Reviews on GP and Landon

[Anonymous]

Ted Kennedy's son

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Kennedy,_Jr.

[Anonymous]

Tim Shriver (Eunice Kennedy's son)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Shriver

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The last Kennedy to go to Prep was Owen Kennedy. He was there in the late 1980's.

This link is to a blog that actually tries to track such things. They report no Kennedy's went to St Albans.

http://celebrityprepschools.blogspot.com/2012/04/kennedy-family-other-boys.html

Maybe you are confusing them with the Gore's or Jesse Jackson

Blogs are so passé - the Google machine is your friend.

[Anonymous]

The patriarch of the Kennedy family (Joe Kennedy) was a genius and a Harvard man, he sure as heck wasn't going to sacrifice his sons to Catholic school education - they all went to Harvard [ and two went to UVA law]. Being Catholic is good politics in Massachusetts, but you'll never break the glass ceiling if you take your Catholicism too seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The patriarch of the Kennedy family (Joe Kennedy) was a genius and a Harvard man, he sure as heck wasn't going to sacrifice his sons to Catholic school education - they all went to Harvard [ and two went to UVA law]. Being Catholic is good politics in Massachusetts, but you'll never break the glass ceiling if you take your Catholicism too seriously.

Well, the Kennedy's aren't exactly typical.

And if "breaking the glass ceiling" requires one to desert their friends, family and sub-culture, maybe it isn't such a good idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The patriarch of the Kennedy family (Joe Kennedy) was a genius and a Harvard man, he sure as heck wasn't going to sacrifice his sons to Catholic school education - they all went to Harvard [ and two went to UVA law]. Being Catholic is good politics in Massachusetts, but you'll never break the glass ceiling if you take your Catholicism too seriously.

I'm curious about the thinking behind this post. I'm not trying to pick a fight. I'm curious.

What is it about Catholics choosing BC or Georgetown or Holy Cross over Ivies that bothers anyone?

Now I recognize that a goodly proportion of the people on this forum are Ivy-league crazy. It is for them the holy grail and achieving it for their kids (and themselves) is worth all the pressure they apply, all the thinking and planning they do and all the money they spend. It must be hard for them to accept that not everyone feels the same way.

What you are saying above is that a Harvard education is clearly superior than a Georgetown one. My life experience doesn't bear that out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son just started school at Landon. We applied to Prep and Landon and was admitted to both. We loved Prep but thought Landon was a better choice for our son. No reflection on Prep at all.

There are several excellent ps choices in the area. Agree with another poster that they all have some good and bad. There is a different lid for every pot, so to speak.

One thing we love about Landon is they have 3 hour plus breaks during the day for kids to do their homework. Teachers are also available during this time. Their goal is for the students to have the majority of the homework done BEFORE they leave school.

FYI, Landon does and excellent job academically. They have a steady stream of Ivy's every year. They sent 16 from the recent graduating class. Add a few kids that went to MIT, Standford, G-Town and other top universities.

To get them in the weight room AFTER school. Meatheads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:sorry three-one hour breaks. The middle break is a bit longer but includes time for lunch.

I think you are a little confused. I am a Landon parent and there are not three one hour breaks.

For freshman, there is mandatory study hall built into the schedule. Landon schedule is an 8 day schedule so you do not have the same classes every day. Schools starts at 8:05 and goes to 3:15. Each class block is 45 minutes. There is break built in from 10:05 to 10:30. US lunch is 12:25 to 1:35. During lunch is when clubs meet or you can also meet with teachers. So a freshman would have 2 and 25 minutes free if they used all this time. Most of the boys do not do HW during the short break. It is helpful during lunch to do some HW especially if you are on a team (which for freshman is mandatory for the Fall)

The mandatory study hall goes away in sophomore year. In junior year, you can drop arts as there is only a 2 year requirement. However, advanced biology and chemistry classes area double period with a lab, so most do not get that extra time. In senior year, if you do not take a science with a lab, you could gain an extra free but you still have to take 5 classes.

Also-there were not 16 kids that went Ivy last year. There were 10. 5 to Penn, 3 to Cornell 1 to Brown and 1 to Princeton. No one went to stanford.

Prep sent 8 to ivies. By the way do Cornell or Brown really count? 1 to Harvard, 3 to Penn, 3 to Princeton and (yes) 1 to Cornell. They also sent 1 to Stanford. The thought of Landon being academically superior to Prep is laughable. Take a look at the "notable alumni" profiles of both schools' notable alumni on the Wiki pages. Landon's most recognizable sons are huckster talk show host Maury Povich and convicted murderer George Hugely. Lovely network.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honest question -- Is GP a glorified Gonzaga or is it really I top independent school in the same league as STA, Sidwell and Landon.

Not quite Sidwell or St. Albans academically, but definitely on par with Landon.

[Anonymous]

I'm truly curious as to why Prep is not considered an elite academic institution. Prep's academic curriculum is extremely rigorous. My son, a GP grad, took 10 AP classes, scored 5's on five of them (Calc AB, Calc BC, Biology, Chemistry, Latin Vergil), scored 4's on five of them (US History, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Language & Comp, Literature & Comp), scored a 35 on the ACT, went on to an elite university and is currently in medical school. Nor was this out of the ordinary at GP; many of my son's friends had the same schedule, scored the same high marks, entered elite institutions with 24+ credits having already been achieved, and are subsequently attending prestigious graduate school programs.

I cannot speak to the curriculum at Landon. My son only applied to Prep and Gonzaga and simply chose Prep due to location.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm truly curious as to why Prep is not considered an elite academic institution. Prep's academic curriculum is extremely rigorous. My son, a GP grad, took 10 AP classes, scored 5's on five of them (Calc AB, Calc BC, Biology, Chemistry, Latin Vergil), scored 4's on five of them (US History, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Language & Comp, Literature & Comp), scored a 35 on the ACT, went on to an elite university and is currently in medical school. Nor was this out of the ordinary at GP; many of my son's friends had the same schedule, scored the same high marks, entered elite institutions with 24+ credits having already been achieved, and are subsequently attending prestigious graduate school programs.

I cannot speak to the curriculum at Landon. My son only applied to Prep and Gonzaga and simply chose Prep due to location.

I think there is a feeling Prep has slipped some. This year I believe they had only one National Merit Semifinalist (Gonzaga had six, which is proportionally more). I've had family members at Prep and like the school--I am just relaying a perception.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm truly curious as to why Prep is not considered an elite academic institution. Prep's academic curriculum is extremely rigorous. My son, a GP grad, took 10 AP classes, scored 5's on five of them (Calc AB, Calc BC, Biology, Chemistry, Latin Vergil), scored 4's on five of them (US History, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Language & Comp, Literature & Comp), scored a 35 on the ACT, went on to an elite university and is currently in medical school. Nor was this out of the ordinary at GP; many of my son's friends had the same schedule, scored the same high marks, entered elite institutions with 24+ credits having already been achieved, and are subsequently attending prestigious graduate school programs.

I cannot speak to the curriculum at Landon. My son only applied to Prep and Gonzaga and simply chose Prep due to location.

People on DCUM hate Catholics and rich people, Prep is both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm truly curious as to why Prep is not considered an elite academic institution. Prep's academic curriculum is extremely rigorous. My son, a GP grad, took 10 AP classes, scored 5's on five of them (Calc AB, Calc BC, Biology, Chemistry, Latin Vergil), scored 4's on five of them (US History, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Language & Comp, Literature & Comp), scored a 35 on the ACT, went on to an elite university and is currently in medical school. Nor was this out of the ordinary at GP; many of my son's friends had the same schedule, scored the same high marks, entered elite institutions with 24+ credits having already been achieved, and are subsequently attending prestigious graduate school programs.

I cannot speak to the curriculum at Landon. My son only applied to Prep and Gonzaga and simply chose Prep due to location.

People on DCUM hate Catholics and rich people, Prep is both.

The prevailing sentiment among the ladies of DCUM is that adolescent males should be emasculated. Schools that promote anything to do with the "traditional" male role in society is frowned upon. So there you have it: what could be worse than a Catholic, all-male school with a successful athletic program that supports an environment of "brotherhood" over internal competition?

This is the wrong forum if you are looking for support for Prep (or Gonzaga or even Landon). Elite athletes are "meatheads" and national merit scholars are heroes in this strange DCUM world. Thankfully not so much in the real world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Given the non sequitur posts by boosters here, I'd look at some other schools if I were you.

Lots of other alternatives. But if you are Catholic and if you and your sons want to continue to be part of the DC Catholic community, you might want to consider the short and long term impact of these "other schools" rather carefully.

We are a Catholic family and considering all private schools. What exactly do you mean by this statement?

[Anonymous]

Any person who really thinks that any school is "better academically" for ALL students is really stupid. It is ALL about FIT. Certain environments bring out the best in certain students. Children that thrive in a single gender environment might struggle in a coed environment (and probably vice versa). Educators know this, the clowns on DCUM evidently do not.