Georgetown Day vs. Maret?

[Anonymous]

Students who are particularly focused on finding a large cohort of kids who are very high-achieving academically... are attracted to GDS.

This is exactly why we chose GDS over Maret and other schools, including Sidwell. It’s a basic defining characteristic IMHO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Students who are particularly focused on finding a large cohort of kids who are very high-achieving academically... are attracted to GDS.

This is exactly why we chose GDS over Maret and other schools, including Sidwell. It’s a basic defining characteristic IMHO.

Let me preface this by saying I'm a fan of gds upper school, but, you can't honestly say that sidwell upper school students aren't very focused on finding a cohort of high-flying academic peers. Particularly the teens applying for 9th grade, as OP is.

(Someone will now predictably point out that gds offers phd-level math to the 2 students a year who can handle
such content while no other school does. We get it, and we gently remind you that doesn't describe the vast majority of incoming 9th graders who are looking at the whole curriculum)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Students who are particularly focused on finding a large cohort of kids who are very high-achieving academically... are attracted to GDS.

This is exactly why we chose GDS over Maret and other schools, including Sidwell. It’s a basic defining characteristic IMHO.

You misquoted my post, which said, "Students who are particularly focused on finding a large cohort of kids who are very high-achieving academically...often prefer GDS or Sidwell."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Students who are particularly focused on finding a large cohort of kids who are very high-achieving academically... are attracted to GDS.

This is exactly why we chose GDS over Maret and other schools, including Sidwell. It’s a basic defining characteristic IMHO.

That probably understates things, as it is really the only reason to go.

[Anonymous]

2 kids who were competition level, high achieving students were expelled this year for dealing drugs. The kids at GDS party as hard as they study.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2 kids who were competition level, high achieving students were expelled this year for dealing drugs. The kids at GDS party as hard as they study.

Could you expand on this? Were they dealing within or outside of school? When you say they "party" a lot, are we talking drinking/pot or more serious drugs? Majority/minority of the kids? Big parties or small gatherings? I'm not looking for details, just a sense of the culture of the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. How welcoming do you think GDS high school students would be to a transfer student, in particular one who has to commute from fairly far away?

OP, the kids will be welcoming and it will be fine. High school is an expansion year so your son won't be the only one.

However, 1) don't get your heart set on GDS. I don't know how familiar you are with how tough private schools admissions have gotten in recent years, but there is approximately a 10% acceptance rate for the Big 3 schools (which for many people, GDS is). That means many well-qualified, great kids don't get admitted. From a parenting perspective, I think it's important that you don't set up expectations that because your child is a great student at a public or smaller private, he's sure to get into GDS.

2) I would strongly recommend against commuting from far away. Not because your child won't be included, but because it adds to the stress your child is going face. GDS is a demanding intense school. In the high school years, could be times when he has 4-5 hours of homework a night. Plus he needs some downtime to socialize and just hang out. Adding a long commute time to this is just not fair to your kid.

Rent your house out and move into the city -- into an apartment or whatever you have to do -- to avoid this. Either that, or make peace with the high school you're at and spend a lot of money on enrichments or independent tutoring for your son. For $40,000, you can buy an awful lot of enrichments and tutoring. And, believe it or not, a superstar from a public high school probably has a better chance at being admitted to top schools that a top 30% kid at GDS.

You suggested renting our house and moving into the city and we would be open to doing so - I just wondered how that works from a college application stand point though? Would we still be considered a resident of the state where our home is or a DC resident?

[Anonymous]

Since it appears that GDS does not have any bus transportation, are there any carpools or other ways that parents organize getting their kids to the high school? Does the school help at all with connecting potential students to others nearby or are you on you own?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since it appears that GDS does not have any bus transportation, are there any carpools or other ways that parents organize getting their kids to the high school? Does the school help at all with connecting potential students to others nearby or are you on you own?

Many GDS students take public transportation to school. They care about reducing their carbon footprint. GDS was the first private school to plan a smart growth, transit-accessible mixed-use project in the Disteict. It is ingrained in GDS’s history to be part of DC’s urban context. Public transportation is an important part of the urban context.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since it appears that GDS does not have any bus transportation, are there any carpools or other ways that parents organize getting their kids to the high school? Does the school help at all with connecting potential students to others nearby or are you on you own?

Many GDS students take public transportation to school. They care about reducing their carbon footprint. GDS was the first private school to plan a smart growth, transit-accessible mixed-use project in the Disteict. It is ingrained in GDS’s history to be part of DC’s urban context. Public transportation is an important part of the urban context.

To clarify, I think you're talking about GDS HS. The current LS/MS location isn't very accessible by public transportation, though this will change once the move occurs in 2 years.

To your point though, the recent ANC approval for GDS commits them to a more onerous carpooling requirement than what's existed in the past. Hopefully SFS will follow that when they do their expansion/relocation. Most of the local independents could do a much better job of reducing their commuting-related carbon footprints.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since it appears that GDS does not have any bus transportation, are there any carpools or other ways that parents organize getting their kids to the high school? Does the school help at all with connecting potential students to others nearby or are you on you own?

Many GDS students take public transportation to school. They care about reducing their carbon footprint. GDS was the first private school to plan a smart growth, transit-accessible mixed-use project in the Disteict. It is ingrained in GDS’s history to be part of DC’s urban context. Public transportation is an important part of the urban context.

To clarify, I think you're talking about GDS HS. The current LS/MS location isn't very accessible by public transportation, though this will change once the move occurs in 2 years.

To your point though, the recent ANC approval for GDS commits them to a more onerous carpooling requirement than what's existed in the past. Hopefully SFS will follow that when they do their expansion/relocation. Most of the local independents could do a much better job of reducing their commuting-related carbon footprints.

GDS LS/MS definitely encourages carpooling and facilitates the composition of carpools. i don't think it has a lot to do with being "green" in some cases though, more like it is convenient and saves time. Though some people definitely have normal cars (actually normal!), which are actually efficient, there are tons of the biggest size SUVs (Volvo, Mercedes, KIA, Pilot, Escalade, Highlander).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since it appears that GDS does not have any bus transportation, are there any carpools or other ways that parents organize getting their kids to the high school? Does the school help at all with connecting potential students to others nearby or are you on you own?

Many GDS students take public transportation to school. They care about reducing their carbon footprint. GDS was the first private school to plan a smart growth, transit-accessible mixed-use project in the Disteict. It is ingrained in GDS’s history to be part of DC’s urban context. Public transportation is an important part of the urban context.

To clarify, I think you're talking about GDS HS. The current LS/MS location isn't very accessible by public transportation, though this will change once the move occurs in 2 years.

To your point though, the recent ANC approval for GDS commits them to a more onerous carpooling requirement than what's existed in the past. Hopefully SFS will follow that when they do their expansion/relocation. Most of the local independents could do a much better job of reducing their commuting-related carbon footprints.

SFS already got all of their approvals from Zoning and DDOT a couple of years ago, including a traffic plan. Of course, that was before the Wegmans mall was proposed across the street, with a new access point and signal. Wisconsin Ave. will become such a traffic cluster#$k in that stretch, that whatever Sidwell does will make little difference to jammed up traffic during more than just weekday rush hour.

[Anonymous]

The GDS website succinctly sums up the school's philosophy:

"Within a carefully designed and coordinated curriculum, teachers employ a variety of pedagogical approaches to ensure the success of all students.

Believing that students have obligations to others as well as themselves, we expect students to respect others, to appreciate others' successes, and to work hard toward their own.

GDS graduates leave the School with a love of learning, an abhorrence of bigotry and intolerance, a broadly rounded fund of knowledge, the ability to enter the great conversations of life, and the willingness and capacity to bring needed change to a troubled world."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maret is not casual liberal leaning. it leans all the way, every day.

I think you may have misread the prior post. It says that both schools are liberal leaning, but that GDS seems to be thought of as being more liberal than Maret (and also more casual, as in... laid-back). That said, I agree that Maret is certainly, clearly well over on the liberal side of the spectrum. As with DC generally though, DC private schools (at least the ones normally discussed here) tend to lean liberal/Democratic - favoring Obama/Clinton, lots of interest in community service, constant push for diversity among students, obvious school admin push to have diversity among faculty (gender/race/ethnicity), absence of religious recognition (i.e., no Christmas trees; no religious-traditional songs at December band/chorus concerts), etc.

GDS has a Christmas assembly, IIRC. I believe they recognize multiple religious traditions.

This is correct. They even play sacred Christmas music at it.

IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION - GDS rotates which religious holidays are celebrated each year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maret is not casual liberal leaning. it leans all the way, every day.

I think you may have misread the prior post. It says that both schools are liberal leaning, but that GDS seems to be thought of as being more liberal than Maret (and also more casual, as in... laid-back). That said, I agree that Maret is certainly, clearly well over on the liberal side of the spectrum. As with DC generally though, DC private schools (at least the ones normally discussed here) tend to lean liberal/Democratic - favoring Obama/Clinton, lots of interest in community service, constant push for diversity among students, obvious school admin push to have diversity among faculty (gender/race/ethnicity), absence of religious recognition (i.e., no Christmas trees; no religious-traditional songs at December band/chorus concerts), etc.

GDS has a Christmas assembly, IIRC. I believe they recognize multiple religious traditions.

This is correct. They even play sacred Christmas music at it.

IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION - GDS rotates which religious holidays are celebrated each year.

GDS has an Xmas assembly every winter. And a Passover one every spring. There are also celebrations of Eid, Lunar Nee Year, and Diwali—every year.