Why is Madeira never, ever mentioned in this forum?

[Anonymous]

I would expect to see more discussion about this school, given its location, long history, prestige among a certain set, and so forth. also, given the demographics of the people who seem to post here. What gives? Do any of you know anyone who attends this school?

[Anonymous]

My daughter does. But it is a high school and most people on this board are interested in elementary schools or pre-schools.

[Anonymous]

Ok, good point, yet there has been a decent amount of talk about Burke, Field, Georgetown Prep, let's see ... Gonzaga. Not as much as The School That Shall Not Be Named That Rhymes With 'KidHell.' But they get discussed.

Not so with Madeira, which I would think would be coveted by some of the same families that love certain other high schools. Again, just wondering. DC is too young now.

[Anonymous]

Madeira grad here. Madeira is more of a boarding school than a day school, at least back when I went there. The day students seemed to ve left out or worse used as a way off campus by the boarders. I have daughters and even though I enjoyed the school would not send them to an all girls school. Living in this area, there are so many private day schools and even public schools that are just as good I would not consider boarding school. If I lived elsewhere I would consider it. Several of my Madeira grad friends who live in areas with good schools feel the same way.

[Anonymous]

Interesting article today in the Washington Post about the benefits of boarding your child locally. Personally, I'm not so sure. While there are benefits, many of the parents come across as being "too busy" to be able to parent their children or to make them a priority in their busy, overly-scheduled lives.

[Anonymous]

My 16-year-old niece boards three nights a week at a school where her mother is on staff. It's been great for them so far--takes some of the dialy pressure off the relationship while still leaving them with a good dose of family time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting article today in the Washington Post about the benefits of boarding your child locally. Personally, I'm not so sure. While there are benefits, many of the parents come across as being "too busy" to be able to parent their children or to make them a priority in their busy, overly-scheduled lives.

Some might live in the DC metropolitan area but the commute would be terrible. Maybe almost 3 hours for the student and if the parent doesn't work near the school? Mclean though?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Madeira grad here. Madeira is more of a boarding school than a day school, at least back when I went there. The day students seemed to ve left out or worse used as a way off campus by the boarders. I have daughters and even though I enjoyed the school would not send them to an all girls school. Living in this area, there are so many private day schools and even public schools that are just as good I would not consider boarding school. If I lived elsewhere I would consider it. Several of my Madeira grad friends who live in areas with good schools feel the same way.

Things may have changed since your day. It is currently about 50/50 boarding and day students. Quite a few of the boarders (maybe 1/2?) are local boarders. My daughter is a day student and has friends who are day students, local boarders and distant boarders. There don't seem to be real divisions between the groups, with the possible exception of riders vs non riders because of the time commitment of riding.

We were not looking specifically for a girls school but it has been a huge plus. It offers leadership opportunities that would not likely be available for my daughter in a coed school. It certainly keeps down the distractions (and Madeira is very strict so that helps as well - my daughter is shocked at some of the drinking and drugs she sees from her friends at other private schools. Of course Madeira is not completely immune but the consequences are severe so it acts as a big deterrent to the vast majority of girls). The curriculum is very rigorous. There are great opportunities to participate in sports even for the less athletically inclined. I think being on a team sport has real benefits for girls and is one we hadn't anticipated.

[Anonymous]

Different strokes for different folks. In today's Post --some of the parents quoted did say they were too busy (both spouses) for their kids. I'm sure they didn't mean it to come out sounding like it did (or so I hope).

I think people don't write much about Madeira because there is no boarding school forum here and most of the kids at Madeira are boarders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting article today in the Washington Post about the benefits of boarding your child locally. Personally, I'm not so sure. While there are benefits, many of the parents come across as being "too busy" to be able to parent their children or to make them a priority in their busy, overly-scheduled lives.

Some might live in the DC metropolitan area but the commute would be terrible. Maybe almost 3 hours for the student and if the parent doesn't work near the school? Mclean though?

The commute is a challenge unless you live in McLean - Georgetown Pike, the Parkway and the Beltway get very backed up in the morning and the evening. Most girls are on campus until 6 with sports and activities so it is prime rush hour. The plus of it being a boarding school is that day girls can stay on campus for dinner (parents can eat dinner on campus too if they want) and go home a little later to avoid traffic if they want to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would expect to see more discussion about this school, given its location, long history, prestige among a certain set, and so forth. also, given the demographics of the people who seem to post here. What gives? Do any of you know anyone who attends this school?

I think location (ie the fact that it is located in VA) is a big factor. Many folks on this board are very District of Columbia centric - hence all the focus on the schools that are physically located within the District. There's probably more of a focus too on MD schools - as Chevy Chase, Bethesda and the like are so close to the boarder than many people would not know whether they are still in DC or MD.

To many in DC/MD, Virginia seems like a world away and they never even consider crossing the river (likewise, many VA residents would NEVER consider living in Maryland). There is definitely a north/south bias thing going on. Washingtonian even did an issue on it a few years back. I can't tell you how many DC residents I know that have never even been to Old Town Alexandria!

Not sure why this is. Northern VA (especially McLean, Great Falls, etc) are just as if not more affluent than DC/MD. There are great nationally recognized public schools (TJ) and private schools (Potomac). Great universities (UVA, W&L, W&M, etc). All kinds of big businesses are headquartered in Tysons, Reston, Dulles, etc. I'm never quite sure what to make of the whole anti-VA bias, but it definitely plays out on this board.

[Anonymous]

pp -- your analysis is good. For people who wonder why more isn't said of the VA private schools -- they are certainly welcome to write on any of these forums -- so it is curious as to why more don't. Maybe they don't know about DCUM or when they see the name DCUM -- they may not know it includes VA.

[Anonymous]

Oddly my daughter and I were talking about Madeira after the WaPo article this morning about boarding. One question of hers I did not know how to answer was, how good of a school is it really? Academically speaking? She wondered if it was more like "Miss Porter's" -- a school for girls that had a strong reputation because of its connection to a certain social class or whether it also was very competitive academically. I didn't know how to answer. I leaned toward the former, but I admit I don't really know much about Madeira academically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I think location (ie the fact that it is located in VA) is a big factor. Many folks on this board are very District of Columbia centric - hence all the focus on the schools that are physically located within the District. There's probably more of a focus too on MD schools - as Chevy Chase, Bethesda and the like are so close to the boarder than many people would not know whether they are still in DC or MD.

Actually there are a good number of Madeira girls from Maryland and DC - a mix of both day and boarding students. We live in MD and the school is 8 miles from us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oddly my daughter and I were talking about Madeira after the WaPo article this morning about boarding. One question of hers I did not know how to answer was, how good of a school is it really? Academically speaking? She wondered if it was more like "Miss Porter's" -- a school for girls that had a strong reputation because of its connection to a certain social class or whether it also was very competitive academically. I didn't know how to answer. I leaned toward the former, but I admit I don't really know much about Madeira academically.

I don't have any stats. But I knew a few Madeira graduates at Yale but none from Miss Porter's, and they were sharp, engaging women.