NCS - Pros and Cons

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here (really!!), some current classes are small in the 70s but 9th grade is currently 89 girls. 27 were added this year. My impression is the school would like to graduate about 90 girls.

Also, the college acceptances I have heard about (from my daughter who is not a senior but is in US) are quite strong. They are still making decisions but I haven’t heard about lot of shut outs. College admissions are a hard thing these days and we still think NCS is worth the possibility that our daughter could have gotten into a better school from our downright horrible DCPS. She is thriving at NCS. LS was not hard, MS ramped up a bit and US can be a slog but as PPs have said, time management and executive function skills are key.

I heard only one into Tulane (ranked 73) and none into BC so far. Those are shut outs for EA and ED and EDII. I am hearing good news from the parents with good news and not good news from the parents with not good news.

To clarify several applied to the above either and/or early action, early decision and/or early decision II and as those three options the above results so please don't down play the parents and students that not be getting good news. Same for 2023. Yes lots of great schools but many many were not happy with their college placement and were very open about it to all and still are open about it. Maybe you are only talking to people with good news or people not happy don't feel comfortable sharing its with you? Not sure.

Is it possible Tulane and maybe BC are changing the percentages they accept EA/ED? Perhaps these girls will end up somewhere good in RD. Point is, maybe RD is more important these days.

Several students from Holton and other DC privates were admitted to Tulane and BC. Stop gaslighting posters that are posting facts.

Thanks. I have noticed this as well. There are some posters on here that gas light all posts that are not positive about NCS or have the posts removed.


Right now there are about 20 NCS girls who are placed for college. They are either the top-of-the-class ones or others who chose large state schools with high admissions rates.
If I'm wrong about this, please let me know. It does appear that Tulane and Boston College (who historically were happy to work with deflated NCS GPAs) are not taking girls this year.
That is quite troubling.

does every girl usually apply ED somewhere? can we assume 50ish girls were either denied ED or deferred?

Yes. About 95% ED.
Only about 10/70 were successful with ED.
that's why Boston College (for example) is striking. they are a traditional ED option for string but not perfect girls but they declined 8/8 girls this year.

I'm kind of blown away by these numbers. 8/8 denied from BC?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here (really!!), some current classes are small in the 70s but 9th grade is currently 89 girls. 27 were added this year. My impression is the school would like to graduate about 90 girls.

Also, the college acceptances I have heard about (from my daughter who is not a senior but is in US) are quite strong. They are still making decisions but I haven’t heard about lot of shut outs. College admissions are a hard thing these days and we still think NCS is worth the possibility that our daughter could have gotten into a better school from our downright horrible DCPS. She is thriving at NCS. LS was not hard, MS ramped up a bit and US can be a slog but as PPs have said, time management and executive function skills are key.

I heard only one into Tulane (ranked 73) and none into BC so far. Those are shut outs for EA and ED and EDII. I am hearing good news from the parents with good news and not good news from the parents with not good news.

To clarify several applied to the above either and/or early action, early decision and/or early decision II and as those three options the above results so please don't down play the parents and students that not be getting good news. Same for 2023. Yes lots of great schools but many many were not happy with their college placement and were very open about it to all and still are open about it. Maybe you are only talking to people with good news or people not happy don't feel comfortable sharing its with you? Not sure.

Is it possible Tulane and maybe BC are changing the percentages they accept EA/ED? Perhaps these girls will end up somewhere good in RD. Point is, maybe RD is more important these days.

Several students from Holton and other DC privates were admitted to Tulane and BC. Stop gaslighting posters that are posting facts.

Thanks. I have noticed this as well. There are some posters on here that gas light all posts that are not positive about NCS or have the posts removed.


Right now there are about 20 NCS girls who are placed for college. They are either the top-of-the-class ones or others who chose large state schools with high admissions rates.
If I'm wrong about this, please let me know. It does appear that Tulane and Boston College (who historically were happy to work with deflated NCS GPAs) are not taking girls this year.
That is quite troubling.

does every girl usually apply ED somewhere? can we assume 50ish girls were either denied ED or deferred?

Yes. About 95% ED.
Only about 10/70 were successful with ED.
that's why Boston College (for example) is striking. they are a traditional ED option for string but not perfect girls but they declined 8/8 girls this year.

I'm kind of blown away by these numbers. 8/8 denied from BC?!

This is not true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here (really!!), some current classes are small in the 70s but 9th grade is currently 89 girls. 27 were added this year. My impression is the school would like to graduate about 90 girls.

Also, the college acceptances I have heard about (from my daughter who is not a senior but is in US) are quite strong. They are still making decisions but I haven’t heard about lot of shut outs. College admissions are a hard thing these days and we still think NCS is worth the possibility that our daughter could have gotten into a better school from our downright horrible DCPS. She is thriving at NCS. LS was not hard, MS ramped up a bit and US can be a slog but as PPs have said, time management and executive function skills are key.

I heard only one into Tulane (ranked 73) and none into BC so far. Those are shut outs for EA and ED and EDII. I am hearing good news from the parents with good news and not good news from the parents with not good news.

To clarify several applied to the above either and/or early action, early decision and/or early decision II and as those three options the above results so please don't down play the parents and students that not be getting good news. Same for 2023. Yes lots of great schools but many many were not happy with their college placement and were very open about it to all and still are open about it. Maybe you are only talking to people with good news or people not happy don't feel comfortable sharing its with you? Not sure.

Is it possible Tulane and maybe BC are changing the percentages they accept EA/ED? Perhaps these girls will end up somewhere good in RD. Point is, maybe RD is more important these days.

Several students from Holton and other DC privates were admitted to Tulane and BC. Stop gaslighting posters that are posting facts.

Thanks. I have noticed this as well. There are some posters on here that gas light all posts that are not positive about NCS or have the posts removed.


Right now there are about 20 NCS girls who are placed for college. They are either the top-of-the-class ones or others who chose large state schools with high admissions rates.
If I'm wrong about this, please let me know. It does appear that Tulane and Boston College (who historically were happy to work with deflated NCS GPAs) are not taking girls this year.
That is quite troubling.

does every girl usually apply ED somewhere? can we assume 50ish girls were either denied ED or deferred?

Yes. About 95% ED.
Only about 10/70 were successful with ED.
that's why Boston College (for example) is striking. they are a traditional ED option for string but not perfect girls but they declined 8/8 girls this year.

I'm kind of blown away by these numbers. 8/8 denied from BC?!

This is not true.

What is the number? I heard it was 8/8 denied ED #1. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here (really!!), some current classes are small in the 70s but 9th grade is currently 89 girls. 27 were added this year. My impression is the school would like to graduate about 90 girls.

Also, the college acceptances I have heard about (from my daughter who is not a senior but is in US) are quite strong. They are still making decisions but I haven’t heard about lot of shut outs. College admissions are a hard thing these days and we still think NCS is worth the possibility that our daughter could have gotten into a better school from our downright horrible DCPS. She is thriving at NCS. LS was not hard, MS ramped up a bit and US can be a slog but as PPs have said, time management and executive function skills are key.

I heard only one into Tulane (ranked 73) and none into BC so far. Those are shut outs for EA and ED and EDII. I am hearing good news from the parents with good news and not good news from the parents with not good news.

To clarify several applied to the above either and/or early action, early decision and/or early decision II and as those three options the above results so please don't down play the parents and students that not be getting good news. Same for 2023. Yes lots of great schools but many many were not happy with their college placement and were very open about it to all and still are open about it. Maybe you are only talking to people with good news or people not happy don't feel comfortable sharing its with you? Not sure.

Is it possible Tulane and maybe BC are changing the percentages they accept EA/ED? Perhaps these girls will end up somewhere good in RD. Point is, maybe RD is more important these days.

Several students from Holton and other DC privates were admitted to Tulane and BC. Stop gaslighting posters that are posting facts.

Thanks. I have noticed this as well. There are some posters on here that gas light all posts that are not positive about NCS or have the posts removed.


Right now there are about 20 NCS girls who are placed for college. They are either the top-of-the-class ones or others who chose large state schools with high admissions rates.
If I'm wrong about this, please let me know. It does appear that Tulane and Boston College (who historically were happy to work with deflated NCS GPAs) are not taking girls this year.
That is quite troubling.

does every girl usually apply ED somewhere? can we assume 50ish girls were either denied ED or deferred?

Yes. About 95% ED.
Only about 10/70 were successful with ED.
that's why Boston College (for example) is striking. they are a traditional ED option for string but not perfect girls but they declined 8/8 girls this year.

I'm kind of blown away by these numbers. 8/8 denied from BC?!

This is not true.

What is the number? I heard it was 8/8 denied ED #1. Thank you!

Different poster here. Maybe they were not all denied and maybe a few deferred to regular hopefully.

But still the issue is that other schools (not just Catholics) have several admitted to BC either ED air ED2. That is the concern. Others are being admitted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here (really!!), some current classes are small in the 70s but 9th grade is currently 89 girls. 27 were added this year. My impression is the school would like to graduate about 90 girls.

Also, the college acceptances I have heard about (from my daughter who is not a senior but is in US) are quite strong. They are still making decisions but I haven’t heard about lot of shut outs. College admissions are a hard thing these days and we still think NCS is worth the possibility that our daughter could have gotten into a better school from our downright horrible DCPS. She is thriving at NCS. LS was not hard, MS ramped up a bit and US can be a slog but as PPs have said, time management and executive function skills are key.

I heard only one into Tulane (ranked 73) and none into BC so far. Those are shut outs for EA and ED and EDII. I am hearing good news from the parents with good news and not good news from the parents with not good news.

To clarify several applied to the above either and/or early action, early decision and/or early decision II and as those three options the above results so please don't down play the parents and students that not be getting good news. Same for 2023. Yes lots of great schools but many many were not happy with their college placement and were very open about it to all and still are open about it. Maybe you are only talking to people with good news or people not happy don't feel comfortable sharing its with you? Not sure.

Is it possible Tulane and maybe BC are changing the percentages they accept EA/ED? Perhaps these girls will end up somewhere good in RD. Point is, maybe RD is more important these days.

Several students from Holton and other DC privates were admitted to Tulane and BC. Stop gaslighting posters that are posting facts.

Thanks. I have noticed this as well. There are some posters on here that gas light all posts that are not positive about NCS or have the posts removed.


Right now there are about 20 NCS girls who are placed for college. They are either the top-of-the-class ones or others who chose large state schools with high admissions rates.
If I'm wrong about this, please let me know. It does appear that Tulane and Boston College (who historically were happy to work with deflated NCS GPAs) are not taking girls this year.
That is quite troubling.

does every girl usually apply ED somewhere? can we assume 50ish girls were either denied ED or deferred?

Yes. About 95% ED.
Only about 10/70 were successful with ED.
that's why Boston College (for example) is striking. they are a traditional ED option for string but not perfect girls but they declined 8/8 girls this year.

I'm kind of blown away by these numbers. 8/8 denied from BC?!

This is not true.

What is the number? I heard it was 8/8 denied ED #1. Thank you!

Different poster here. Maybe they were not all denied and maybe a few deferred to regular hopefully.

But still the issue is that other schools (not just Catholics) have several admitted to BC either ED air ED2. That is the concern. Others are being admitted.

Several admitted and considered less rigorous schools than NCS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here (really!!), some current classes are small in the 70s but 9th grade is currently 89 girls. 27 were added this year. My impression is the school would like to graduate about 90 girls.

Also, the college acceptances I have heard about (from my daughter who is not a senior but is in US) are quite strong. They are still making decisions but I haven’t heard about lot of shut outs. College admissions are a hard thing these days and we still think NCS is worth the possibility that our daughter could have gotten into a better school from our downright horrible DCPS. She is thriving at NCS. LS was not hard, MS ramped up a bit and US can be a slog but as PPs have said, time management and executive function skills are key.

I heard only one into Tulane (ranked 73) and none into BC so far. Those are shut outs for EA and ED and EDII. I am hearing good news from the parents with good news and not good news from the parents with not good news.

To clarify several applied to the above either and/or early action, early decision and/or early decision II and as those three options the above results so please don't down play the parents and students that not be getting good news. Same for 2023. Yes lots of great schools but many many were not happy with their college placement and were very open about it to all and still are open about it. Maybe you are only talking to people with good news or people not happy don't feel comfortable sharing its with you? Not sure.

Is it possible Tulane and maybe BC are changing the percentages they accept EA/ED? Perhaps these girls will end up somewhere good in RD. Point is, maybe RD is more important these days.

Several students from Holton and other DC privates were admitted to Tulane and BC. Stop gaslighting posters that are posting facts.

Thanks. I have noticed this as well. There are some posters on here that gas light all posts that are not positive about NCS or have the posts removed.


Right now there are about 20 NCS girls who are placed for college. They are either the top-of-the-class ones or others who chose large state schools with high admissions rates.
If I'm wrong about this, please let me know. It does appear that Tulane and Boston College (who historically were happy to work with deflated NCS GPAs) are not taking girls this year.
That is quite troubling.

I am one of posters concerned as well but last year many of the college acceptances came in for regular decision for STA and NCS.

The issue this year is that girls were flat out denied with no chance of getting in regular decision from schools that girls from other schools in the area were accepted to in multiple numbers. Colleges are really focusing in on GPA’s and there is starting to be a cut off for some schools (with some exceptions). This is what the previous posters are referring to.

[Anonymous]

My daughter is a senior and it’s looking rough for girls who are not at the top of the class. Amazing schools like Princeton, Dartmouth for girls with 3.9s, but quite frankly, for girls around 3.4-3.7, it has been a season of rejections. Hoping for better outcomes during the RD pool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is a senior and it’s looking rough for girls who are not at the top of the class. Amazing schools like Princeton, Dartmouth for girls with 3.9s, but quite frankly, for girls around 3.4-3.7, it has been a season of rejections. Hoping for better outcomes during the RD pool.

I have a junior and frankly I am quite worried about this. My daughter and all her friends are in this window (3.4 up to 3.85). There are just a handful in this grade who are above 3.9 (to my knowledge). I don't know where this leave the middle group. They are all touring top 30 schools but I'm not sure it's going to come through for any of them. The school seems to just ignore this entirely and the parents are also deluded because SCOIR does not support top 30 admits for this group and yet they are still visiting schools on tours. I think last year's senior class had 15+ girls above a 3.9 which led to some super outcomes. This was both due to them being very good students and some Covid grade inflation due to remote grading. It seems like the rising juniors have lower GPAs...lots and lots in this middle ground. It is frustrating to just be sitting back and watching and unable to change the direction of what may be coming down the pike. I hope I am proven wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is a senior and it’s looking rough for girls who are not at the top of the class. Amazing schools like Princeton, Dartmouth for girls with 3.9s, but quite frankly, for girls around 3.4-3.7, it has been a season of rejections. Hoping for better outcomes during the RD pool.

I am sorry. I really hope she and other girls have good outcomes.

[Anonymous]

I don’t get it. Why would you send your kids to a school and spend $60K/year if the school has such disappointing college placements? At the end of the day no one remembers where you went to high school but your college stays with you for life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is a senior and it’s looking rough for girls who are not at the top of the class. Amazing schools like Princeton, Dartmouth for girls with 3.9s, but quite frankly, for girls around 3.4-3.7, it has been a season of rejections. Hoping for better outcomes during the RD pool.

I have a junior and frankly I am quite worried about this. My daughter and all her friends are in this window (3.4 up to 3.85). There are just a handful in this grade who are above 3.9 (to my knowledge). I don't know where this leave the middle group. They are all touring top 30 schools but I'm not sure it's going to come through for any of them. The school seems to just ignore this entirely and the parents are also deluded because SCOIR does not support top 30 admits for this group and yet they are still visiting schools on tours. I think last year's senior class had 15+ girls above a 3.9 which led to some super outcomes. This was both due to them being very good students and some Covid grade inflation due to remote grading. It seems like the rising juniors have lower GPAs...lots and lots in this middle ground. It is frustrating to just be sitting back and watching and unable to change the direction of what may be coming down the pike. I hope I am proven wrong.

Don’t just sit back then. Meet with the HOS and express your concerns but back up your concerns with data and facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is insanely woke.

Is it the only school your child has ever attended? I mean after Beauvoir.
Woke it is not, compared to many other schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get it. Why would you send your kids to a school and spend $60K/year if the school has such disappointing college placements? At the end of the day no one remembers where you went to high school but your college stays with you for life.

It is a new trend in past 2 years. Admissions has changed. Also with test optional GPA’s became the sole predictor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is insanely woke.

Is it the only school your child has ever attended? I mean after Beauvoir.
Woke it is not, compared to many other schools.

Poster never said they attended Beauvoir? Don’t bring Beauvoir into this. We attended Beauvoir and it is very progressive but also has a nice balance as does NCS. I think NCS does it right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the key to NCS is being honest about what kind of child you have. In a larger school (public or private) you get a wide variety of kids and so everyone eventually finds their "group" (large or small). NCS is very small, 70-75 girls in each class in HS. If you are very quiet or a child who is perhaps not yet socially comfortable, then this could be a lonely place. If your child is more outgoing or at least socially inclined than it could be a great experience. It is the same with academics, don't try to put your child in a HIGHLY academic environment if they are not that way inclined. You may wish your child to be an academic superstar, but don't kid yourself if they are not. The workload is hard is there is no getting around the fact that the demands and workload are high.
I think this is why the opinions on NCS are so varied, many families including ours love the school and their daughters have thrived there, but it is not for everyone. On the plus side your daughter will be pushed to achieve a level of academic success that will likely surprise you, but they will have to work for it. If you child is a B/C student, then this process could be demoralizing and I don't think anyone would ideally want that for their child no matter what the "brand" of the school. Our daughters have made incredible friends that I think they are likely to keep forever, but there are other kids who may have felt socially isolated. So I think the key is to be honest with yourself about what kind of environment your child will thrive in. Even if your child is an academic rockstar, NCS may still not be the right place for them because there is mandatory sports for example (why the girls games never have many spectators in case your are wondering - the girls are all at their own sports). Plus the social side can be tough. If you are not included in a group for invited to parties etc it can be isolating as the school is small.
I would say that NCS is perfect for a girl who is at least academically minded and able to cope with homework every night, plus a girl who has at least able to make a small group of friends at previous schools. If your child has struggled academically or is struggling in the middle school at NCS and is a bit socially reserved or has historically been socially isolated, then I would not chose NCS.

I think this is the case at ALL schools. Quiet reserved kids do often struggle but your daughter is going to find a more diverse group of kids at NCS (diverse in all ways not just racially but in interests too) at NCS than at some other schools that are currently having major mean girl issues where there is no place for girls that do not fit a certain mold. NCS is quite diverse and has become even more diverse in the past 5 years and that allows for a lot of different types to find their people there. As said if your child struggled before she came then she may struggle there too but maybe not. Also I want to correct the above poster who I think may be a bit dated. Classes are not 70-75 and have not been in years if ever. Classes are somewhere between 80-90 students.

I am the poster of the long (apologies) comments and I read this persons response, and yes I actually do agree that the girls who attend are quite diverse in many respects. Some super sporty, some musical, some have other quirky interests and many are very talented, so yes it is diverse in that way (and also racially if that matters to you), so perhaps the other poster is more correct and NCS could appeal to a broader range of girls. I stand by my comments about the grades though. Your daughter does not have to be an academic stand-out, but she does need to be somewhat capable to be able to achieve to a level that she is feeling good about herself. I would add that the parent community is also very diverse and families come to the school from all manner of different places and backgrounds. Again, we really like the school and think it is special, but I just think people should be realistic and try to set their daughters up to be happy and successful in the broadest definition.

One can do this and also not create a demoralizing situation by having the students work harder than most any other HS and then not be able to get into the schools other kids who have worked less hard get into because those kids go somewhere that doesn’t deflate the grades. This isn’t 1995, when NCS grads might have had a leg up in college admissions because the applicant numbers were smaller and the college counseling knew staff at certain colleges so the workload and gpa was “known”, etc.
Telling them they need to work excessively hard for a 3.6 gpa and then simultaneously telling them they shouldn’t expect to get into top colleges and calling that “being realistic” is kind of sadist behavior and is not setting them up well at all, mentally or situationally.