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[quote=Anonymous]Based on rankings alone, TJ is (arguably) the best school in the area (and nation), but that’s just a very basic view of it.

TJ is the best you can get in this area for STEM, as you can tell from the name, and they only accept the best of the best. There is such a deep focus in Science  and Technology that you simply can’t get in other places, and MIT takes 8 kids from TJ per year. All that being said, this doesn’t mean that Sidwell has a bad STEM program.

Sidwell is an excellent school; there is a focus on stem but also on humanities as well. I think there’s more “personality” in SFS than there is at TJ. Sidwell has a loooong history, and that’s what I mean by personality. Both schools (from what i’ve heard) offer around the same amount of homework a night BUT I would like to challenge that.

The way it works at TJ is the child is the one doing the learning (teacher assigns a topic and the kid teaches him or herself as homework) then they discuss it at school with peers. If a kid is struggling with the understanding of said topic, she or he would have to stay up till forever until they get it.

There’s the diversity aspect of TJ: It’s an asian school. Then there’s some white kids, and barely any black kids. It’s not a diverse school at all. Sidwell is incredibly diverse: there’s black white latino asian etc.

The kids that go to Sidwell may not all be geniuses; some probably only got in because they’re a legacy or their parents donated 75 million dollars to the school, but that can’t be said for TJ. The kids that struggle at TJ, which are a LOT, simply aren’t meant for that school.

TJ is absolutely freaking brutal. Before you ever send your kid there you need to make sure that they live breathe and sweat STEM or else the next four years are gonna be hell. SFS isn’t as intense. You can be proficient at English and do just dandy at SFS. You can be an average student and do just as well.

Personally, this is all from an outsider point of view; my DC attends a Cathedral school and we were thinking about TJ but heard way too many horror stories about kids killing themselves, kids being depressed, etc, but we have definitely heard and seen our fair share of stories about the prissy preppy fake country club parents that control who is in their kids friend circle and treat an advisor so badly that they leave. 
We have done well at the Cathedral school that our DC attends, and we do not regret our decision. If your kid is a science prodigy or genius and wants to pursue STEM as a career, send your kid off to TJ. If your kid likes STEM but isn’t living and breathing it and isn’t sure that they want to pursue it as a career, play it safe and send them to SFS. TJ is an incredibly competitive school and your kid will be surrounded by geniuses.
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