Great private schools that aren't hard to get into

[Anonymous]

CHDS is a great school. I didn't mention it b/c it's often difficult to get into. I guess every school had a little more wiggle room this year.

[Anonymous]

St. Pat's is a good school and not competitive to get into. I know at least a dozen families that applied there this year and another 10 or so that applied last year that all got accepted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:St. Pat's is a good school and not competitive to get into. I know at least a dozen families that applied there this year and another 10 or so that applied last year that all got accepted.

No, you don't. You don't know anyone who applied and got in. You just want to make the St. Pat's families feel bad.

You have to wonder...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St. Pat's is a good school and not competitive to get into. I know at least a dozen families that applied there this year and another 10 or so that applied last year that all got accepted.

No, you don't. You don't know anyone who applied and got in. You just want to make the St. Pat's families feel bad.

You have to wonder...

Yes I do. Why would I want to make the St. Pat's families feel badly? I did say the school is good. I have no horse in this race. Stop being paranoid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St. Pat's is a good school and not competitive to get into. I know at least a dozen families that applied there this year and another 10 or so that applied last year that all got accepted.

No, you don't. You don't know anyone who applied and got in. You just want to make the St. Pat's families feel bad.

You have to wonder...

Yes I do. Why would I want to make the St. Pat's families feel badly? I did say the school is good. I have no horse in this race. Stop being paranoid.

I am not paranoid. I have a child at another school. One of the ones DCUM posters foam about. In horse talk, I'm at Churchill Downs, you might say.

You don't know 10 families that applied last year and got accepted. Mentioning that number will immediately make St. Pats families defensive, of course. If indeed you meant to say it's a good school, there was a way to say it without implying the school will accept everyone who applies.

[Anonymous]

Everyone I know who applied to Edmund Burke has gotten in. This is no put-down of Burke, which seems to be a gem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WIS admissions are quite selective. We know many bright children from lovely families--including a few siblings of current students--who unfortunately did not get off the waiting list. In addition to the general balancing of siblings vs. non-siblings, boys vs. girls, and other considerations including diversity, they try to balance classes with a mix of all-international families, part-international families (one parent American, one not), and all-American-born families.

Interesting. I know three families that applied this year, and all three were accepted.

Spanish classes at WIS are highly selective, but French classes are easy to get in. WIS used to be more selective. I heard what happened is that the World Bank, which probably accounts for 30%+ of WIS families, changed their benefits a few years ago and is no longer covering private school tuition for most of the new hires, hence "the demand side" is getting soft.

Interestingly enough, just to question the supposedly easy admission in the WIS French program, we (WIS parents) know several families whose children did not get into the French program but were accepted in the Spanish one

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did think that the Spanish vs. French info re WIS (if accurate) was useful.

RE "easy" to get into. Maybe I'm too precise or just idiosyncratic, but "easy to get into" and "not hard to get into" are different things to me. "Not hard" means they aren't turning lots of qualified applicants away. "Easy" means they'll take almost anyone who applies. Qualifications, of course, can vary from school to school. And it'll always be the case that one person's easy to get into school will be another person's difficult to get into school, depending on credentials/criteria. So impressions will vary and its not simply a question of misinformation.

Not very accurate, though, unfortunately.....

[Anonymous]

Hey, St. Andrew's alum poster --

You've got your head on straight and are a wonderful advertisement for your school. Thanks so much for posting as I'm very interested in St. Andrew's for our younger child. Everything I've heard about the school sounds great -- especially your very insightful and pithy comment about the atmosphere not being cut-throat competitive, but "they won't let you not succeed". That's just what we're looking for and I don't care how competitive admission is or not.

We've played that game, and believe me, it's so not important. What matters is whether your child will be happy at a particular school, not how it's perceived by others. Our older child is at Sidwell and happy there, but he's a very competitive kid with the kinds of talents that are easily identified in the admissions prcess (e.g., high SSATs, great interview, etc.). Younger DD is not the cut-throat type and her gifts are less obvious -- though no less abundant and wonderful, as her teachers would tell you. Both kids are terrific, but they're not stamped out by a cookie cutter. We're lucky to live in an area where there are lots of educational options to suit different types of kids. How about if we stop trying to rank these in some simplistic and self-serving way, and just let a thousand flowers bloom?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone I know who applied to Edmund Burke has gotten in. This is no put-down of Burke, which seems to be a gem.

Edmund Burke *IS* a gem. It is heavy into the arts and community service and also offers strong academics, while allowing students to celebrate their individuality. And while it does place willing applicants into the Ivies, more importantly (IMO) it has a strong record of graduates going on to progressive SLA schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone I know who applied to Edmund Burke has gotten in. This is no put-down of Burke, which seems to be a gem.

Edmund Burke *IS* a gem. It is heavy into the arts and community service and also offers strong academics, while allowing students to celebrate their individuality. And while it does place willing applicants into the Ivies, more importantly (IMO) it has a strong record of graduates going on to progressive SLA schools.

Dd, coming from DCPS, was waitlisted but got in once she showed she could pull her grades up. I've found Burke to be as the pp described it -- creative but also both requiring and inspiring dd to apply herself academically. I think she is being prepared well for college -- not just the academics but in how she has learned to work with collaboratively with the faculty.

I only really learned about DCUM and the whole private school frenzy once I started looking for information on Burke (which is where she decided she wanted to go) and I must admit it is mystifying to me. Burke suits dd perfectly and that is all I care about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I do wonder where people's breakpoints are for private school, and why, and how much variation there is. A few private schools seem worth it to me, but most don't.

During this period of No Child Left Behind and the Obama/Duncan educational initiatives, one of the most compelling reasons for opting for private school is an enriched curriculum. Unfortunately, at the elementary and middle school levels, DCPS schools, even those located in the most affluent neighborhoods, offer an incredibly weak curriculum. Compared to the curriculum of many private schools, what DCPS offers is anemic, repetitive, skills-heavy, and lacking in content and integration, especially in the areas of science, history, geography, and literature.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I want to know what qualifies you to make such a broad sweeping generalization? This has not been our experience at all.

OP another school to consider that has not been mentioned is Sandy Spring Friends School - the other Quaker school. I don't know what the admissions stats are, but I received an incredible education there (coming from a DC public) and it totally prepared me for college.

Find out more here:
http://www.ssfs.org/

[Anonymous]

DC's at Field. We love it. The academics are strong. The teachers amazing. DC has blossomed there.

[Anonymous]

NP here, and new to DCUM for this site to attract some of the most educated women around I have found it to attract some of the meanest too. Can't we all just get along? As soon as someone says something everyone goes into attack attack alley cat mode. Good lord what did college teach you just book knowledge? How about how to be a nicer person because you've been exposed to so many things? How to give and accept advice? I thought this site was about information sharing. Why cut each other up? If your child got into one of the Big 3 good for you, can you share advice on what I can do to help mine get in? Is it all about test scores? Should I help my child learn to interview better, who knows? Should I buy this book or that? I work around some really smart people and it's expected that the there would be cut throat folks in the workplace but not as many in the virtual friendship world. I really don't like it.

I'd have to bet it it wasn't anonymous half of the things said wouldn't be said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here, and new to DCUM for this site to attract some of the most educated women around I have found it to attract some of the meanest too. Can't we all just get along? As soon as someone says something everyone goes into attack attack alley cat mode. Good lord what did college teach you just book knowledge? How about how to be a nicer person because you've been exposed to so many things? How to give and accept advice? I thought this site was about information sharing. Why cut each other up? If your child got into one of the Big 3 good for you, can you share advice on what I can do to help mine get in? Is it all about test scores? Should I help my child learn to interview better, who knows? Should I buy this book or that? I work around some really smart people and it's expected that the there would be cut throat folks in the workplace but not as many in the virtual friendship world. I really don't like it.

I'd have to bet it it wasn't anonymous half of the things said wouldn't be said.

The purpose of this thread is to shed light on schools that are more welcoming and inclusive, not to give advice on how to obtain admittance to the "big 3". I suggest you search other threads for the info you are seeking.