Reply to St. Andrews vs. Holton vs. BCC -- HELP!

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[quote=Anonymous]Our DD has been admitted for ninth grade at St. Andrews and Holton.  So now my DW and I are trying to help her decide among St. Andrews, Holton, and BCC (her public high school).  I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has (or who has had) children at these schools, and especially from people who can offer a comparative perspective among these schools.

From my standpoint and from the standpoint of my DW, these are all good options.  We'd be happy to have our DD choose any one of these three, and we want this to be her decision.  My goal is to help her identify and balance all of the considerations that might be relevant to her decision.  Our overarching objective is for her to choose the school where she is going to be happiest.

These are some of the comparative considerations that seem relevant to me at the moment, but I'd love to get reactions from people who have direct and current information:

[b]Academics[/b]: All three schools are strong academically, and none of them will be easy.  My impression is that St. Andrew's would be the "easiest" in terms of workload and expectations, Holton probably the hardest, and BCC would be as easy or as hard as she cares to make it (e.g. depending on whether she does full IB, etc.).  Our DD is a hard worker, but it would be good for her to be an environment where she gets clear directions about what needs to get done and when it needs to be done.  What are the stress levels like at each of these schools?  What does the workload look like?

[b]Social Life[/b]: Obviously, Holton is a girls' school, so the three schools are not directly comparable in that respect.  We'd really like to hear from current parents about what the social life is like at Holton, since we've heard different things from different sources.  Are the girls nice to each other?  Are they accepting of differences and variety?  What do the cliques look like?  How important are Landon boys to their social life outside of school?  Have parents of DDs felt that the all-girls environment is good, bad, or indifferent?

We're more familiar with the social life at St. Andrew's since we know kids who have gone there, but we'd still be interested in hearing from current and recent parents.  My overall impression of St. Andrews is that it's friendly and cozy.  But at the same time, it has always seemed rather preppy and jockey to me -- is that fair?  Given its location, the social life there seems to revolve around Potomac, whereas we live in Friendship Heights (closer to Holton).  Our DD is fairly "urban", so I'm a little concerned about St. Andrew's in that regard.

As for BCC, our biggest concern there is the "lost in the crowd" phenomenon.  We'd love to hear from BCC parents about how their DDs/DSs have found their place in that environment.

[b]Four Years from Now[/b]: We're not the kind of people who would urge our DD to attend a particular school because it's the best way to get into Princeton, but college placement is nonetheless a relevant consideration.  It seems to me that BCC is a very difficult platform, given its size and the sheer number of bright, capable kids there -- you really need to stand out on the extras to get noticed.  My impression is that St. Andrew's does a good job of finding the right fit for each of its students, and then working hard to get them into those schools.  I have less of a feel for what college placement looks like coming out of Holton.

We would appreciate your thoughts on these and any other factors that you consider relevant.  We especially welcome reactions from current or recent parents (or teachers) at these schools, and please indicate the nature of your connection to the school.  Thanks.
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