What private schools for high school are the hardest to get into?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But Field has the potential to surpass GDS and Maret with its campus and the growing demand for a progressive HS alternative.

It's kind of a collective action problem. Neither Field nor Maret has the academic cohort you find at GDS, Sidwell, or NCS/STA. I would have loved a lower pressure (and especially a non-AP alternative) to those HSs. I looked for one (and knew of another family who did as well). We each concluded our kid wasn't going to have many academic peers anyplace else in DC. Some of it may be scale, but another part of it is cultural -- this area is a type-A environment and the parents of highly academic kids here seem to choose either science-oriented public magnets or private pressure cookers. There's not a critical mass looking for a more playful/creative/intellectual option. And if those who are scatter, then their numbers won't increase.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I am familiar with St Anselms. I know someone who works there and several families with sons there. The boys who attend are all, except one, exceptionally smart but also quirky, and all but two display some attributes of neu-differences. All are very high functioning and capable of operating in the normal world. They just would not get in to, say Sidwell or STA, because their behavioral quirks are too outside the "norm" from those completely mainstream and rigorous schools.

My DS goes there. Most of the kids do not have neu-differences. Some do, including my DS, but most do not. Many kids go there not because they couldn't get into Sidwell but because they come from families that are Catholic and value the religious aspect of the school.

My DS is also a student there, and plenty NT. Some of us like the school -- and wouldn't have even considered Sidwell -- because we value the diversity, lack of pretention, and location (which fosters the first two as well). And the strong emphasis on service and spirituality, which is not exactly something I hear routinely about the Big 3.

[Anonymous]

I find it disappointing that most Field boosters express their support by taking shots at other schools. Is this typical behavior for Field parents?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is somewhat pointless, especially since as percentage of applicants accepted and numbers of applicants, NCS/St. Albans, Sidwell, and Maret are hardest to get into. While others are also highly selective, those three are the most selective in the DC area.

Let's not confuse hardest to get into with "best," though. The best school is the one where your child will thrive the most.

Are there actual figures for this somewhere? I really question whether NCS is still among the most selective. I was recently at an alumni event at which the HOS (who I think ahs been terrible for the school) was crowing about the fact that they have full enrollment. Seriously? You're proud of full enrollment? She said nothing about acceptance rates. The rumor that I've heard from several sources is that they've gone way up, but I would love to see actual numbers.

I think Holton and Stone Ridge have gotten much better for people looking at all girls. NCS doesn't have the pull it once did.

NCS will always have more pull. The NW DC location, the history, the grounds are all incomparable. No amount of abusing NCS on social media like DCUM is going to change that. I say this as somebody with no connection to the place.

I disagree. I think Holton has a better academic pull, especially for STEM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find it disappointing that most Field boosters express their support by taking shots at other schools. Is this typical behavior for Field parents?

I'm not seeing that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But Field has the potential to surpass GDS and Maret with its campus and the growing demand for a progressive HS alternative.

Please. GDS is already very selective. Moreover, GDS is building an fabulous campus, consolidating all of its school divisions, along Wisconsin Avenue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find it disappointing that most Field boosters express their support by taking shots at other schools. Is this typical behavior for Field parents?

I'm not seeing that.

+1

I didn't really see that either. The poster was coming to the defense of Field when one poster was suggesting that it wasn't as strong of an option, but I didn't really notice that the Field posters were knocking other schools...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is somewhat pointless, especially since as percentage of applicants accepted and numbers of applicants, NCS/St. Albans, Sidwell, and Maret are hardest to get into. While others are also highly selective, those three are the most selective in the DC area.

Let's not confuse hardest to get into with "best," though. The best school is the one where your child will thrive the most.

Are there actual figures for this somewhere? I really question whether NCS is still among the most selective. I was recently at an alumni event at which the HOS (who I think ahs been terrible for the school) was crowing about the fact that they have full enrollment. Seriously? You're proud of full enrollment? She said nothing about acceptance rates. The rumor that I've heard from several sources is that they've gone way up, but I would love to see actual numbers.

I think Holton and Stone Ridge have gotten much better for people looking at all girls. NCS doesn't have the pull it once did.

NCS will always have more pull. The NW DC location, the history, the grounds are all incomparable. No amount of abusing NCS on social media like DCUM is going to change that. I say this as somebody with no connection to the place.

I disagree. I think Holton has a better academic pull, especially for STEM.

and I disagree with you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree. I think Holton has a better academic pull, especially for STEM.

and I disagree with you.

Good. At least we're all in agreement now!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I am familiar with St Anselms. I know someone who works there and several families with sons there. The boys who attend are all, except one, exceptionally smart but also quirky, and all but two display some attributes of neu-differences. All are very high functioning and capable of operating in the normal world. They just would not get in to, say Sidwell or STA, because their behavioral quirks are too outside the "norm" from those completely mainstream and rigorous schools.

My DS goes there. Most of the kids do not have neu-differences. Some do, including my DS, but most do not. Many kids go there not because they couldn't get into Sidwell but because they come from families that are Catholic and value the religious aspect of the school.

My DS is also a student there, and plenty NT. Some of us like the school -- and wouldn't have even considered Sidwell -- because we value the diversity, lack of pretention, and location (which fosters the first two as well). And the strong emphasis on service and spirituality, which is not exactly something I hear routinely about the Big 3.

You might be very pleasantly surprised if you took a closer look at Sidwell, especially at the spiritual and service-focus aspects. I Aldo haven't found the community to be at all pretentious, but I guess that's a matter of opinion and based on who you happen to know. I've also heard terrific things all around about St. amselm's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GDS isn't that hard to get into for HS anyway.

I might say Visitation is the hardest to get into actually.

I'm curious about this. Why is Visi so hard to get into?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GDS isn't that hard to get into for HS anyway.

I might say Visitation is the hardest to get into actually.

I'm curious about this. Why is Visi so hard to get into?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GDS isn't that hard to get into for HS anyway.

I might say Visitation is the hardest to get into actually.

I'm curious about this. Why is Visi so hard to get into?

The average Visi freshman class draws its 125 girls from 50 or so different area Catholic parish schools. At my DDs parish school, every one of the top performing academic girls applied to Visi. Many excellent students did not receive offers. I suspect it is similar situation at the 50 plus other parish schools represented in the Visi freshman class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St Anselm's is not hard to get into.

Incorrect. Read the post above yours. Plus, it's tiny like Maret.

NP here. According to St. Anselm's Great Schools profile, 50% of applicants are admitted. Sorry, that's not hard to get into by anyone's standards further, a school is not like Maret simply because it's tiny. Maret is tiny AND has a large applicant pool, which St. Anselm's does not.

NP here, it should be obvious, but higher "admission percentage" does not necessarily translate into "easier admissions." For example, CalTech has a similar admission rate as Middlebury College, yet the astronomically high math SAT scores needed to get accepted at CalTech limits the number of applicants who even bother to apply (as does the particular focus of the school, presumably). I think most would agree that despite their similar admission rates, it would be "harder" for the typical smart HS student to get into CalTech than to get into Middlebury.

A school like St. Anselm's -- which is highly academic, Catholic, very small class size, located in a relatively "remote" part of the city, and plays in a weak sports conference -- is by its very nature going to limit the applicant pool interested in that combination of school attributes. But if it has very high academic requirements to gain admisssion, in the form of requiring very high GPAs and test scores, it may still be considered among the most difficult schools to gain admission to, regardless of its "admission rate."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St Anselm's is not hard to get into.

Incorrect. Read the post above yours. Plus, it's tiny like Maret.

NP here. According to St. Anselm's Great Schools profile, 50% of applicants are admitted. Sorry, that's not hard to get into by anyone's standards further, a school is not like Maret simply because it's tiny. Maret is tiny AND has a large applicant pool, which St. Anselm's does not.

NP here, it should be obvious, but higher "admission percentage" does not necessarily translate into "easier admissions." For example, CalTech has a similar admission rate as Middlebury College, yet the astronomically high math SAT scores needed to get accepted at CalTech limits the number of applicants who even bother to apply (as does the particular focus of the school, presumably). I think most would agree that despite their similar admission rates, it would be "harder" for the typical smart HS student to get into CalTech than to get into Middlebury.

A school like St. Anselm's -- which is highly academic, Catholic, very small class size, located in a relatively "remote" part of the city, and plays in a weak sports conference -- is by its very nature going to limit the applicant pool interested in that combination of school attributes. But if it has very high academic requirements to gain admisssion, in the form of requiring very high GPAs and test scores, it may still be considered among the most difficult schools to gain admission to, regardless of its "admission rate."

Um, actually a higher admissions percentage does mean less hard to get into. And your information about Middlebury and Caltrch is wrong, Caltech admits 10.6 % of applicants to Middlebury's 17.3 %, which means that, yes, Caltech is harder to get into.

There are no specific score cut-offs for admissions to St. Anselm's except those claimed by DCUM posters in a effort to claim greater competitiveness. The admissions office states that it considers all factors in the decision making. And, as the admissions testing is um, PART, of the admissions process (administered by St. Anselm's), it still means 50% of the boys who applied "passed" the rigorous requirements.

What you're arguing is that the applicant pool is somewhat more rarefied than applicants to other schools. It's certainly self-selecting, but that does not make it necessarily a higher achieving applicant pool.