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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here, thank you all.

To help us understand where to further research, can someone elaborate on how Potomac is a tier higher than Holton?

Understanding it is cohort and child dependent, overall does Potomac have better college matriculation? Or better teachers? Or? Thanks. [/quote]

Holton parent here, with friends who have children at Potomac:   my sense has been that to say Potomac is "a tier higher" than Holton is a gross overstatement, but it has always seemed incrementally somewhat stronger academically. More accurately, I think that Holton is somewhat more tolerant of students who are weaker academically, especially those who were admitted in the lower grades, with Potomac quicker to counsel out for academic reasons. That's a subjective impression of course.  But the average students seem similar and the high end (say top 25% or so) are extremely strong at both schools. I think PP above makes a correct observation, the schools are close enough that class-year cohorts are going to overwhelm the subtle differences in terms of the experience you have and college placements.  (This may be different for students with particular academic, athletic, or artistic interests, I can't say which has the better field hockey coach or whatever.)  We're going through this process right now, and it seems to me that the top handful of DC privates (I would incude both Holton and Potomac in this category) have pretty similar placements over time, with year-to-year variation driven by individual student characteristcs in particular class years more than major differences between the schools.  Information regarding those schools and peer schools seem readily available on instagram if you want to do some due diligence, and I'd look at multiple years to get a better feel than just one, where there is variation both positive and negative.

Both excellent schools, and close enough that I think fit for your child and how you like the feel of each place is more important than the incremental differences between the schools. At the end of the day, schools in the Big-3-plus-Holton-and-Potomac category are so strong that questions of feel and logistics start to loom larger than the really fine distinctions one can draw among them.  Stated somewhat differently:  if your child is a strong enough performer that the marginal academic differences between these schools is worth worrying about, they will be fine at either and have similar college outcomes.  But that's like, just my opinion, man.[/quote]

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