Georgetown Visitation

[Anonymous]

Take a very hard look at the academics. There are better options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very very wealthy and very few non Catholics, I went there. I would not recommend it to a middle class kid.

Tell me more about this...hypothetically debating between Visi and a NOVA diocesan high school for our daughter. We are middle class.

Depends a lot on your daughter and what she is like. Can she tolerate being a little different easily?

Lots of these girls are legacies. Many of them are from longtime suburban Maryland and NW DC families, who would never consider living in Virginia. Although it's only a few miles away, its uncharted territory.

You must be talking about 30 years ago. 40% of the current student body lives in Virginia.

That may be true, but I don’t think it does much to change the opinions of The DC and suburban MD people who view Virginia negatively. In their minds, it’s a place for non-DC natives who are attracted by lower real estate prices initially. The percentage of the Catholics in the population between the two is hugely different.

Middle class poster again. We live in Alexandria. White collar professionals and daughter is coming from a K-8 parochial. She is a star in a less popular sport. I realize that probably may not be the case in high school. I’ll still let her look at GV, but I’ll be honest, the discussion on this thread from parents and grads is a real turn off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very very wealthy and very few non Catholics, I went there. I would not recommend it to a middle class kid.

Tell me more about this...hypothetically debating between Visi and a NOVA diocesan high school for our daughter. We are middle class.

Depends a lot on your daughter and what she is like. Can she tolerate being a little different easily?

Lots of these girls are legacies. Many of them are from longtime suburban Maryland and NW DC families, who would never consider living in Virginia. Although it's only a few miles away, its uncharted territory.

You must be talking about 30 years ago. 40% of the current student body lives in Virginia.

That may be true, but I don’t think it does much to change the opinions of The DC and suburban MD people who view Virginia negatively. In their minds, it’s a place for non-DC natives who are attracted by lower real estate prices initially. The percentage of the Catholics in the population between the two is hugely different.

Middle class poster again. We live in Alexandria. White collar professionals and daughter is coming from a K-8 parochial. She is a star in a less popular sport. I realize that probably may not be the case in high school. I’ll still let her look at GV, but I’ll be honest, the discussion on this thread from parents and grads is a real turn off.

There is no way that two "white collar professionals" in Alexandria are "middle class." You must be upper middle class at a minimum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very very wealthy and very few non Catholics, I went there. I would not recommend it to a middle class kid.

Tell me more about this...hypothetically debating between Visi and a NOVA diocesan high school for our daughter. We are middle class.

Depends a lot on your daughter and what she is like. Can she tolerate being a little different easily?

Lots of these girls are legacies. Many of them are from longtime suburban Maryland and NW DC families, who would never consider living in Virginia. Although it's only a few miles away, its uncharted territory.

You must be talking about 30 years ago. 40% of the current student body lives in Virginia.

That may be true, but I don’t think it does much to change the opinions of The DC and suburban MD people who view Virginia negatively. In their minds, it’s a place for non-DC natives who are attracted by lower real estate prices initially. The percentage of the Catholics in the population between the two is hugely different.

You are getting a dose of what they don't tell you in the brochures and the Open Houses. It's things that the insiders know.

Middle class poster again. We live in Alexandria. White collar professionals and daughter is coming from a K-8 parochial. She is a star in a less popular sport. I realize that probably may not be the case in high school. I’ll still let her look at GV, but I’ll be honest, the discussion on this thread from parents and grads is a real turn off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very very wealthy and very few non Catholics, I went there. I would not recommend it to a middle class kid.

Tell me more about this...hypothetically debating between Visi and a NOVA diocesan high school for our daughter. We are middle class.

Depends a lot on your daughter and what she is like. Can she tolerate being a little different easily?

Lots of these girls are legacies. Many of them are from longtime suburban Maryland and NW DC families, who would never consider living in Virginia. Although it's only a few miles away, its uncharted territory.

You must be talking about 30 years ago. 40% of the current student body lives in Virginia.

That may be true, but I don’t think it does much to change the opinions of The DC and suburban MD people who view Virginia negatively. In their minds, it’s a place for non-DC natives who are attracted by lower real estate prices initially. The percentage of the Catholics in the population between the two is hugely different.

Middle class poster again. We live in Alexandria. White collar professionals and daughter is coming from a K-8 parochial. She is a star in a less popular sport. I realize that probably may not be the case in high school. I’ll still let her look at GV, but I’ll be honest, the discussion on this thread from parents and grads is a real turn off.

There is no way that two "white collar professionals" in Alexandria are "middle class." You must be upper middle class at a minimum.

I would say barely UMC. However, we are not “very, very wealthy “ and are from “uncharted territory” and I’m not sure I’m excited to send her somewhere where she has to “tolerate being a little different.” Ugh. Anyone with actual recent experience with the school who can assure me it is not as elitist as you all are making it sound?

[Anonymous]

We are from Alexandria and both daughters recently attended Visi. It was a great experience for both and we are glad that they had the opportunity to attend. Admittedly, we were surprised when our first daughter wanted to look at Visi as part of her high school search process. We thought for certain that she would prefer SSSAS or even BI. However, after the first tour and her shadow day, she was convinced that Visi was the school for her. We did not realize how competitive the admittance process would be but we were very happy for her when she was admitted. Her younger sister watched her sister at Visi and knew unequivocally that Visi was the school for her, too.

Visi understands girls. Each daughter, while very different from the other, had a transformative experience. And that is what you want from a school. Whether it be Visi or another girls school or a coed school.

Are there students from wealthy families at Visi? Yes. Are there students from undeniably middle class families at Visi? Yes. And we were one of them. We never felt out of place and neither of our daughters ever felt awkward or out of place because of our family's financial status.

I cannot change the other poster's perspective. Clearly she has some strong residual feelings and beliefs about her time at Visi. I am sorry for her sake that her experience was not as good as that of our daughters. But we would not change anything about our daughters' time and experiences at Visi.

If you think your daughter might be interested in Visi then she should tour the school and do a shadow day. Your daughter should do that for any of the schools in which she is interested. Our goal for our daughters was to find the best fit. Visi was it for our girls. Even though our girls are still in college it is clear that they made life-long friendships from their time at Visi. When they go to campus on breaks or to support a school event, they are greeted warmly and enthusiastically by staff and students alike. It is a bond that will never break. We are so pleased that we allowed our daughters to have that experience.

Good luck and best wishes in finding the best fit high school for your daughter. It may be Visi and it may not be but we hope that you find it regardless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are from Alexandria and both daughters recently attended Visi. It was a great experience for both and we are glad that they had the opportunity to attend. Admittedly, we were surprised when our first daughter wanted to look at Visi as part of her high school search process. We thought for certain that she would prefer SSSAS or even BI. However, after the first tour and her shadow day, she was convinced that Visi was the school for her. We did not realize how competitive the admittance process would be but we were very happy for her when she was admitted. Her younger sister watched her sister at Visi and knew unequivocally that Visi was the school for her, too.

Visi understands girls. Each daughter, while very different from the other, had a transformative experience. And that is what you want from a school. Whether it be Visi or another girls school or a coed school.

Are there students from wealthy families at Visi? Yes. Are there students from undeniably middle class families at Visi? Yes. And we were one of them. We never felt out of place and neither of our daughters ever felt awkward or out of place because of our family's financial status.

I cannot change the other poster's perspective. Clearly she has some strong residual feelings and beliefs about her time at Visi. I am sorry for her sake that her experience was not as good as that of our daughters. But we would not change anything about our daughters' time and experiences at Visi.

If you think your daughter might be interested in Visi then she should tour the school and do a shadow day. Your daughter should do that for any of the schools in which she is interested. Our goal for our daughters was to find the best fit. Visi was it for our girls. Even though our girls are still in college it is clear that they made life-long friendships from their time at Visi. When they go to campus on breaks or to support a school event, they are greeted warmly and enthusiastically by staff and students alike. It is a bond that will never break. We are so pleased that we allowed our daughters to have that experience.

Good luck and best wishes in finding the best fit high school for your daughter. It may be Visi and it may not be but we hope that you find it regardless.

Thank you. That’s reassuring from a family with recent experience. Very helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about the Visi girls that date other Visi girls?

Are you kidding? Those girls are in the closet. For at least 10 more years.

That’s true. Some of them won’t wven realize until they are married.

Most girls in Catholic school come out in HS. It's the boys that stay in the closet until later.

They will also discuss when they start T, if they are transgender.

Well, we know a few Catholic girls school girls whose families are VERY anti gay so coming out or even thinking about being gay is not on the list at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very very wealthy and very few non Catholics, I went there. I would not recommend it to a middle class kid.

Tell me more about this...hypothetically debating between Visi and a NOVA diocesan high school for our daughter. We are middle class.

Depends a lot on your daughter and what she is like. Can she tolerate being a little different easily?

Lots of these girls are legacies. Many of them are from longtime suburban Maryland and NW DC families, who would never consider living in Virginia. Although it's only a few miles away, its uncharted territory.

You must be talking about 30 years ago. 40% of the current student body lives in Virginia.

That may be true, but I don’t think it does much to change the opinions of The DC and suburban MD people who view Virginia negatively. In their minds, it’s a place for non-DC natives who are attracted by lower real estate prices initially. The percentage of the Catholics in the population between the two is hugely different.

Middle class poster again. We live in Alexandria. White collar professionals and daughter is coming from a K-8 parochial. She is a star in a less popular sport. I realize that probably may not be the case in high school. I’ll still let her look at GV, but I’ll be honest, the discussion on this thread from parents and grads is a real turn off.

There is no way that two "white collar professionals" in Alexandria are "middle class." You must be upper middle class at a minimum.

I would say barely UMC. However, we are not “very, very wealthy “ and are from “uncharted territory” and I’m not sure I’m excited to send her somewhere where she has to “tolerate being a little different.” Ugh. Anyone with actual recent experience with the school who can assure me it is not as elitist as you all are making it sound?

"Elitist" isn't the right word for it. But "insulated" might be a good description of a large percentage of alums and parents of the students. These are people who are interested in maintaining the homogeneity of their world and that's the reason they selected GV.

These are people whose first question when told of someone daughter's or son's engagement is "Is he (or she) Catholic too?" To them, these are not "little differences".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I graduated from Visitation in the late 90s. I went to parochial K-8, so I wasn't coming in blind and knew how to do everything at mass. I did not take communion. It really wasn't a big deal, and no one made fun or me for it. I think there were 3 or 4 of us who were Protestant. I would not send my Jewish or Muslim child there.

There is mandatory religion class at least a few days a week. There is lots of community service. Nuns on campus who at that time did homeroom.

They are very Catholic, and [/b]I was truly shocked when I went to a Jesuit college to find out that the Bible is made up stories. [b]

Big Pro life contingent as well. Overall, it's a welcoming place, I'd say. I loved my time there.

Really? I knew that through all of my years of Catholic schooling , but always wondered why everyone else was buying it all.
I still wonder why..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I graduated from Visitation in the late 90s. I went to parochial K-8, so I wasn't coming in blind and knew how to do everything at mass. I did not take communion. It really wasn't a big deal, and no one made fun or me for it. I think there were 3 or 4 of us who were Protestant. I would not send my Jewish or Muslim child there.

There is mandatory religion class at least a few days a week. There is lots of community service. Nuns on campus who at that time did homeroom.

They are very Catholic, and I was truly shocked when I went to a Jesuit college to find out that the Bible is made up stories.

Big Pro life contingent as well. Overall, it's a welcoming place, I'd say. I loved my time there.

Really? I knew that through all of my years of Catholic schooling , but always wondered why everyone else was buying it all.
I still wonder why..

Really? I knew that through all of my years of Catholic schooling , but always wondered why everyone else was buying it all.
I still wonder why.

[Anonymous]

Seems like we have a troll at work. Don't you have something better to do with your time? If anyone from Visi is monitoring this thread you might want to consider contacting the administrator.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Non-Catholic Visi grad here. My parents chose Visitation for academics, proximity, and price, in that order. I am still close friends with many classmates 20 years after graduation, both Catholics and non-Catholics. Yes, there is a huge contingent of unbelievably stupid Catholic legacy girls who swan around with boyfriend drama. The rest of the smart girls ignore them and hang out together. I loved my time there and got a great education. YMMV

Your parents chose GV for the academics, but the student body has a “huge contingent of unbelievably stupid Catholic legacy girls”?

I guess it’s possible to carve out a little niche at any school.

Yes. There were plenty of honors and AP classes that challenged smart girls. You could put a whole honors/advanced math schedule together and only see the idiots in Religion class.

It doesn’t sound like you learned much from attending Visitation.

You must be a legacy parent. I can tell you I learned a lot more than those girls did. 20+ years later many of them haven't done much more than cranked out a bunch of children. They get drunk and cry at reunion. Sad but true.

If they got and stayed married while cranking out those children they are winning the game of life

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Take a very hard look at the academics. There are better options.

Families we know with girls at Visitation have been very dissatisfied with the college counseling process in the last few years. I'd be cautious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are from Alexandria and both daughters recently attended Visi. It was a great experience for both and we are glad that they had the opportunity to attend. Admittedly, we were surprised when our first daughter wanted to look at Visi as part of her high school search process. We thought for certain that she would prefer SSSAS or even BI. However, after the first tour and her shadow day, she was convinced that Visi was the school for her. We did not realize how competitive the admittance process would be but we were very happy for her when she was admitted. Her younger sister watched her sister at Visi and knew unequivocally that Visi was the school for her, too.

Visi understands girls. Each daughter, while very different from the other, had a transformative experience. And that is what you want from a school. Whether it be Visi or another girls school or a coed school.

Are there students from wealthy families at Visi? Yes. Are there students from undeniably middle class families at Visi? Yes. And we were one of them. We never felt out of place and neither of our daughters ever felt awkward or out of place because of our family's financial status.

I cannot change the other poster's perspective. Clearly she has some strong residual feelings and beliefs about her time at Visi. I am sorry for her sake that her experience was not as good as that of our daughters. But we would not change anything about our daughters' time and experiences at Visi.

If you think your daughter might be interested in Visi then she should tour the school and do a shadow day. Your daughter should do that for any of the schools in which she is interested. Our goal for our daughters was to find the best fit. Visi was it for our girls. Even though our girls are still in college it is clear that they made life-long friendships from their time at Visi. When they go to campus on breaks or to support a school event, they are greeted warmly and enthusiastically by staff and students alike. It is a bond that will never break. We are so pleased that we allowed our daughters to have that experience.

Good luck and best wishes in finding the best fit high school for your daughter. It may be Visi and it may not be but we hope that you find it regardless.

Thank you from from an aunt whose goddaughter recently graduated from Visi and who has other nieces there. The above has been their experience as well. That and a lot of homework.