Anonymous wrote:St Anselm's is not hard to get into.

Incorrect. Read the post above yours. Plus, it's tiny like Maret.

Sidwell has a relatively small entry for high school, so easier to get in there for various MS entry points, by HS only take around 25 students so very very difficult. STA/NCS together have a bigger entry and GDS takes almost 50 for high school, so they are somewhat easier despite being academically similar to Sidwell and STA/NCS. Maret as various posters have said is very difficult simply due to size, but more so for lower grades. The HS entry is reasonably large, and some of the really academic kids don't consider it due to somewhat less breadth of choices for math/science for instance.

St Anselm's is not hard to get into.

Anonymous wrote:St. Anselms

I agree that St. Anselm's should be on any list of the hardest private schools for boys to get into. As I understand it, the absolute minimum required score on the OLSAT and SCAT tests they use for admission is 95th percentile. Even in the DC area, that is tough cut to make.

Not NCS, they've lowered their standards.

Maret, Sidwell, and -- surprisingly -- Field. In the last two years there's been a massive increase in applications to Field.

St. Anselms

Sidwell
Holton
STA/NCS
Maret
Potomac

St. Anselms for boys.

Hard in terms if academic performance and intelligence indicators (for whatever they are worth), I believe Sidwell, STA and NCS. For needing to present a well-rounded and community oriented student and family, and the numbers game given it's size, I'd think Maret. Less hard for siblings at STA, NCS, and Maret than at Sidwell.

Everyone I know who has kids in the top DC privates says the same thing, regardless of where their child goes:

Hardest school to get in to is Maret, hands down, because it is the smallest in the top tier of schools most folks want.

Then Sidwell and STA/NCS which are probably the three 'top' schools academically in Washington DC but larger and able to take more students.

That said, I do strongly believe that you should let your kid go to the school that works best for him/her because nothing else really matters in the long run.

Anonymous wrote:The topic subject is pretty much the question. But by the way I don't just mean for schoolS that are only for high shool, I also mean for k-12 schools.

Why?

This is easy ...

The hardest school to get admitted to = whatever school you and your child chose to attend

Schools that require special connections plus wealth and power to be admitted, so it's clearly unfair to the most qualified children (like yours) = any school where your child was not admitted

Schools that are OK, but nothing special = schools where your child was admitted, but you chose not to attend

Schools that are subpar = schools you did not apply to

Cathedral (Beauvoir NCS & STA) & Sidwell.

Marer

The topic subject is pretty much the question. But by the way I don't just mean for schoolS that are only for high shool, I also mean for k-12 schools.