What schools were not what you expected when you visited them in person?

[Anonymous]

I was pleasantly surprised by Barnesville's campus -- the buildings aren't fancy, but they seemed lovingly tended. The sense of care extended to the faculty and staff. It seems like an overlooked diamond.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We toured NCS and Maret within the same week. NCS was gorgeous and Maret seemed grungy and cramped in comparison. However, the student tour guides were impressive at both!

FWIW, Maret's tuition is about $7,000/year less than NCS and $9,000/year less than STA. For the super wealthy, that may not matter. But for those of us who are not on financial aid and struggle to send our kids to private school, I am totally fine with buildings not being "gorgeous" so the education is a bit more affordable.

Rats are still rats

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We toured NCS and Maret within the same week. NCS was gorgeous and Maret seemed grungy and cramped in comparison. However, the student tour guides were impressive at both!

FWIW, Maret's tuition is about $7,000/year less than NCS and $9,000/year less than STA. For the super wealthy, that may not matter. But for those of us who are not on financial aid and struggle to send our kids to private school, I am totally fine with buildings not being "gorgeous" so the education is a bit more affordable.

So true, especially if you have two or three kids in private.

[Anonymous]

I was surprised how rude the AD at NCS was and then shadow day was not much better. I thought the campus was pretty though and very updated. Sidwell was beautiful and their whole process was much better than we had imagined. Potomac was a wild card. Beautiful campus but sort of cold during admission and basically assumed our child would not get in. Maret needs some updating but they are so warm there it makes up for a lot. The lacking playing fields make it a hard choice if your child loves athletics so something to consider. Stone Ridge was 100 percent better than we had thought. That school moved up many places after our tour. GDS is not a place for an athletic child but many impressive kids and teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Was shocked at the HS and MS CAMPUS for WIS

Shocked how?

It’s s beautiful campus (and surrounded by a conservancy that WIS doesn’t even have to pay to maintain).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I haven’t been in a few years but thought Maret was fine in both appearance and was very welcoming.
I was not a Maret fan but became enamored mid tour.

Was shocked at the HS and MS CAMPUS for WIS

PLeasantly surprised by the warmth and welcoming vibe of NCS

DIsappointed in appearance of GDS and how rude much of the admissions staff was. I’ve since talked to others who had a different experience but would love to re-tour to have the experience of others.

Disappointed at Sidwell as well. Not sure if we visited during a bad week, but our tour was so underwhelming. The precious interactions w personnel left me w very high hopes. The kids just didn’t seem happy to be there.

GDS will be vacating the MacArthur LMS site and is renovating the Uptown campus for all divisions. The expanded campus will incredible when it’s completed.

[Anonymous]

Can’t judge a book by a cover but I don’t want my kids in a dark basement with no windows for 6 hours a day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Plus those fancy facilities do not get you into top colleges. You just end up paying more tuition for the same college result.

Please, there's more to life than where you go to college! I am happy to pay more and have better facilities- that only means my kids will bbe more comfortable when in school. Making everyday life count- not only in school.

The facilities are not as important as the teachers and people running the school. Kids don't need super fancy. Clean, well-kept with the things they need. Colleges are charging more too for the top facilities and reality is how much of those fancy facilities does one individual kid really use? Ok, so your kid school has a fancy computer lab - how much do they use it given they have their own computer. So, they have a fancy sports complex - only good if your child plays that particular sport.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can’t judge a book by a cover but I don’t want my kids in a dark basement with no windows for 6 hours a day.

Not my preference either but I'd take a superstar for a teacher vs. a nice facility any day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was surprised how rude the AD at NCS was and then shadow day was not much better. I thought the campus was pretty though and very updated. Sidwell was beautiful and their whole process was much better than we had imagined. Potomac was a wild card. Beautiful campus but sort of cold during admission and basically assumed our child would not get in. Maret needs some updating but they are so warm there it makes up for a lot. The lacking playing fields make it a hard choice if your child loves athletics so something to consider. Stone Ridge was 100 percent better than we had thought. That school moved up many places after our tour. GDS is not a place for an athletic child but many impressive kids and teachers.

This is so strange to me. We are public school nobodies and the NCS director was incredibly warm and friendly. We thought it was the most down-to-earth admissions experience we had.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can’t judge a book by a cover but I don’t want my kids in a dark basement with no windows for 6 hours a day.

Not my preference either but I'd take a superstar for a teacher vs. a nice facility any day.

Interested to hear more about things in addition to facilities (though I do think windows are kind of a non-negotiable). Some of the posts about culture, student stress levels, etc, are very helpful in thinking through an investment at these places.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can’t judge a book by a cover but I don’t want my kids in a dark basement with no windows for 6 hours a day.

Not my preference either but I'd take a superstar for a teacher vs. a nice facility any day.

Interested to hear more about things in addition to facilities (though I do think windows are kind of a non-negotiable). Some of the posts about culture, student stress levels, etc, are very helpful in thinking through an investment at these places.

I think no windows would be a deal breaker for me. However, social atmosphere I would be concerned. For example, without saying we had to choose between School A & School B for Pre-Kindergarten. School A was cheaper, the facilities were OK, closer to home, however the teacher is new to teaching. This upcoming year will be the 2nd year and none of the lower school classrooms had windows. Going forward, basically the teachers in the lowers school are new and have a lot of turnover. School B was more expensive, nice facilities not much more nice but nicer, however the teacher has been the teacher for 19 years. As with the teacher in lower school have been there at least 7 years or more. For me, school B seemed like the better fit, more stability and the teachers really cared for the children. I thought it was weird that a school A, the teachers weren’t present for the open house/tour.

I say all that to say, if school B didn’t have windows, I would’ve have still chose them because of the track record and experience in early childhood education

[Anonymous]

Admissions experience at NCS was so wonderful I’m disappointed that others had a different experience.
We were entirely skeptical of NCS but we were warmed over by the admissions director

[Anonymous]

Where do kids spend all day in a room with no windows???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Admissions experience at NCS was so wonderful I’m disappointed that others had a different experience.
We were entirely skeptical of NCS but we were warmed over by the admissions director

+1 Loved NCS and the admissions team. Best experience by far!