Reply to Bishop Ireton vs SSSA?

Forum Index » Private & Independent Schools

Reply to "Bishop Ireton vs SSSA?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]As a layperson not well versed in private schools, this thread is confusing.

Academically and from $ perspective, is SSSA a good school for folks that aren’t willing to change commute and don’t want Alexandria / south Arlington public schools? [/quote]
SSSAS gets a lot of hate on this board. As far as I can tell, it’s largely because it is in VA and isn’t a big3 but still dares to have a fairly typical private school price tag. Academically it’s a very good school so if the location and cost match what you are looking for, it’s a strong choice. [/quote]

Thanks!! [/quote]
Maybe...just maybe it's because a lot of people had a horrible experience there and are willing to let others know so they don't make a $200K mistake?  
[/quote]
I have seen a few people post that they’ve had a specific negative experience at SSSAS - just like any school that gets posted about here, there’s always someone for whom the school didn’t work out. And just like those other schools, there are many other families who had very positive experiences at SSSAS.

But the majority of the hate seems to be like what has been in this thread. People who never actually enrolled a child there saying it could never compare to [take your pick of some big5 school usually in NWDC] or how it’s overpriced for a mediocre education (that same complaint gets lobbed at Flint Hill all the time too - another perfectly good school that dares to be in VA and charge private school tuition). Or that it has too many days off, apparently.

If you had a specific negative experience you want to share and warn about, by all means, do so, and I’m sorry it happened. But most people hating on it don’t ever seem to have had a kid there. [/quote]
I think a lot of us who had children with terrible experiences at SSSAS are reluctant to post bc people jump on us and say we are some notorious SSSAS hater or making things up. I wish we had never been at that school and am so happy to be out. We’re now at a school further away but with a better transportation department and bus services, so the commute does not feel worse. Instead of rehashing everything awful about SSSAS, I’ll just encourage everyone to look further than Alexandria. Any extra commute is more than made up by a better all around experience. [/quote]
I’m sorry you had a bad experience and it’s great you’ve found a better fit for your child.

SSSAS US (we started in 9th, and I’ve definitely heard plenty of lukewarm feedback about MS from parents with kids who have come all the way through, so I always try to make it clear that our experience is US only) has been fantastic for my child.

At any school there are going to be unhappy families who leave, ecstatic families who think it’s the best thing ever, and plenty of folks in the middle for whom it’s fine. And it should be fair game for any of them to post their experiences and thought (negative or positive) about a school without getting jumped on.

What I object to are the kinds of complaints that clearly come from people who haven’t been at the school. I’ve seen SSSAS denigrated because of what its walls look like, because it charges $50k+, because it’s in Alexandria, and now because it apparently has too many days off. For the record, I object to these kinds of “complaints” about any school. If all a person can fall back on it that school X isn’t big3 but still charges $50k tuition, they clearly aren’t actually familiar with the school, they are just status chasers. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics