Georgetown Visitation vs. Stone Ridge

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Visitation averages approximately 400 applicants per year and accepts only 120 girls to the new 9th grade class.

Stone Ridge had roughly 600 applicants last year for a class of 100+, of which about 40% came from the Stone Ridge middle school. Those are some tough odds of getting in if you are coming from the outside.

Where did you get this info? Just curious as my daughter is one of the girls in this class at SR (new 9th grader this year) and I knew it was challenging but didn't realize how difficult it was to get in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Visitation averages approximately 400 applicants per year and accepts only 120 girls to the new 9th grade class.

Stone Ridge had roughly 600 applicants last year for a class of 100+, of which about 40% came from the Stone Ridge middle school. Those are some tough odds of getting in if you are coming from the outside.

Where did you get this info? Just curious as my daughter is one of the girls in this class at SR (new 9th grader this year) and I knew it was challenging but didn't realize how difficult it was to get in.

Think of it like Harvard. Half get in on smarts and the other half get in on legacy and family money.

[Anonymous]

Sacred Heart families are certainly given preference but those girls are as likely to be counseled out (and it doesn't happen) if they aren't meeting expectations.

[Anonymous]

*does happen

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Visitation averages approximately 400 applicants per year and accepts only 120 girls to the new 9th grade class.

Stone Ridge had roughly 600 applicants last year for a class of 100+, of which about 40% came from the Stone Ridge middle school. Those are some tough odds of getting in if you are coming from the outside.

Where did you get this info? Just curious as my daughter is one of the girls in this class at SR (new 9th grader this year) and I knew it was challenging but didn't realize how difficult it was to get in.

Think of it like Harvard. Half get in on smarts and the other half get in on legacy and family money.

Sports too. Whatever else they say, the emphasis is on sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thing to remember is that Stone Ridge has a lower and middle school, so the high school is basically a continuation of that unlike Visitation and most other schools in the category. Stone Ridge has to integrate 9th graders from outside where the other schools have everyone starting new.

I suppose that Visitation has everyone starting new but it is definitely dominated by certain Catholic K-8 schools and those girls are a really tight clique. Many of them also have mothers, aunts and sisters who attended so it's just as hard for girls who aren't coming from that background to find their way as it would be at SR.

[Anonymous]

Judging by my kids Instagram feed, you definitely don't want your kid at Visi (although she doesn't have any friends who ended up at SR, so I have no comparison)
What's with the trend of slutty, half-naked, drugged expression pics these girls are taking of themselves and each other? Not even 9 months ago, they were totally normal girls.

[Anonymous]

There is definitely a sense of entitlement at visi. Our dd got into both and was 110% set on going to SR - the social stuff at visi is either for you or not for you. I do understand that SR is more academically rigorous than Visi, but the workload at visi is greater...go figure

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is definitely a sense of entitlement at visi. Our dd got into both and was 110% set on going to SR - the social stuff at visi is either for you or not for you. I do understand that SR is more academically rigorous than Visi, but the workload at visi is greater...go figure

So true. Our DD got into both as well and went with SR. The one thing I would say is that SR is a smaller school not just in numbers but in attitude. There is still the mentality of the US being a continuation of the MS. Their orientation of new students pales in comparison with what her friends at Visitation and some of the other schools experienced. It can be a hard process for girls who are either not big into a main sport or don't thrive on lack of structure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing to remember is that Stone Ridge has a lower and middle school, so the high school is basically a continuation of that unlike Visitation and most other schools in the category. Stone Ridge has to integrate 9th graders from outside where the other schools have everyone starting new.

I suppose that Visitation has everyone starting new but it is definitely dominated by certain Catholic K-8 schools and those girls are a really tight clique. Many of them also have mothers, aunts and sisters who attended so it's just as hard for girls who aren't coming from that background to find their way as it would be at SR.

This is a great point. My daughter came from a public school in an area that sends very few girls to Visi (ie not Bethesda or Chevy Chase or somewhere) and when she first started, was taken aback by how many of the girls already seemed to be connected/friends/knew each other. She found her people eventually and had an overall good experience (graduating this spring!), and the cliques settled down a bit... but these groups based on neighborhood/grade school/family legacy still definitely exist even tho the girls are seniors. It can be tricky to break into them - if you're not part of it, you're just not part of it.

I'm not entirely sure how it would compare to SR, because I don't have kids at SR, but to act like everyone is starting new at Visi is just plain untrue and someone going in with that expectation will probably be disappointed.

[Anonymous]

I went to SR in the mid nineties. Similar to now, there was a strong social justice and community service component in the upper school. This experience changed my life profoundly. As a result of it, I have dedicated my life to a service based career that has been incredibly fulfilling.

While I am very grateful to SR for that exposure, I realize that my choices may not be for everyone as I am not as well off as I would be in another career. If you would prefer for your child to focus on making connections and preparing for a lucrative career, Visi may be the better choice. Of course, people can make connections and prepare for lucrative careers at SR. but the SR values of community service and social justice are strong and could have a big impact on your DC.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in a city with about eight different versions of Stone Ridge and Visi and for the life of me can't understand the endless back and forth that plays out on this site over which school is best. Catholic schools tend to be reflections of the orders (or diocese) that founded (or run) them and if you look closely at either of these schools, that's what they are -- a classic Sacred Heart school in the case of Stone Ridge, while Visitation identifies strongly with St. Francis de Sales (and has always attracted a lot of Irish girls, going back to its foundation). They do have different personalities, and one may feel right to your daughter, while the other may not. But let's get real: They are exceptional schools by any measure and we should all be grateful we can even consider sending our kids to either one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to SR in the mid nineties. Similar to now, there was a strong social justice and community service component in the upper school. This experience changed my life profoundly. As a result of it, I have dedicated my life to a service based career that has been incredibly fulfilling.

While I am very grateful to SR for that exposure, I realize that my choices may not be for everyone as I am not as well off as I would be in another career. If you would prefer for your child to focus on making connections and preparing for a lucrative career, Visi may be the better choice. Of course, people can make connections and prepare for lucrative careers at SR. but the SR values of community service and social justice are strong and could have a big impact on your DC.

This.
The founder of the D.C. diaper Bank is an SR alumna and, to me as a fellow alumna, her (social) awareness (which impelled to action) is a direct result of the education we both received here. Because what she did is what Stone Ridge women do. Period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I honestly think that Visitation accepts the vast majority of the girls just because they act enthusiastic about going there.
If your DD hesitates at all and doesn't already know all about the school and isn't spectacularly enamored with it and expressively enthusiastic about Viditation she does not have a chance. It's not just a legacy thing because we saw girls at the bottom of my DD's class with no legacy get in while girls in the top of the class did not get in.
I have to say that often highly academic girls aren't going to be unabashedly enthusiastic about something and if they don't have a mom who goes on and on about Visitation like its the be all end (so many moms, alumnae and even teachers we've met acting this way) she won't be prepared for her 'visit day with interviews' there.

Any way - if you want your daughter to get in make sure she unabashedly falls over herself with enthusiasm for the school. It will help.

Very true. Several of the girls in my DD's class who are great students didn't get in and yet several at the bottom did. Enthusiasm on shadow day seemed to be a big factor. Several of the girls who didn't get in said they thought shadow day was underwhelming. No doubt it showed at the one-on-one interview stage.

Can anyone provide a sense of what shadow day and the interview are like at Visitation? My DD, who attends a public MS, is signed up for a shadow day this fall and we are brand new to this process. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

"The founder of the D.C. diaper Bank is an SR alumna and, to me as a fellow alumna, her (social) awareness (which impelled to action) is a direct result of the education we both received here. Because what she did is what Stone Ridge women do. Period."

That's cool, but unless she has a rich husband, but she won't be sending her kids to SR at $30k/year with that job.