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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]BCC is one of the top 500-odd schools in the country, probably top 40 in the state of Maryland. It's also very large, largely white/Asian, and largely wealthy. This kind of privilege has advantages (strong academics) and disadvantages (produces shallow, cliquey kids who are drunk on their parents' money and sometimes, alcohol/drugs). It's a competitive school, and if your kid thrives in a competitive environment, the academics are stellar. DCI is a new school, very diverse, very nurturing, relatively small. Academics are uneven, but smart, driven kids will thrive.  [/quote]

I'm a BCC parent, think highly of the school, but the above description isn't really correct. According to MCPS, BCC's student body is currently 57.6% white, 5.4% Asian, 14.3% African American, 17.2% Hispanic, and 5.3% Multiracial. I can't rank the academics vis-a-vis other MCPS or DC schools, but it's far more challenging than my own HS experience was a billion years ago. I'm sure there's tons of privilege and the usual teenage  partying, but my kid experiences zero of that - so there's a reasonably large and happy cohort of dorky students as well![/quote]

I'm a BCC alum (and IB program alum) - these numbers aren't far off when I attended though I think free and reduced lunch was higher, but the makeup of the honors/IB program classes in the middle school and high school was white/Asian (and, honestly, barely Asian). I think the class below us had one black student.  The on-level or non-honors classes were primarily black and latinx, and it was basically two schools within one building.  In the honors/IB programs, there was a lot of privilege and there were a lot of shallow, cliquey kids - nowhere near the same level at Whitman or the privates at the area, but still not great.  It was a really great education though and I do know many of fellow classmates grew up to be much less shallow and cliquey than they were at that age and I do think everyone's perspectives were really broadened and challenged through IB. But if diversity is important to you in your child's experience and you expect your child to be in the IB diploma program at BCC, I'd check out the stats on the program. You have to pay to take the IB exams and it isn't cheap - there were a few scholarships available, but as far as I am aware, no one was taking advantage of it in the early years. Hopefully that's changed.[/quote]

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