Reply to McDonogh vs Bryn Mawr

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]One is co-ed, one is all-girls

One is way out in the suburbs, one is in Baltimore City

One has a reputation for well-rounded kids with an emphasis on sports, one has a reputation for being an academic pressure cooker

One seems popular with long-time Baltimore families and is a bit more conservative, one is laden with kids of Hopkins professors and high-achieving immigrants

It's a little surprising you need all of these differences laid out for you. How did you pick these 2 schools? Have you set foot on either campus?[/quote]

Other than geographical locations, literally nothing in this quote is accurate.[/quote]

Huh? Not the person you’re replying to but.. all looks 100% accurate to me. My kid is in a different Baltimore independent school, but everyone knows this stuff about both McDonogh and BMS. Which of these assertions do you  dispute?[/quote]

Well, for one, there is of course well rounded kids at both schools.  Bryn Mawr doesn’t recruit athletes but most girls participate in sports and some are quite competitive in the IAAM.  Bryn Mawr isn’t an academic pressure cooker.  Mcdonogh is not more popular with long time Baltimore families.  Bryn Mawr is not “laden with kids of Hopkins professors and high achieving immigrants.”   Doesn’t leave much.

Source: had one daughter and several other family members recently attend Bryn Mawr,  son is at Gilman, and know lots of kids at all the other Baltimore private schools including Mcdonogh.  I also have one child who applied and was accepted to Mcdonogh but chose not to attend.[/quote]

It is possible if you have a child who is broadly talented at academics and likes to compete academically, or is not bothered by being around children who want to compete academically, then you might not consider BM an academic pressure cooker because it suits your child's tendencies. But I'm really not sure if it's possible to have a child going to BM or who has friends at BM and not be aware that it has a reputation for being academically intense and that some families seek it out for their daughters for that reason and other families avoid it for that reason.[/quote]

Do you have a child at Bryn Mawr?

Because my point was that “reputation” is just another word for stereotype and is often not accurate.  And wasn’t accurate in the paragraph by the Mcdonogh parent in which there were only positives for Mcdonogh and none for BM.[/quote]

Yes, I have a child who attended Bryn Mawr. i know children who have thrived there, and children who did not. My child doesn't deal well with competition and academic pressure and was not a good cultural fit for Bryn Mawr. Not surprisingly, RPCS is an excellent fit for my child in terms of the more nurturing academic experience. On the other hand, she has friends at RPCS who specifically seek out BM classes because they prefer the academic environment there, and possibly would have been better served transferring to Bryn Mawr for upper school.

That's one of the weird things about these K-12 Baltimore privates, from my perspective as someone who didn't grow up in the Baltimore private environment. It seems like once you start in one, moving to another isn't that common. Surprising, since it's unlikely the child you know at 4 or 5 is the same child at 10 or 11 or 13 or 14. I am an academically competitive person myself, and when I toured Bryn Mawr and spoke to the administration, teachers, and students, was sold on it. What a fantastic environment for a girl! It just turned out to not be a fantastic environment for my particular girl.

I can understand being upset if you feel that a particular analysis was all "pro" one school and "anti" another. But I honestly cannot understand your attempt to argue that Bryn Mawr doesn't have a deserved reputation for being an academic pressure cooker. It's known as a/the top girls school in the area, and is often contrasted with RPCS's reputation as an easier environment. Does RPCS not rightly deserve that reputation? I'd argue it does. A child at RPCS could seek out an intense academic experience, but it wouldn't be the default. A child at Bryn Mawr could navigate a less intense path, but it wouldn't be the default.[/quote]

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