova with Dartmouth or Brown.

Just in case you needed a reality check.

Nah, we’re “Catholic for the in-parish tuition” level Catholics and think Jesuit schools (I’ll speak to Gonzaga/BC) really teach the idea of looking out for and learning about others in a way you probably don’t get at your grassy knoll privates. I’m sure no one misses us at Princeton, etc., but people look for different things.

i mean, catholic education system famously looked the other way for a very long time... but I would say it's pretty useless to talk about all Jesuit schools or all "grassy knoll privates". GDS is very different than St. Albans, just as Gonzaga is very different from Prep.

I don't know what you're responding to but the pp's point is that "conservative Catholics" are definitely not required for Gonzaga. And many of us even "Catholic in name only" types have our kids attend catholic schools (speaking to Gonzaga/BC) because we prefer them over cushy privates.

The same pp keeps coming back to make the same point that there are schools ranked higher than Gonzaga and ND. Okay, that's not news to us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Considering Gonzaga for our DS, but are concerned about the commute time since we are in Chevy Chase, MD. I was looking at their college decisions instagram page (which is pretty impressive btw) and noticed a fair number of students are listed as coming from CC or Bethesda. Do most take the metro? Plugging it into GoogleMaps it shows almost an hour one way. Wondering if someone with experience with this commute could speak to this.

Could you post the link to the college decisions page? Apparently I stink at finding it.

DS is graduating from Gonzaga this year and going to one of the private “new ivies” 😉 I can say that many of his friends will decide Wednesday which true ivy they will attend. And many of them will not submit their info to the ig page.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Considering Gonzaga for our DS, but are concerned about the commute time since we are in Chevy Chase, MD. I was looking at their college decisions instagram page (which is pretty impressive btw) and noticed a fair number of students are listed as coming from CC or Bethesda. Do most take the metro? Plugging it into GoogleMaps it shows almost an hour one way. Wondering if someone with experience with this commute could speak to this.

Could you post the link to the college decisions page? Apparently I stink at finding it.

DS is graduating from Gonzaga this year and going to one of the private “new ivies” 😉 I can say that many of his friends will decide Wednesday which true ivy they will attend. And many of them will not submit their info to the ig page.

The ig is self-reported. Of DS’s friend group, the kids going to the highest rated colleges have not/ will not post. And many are deciding on the May 1 deadline.

Still deciding in our house...ugh. 4 schools left --2 T10, 2T20. Doubt he will report. Not SM fans in our household.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jesuit education is strong. Georgetown, Notre Dame, Boston College, Villanova, etc have also had a big surge (always popular---but even more in this day and age as people turn away from the Ivies).

You’d have to come from a fairly conservative background to think a Catholic education at both the high school and college level is preferable to a top public or private plus Ivy education. I do realize Trumpists are all about bashing Ivies these days to appeal to populist sentiments and Jewish voters, but even so relatively few are going to confuse Notre Dame with HYP or BC and Villanova with Dartmouth or Brown.

Just in case you needed a reality check.

You clearly know nothing about Catholics or Catholic highs schools and colleges. You are really embarrassing yourself.

Actually, I know quite a bit about the former, and it was enough to steer us away from the latter. But go ahead and pretend that Gonzaga is new St. Albans or that Notre Dame is the new Yale. Your friends at OLGC or Saint Bernadette's will be impressed, and that's probably what matters to you.

Wow, how intolerant of you. If you despise Catholics that much, why do you even comment? And Notre Dame is an elite school that offers a lot that Yale could not even if they tried...that's why many chose it over Yale.