Wasn't Impressed with Maret - What's So Great About It?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When we visited a decade ago, it had no vibe. It was theme-less compared to the other privates, for better or worse. It seemed like a standard public school with a bit nicer facility.

we visited last year looking at 9th grade and i felt the same - could not pinpoint its personality. the three other schools' we toured had their own vibes/personalities that were easy to identify/quantify.

We looked at it for lower school in 2019 and felt the same. I couldn't figure out what Maret thought differentiated itself.

You hit the nail on the head. There’s nothing special about Maret. There’s at least one private school just like it in every major US city.

That's a bad thing? It's a very good coed independent school. Sounds like a good thing to me.

You think it’s a good thing to send you children to a private school that’s indistinguishable from many other private schools? Well, I guess that’s why your children attend Maret.

I legit have no horse in this race but don't know what you mean about going to a school that's"indistinguishable from other private schools. "

Isn't that what most families are looking for? A solid private school with the benefits of being at a private school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When we visited a decade ago, it had no vibe. It was theme-less compared to the other privates, for better or worse. It seemed like a standard public school with a bit nicer facility.

we visited last year looking at 9th grade and i felt the same - could not pinpoint its personality. the three other schools' we toured had their own vibes/personalities that were easy to identify/quantify.

We looked at it for lower school in 2019 and felt the same. I couldn't figure out what Maret thought differentiated itself.

You hit the nail on the head. There’s nothing special about Maret. There’s at least one private school just like it in every major US city.

Yes! But that's what's appealing about it. The other DC options are such extremes.
-Sidwell-super academic, high stress.
-NCS--single gender, academics are ridiculously hard
-STA--single gender
-GDS-super liberal/woke
-Potomac--the other traditional coed school

I fixed this for you.

Distinguishing Characteristics:
-Sidwell: Quaker; academically rigorous; established track record of educating Presidents’ children/grandchildren and the political and business elite
-NCS/STA: Episcopal; academically rigorous; single gender schools located on the grounds of the National Cathedral
-GDS: DC’s first racially integrated school; progressive school dedicated to social justice; students call teachers by their first names
-Potomac: Just like Maret, except it’s located in VA.

Nope.
Potomac has fields.
Maret, not exactly,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When we visited a decade ago, it had no vibe. It was theme-less compared to the other privates, for better or worse. It seemed like a standard public school with a bit nicer facility.

we visited last year looking at 9th grade and i felt the same - could not pinpoint its personality. the three other schools' we toured had their own vibes/personalities that were easy to identify/quantify.

We looked at it for lower school in 2019 and felt the same. I couldn't figure out what Maret thought differentiated itself.

You hit the nail on the head. There’s nothing special about Maret. There’s at least one private school just like it in every major US city.

Yes! But that's what's appealing about it. The other DC options are such extremes.
-Sidwell-super academic, high stress.
-NCS--single gender, academics are ridiculously hard
-STA--single gender
-GDS-super liberal/woke
-Potomac--the other traditional coed school

I fixed this for you.

Distinguishing Characteristics:
-Sidwell: Quaker; academically rigorous; established track record of educating Presidents’ children/grandchildren and the political and business elite
-NCS/STA: Episcopal; academically rigorous; single gender schools located on the grounds of the National Cathedral
-GDS: DC’s first racially integrated school; progressive school dedicated to social justice; students call teachers by their first names
-Potomac: Just like Maret, except it’s located in VA.

Nope.
Potomac has fields.
Maret, not exactly,

Maret has fields too. They’re renting them from the Episcopal Center for Children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When we visited a decade ago, it had no vibe. It was theme-less compared to the other privates, for better or worse. It seemed like a standard public school with a bit nicer facility.

we visited last year looking at 9th grade and i felt the same - could not pinpoint its personality. the three other schools' we toured had their own vibes/personalities that were easy to identify/quantify.

We looked at it for lower school in 2019 and felt the same. I couldn't figure out what Maret thought differentiated itself.

You hit the nail on the head. There’s nothing special about Maret. There’s at least one private school just like it in every major US city.

Yes! But that's what's appealing about it. The other DC options are such extremes.
-Sidwell-super academic, high stress.
-NCS--single gender, academics are ridiculously hard
-STA--single gender
-GDS-super liberal/woke
-Potomac--the other traditional coed school

But THAT’s just it - go to a good public school in the ‘W’ zone. You have brilliant kids getting perfect scores on the SAT, winning robotics competitions and in the highest levels of math and science. If Maret isn’t special, why pay for it. For all of its faults, Sidwell does have a specialness to it that distinguishes it from other schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When we visited a decade ago, it had no vibe. It was theme-less compared to the other privates, for better or worse. It seemed like a standard public school with a bit nicer facility.

we visited last year looking at 9th grade and i felt the same - could not pinpoint its personality. the three other schools' we toured had their own vibes/personalities that were easy to identify/quantify.

We looked at it for lower school in 2019 and felt the same. I couldn't figure out what Maret thought differentiated itself.

You hit the nail on the head. There’s nothing special about Maret. There’s at least one private school just like it in every major US city.

Yes! But that's what's appealing about it. The other DC options are such extremes.
-Sidwell-super academic, high stress.
-NCS--single gender, academics are ridiculously hard
-STA--single gender
-GDS-super liberal/woke
-Potomac--the other traditional coed school

I fixed this for you.

Distinguishing Characteristics:
-Sidwell: Quaker; academically rigorous; established track record of educating Presidents’ children/grandchildren and the political and business elite
-NCS/STA: Episcopal; academically rigorous; single gender schools located on the grounds of the National Cathedral
-GDS: DC’s first racially integrated school; progressive school dedicated to social justice; students call teachers by their first names
-Potomac: Just like Maret, except it’s located in VA.

Nope.
Potomac has fields.
Maret, not exactly,

Maret has fields too. They’re renting them from the Episcopal Center for Children.

What’s going on with that? I drive by occasionally and there doesn’t seem to be much happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When we visited a decade ago, it had no vibe. It was theme-less compared to the other privates, for better or worse. It seemed like a standard public school with a bit nicer facility.

we visited last year looking at 9th grade and i felt the same - could not pinpoint its personality. the three other schools' we toured had their own vibes/personalities that were easy to identify/quantify.

We looked at it for lower school in 2019 and felt the same. I couldn't figure out what Maret thought differentiated itself.

You hit the nail on the head. There’s nothing special about Maret. There’s at least one private school just like it in every major US city.

Yes! But that's what's appealing about it. The other DC options are such extremes.
-Sidwell-super academic, high stress.
-NCS--single gender, academics are ridiculously hard
-STA--single gender
-GDS-super liberal/woke
-Potomac--the other traditional coed school

But THAT’s just it - go to a good public school in the ‘W’ zone. You have brilliant kids getting perfect scores on the SAT, winning robotics competitions and in the highest levels of math and science. If Maret isn’t special, why pay for it. For all of its faults, Sidwell does have a specialness to it that distinguishes it from other schools.

No one has identified that yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When we visited a decade ago, it had no vibe. It was theme-less compared to the other privates, for better or worse. It seemed like a standard public school with a bit nicer facility.

we visited last year looking at 9th grade and i felt the same - could not pinpoint its personality. the three other schools' we toured had their own vibes/personalities that were easy to identify/quantify.

We looked at it for lower school in 2019 and felt the same. I couldn't figure out what Maret thought differentiated itself.

You hit the nail on the head. There’s nothing special about Maret. There’s at least one private school just like it in every major US city.

Yes! But that's what's appealing about it. The other DC options are such extremes.
-Sidwell-super academic, high stress.
-NCS--single gender, academics are ridiculously hard
-STA--single gender
-GDS-super liberal/woke
-Potomac--the other traditional coed school

But THAT’s just it - go to a good public school in the ‘W’ zone. You have brilliant kids getting perfect scores on the SAT, winning robotics competitions and in the highest levels of math and science. If Maret isn’t special, why pay for it. For all of its faults, Sidwell does have a specialness to it that distinguishes it from other schools.

No one has identified that yet.

Sidwell’s specialness? Yes, what is that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When we visited a decade ago, it had no vibe. It was theme-less compared to the other privates, for better or worse. It seemed like a standard public school with a bit nicer facility.

we visited last year looking at 9th grade and i felt the same - could not pinpoint its personality. the three other schools' we toured had their own vibes/personalities that were easy to identify/quantify.

We looked at it for lower school in 2019 and felt the same. I couldn't figure out what Maret thought differentiated itself.

You hit the nail on the head. There’s nothing special about Maret. There’s at least one private school just like it in every major US city.

Yes! But that's what's appealing about it. The other DC options are such extremes.
-Sidwell-super academic, high stress.
-NCS--single gender, academics are ridiculously hard
-STA--single gender
-GDS-super liberal/woke
-Potomac--the other traditional coed school

But THAT’s just it - go to a good public school in the ‘W’ zone. You have brilliant kids getting perfect scores on the SAT, winning robotics competitions and in the highest levels of math and science. If Maret isn’t special, why pay for it. For all of its faults, Sidwell does have a specialness to it that distinguishes it from other schools.

No one has identified that yet.

Sidwell’s specialness? Yes, what is that?

[Anonymous]

How was Maret open house?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How was Maret open house?

Very special.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When we visited a decade ago, it had no vibe. It was theme-less compared to the other privates, for better or worse. It seemed like a standard public school with a bit nicer facility.

we visited last year looking at 9th grade and i felt the same - could not pinpoint its personality. the three other schools' we toured had their own vibes/personalities that were easy to identify/quantify.

We looked at it for lower school in 2019 and felt the same. I couldn't figure out what Maret thought differentiated itself.

You hit the nail on the head. There’s nothing special about Maret. There’s at least one private school just like it in every major US city.

Yes! But that's what's appealing about it. The other DC options are such extremes.
-Sidwell-super academic, high stress.
-NCS--single gender, academics are ridiculously hard
-STA--single gender
-GDS-super liberal/woke
-Potomac--the other traditional coed school

I fixed this for you.

Distinguishing Characteristics:
-Sidwell: Quaker; academically rigorous; established track record of educating Presidents’ children/grandchildren and the political and business elite
-NCS/STA: Episcopal; academically rigorous; single gender schools located on the grounds of the National Cathedral
-GDS: DC’s first racially integrated school; progressive school dedicated to social justice; students call teachers by their first names
-Potomac: Just like Maret, except it’s located in VA.

Nope.
Potomac has fields.
Maret, not exactly,

Maret has fields too. They’re renting them from the Episcopal Center for Children.

Well, then *Maret* does not have fields. The Episcopal Center for Children has fields.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How was Maret open house?

The Open House distinguished it from Sidwell, which is too high pressure; from GDS, which is a free spirited bastion of little geniuses, and from NCS, which is a single sex pressure cooker full of depressed girls. And we saw a pretty field, which made it unlike the schools which don't have fields. Maret didn't quite give us an impression of what it is but we know what it is not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When we visited a decade ago, it had no vibe. It was theme-less compared to the other privates, for better or worse. It seemed like a standard public school with a bit nicer facility.

we visited last year looking at 9th grade and i felt the same - could not pinpoint its personality. the three other schools' we toured had their own vibes/personalities that were easy to identify/quantify.

We looked at it for lower school in 2019 and felt the same. I couldn't figure out what Maret thought differentiated itself.

You hit the nail on the head. There’s nothing special about Maret. There’s at least one private school just like it in every major US city.

Yes! But that's what's appealing about it. The other DC options are such extremes.
-Sidwell-super academic, high stress.
-NCS--single gender, academics are ridiculously hard
-STA--single gender
-GDS-super liberal/woke
-Potomac--the other traditional coed school

But THAT’s just it - go to a good public school in the ‘W’ zone. You have brilliant kids getting perfect scores on the SAT, winning robotics competitions and in the highest levels of math and science. If Maret isn’t special, why pay for it. For all of its faults, Sidwell does have a specialness to it that distinguishes it from other schools.

No one has identified that yet.

Sidwell’s specialness? Yes, what is that?

NP. For those in the cheap seats, I’ll repeat what an earlier poster said about Sidwell, and I’ll add a few more distinguishing characteristics:

1. It’s the oldest INDEPENDENT school in Washington, DC;
2. It’s the only Quaker school in DC (I’m not counting preschools);
3. It has an established track record of educating Presidents’ children/grandchildren and the political and business elite;
4. It’s an academically rigorous school with a national reputation (Don’t try to argue this point because there are numerous articles in The NY Times, the LA Times, and other newspapers in major cities with articles about SFS); and
5. It has nationally ranked sports teams in several sports. Most schools are academic OR athletic powerhouses—not both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When we visited a decade ago, it had no vibe. It was theme-less compared to the other privates, for better or worse. It seemed like a standard public school with a bit nicer facility.

we visited last year looking at 9th grade and i felt the same - could not pinpoint its personality. the three other schools' we toured had their own vibes/personalities that were easy to identify/quantify.

We looked at it for lower school in 2019 and felt the same. I couldn't figure out what Maret thought differentiated itself.

You hit the nail on the head. There’s nothing special about Maret. There’s at least one private school just like it in every major US city.

Yes! But that's what's appealing about it. The other DC options are such extremes.
-Sidwell-super academic, high stress.
-NCS--single gender, academics are ridiculously hard
-STA--single gender
-GDS-super liberal/woke
-Potomac--the other traditional coed school

But THAT’s just it - go to a good public school in the ‘W’ zone. You have brilliant kids getting perfect scores on the SAT, winning robotics competitions and in the highest levels of math and science. If Maret isn’t special, why pay for it. For all of its faults, Sidwell does have a specialness to it that distinguishes it from other schools.

No one has identified that yet.

Sidwell’s specialness? Yes, what is that?

NP. For those in the cheap seats, I’ll repeat what an earlier poster said about Sidwell, and I’ll add a few more distinguishing characteristics:

1. It’s the oldest INDEPENDENT school in Washington, DC;
2. It’s the only Quaker school in DC (I’m not counting preschools);
3. It has an established track record of educating Presidents’ children/grandchildren and the political and business elite;
4. It’s an academically rigorous school with a national reputation (Don’t try to argue this point because there are numerous articles in The NY Times, the LA Times, and other newspapers in major cities with articles about SFS); and
5. It has nationally ranked sports teams in several sports. Most schools are academic OR athletic powerhouses—not both.

Sidwell is a terrible place to be a student
- former Sidwell student

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When we visited a decade ago, it had no vibe. It was theme-less compared to the other privates, for better or worse. It seemed like a standard public school with a bit nicer facility.

we visited last year looking at 9th grade and i felt the same - could not pinpoint its personality. the three other schools' we toured had their own vibes/personalities that were easy to identify/quantify.

We looked at it for lower school in 2019 and felt the same. I couldn't figure out what Maret thought differentiated itself.

You hit the nail on the head. There’s nothing special about Maret. There’s at least one private school just like it in every major US city.

Yes! But that's what's appealing about it. The other DC options are such extremes.
-Sidwell-super academic, high stress.
-NCS--single gender, academics are ridiculously hard
-STA--single gender
-GDS-super liberal/woke
-Potomac--the other traditional coed school

But THAT’s just it - go to a good public school in the ‘W’ zone. You have brilliant kids getting perfect scores on the SAT, winning robotics competitions and in the highest levels of math and science. If Maret isn’t special, why pay for it. For all of its faults, Sidwell does have a specialness to it that distinguishes it from other schools.

No one has identified that yet.

Sidwell’s specialness? Yes, what is that?

NP. For those in the cheap seats, I’ll repeat what an earlier poster said about Sidwell, and I’ll add a few more distinguishing characteristics:

1. It’s the oldest INDEPENDENT school in Washington, DC;
2. It’s the only Quaker school in DC (I’m not counting preschools);
3. It has an established track record of educating Presidents’ children/grandchildren and the political and business elite;
4. It’s an academically rigorous school with a national reputation (Don’t try to argue this point because there are numerous articles in The NY Times, the LA Times, and other newspapers in major cities with articles about SFS); and
5. It has nationally ranked sports teams in several sports. Most schools are academic OR athletic powerhouses—not both.

Sidwell is a terrible place to be a student
- former Sidwell student

Former student, but not an alum. Sorry you couldn’t handle Sidwell academically (and socially). Hopefully, Burke or Field was a better fit.