Maret or GDS

[Anonymous]

For those of you who actually attend one of the schools and maybe applied to both or have friends who attend the other, what are the major, pertinent differences? We will go through the admissions process for both and try and learn for ourselves but also looking for feedback from others to help make a decision should we have one to make.

[Anonymous]

Either is great. The key is getting in. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

k or high school? or some other grade. Admissions can be very different due to class size

My kid just graduated from GDS high.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:k or high school? or some other grade. Admissions can be very different due to class size

My kid just graduated from GDS high.

K

[Anonymous]

One difference to consider is that MS students interact with HS students at Maret where at GDS they are in completely separate areas and will never socialize. It seems a long way away when you have a k student but consider if you will like that when they are 12/13 hanging with a 15/16 year old? One difference to consider. Also size of HS is different 150 per grade at GDS and something like 80(?) at Maret per grade in HS that can feel really small for some. The extra 70 kids per grade might give more social options? In any case good luck.

[Anonymous]

More similar than different for k and elementary school. HS course options are more varied at GDS because the school is bigger ( Maret had some online options but that rubbed me the wrong way when we were looking).

[Anonymous]

We applied to both and liked both. Major differences from our perspective were size (GDS twice as many kids), physical campus (Maret more spacious and quiet), and political bent (both liberal but GDS more overtly so, and it felt like the politics permeated everything). We went with Maret.

[Anonymous]

DC applied for HS, was accepted at both but chose another school (but liked GDS and Maret a lot). I think that the biggest difference is size. Maret is tiny in comparison. This can be a good thing if your child finds friends, could be hard if they don't. I'd also agree with above posters that the activism is more overt at GDS and woven through everything in the school; it's explicitly throughout the curriculum and was mentioned in every address we were given. In attending events at the school, I felt Maret was a bit more diverse (especially economically) and I liked that it felt like a neighborhood school (whatever that means). And at GDS, I loved that the kids looked so "at home" in their school - they ran the entire event and they owned the place (in a good way) and had great spirit. (I can honestly say that school DC chose pales in comparison on both these counts).

Both GDS and Maret had very nice communities and both offer a great education.

Maret will also likely be harder to get into, as I said, it's tiny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC applied for HS, was accepted at both but chose another school (but liked GDS and Maret a lot). I think that the biggest difference is size. Maret is tiny in comparison. This can be a good thing if your child finds friends, could be hard if they don't. I'd also agree with above posters that the activism is more overt at GDS and woven through everything in the school; it's explicitly throughout the curriculum and was mentioned in every address we were given. In attending events at the school, I felt Maret was a bit more diverse (especially economically) and I liked that it felt like a neighborhood school (whatever that means). And at GDS, I loved that the kids looked so "at home" in their school - they ran the entire event and they owned the place (in a good way) and had great spirit. (I can honestly say that school DC chose pales in comparison on both these counts).

Both GDS and Maret had very nice communities and both offer a great education.

Maret will also likely be harder to get into, as I said, it's tiny.

The above is accurate. The schools are more similar than different with the main differentiation being size. They are both highly competitive for admissions with it being harder and more selective at Maret, more a result of size than profile. An important consideration for both is whether your family is full pay or applying for FA. No surprise, there is a significant advantage being full pay, and the student profile for full pay applicants while still competitive does not need to be as high as FA applicants. And...not to be a broken record...but this is more acute at Maret, because of its relative small size. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We applied to both and liked both. Major differences from our perspective were size (GDS twice as many kids), physical campus (Maret more spacious and quiet), and political bent (both liberal but GDS more overtly so, and it felt like the politics permeated everything). We went with Maret.

We thought Maret felt cramped and a little rundown.

[Anonymous]

GDS students are admitted at a wider number of schools, generally more prestigious. Maret students tend to go to SLACs, but lower percentage than GDS to HSLACs.

GDS' campus will be much nicer than Maret once GDS completes move.

Maret is hard to get into because it's small, not because it is academically stronger.

Social life can be more difficult @ Maret, because of fewer students. If there's bullying or bad dynamics, fewer options and your child can't get much distance.

Money and donations matter more at Maret. School is more reliant on a smaller # of donor families. More special treatment of larger donor families and their kids.

Would choose GDS over Maret.

[Anonymous]

If you kid is quiet, go to Maret. Otherwise, GDS.

[Anonymous]

We looked at both when leaving public school. We ended up choosing gds because we liked that it seemed more mission driven. Maret seemed to be a more exclusive version of public school, whereas gds knew exactly what it's purpose is. This might be saying the same thing as the posters above that social justice permeates everything at gds, but it's a positive for us.

[Anonymous]

We looked at both and chose Maret. Maret gave us a warmer vibe. The campus is lovely and students seemed to really feel at home there. The students really know each other. No one more falls between the cracks in a school this size. Also, while the school is very progressive, the political culture didn’t seem so heavy-handed and doesn’t permeate everything the way it seems to at GDS. Both great schools, can’t go wrong!

[Anonymous]

Maret parent here. Maret’s participation in an online learning consortium, the Malone program, is great!!! At the HS level, it allows students to take a wide variety of classes with kids from across the country in subjects that typically are not offered in high school. It’s been an added dimension that has definitely enriched our child’s HS experience.