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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Just look at the college admissions stats for Exeter/Andover, etc. and compare them with Sidwell. And look at the facilities and course offerings that those schools have compared to Sidwell (the NE schools have multiple gyms, pools, ice rinks, fields upon fields, college-level laboratories, entire buildings devoted just to music, tons of art studios and their own galleries on site, boat houses for rowing, etc.). PP isn't being a "jackass" but is just stating fact.  There are not really any private schools in the DC area that can compare or compete with that, even due to space constraints. That's not to say that one cannot get a good education at the DC day schools. But it's like comparing apples and oranges. I personally would never send my kid to live away at age 14. The PP who was a day student was lucky to have the best of both worlds.[/quote]
PP is a jackass because his post -- off-topic and posted 3 days after this thread had died -- was just a crow of "Hey, look at me! I'm better than all of you bitches!"  And he writes like an insecure 15-year-old boy, which is probably appropriate.  Andover is an excellent school, but PP is a total ass for bragging about it in that way.

I also think you're wrong to agree with PP that DC schools cannot stack up to NE boarding schools.  You mentioned college admissions stats, so let's look at those.  Marticulationstats.org tracks matriculation rates to "top" & "strong" colleges; here are the numbers:

Andover 62%/79% = average 70.5% 
[i]NCS 57%/78% = average 67.5%[/i]
Groton 57%/76% = average 66.5%
Exeter 56%/76% = average 66%
Deerfield 50%/76% = average 63%
Milton 51%/70% = average 60.5%
[i]St Albans 51%/67% = average 59%
Maret 45%/72% = average 58.5%[/i]
Choate 45%/69% = average 57%

The top DC schools certainly have numbers comparable to top boarding schools.  Even when you look at Ivy or HYPMS admissions (which I think is an unfair contest because of geography issues), those DC schools are certainly in the same ballpark as these top-end NE boarding schools, and even best a few of them.

Similarly, if you look at other academic measures -- like National Merit Semifinalist numbers, Presidential Scholar numbers, reported SAT averages, performance on AMC math contests -- several DC schools are completely comparable with the NE boarding schools, and score better than many.  And that's not even looking at magnet schools like Blair and TJ, which certainly play in this same academic league.

When you talk about numbers of ice rinks and size of buildings, I completely agree with you that there's no comparison.  But I think we'd agree that it's apples-to-oranges, since the boarding schools are building campuses meant to house students 24-7 in fairly remote locations.  Schools in urban areas don't really have a need to supply those things.  It's sort of like looking at a $500,000 mansion on five acres in Cleveland Ohio, and wishing you could get the same bargain in Cleveland Park.  Not going to happen, and it's not because Cleveland Ohio is better than Cleveland Park.

To be clear, I'm not trying to take anything away from these boarding schools.  They're all excellent places to get an education.  And I'm glad PP appreciates how fortunate he was to live close enough to Andover to attend as a day student.  But it's just inaccurate to say DC schools "pale in comparison."[/quote]

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