Reply to What's the difference between St Johns and GDS?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]As mentioned by another poster, they couldn't be more different.

St John's is a Catholic school. It used to be an all-boys  "military" school, where the students had to wear uniforms that resembled a military uniform. Now it's co-ed. They are very sports-oriented, I believe to the point where they "recruit" strong athletes. I don't believe it's ever been thought of as an academic powerhouse, but I'd imagine your child can get a good education if they put in the effort. Of course, students are also required to take religion classes.

GDS is a co-ed, secular K-12 school. Its high school is considered very rigorous, competitive and progressive. They are known to have a strong theater/performance program. Their new lower/middle school building is gorgeous. Ask anyone what they know about GDS and they will say "it's extremely liberal." On the one hand, they speak early, often and loudly about social justice and inequality. On the other, they still have a lot of very wealthy families attending the school. Who else can afford the $40K+ tuition/year? You can check out the curriculum online. It's very strong, but you will note that several classes are taught through the prism of "social justice." Some people believe the school teaches you how to think; others what to think. It's considered what many on these boards call "the Big 3" and it's very tough to get into.

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Good description of GDS, especially in a forum where there a lot of haters.

OP, there are not a lot of coed Catholic options in/near DC. St John's is popular with families who want coed for their kids and/or may not be interested in the Prep/Visi social circuit. Friend moved one of her DC's to StJ in HS who was not happy at one of the area independents. Best thing that happened to the kid. As opposed to floundering, he surged as a student and really felt like he found his people. He went on to attend a Catholic university even though the family is pretty secular. Parents have no regrets as StJ really was best for their kid.

Regarding getting a good signal, concur with some of the other posters in this thread - don't get your hopes up as it really is not over till it is over. Your DC may still end up getting in, but there are lots of stories of folks who thought it was a done deal only to discover that it is not in the end. Really was the best advice I ever got having had to go through this process 4X with 2 kids. In the end, both the DCs got in and maybe they were signaling to us during the process, but I was better prepared to accept the outcome if they had not.

OP, GL to your DC![/quote]

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