Racial/Socioeconomic diversity at Sidwell versus Beauvoir?

[Anonymous]

Both are options for our pre-K son. We would like diversity on many levels, but particularly racial and socioeconomic. We would also appreciate a racially diverse faculty.

Current parents with kids at either of these: could you give me some feedback?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both are options for our pre-K son. We would like diversity on many levels, but particularly racial and socioeconomic. We would also appreciate a racially diverse faculty.

Current parents with kids at either of these: could you give me some feedback?

Beauvoir is more, marginally

[Anonymous]

Sidwell is pretty racially diverse. I recall hearing the figure 35-40% somewhere, and that sounds about right to me. Faculty diversity seems similar. But I've never counted noses so I can't be more precise. The school is pretty committed to diversity: http://www.sidwell.edu/about-sfs/diversity/diversity-resources/index.aspx .

As for socioeconomic diversity, it's hard to tell because no one really compares W-2's. I suspect most families are above the $75,000 median household income of the DC region. But there are plenty of us who live nowhere near Bethesda/Potomac, who drive older Toyotas, and who struggle to pay tuition.

I don't have a child a Beauvoir, so I cannot compare the two.

[Anonymous]

Here's what's on each school's website, but you can never know for sure how accurate these figures are:

Beauvoir wrote:Diversity: Enriched by the racial, cultural, national and socioecomic diversity of Washington, D.C. ... approximately 30% of the students are from diverse ethnic backgrounds.
Financial Aid: Beauvoir offers more than $1 million each year for financial aid to students.

Sidwell wrote:For the 2009-2010 school year, 1,109 students (560 boys and 549 girls) are enrolled. Forty percent of the student body are students of color. Twenty-three percent of the student body receive $5.4 million of need-based financial assistance.

[Anonymous]

This year during a recession, you may not find near as much economic diversity at any private school. The schools have limited FA and many of them probably gave it to current students so the incoming kids may need to pay full tuition.

[Anonymous]

Sidwell is more diverse hands down--with 40% of students being students of color. The faculty is also a lot more diverse there as well. In addition, Sidwell has more money to give to families who need it--$5.4 million--so they can afford to have more families with socioeconomic diversity as well.

[Anonymous]

OP, there are different tiers of socioeconomic diversity. If you are talking about families with HHIs of under $40k per year, it appears very few.

[Anonymous]

I would think the schools are pretty similar. We are B parents. Both schools are great. B may be more diverse politically. B has a good balance of political views. It also may be hard to compare. Sidwell's economic diversity may be more in the upper grades.

[Anonymous]

Ive never understood the whole "racial diversity" thing. Don't you just want your child to go to the best school? Why do people always nitpick and try and analyze every single number, textbook etc etc. Most of the kids are from the same socio-economic class and will automatically have more in common with kids of a different race from the same backgrounds than kids of their own race from a different background.

[Anonymous]

Beware that these high percentages that schools publicize probably include international students that are considered "of color" but come from very rich households. Diplomats' kids are great for upping the diversity number.

[Anonymous]

I can say this about the LS parents meet: Sidwell had more families of "color" by a long shot. Eyeballing estimates of the crowd: 40-50 percent at Sidwell and 20-30 percent at Beauvoir. I should add that Sidwell seemed to have greater socio economic diversity as well. The parents on average looked a good bit less affluent than at Beauvoir. My eyes could have cheated me on both dimensions - happy to hear other views of this. Also, we are still in the decision stage and liked both schools very much.

[Anonymous]

PP again - I agree with 11.06 poster to some extent as well. Diversity is important to us -- but teh difference between the two schools on this dimension will not be the deciding factor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can say this about the LS parents meet: Sidwell had more families of "color" by a long shot. Eyeballing estimates of the crowd: 40-50 percent at Sidwell and 20-30 percent at Beauvoir. I should add that Sidwell seemed to have greater socio economic diversity as well. The parents on average looked a good bit less affluent than at Beauvoir. My eyes could have cheated me on both dimensions - happy to hear other views of this. Also, we are still in the decision stage and liked both schools very much.

The different times of day that the two events were held could have been a factor in the (ostensibly) different profiles of the guests who attended. I have read that Sidwell's was at night, and Beauvoir's was during the day. I would not judge a school's racial or socioeconomic diveristy by eyeballing one welcome event.

[Anonymous]

Then again, having a welcome event during the day when people are working isn't very inclusive.

[Anonymous]

Sidwell definitely has more racial and socioeconomic diversity. They also have a Model UN, Chinese Language Club, Asian Student Alliance, Latin American Students club, French Club, Jewish Culture Club, Middle Eastern Culture Club, Black Student Union and Scots-Irish Alliance.

Below is the link from Sidwell's website--very inclusive:

http://www.sidwell.edu/data/files/pages/documents/upper_school/Student%20Clubs%20at%20a%20Glance.pdf