sidwell's acceptances extremely impressive

[Anonymous]

Sidwell has some kids on scholarship but come on, folks. Why are you even arguing about this? Obviously most Sidwell students come from money. If they didn't, Sidwell would not exist. They take on some scholarship students to make themselves feel good and boost their diversity, but the school exists to serve wealthy families who want a certain kind of education.

That's not an insult. It's just reality. Stop acting like a few scholarship kids somehow makes Sidwell something it is not. It's disingenuous and unbecoming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell has some kids on scholarship but come on, folks. Why are you even arguing about this? Obviously most Sidwell students come from money. If they didn't, Sidwell would not exist. They take on some scholarship students to make themselves feel good and boost their diversity, but the school exists to serve wealthy families who want a certain kind of education.

That's not an insult. It's just reality. Stop acting like a few scholarship kids somehow makes Sidwell something it is not. It's disingenuous and unbecoming.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell has some kids on scholarship but come on, folks. Why are you even arguing about this? Obviously most Sidwell students come from money. If they didn't, Sidwell would not exist. They take on some scholarship students to make themselves feel good and boost their diversity, but the school exists to serve wealthy families who want a certain kind of education.

That's not an insult. It's just reality. Stop acting like a few scholarship kids somehow makes Sidwell something it is not. It's disingenuous and unbecoming.

Correcting false statements is not unbecoming. Neither is pretending that you are in the mind of others, knowing why they send their children to a particular school, why they dedicate resources to supporting financial aid at that school. Personally, The reason that I donate as much as I do to Sidwell is that I am extraordinarily grateful for the education that my children are receiving their period for the few years that I attended private school growing up, I received financial aid. That experience changed my life. It changed my career direction, my academic engagement across the board, my college opportunities, and most importantly it exposed me to ideas and people I hadn’t encountered before. Paying it forward, so to speak, is important to me. So, I donate a significant (for our family) amount to Sidwell, as I also do to the high school I attended years ago. Just like we donate to other organizations where my husband or I feel it is important to pay it forward, or where we have seen organizations make a particularly positive and strong impact using resource as well. does it feel good to be able to support organizations we care about financially? Yes, that feels really good and I’m glad we are able to do it. I hope that everyone, whether putting a dollar into the church basket, donating through their employer community funds, donating time or money to community activities, or donating funds to things they care about, feels good about it. It’s a good thing to do. No need to state, somewhat dismissively and pejoratively, that people contribute to things they care about “to feel good”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell has some kids on scholarship but come on, folks. Why are you even arguing about this? Obviously most Sidwell students come from money. If they didn't, Sidwell would not exist. They take on some scholarship students to make themselves feel good and boost their diversity, but the school exists to serve wealthy families who want a certain kind of education.

That's not an insult. It's just reality. Stop acting like a few scholarship kids somehow makes Sidwell something it is not. It's disingenuous and unbecoming.

Correcting false statements is not unbecoming. Neither is pretending that you are in the mind of others, knowing why they send their children to a particular school, why they dedicate resources to supporting financial aid at that school. Personally, The reason that I donate as much as I do to Sidwell is that I am extraordinarily grateful for the education that my children are receiving their period for the few years that I attended private school growing up, I received financial aid. That experience changed my life. It changed my career direction, my academic engagement across the board, my college opportunities, and most importantly it exposed me to ideas and people I hadn’t encountered before. Paying it forward, so to speak, is important to me. So, I donate a significant (for our family) amount to Sidwell, as I also do to the high school I attended years ago. Just like we donate to other organizations where my husband or I feel it is important to pay it forward, or where we have seen organizations make a particularly positive and strong impact using resource as well. does it feel good to be able to support organizations we care about financially? Yes, that feels really good and I’m glad we are able to do it. I hope that everyone, whether putting a dollar into the church basket, donating through their employer community funds, donating time or money to community activities, or donating funds to things they care about, feels good about it. It’s a good thing to do. No need to state, somewhat dismissively and pejoratively, that people contribute to things they care about “to feel good”.

What % of Sidwell students receive financial aid? 25%? 35%. What % of Sidwell students are black?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell has some kids on scholarship but come on, folks. Why are you even arguing about this? Obviously most Sidwell students come from money. If they didn't, Sidwell would not exist. They take on some scholarship students to make themselves feel good and boost their diversity, but the school exists to serve wealthy families who want a certain kind of education.

That's not an insult. It's just reality. Stop acting like a few scholarship kids somehow makes Sidwell something it is not. It's disingenuous and unbecoming.

There are a handful or wealthy families. Most of the parents are two-incone households who make sacrifices to send their kids there,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell has some kids on scholarship but come on, folks. Why are you even arguing about this? Obviously most Sidwell students come from money. If they didn't, Sidwell would not exist. They take on some scholarship students to make themselves feel good and boost their diversity, but the school exists to serve wealthy families who want a certain kind of education.

That's not an insult. It's just reality. Stop acting like a few scholarship kids somehow makes Sidwell something it is not. It's disingenuous and unbecoming.

There are a handful or wealthy families. Most of the parents are two-incone households who make sacrifices to send their kids there,

At Sidwell? Are you high? Also I don’t care if they have one income or two incomes or more.

I don’t mean this is an insult but come on!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell has some kids on scholarship but come on, folks. Why are you even arguing about this? Obviously most Sidwell students come from money. If they didn't, Sidwell would not exist. They take on some scholarship students to make themselves feel good and boost their diversity, but the school exists to serve wealthy families who want a certain kind of education.

That's not an insult. It's just reality. Stop acting like a few scholarship kids somehow makes Sidwell something it is not. It's disingenuous and unbecoming.

Correcting false statements is not unbecoming. Neither is pretending that you are in the mind of others, knowing why they send their children to a particular school, why they dedicate resources to supporting financial aid at that school. Personally, The reason that I donate as much as I do to Sidwell is that I am extraordinarily grateful for the education that my children are receiving their period for the few years that I attended private school growing up, I received financial aid. That experience changed my life. It changed my career direction, my academic engagement across the board, my college opportunities, and most importantly it exposed me to ideas and people I hadn’t encountered before. Paying it forward, so to speak, is important to me. So, I donate a significant (for our family) amount to Sidwell, as I also do to the high school I attended years ago. Just like we donate to other organizations where my husband or I feel it is important to pay it forward, or where we have seen organizations make a particularly positive and strong impact using resource as well. does it feel good to be able to support organizations we care about financially? Yes, that feels really good and I’m glad we are able to do it. I hope that everyone, whether putting a dollar into the church basket, donating through their employer community funds, donating time or money to community activities, or donating funds to things they care about, feels good about it. It’s a good thing to do. No need to state, somewhat dismissively and pejoratively, that people contribute to things they care about “to feel good”.

What % of Sidwell students receive financial aid? 25%? 35%. What % of Sidwell students are black?

I'm not sure what either of those questions has to do with correcting the inaccurate statement about the school not having any students who would be FARMs eligible or the dismissive presumptions about what parents are looking for in the school or their reasons for making donations. But to respond in part to your questions. Based on the information posted on the school's public web site, 22% of students receive financial aid, and the average financial aid award is $32,000. The annual financial aid budget is $8.2 million. I do not see any numbers broken down by race, but the site states there are 56.7% students of color. Anecdotally and based on the grades/classes I am more familiar, the more notable aspect is a loose sense that there are comparatively few LatinX students and families. Again anecdotally, regarding the breakdown of black students, there is (as everywhere) black students who are African American and black students who are not African American. There are a lot of international families at Sidwell, and I'd estimate that about half of the black students I know may not identify as African American. Which of course is different from the percentage of black children/families in DC who are African American.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell has some kids on scholarship but come on, folks. Why are you even arguing about this? Obviously most Sidwell students come from money. If they didn't, Sidwell would not exist. They take on some scholarship students to make themselves feel good and boost their diversity, but the school exists to serve wealthy families who want a certain kind of education.

That's not an insult. It's just reality. Stop acting like a few scholarship kids somehow makes Sidwell something it is not. It's disingenuous and unbecoming.

Correcting false statements is not unbecoming. Neither is pretending that you are in the mind of others, knowing why they send their children to a particular school, why they dedicate resources to supporting financial aid at that school. Personally, The reason that I donate as much as I do to Sidwell is that I am extraordinarily grateful for the education that my children are receiving their period for the few years that I attended private school growing up, I received financial aid. That experience changed my life. It changed my career direction, my academic engagement across the board, my college opportunities, and most importantly it exposed me to ideas and people I hadn’t encountered before. Paying it forward, so to speak, is important to me. So, I donate a significant (for our family) amount to Sidwell, as I also do to the high school I attended years ago. Just like we donate to other organizations where my husband or I feel it is important to pay it forward, or where we have seen organizations make a particularly positive and strong impact using resource as well. does it feel good to be able to support organizations we care about financially? Yes, that feels really good and I’m glad we are able to do it. I hope that everyone, whether putting a dollar into the church basket, donating through their employer community funds, donating time or money to community activities, or donating funds to things they care about, feels good about it. It’s a good thing to do. No need to state, somewhat dismissively and pejoratively, that people contribute to things they care about “to feel good”.

What % of Sidwell students receive financial aid? 25%? 35%. What % of Sidwell students are black?

I'm not sure what either of those questions has to do with correcting the inaccurate statement about the school not having any students who would be FARMs eligible or the dismissive presumptions about what parents are looking for in the school or their reasons for making donations. But to respond in part to your questions. Based on the information posted on the school's public web site, 22% of students receive financial aid, and the average financial aid award is $32,000. The annual financial aid budget is $8.2 million. I do not see any numbers broken down by race, but the site states there are 56.7% students of color. Anecdotally and based on the grades/classes I am more familiar, the more notable aspect is a loose sense that there are comparatively few LatinX students and families. Again anecdotally, regarding the breakdown of black students, there is (as everywhere) black students who are African American and black students who are not African American. There are a lot of international families at Sidwell, and I'd estimate that about half of the black students I know may not identify as African American. Which of course is different from the percentage of black children/families in DC who are African American.

Long winded way of saying "TS" for blacks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell has some kids on scholarship but come on, folks. Why are you even arguing about this? Obviously most Sidwell students come from money. If they didn't, Sidwell would not exist. They take on some scholarship students to make themselves feel good and boost their diversity, but the school exists to serve wealthy families who want a certain kind of education.

That's not an insult. It's just reality. Stop acting like a few scholarship kids somehow makes Sidwell something it is not. It's disingenuous and unbecoming.

There are a handful or wealthy families. Most of the parents are two-incone households who make sacrifices to send their kids there,

At Sidwell? Are you high? Also I don’t care if they have one income or two incomes or more.

I don’t mean this is an insult but come on!

Yeah, “two income families” where both parents are Ivy educated and each making $400,000 a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell has some kids on scholarship but come on, folks. Why are you even arguing about this? Obviously most Sidwell students come from money. If they didn't, Sidwell would not exist. They take on some scholarship students to make themselves feel good and boost their diversity, but the school exists to serve wealthy families who want a certain kind of education.

That's not an insult. It's just reality. Stop acting like a few scholarship kids somehow makes Sidwell something it is not. It's disingenuous and unbecoming.

Correcting false statements is not unbecoming. Neither is pretending that you are in the mind of others, knowing why they send their children to a particular school, why they dedicate resources to supporting financial aid at that school. Personally, The reason that I donate as much as I do to Sidwell is that I am extraordinarily grateful for the education that my children are receiving their period for the few years that I attended private school growing up, I received financial aid. That experience changed my life. It changed my career direction, my academic engagement across the board, my college opportunities, and most importantly it exposed me to ideas and people I hadn’t encountered before. Paying it forward, so to speak, is important to me. So, I donate a significant (for our family) amount to Sidwell, as I also do to the high school I attended years ago. Just like we donate to other organizations where my husband or I feel it is important to pay it forward, or where we have seen organizations make a particularly positive and strong impact using resource as well. does it feel good to be able to support organizations we care about financially? Yes, that feels really good and I’m glad we are able to do it. I hope that everyone, whether putting a dollar into the church basket, donating through their employer community funds, donating time or money to community activities, or donating funds to things they care about, feels good about it. It’s a good thing to do. No need to state, somewhat dismissively and pejoratively, that people contribute to things they care about “to feel good”.

This is hilarious. And I’m a Sidwell parent. There is a lot of wealth at Sidwell. And it is middle class and above families getting financial aid. You don’t see low income families. The ultra rich Sidwell families think you are poor if your family makes 150k.
Kids coming from poor families don’t even know to apply to Sidwell.
Full disclosure - we get aid and we make 200k

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know. I'm not particularly impressed by what I've seen.

Agree. Similar results at our local publics.

Same reaction. I've looked at similar instagrams for a few MCPS HS (including several non-W ones) and Sidwell seems fine but not better by any measure. A few of the other privates are more eye-popping. Maybe the Sidwell kids are still deciding, maybe the high flyers are too cool to post (my MCPS kid is very happy about his enrollment plans but flat out refuses to post to his HS instagram site.) Or maybe despite the White House kids who go there, Sidwell is just a good private school with normal kids at a wide range of levels.

The bethesda mag annual compilation of college destinations says you’re wrong, however. Plus that annual data dump is broken down by school, so you can’t even claim that thing that Moco parents do when 1/2 the school goes to UMD, sputtering that it’s about financial aid. Not in Potomac, it isn’t.

PP here. You're absolutely right that tons of MCPS kids go to UMD (a great and competitive school) as well as other local publics like Towson & St. Marys. But at least some of those publics currently show more admits to very very top schools than Sidwell. Obviously that's drawing from a much bigger class size, but my point is that there's nothing particularly impressive about the Sidwell list. Which btw is completely fine! There are tons of great schools beyond the T-whatever and like I said above, maybe some kids aren't into the boast post. But the list posted doesn't live up to the OP's hype.

Another difference is that it is not Sidwell culture for everyone to post their acceptances.

That said, I'm a Sidwell parent and find it tiresome that so many DCUM participants feel the need to judge where Sidwell kids are going to college or whether they are worthy of it, etc. etc.? They are regular kids whose parents chose to send them to private school. Step back and leave them alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell has some kids on scholarship but come on, folks. Why are you even arguing about this? Obviously most Sidwell students come from money. If they didn't, Sidwell would not exist. They take on some scholarship students to make themselves feel good and boost their diversity, but the school exists to serve wealthy families who want a certain kind of education.

That's not an insult. It's just reality. Stop acting like a few scholarship kids somehow makes Sidwell something it is not. It's disingenuous and unbecoming.

Correcting false statements is not unbecoming. Neither is pretending that you are in the mind of others, knowing why they send their children to a particular school, why they dedicate resources to supporting financial aid at that school. Personally, The reason that I donate as much as I do to Sidwell is that I am extraordinarily grateful for the education that my children are receiving their period for the few years that I attended private school growing up, I received financial aid. That experience changed my life. It changed my career direction, my academic engagement across the board, my college opportunities, and most importantly it exposed me to ideas and people I hadn’t encountered before. Paying it forward, so to speak, is important to me. So, I donate a significant (for our family) amount to Sidwell, as I also do to the high school I attended years ago. Just like we donate to other organizations where my husband or I feel it is important to pay it forward, or where we have seen organizations make a particularly positive and strong impact using resource as well. does it feel good to be able to support organizations we care about financially? Yes, that feels really good and I’m glad we are able to do it. I hope that everyone, whether putting a dollar into the church basket, donating through their employer community funds, donating time or money to community activities, or donating funds to things they care about, feels good about it. It’s a good thing to do. No need to state, somewhat dismissively and pejoratively, that people contribute to things they care about “to feel good”.

This is hilarious. And I’m a Sidwell parent. There is a lot of wealth at Sidwell. And it is middle class and above families getting financial aid. You don’t see low income families. The ultra rich Sidwell families think you are poor if your family makes 150k.
Kids coming from poor families don’t even know to apply to Sidwell.
Full disclosure - we get aid and we make 200k

Please tell me one thing that I said that is not true. I grew up middle class and am now by all reasonable measures rich. Going to a private school, and receiving financial aid to do so, and I want to help provide options to others. I do that I’m part by donating to Sidwell and in part by donating to other schools and organizations. And if you and your kids don’t know any of the students who are financially strapped, there’s not much I can do about that. I personally am not crazy about the idea of the school providing financial aid to families who make $200,000, But I generally think they do a good job and decision making and use of resources, so I choose to support them strongly. Personally, the question I would have for you is, if you are making $200,000 a year, absent extraordinary circumstances, why are you applying to have other people pay for your kids to go to school? Seems both that you might like to take advantage of other peoples generosity, while insulting it, and also that you think that the school provides great how are you for your kids to make it worth it. Yes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell has some kids on scholarship but come on, folks. Why are you even arguing about this? Obviously most Sidwell students come from money. If they didn't, Sidwell would not exist. They take on some scholarship students to make themselves feel good and boost their diversity, but the school exists to serve wealthy families who want a certain kind of education.

That's not an insult. It's just reality. Stop acting like a few scholarship kids somehow makes Sidwell something it is not. It's disingenuous and unbecoming.

Correcting false statements is not unbecoming. Neither is pretending that you are in the mind of others, knowing why they send their children to a particular school, why they dedicate resources to supporting financial aid at that school. Personally, The reason that I donate as much as I do to Sidwell is that I am extraordinarily grateful for the education that my children are receiving their period for the few years that I attended private school growing up, I received financial aid. That experience changed my life. It changed my career direction, my academic engagement across the board, my college opportunities, and most importantly it exposed me to ideas and people I hadn’t encountered before. Paying it forward, so to speak, is important to me. So, I donate a significant (for our family) amount to Sidwell, as I also do to the high school I attended years ago. Just like we donate to other organizations where my husband or I feel it is important to pay it forward, or where we have seen organizations make a particularly positive and strong impact using resource as well. does it feel good to be able to support organizations we care about financially? Yes, that feels really good and I’m glad we are able to do it. I hope that everyone, whether putting a dollar into the church basket, donating through their employer community funds, donating time or money to community activities, or donating funds to things they care about, feels good about it. It’s a good thing to do. No need to state, somewhat dismissively and pejoratively, that people contribute to things they care about “to feel good”.

This is hilarious. And I’m a Sidwell parent. There is a lot of wealth at Sidwell. And it is middle class and above families getting financial aid. You don’t see low income families. The ultra rich Sidwell families think you are poor if your family makes 150k.
Kids coming from poor families don’t even know to apply to Sidwell.
Full disclosure - we get aid and we make 200k

Please tell me one thing that I said that is not true. I grew up middle class and am now by all reasonable measures rich. Going to a private school, and receiving financial aid to do so, and I want to help provide options to others. I do that I’m part by donating to Sidwell and in part by donating to other schools and organizations. And if you and your kids don’t know any of the students who are financially strapped, there’s not much I can do about that. I personally am not crazy about the idea of the school providing financial aid to families who make $200,000, But I generally think they do a good job and decision making and use of resources, so I choose to support them strongly. Personally, the question I would have for you is, if you are making $200,000 a year, absent extraordinary circumstances, why are you applying to have other people pay for your kids to go to school? Seems both that you might like to take advantage of other peoples generosity, while insulting it, and also that you think that the school provides great how are you for your kids to make it worth it. Yes?

. Meant to say that you seem to believe to believe Sidwell is providing great value for your kids (if your willing to seek financial aid while making $200,000 and to pay whatever you aren’t receiving in grants provided by past donors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell has some kids on scholarship but come on, folks. Why are you even arguing about this? Obviously most Sidwell students come from money. If they didn't, Sidwell would not exist. They take on some scholarship students to make themselves feel good and boost their diversity, but the school exists to serve wealthy families who want a certain kind of education.

That's not an insult. It's just reality. Stop acting like a few scholarship kids somehow makes Sidwell something it is not. It's disingenuous and unbecoming.

Correcting false statements is not unbecoming. Neither is pretending that you are in the mind of others, knowing why they send their children to a particular school, why they dedicate resources to supporting financial aid at that school. Personally, The reason that I donate as much as I do to Sidwell is that I am extraordinarily grateful for the education that my children are receiving their period for the few years that I attended private school growing up, I received financial aid. That experience changed my life. It changed my career direction, my academic engagement across the board, my college opportunities, and most importantly it exposed me to ideas and people I hadn’t encountered before. Paying it forward, so to speak, is important to me. So, I donate a significant (for our family) amount to Sidwell, as I also do to the high school I attended years ago. Just like we donate to other organizations where my husband or I feel it is important to pay it forward, or where we have seen organizations make a particularly positive and strong impact using resource as well. does it feel good to be able to support organizations we care about financially? Yes, that feels really good and I’m glad we are able to do it. I hope that everyone, whether putting a dollar into the church basket, donating through their employer community funds, donating time or money to community activities, or donating funds to things they care about, feels good about it. It’s a good thing to do. No need to state, somewhat dismissively and pejoratively, that people contribute to things they care about “to feel good”.

This is hilarious. And I’m a Sidwell parent. There is a lot of wealth at Sidwell. And it is middle class and above families getting financial aid. You don’t see low income families. The ultra rich Sidwell families think you are poor if your family makes 150k.
Kids coming from poor families don’t even know to apply to Sidwell.
Full disclosure - we get aid and we make 200k

Wow, getting financial aid while earning 200K. I don't like the sound of this. I guess Sidwell and the wealthy parents are very generous to provide aid to the top 10%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell has some kids on scholarship but come on, folks. Why are you even arguing about this? Obviously most Sidwell students come from money. If they didn't, Sidwell would not exist. They take on some scholarship students to make themselves feel good and boost their diversity, but the school exists to serve wealthy families who want a certain kind of education.

That's not an insult. It's just reality. Stop acting like a few scholarship kids somehow makes Sidwell something it is not. It's disingenuous and unbecoming.

Correcting false statements is not unbecoming. Neither is pretending that you are in the mind of others, knowing why they send their children to a particular school, why they dedicate resources to supporting financial aid at that school. Personally, The reason that I donate as much as I do to Sidwell is that I am extraordinarily grateful for the education that my children are receiving their period for the few years that I attended private school growing up, I received financial aid. That experience changed my life. It changed my career direction, my academic engagement across the board, my college opportunities, and most importantly it exposed me to ideas and people I hadn’t encountered before. Paying it forward, so to speak, is important to me. So, I donate a significant (for our family) amount to Sidwell, as I also do to the high school I attended years ago. Just like we donate to other organizations where my husband or I feel it is important to pay it forward, or where we have seen organizations make a particularly positive and strong impact using resource as well. does it feel good to be able to support organizations we care about financially? Yes, that feels really good and I’m glad we are able to do it. I hope that everyone, whether putting a dollar into the church basket, donating through their employer community funds, donating time or money to community activities, or donating funds to things they care about, feels good about it. It’s a good thing to do. No need to state, somewhat dismissively and pejoratively, that people contribute to things they care about “to feel good”.

This is hilarious. And I’m a Sidwell parent. There is a lot of wealth at Sidwell. And it is middle class and above families getting financial aid. You don’t see low income families. The ultra rich Sidwell families think you are poor if your family makes 150k.
Kids coming from poor families don’t even know to apply to Sidwell.
Full disclosure - we get aid and we make 200k

Wow, getting financial aid while earning 200K. I don't like the sound of this. I guess Sidwell and the wealthy parents are very generous to provide aid to the top 10%.

Most of Sidwell is 1%ers.