Reply to Feedback on Potomac Upper School

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have two students in US at Potomac. They are very different students, and both are thriving. They have not had any issues with receiving grades or comments back late, but they both have heard stories from teammates about delays a few years ago, particularly in two departments. My students have had different teachers in each subject and zero issues. I did go to a presentation almost two years ago from the then academic head (who then became the interim head of the US for a year), and that was one of her focuses, and she was candid about it being an issue, so I do think it has been fixed.

Yes, the school overall has a fair number of wealthy students, but it also has a lot of students from varied socio economic backgrouds, geographic areas w/in the dmv, etc. I think the wealth is less apparent at Potomac than some other schools b/c it doesn't have the carpool culture that we experienced at our previous school. There the flashier parents were constantly on campus, at the front of the carpool line, etc. At Potomac, everyone takes the bus (except K, juniors can park at a church and take a shuttle, seniors can park on campus & siblings of drivers). It kind of removes a level of awareness about who has what. Frankly, in the US, no one really cares either. I also think the bus system makes it easier for the school to pull in kids from all over the dmv, so that somewhat dilutes the mclean wealth.

I guess I would add that the US is very hard. The amount of work is manageable, but the level expected of these kids is very high. They are not thrown in over their heads - 9th is a lot easier, there are things on executive function, etc to help, but it is not a school where you can get by with just memorization. You need to be able to defend your argument and also work well in groups. Even the way math is taught - you need to understand it inside and out. There is no quick cramming for tests. If that's what you're used to, it will be a big wake up call and take a while to get used to. They also expect a very high level of writing, even in the non-english classes, eg the level of writing in history, labs, etc is surprising.[/quote]

Not the OP but thank you for the detailed response.  We are also considering Potomac and this is helpful. It’s great to see DCUM can still be useful even amid the deluge of troll posts. [/quote]

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