SSSAS College Acceptances

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whomever put together that list is a little geographically challenged - Colgate, Cornell, and Hamilton are in New York, well to the north of Bucknell that is in PA, yet Bucknell is on the Northeast list and the other three are mid-atlantic??

First thing I noticed! WTF??

I’m a PP who said that we left the school and were displeased with quality of education. This doesn’t surprise me in the least - we had teachers often send things that were grammatically incorrect to the point of being embarrassing. I would suggest anyone looking at the school dig further into what is actually taught, the amount of screen time in LS, education levels of teachers at the higher grades, etc. For the current parents going on an on about community service and the like, we have actually found the other privates to be on par or above. I don’t know why they keep clutching at this. In fact I would imagine the Alexandria catholic schools and k-8s actually do the same amount or more. We don’t pick our schools with the aim of a particular college. Instead we actually expect a well-rounded education that sets our children up with the skills to continue learning in college as well as after that. We definitely did not think SSSAS was doing that. Perhaps it’s hard to see how bad it is until you are out.

Happy SSSA parent here.

There’s been a shift at SSSA since the new Head of School - a highly qualified Dartmouth and Yale grad who herself was previously at NCS - arrived just 7 years ago. Shortly after she came she brought in a new head of the lower school, who is fabulous and also used to work at Beauvoir. My kids are still in the lower school, so I’m much more familiar with the changes in those grades, and I don’t want to oversimplify the changes, but in short I think SSSA was experiencing a rough patch just before the new HOS arrived (the previous HOS had a long tenure). Prior to the new HOS I’d say the school leaned more traditional in its pedagogy, and the new HOS has made several progressive changes. She is also heavily invested in implementing the latest evidence-based practices in education.

I don’t know who the PP above who left the school is, but I know there have been broadly two groups of dissatisfied parents: those who left just before the new HOS arrived, who have not experienced the many refreshing changes she made to the school, and second, those who are dissatisfied with the new HOS’s more progressive approach to education. These parents, in my experience, are clutching their pearls in exasperation, complaining that the courses are not “rigorous” because they are doing so much more project based learning, and less testing, than some parents would like.

Anyway all of this is an oversimplification and I’d love for another parent to chime in with more detail, but the point is I wouldn’t give too much credit to a parent (or two) who writes on dcum that the school wasn’t “challenging”. It’s a wonderful place and I feel lucky that my children have had the opportunity to attend such a great school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whomever put together that list is a little geographically challenged - Colgate, Cornell, and Hamilton are in New York, well to the north of Bucknell that is in PA, yet Bucknell is on the Northeast list and the other three are mid-atlantic??

For the love of god, first of all you are using "whomever" incorrectly, and second, YOU are clearly geographically challenged.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_(United_States)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With all the bells and whistles, Episcopal High School, Flint Hill and Bishop Ireton are the competitors, but if the children are athletic depending on the sport the real competitors are Potomac, Stone Ridge, Gonzaga, Visi, Prep and Bullis. If parents are all in on their child's sports, distance just isnt an issue in 9 out 10 cases.

Episcopal is a top notch school. If only they allowed day students...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whomever put together that list is a little geographically challenged - Colgate, Cornell, and Hamilton are in New York, well to the north of Bucknell that is in PA, yet Bucknell is on the Northeast list and the other three are mid-atlantic??

For the love of god, first of all you are using "whomever" incorrectly, and second, YOU are clearly geographically challenged.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_(United_States)

Different (new) poster here but the PP you are correcting was closer than the original poster. Parts of NY are not included by experts in the Mid-Atlantic, nor in many people's minds. The Mid-Atlantic most typically is used in common lexicon to refer to the states of VA, DC, PA, DE, and MD. In fact, the wikipedia site you (meant) to link says, "the United States Geological Survey publication describes the Mid-Atlantic Region as all of Maryland, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, along with the parts of New Jersey, New York, and North Carolina that drain into the Delaware and Chesapeake Bays and the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds." Its incorrect to call the PP "geographically challenged" but the original poster who put Bucknell in the NE and Colgate and Cornell in Mid-Atlantic certainly is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With all the bells and whistles, Episcopal High School, Flint Hill and Bishop Ireton are the competitors, but if the children are athletic depending on the sport the real competitors are Potomac, Stone Ridge, Gonzaga, Visi, Prep and Bullis. If parents are all in on their child's sports, distance just isnt an issue in 9 out 10 cases.

Episcopal is a top notch school. If only they allowed day students...

??? Episcopal is a second tier (maybe 3rd) boarding school with students who are regarded by faculty as less than serious students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whomever put together that list is a little geographically challenged - Colgate, Cornell, and Hamilton are in New York, well to the north of Bucknell that is in PA, yet Bucknell is on the Northeast list and the other three are mid-atlantic??

For the love of god, first of all you are using "whomever" incorrectly, and second, YOU are clearly geographically challenged.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_(United_States)

Different (new) poster here but the PP you are correcting was closer than the original poster. Parts of NY are not included by experts in the Mid-Atlantic, nor in many people's minds. The Mid-Atlantic most typically is used in common lexicon to refer to the states of VA, DC, PA, DE, and MD. In fact, the wikipedia site you (meant) to link says, "the United States Geological Survey publication describes the Mid-Atlantic Region as all of Maryland, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, along with the parts of New Jersey, New York, and North Carolina that drain into the Delaware and Chesapeake Bays and the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds." Its incorrect to call the PP "geographically challenged" but the original poster who put Bucknell in the NE and Colgate and Cornell in Mid-Atlantic certainly is.

I really hope PP defending the geography challenged poster isn’t a proud SSAS alum

[Anonymous]

Welcome to our nightmare - and that PP is a former teacher at SSSAS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whomever put together that list is a little geographically challenged - Colgate, Cornell, and Hamilton are in New York, well to the north of Bucknell that is in PA, yet Bucknell is on the Northeast list and the other three are mid-atlantic??

First thing I noticed! WTF??

I’m a PP who said that we left the school and were displeased with quality of education. This doesn’t surprise me in the least - we had teachers often send things that were grammatically incorrect to the point of being embarrassing. I would suggest anyone looking at the school dig further into what is actually taught, the amount of screen time in LS, education levels of teachers at the higher grades, etc. For the current parents going on an on about community service and the like, we have actually found the other privates to be on par or above. I don’t know why they keep clutching at this. In fact I would imagine the Alexandria catholic schools and k-8s actually do the same amount or more. We don’t pick our schools with the aim of a particular college. Instead we actually expect a well-rounded education that sets our children up with the skills to continue learning in college as well as after that. We definitely did not think SSSAS was doing that. Perhaps it’s hard to see how bad it is until you are out.

What are some other local options around sssas?

We ended up having to go further bc of ages of the kids. If we were looking for younger kids I absolutely would have chosen ACDS over SSSAS in hindsite. As far as looking further, I don’t want to put myself but will say we looked at the cathedral schools, SFS, Maret, GDS and Potomac. Comparing the education and college acceptances to SSSAS is shocking. I was also surprised to see that the tuition is a bit lower elsewhere, too. Again I didn’t pick a school as a tiger parent with only college in mind, but if I weed out the athletes at SSSAS the college acceptances are worse than TC.

[Anonymous]

If you want a good high school (better than SSAS) close, Ireton fits the bill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whomever put together that list is a little geographically challenged - Colgate, Cornell, and Hamilton are in New York, well to the north of Bucknell that is in PA, yet Bucknell is on the Northeast list and the other three are mid-atlantic??

For the love of god, first of all you are using "whomever" incorrectly, and second, YOU are clearly geographically challenged.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_(United_States)

We can quibble over whether or not NY state is mid-atlantic or Northeast, but I'm wondering how you justify SSSAS putting Bucknell in the Northeast?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whomever put together that list is a little geographically challenged - Colgate, Cornell, and Hamilton are in New York, well to the north of Bucknell that is in PA, yet Bucknell is on the Northeast list and the other three are mid-atlantic??

First thing I noticed! WTF??

I’m a PP who said that we left the school and were displeased with quality of education. This doesn’t surprise me in the least - we had teachers often send things that were grammatically incorrect to the point of being embarrassing. I would suggest anyone looking at the school dig further into what is actually taught, the amount of screen time in LS, education levels of teachers at the higher grades, etc. For the current parents going on an on about community service and the like, we have actually found the other privates to be on par or above. I don’t know why they keep clutching at this. In fact I would imagine the Alexandria catholic schools and k-8s actually do the same amount or more. We don’t pick our schools with the aim of a particular college. Instead we actually expect a well-rounded education that sets our children up with the skills to continue learning in college as well as after that. We definitely did not think SSSAS was doing that. Perhaps it’s hard to see how bad it is until you are out.

What are some other local options around sssas?

We ended up having to go further bc of ages of the kids. If we were looking for younger kids I absolutely would have chosen ACDS over SSSAS in hindsite. As far as looking further, I don’t want to put myself but will say we looked at the cathedral schools, SFS, Maret, GDS and Potomac. Comparing the education and college acceptances to SSSAS is shocking. I was also surprised to see that the tuition is a bit lower elsewhere, too. Again I didn’t pick a school as a tiger parent with only college in mind, but if I weed out the athletes at SSSAS the college acceptances are worse than TC.

+2 We also live in Alexandria. We have considered SSSAS many times for different kids over the years. We really, really wanted to like it because it was convenient for us (location wise). We felt the curriculum, education, facilities and college outcomes just don’t hold up when compared to other schools in this price range. My kids attend one of the schools listed above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you want a good high school (better than SSAS) close, Ireton fits the bill.

wow what a completely ignorant statement. BI is one of worst private schools in the area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want a good high school (better than SSAS) close, Ireton fits the bill.

wow what a completely ignorant statement. BI is one of worst private schools in the area.

what tier exactly do you think SSAS belong to?

[Anonymous]

I think the college acceptances should be the least of one’s worries. You should ask around about the identity wheel they had middle schoolers fill out which asked them about gender and their socio-economic status. They explained to children that what is between your legs on not what gender you are it’s just how you feel.

Or maybe ask about how one of the most popular Latin teachers was forced to apologize for using the term slave while explaining to potential Latin students about a party Latin students attend.

This is not the school we started in and it’s so upsetting that the social justice curriculum has replaced actual education.

So grateful we are done this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the college acceptances should be the least of one’s worries. You should ask around about the identity wheel they had middle schoolers fill out which asked them about gender and their socio-economic status. They explained to children that what is between your legs on not what gender you are it’s just how you feel.

Or maybe ask about how one of the most popular Latin teachers was forced to apologize for using the term slave while explaining to potential Latin students about a party Latin students attend.

This is not the school we started in and it’s so upsetting that the social justice curriculum has replaced actual education.

So grateful we are done this year.

Thanks for demonstrating to the readers of DCUM where some of the hate for SSSA comes from.

Awareness of gender identity and sensitivity to issues around race and slavery are the future, like it or not. I’m happy parents like you are leaving SSSA and I hope you find your “actual education” elsewhere.