Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that elite university admission officers know that GDS has a nationally-recognized community service program, respect its stellar academics and arts programs and are very familiar with the school's unique history in DC.

GDS is a great school and is in the very top rank. A generation ago kids didn't turn Sidwell down for GDS but now some do. And, of course, some turn down GDS for Sidwell. This is a very, very well-educated region and there are LOTS of smart, motivated, talented kids, only some of whom go to school at GDS, independent schools in general, or in DC. (TJ, anyone.)

If this poster is a sincere GDS booster and not somebody trolling (successfully, I might add), then you are coming across as rather myopic and provincial in your approach. If the poster IS a troll, hats off to you, poster, you might be able to get a nickname like "GDS Mom" if you keep going!

Certainly the GDS campus plan for NW DC further confirms that that the school has claimed its position in the very top ranking of Washington-area privates. Elite university admission directors know this.

Hee hee. This is so goofy that it seems clear it's fake.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that elite university admission officers know that GDS has a nationally-recognized community service program, respect its stellar academics and arts programs and are very familiar with the school's unique history in DC.

GDS is a great school and is in the very top rank. A generation ago kids didn't turn Sidwell down for GDS but now some do. And, of course, some turn down GDS for Sidwell. This is a very, very well-educated region and there are LOTS of smart, motivated, talented kids, only some of whom go to school at GDS, independent schools in general, or in DC. (TJ, anyone.)

If this poster is a sincere GDS booster and not somebody trolling (successfully, I might add), then you are coming across as rather myopic and provincial in your approach. If the poster IS a troll, hats off to you, poster, you might be able to get a nickname like "GDS Mom" if you keep going!

Certainly the GDS campus plan for NW DC further confirms that that the school has claimed its position in the very top ranking of Washington-area privates. Elite university admission directors know this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last year's national merit semifinalist list:
http://georgetown.patch.com/groups/schools/p/national-merit-scholarship-semifinalists-include-56-dc-students

The "super smart and talented" kids at GDS had fewer than St. Albans although the class at GDS is over 60% bigger and less than 50% of the total number of semifinalists at Sidwell (although the classes are the same size).

Some years GDS does better than this year. This is just to say that whomever keeps asserting that GDS automatically has the best college matriculation isn't tying it to any facts.

Similarly, if you want to compare Presidential Scholar Candidates -- the number who scored top SATs in 2014 ...

Sidwell, 1 out if every 12 seniors
NCS, 1 out if every 19 seniors
Maret, 1 out if every 19 seniors
GDS, 1 out if every 29 seniors
STA, 1 out if every 38 seniors

Although one does have to recognize that with such small sample sizes there can be big swings from year to year. For example, GDS had three times as many Presidential Scholar candidates in 2013 (9) as in 2014 (3). St. Albans had more than four times as many Presidential Scholar Candidates in 2013 (9) than in 2014. (Using the prior poster's metric, that's 1 in every 8 STA students who was a Presidential Scholar candidate in 2013 and 1 in every 14 GDS students in 2013. You really need to look at trends (and to be fair, looking at trends it is clear that, as is the case with National Merit Semifinalists, Sidwell does very well year in and year out in terms of having a lot of high scoring students).

Probably the dumbest thread in DCUM. What is the hypotheses here? That PSAT tests taken at the beginning of Junior year are a proxy for college matriculation? High school excellence? None if the Ivy caliber schools even give recognition to NMSF finalists.

I'm not sure of your point. Success on the SAT correlates highly with excellent college admissions -- because it's a major factor in admissions at most schools -- and great success on the PSAT (as reflected in NMSF recognition) correlates highly with excellent performance on the SAT, because the tests are so so similar in design. So yes, I'd say that a school with lots and lots of NMSFs and/or Presidential Scholar Candidates will indeed have excellent college matriculations (see, e.g. Thomas Jefferson). I'm not sure why you are arguing such a basic point? (For example, nobody has said that Sidwell or STA or GDS takes average kids and trains them to perform well on the PSAT, which I suppose would be more controversial -- I think everyone seems to recognize that they are very bright students to start with.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard it on good authority that when the Obamas were choosing schools, they actually preferred GDS. However, the Secret Service was not thrilled about the GDS lower school site for security reasons. Had GDS been fully consolidated on Wisconsin Ave. as they now plan, the Obamas might be there instead of Sidwell.

I heard that too. It must eat at that one poster's SOUL! OH WHY OH WHY COULD GDS NOT HAVE MADE ITS BIG LAND DEAL IN 2007!

I also heard that if the Obamas had two Episcopalian boys who liked rowing and lacrosse instead of two daughters who like tennis and dance, they would have gone to St. Albans.

I heard the Obamas were really interested in Maret until they realized the white columns had unfortunate associations and would make for unfortunate photos. Seriously, I read that right here on DCUM a few years ago, so it must be true, right?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last year's national merit semifinalist list:
http://georgetown.patch.com/groups/schools/p/national-merit-scholarship-semifinalists-include-56-dc-students

The "super smart and talented" kids at GDS had fewer than St. Albans although the class at GDS is over 60% bigger and less than 50% of the total number of semifinalists at Sidwell (although the classes are the same size).

Some years GDS does better than this year. This is just to say that whomever keeps asserting that GDS automatically has the best college matriculation isn't tying it to any facts.

Similarly, if you want to compare Presidential Scholar Candidates -- the number who scored top SATs in 2014 ...

Sidwell, 1 out if every 12 seniors
NCS, 1 out if every 19 seniors
Maret, 1 out if every 19 seniors
GDS, 1 out if every 29 seniors
STA, 1 out if every 38 seniors

Although one does have to recognize that with such small sample sizes there can be big swings from year to year. For example, GDS had three times as many Presidential Scholar candidates in 2013 (9) as in 2014 (3). St. Albans had more than four times as many Presidential Scholar Candidates in 2013 (9) than in 2014. (Using the prior poster's metric, that's 1 in every 8 STA students who was a Presidential Scholar candidate in 2013 and 1 in every 14 GDS students in 2013. You really need to look at trends (and to be fair, looking at trends it is clear that, as is the case with National Merit Semifinalists, Sidwell does very well year in and year out in terms of having a lot of high scoring students).

Probably the dumbest thread in DCUM. What is the hypotheses here? That PSAT tests taken at the beginning of Junior year are a proxy for college matriculation? High school excellence? None if the Ivy caliber schools even give recognition to NMSF finalists.

Congrats, you get the prize for dumbest post on the dumbest thread. Of COURSE colleges the most selective colleges care about SATs. The higher the SAT the better (and over 2200 is pretty much de rigeur). Which means - wait for it - that they take scads of NMSSFs (you forgot the second "S").

Also, PP is absolutely correct to point out the volatility in high schools' NMSSF numbers. It would be wrong to draw conclusions from just one year of data. This is why high schools (the ones that publish) and matriculationstats.org often publish multi-year results.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last year's national merit semifinalist list:
http://georgetown.patch.com/groups/schools/p/national-merit-scholarship-semifinalists-include-56-dc-students

The "super smart and talented" kids at GDS had fewer than St. Albans although the class at GDS is over 60% bigger and less than 50% of the total number of semifinalists at Sidwell (although the classes are the same size).

Some years GDS does better than this year. This is just to say that whomever keeps asserting that GDS automatically has the best college matriculation isn't tying it to any facts.

Similarly, if you want to compare Presidential Scholar Candidates -- the number who scored top SATs in 2014 ...

Sidwell, 1 out if every 12 seniors
NCS, 1 out if every 19 seniors
Maret, 1 out if every 19 seniors
GDS, 1 out if every 29 seniors
STA, 1 out if every 38 seniors

Although one does have to recognize that with such small sample sizes there can be big swings from year to year. For example, GDS had three times as many Presidential Scholar candidates in 2013 (9) as in 2014 (3). St. Albans had more than four times as many Presidential Scholar Candidates in 2013 (9) than in 2014. (Using the prior poster's metric, that's 1 in every 8 STA students who was a Presidential Scholar candidate in 2013 and 1 in every 14 GDS students in 2013. You really need to look at trends (and to be fair, looking at trends it is clear that, as is the case with National Merit Semifinalists, Sidwell does very well year in and year out in terms of having a lot of high scoring students).

Probably the dumbest thread in DCUM. What is the hypotheses here? That PSAT tests taken at the beginning of Junior year are a proxy for college matriculation? High school excellence? None if the Ivy caliber schools even give recognition to NMSF finalists.

Anonymous wrote:I heard it on good authority that when the Obamas were choosing schools, they actually preferred GDS. However, the Secret Service was not thrilled about the GDS lower school site for security reasons. Had GDS been fully consolidated on Wisconsin Ave. as they now plan, the Obamas might be there instead of Sidwell.

I heard that too. It must eat at that one poster's SOUL! OH WHY OH WHY COULD GDS NOT HAVE MADE ITS BIG LAND DEAL IN 2007!

I also heard that if the Obamas had two Episcopalian boys who liked rowing and lacrosse instead of two daughters who like tennis and dance, they would have gone to St. Albans.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last year's national merit semifinalist list:
http://georgetown.patch.com/groups/schools/p/national-merit-scholarship-semifinalists-include-56-dc-students

The "super smart and talented" kids at GDS had fewer than St. Albans although the class at GDS is over 60% bigger and less than 50% of the total number of semifinalists at Sidwell (although the classes are the same size).

Some years GDS does better than this year. This is just to say that whomever keeps asserting that GDS automatically has the best college matriculation isn't tying it to any facts.

Similarly, if you want to compare Presidential Scholar Candidates -- the number who scored top SATs in 2014 ...

Sidwell, 1 out if every 12 seniors
NCS, 1 out if every 19 seniors
Maret, 1 out if every 19 seniors
GDS, 1 out if every 29 seniors
STA, 1 out if every 38 seniors

Although one does have to recognize that with such small sample sizes there can be big swings from year to year. For example, GDS had three times as many Presidential Scholar candidates in 2013 (9) as in 2014 (3). St. Albans had more than four times as many Presidential Scholar Candidates in 2013 (9) than in 2014. (Using the prior poster's metric, that's 1 in every 8 STA students who was a Presidential Scholar candidate in 2013 and 1 in every 14 GDS students in 2013. You really need to look at trends (and to be fair, looking at trends it is clear that, as is the case with National Merit Semifinalists, Sidwell does very well year in and year out in terms of having a lot of high scoring students).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard it on good authority that when the Obamas were choosing schools, they actually preferred GDS. However, the Secret Service was not thrilled about the GDS lower school site for security reasons. Had GDS been fully consolidated on Wisconsin Ave. as they now plan, the Obamas might be there instead of Sidwell.

Where is "The Obamas are going to Maret, you idiots!" mom when you need her?

PS, Clearly I've been on DCUM for too many years....

Anonymous wrote:I heard it on good authority that when the Obamas were choosing schools, they actually preferred GDS. However, the Secret Service was not thrilled about the GDS lower school site for security reasons. Had GDS been fully consolidated on Wisconsin Ave. as they now plan, the Obamas might be there instead of Sidwell.

Where is "The Obamas are going to Maret, you idiots!" mom when you need her?

I heard it on good authority that when the Obamas were choosing schools, they actually preferred GDS. However, the Secret Service was not thrilled about the GDS lower school site for security reasons. Had GDS been fully consolidated on Wisconsin Ave. as they now plan, the Obamas might be there instead of Sidwell.

I mean 2013-14.

Anonymous wrote:Last year's national merit semifinalist list:
http://georgetown.patch.com/groups/schools/p/national-merit-scholarship-semifinalists-include-56-dc-students

The "super smart and talented" kids at GDS had fewer than St. Albans although the class at GDS is over 60% bigger and less than 50% of the total number of semifinalists at Sidwell (although the classes are the same size).

Some years GDS does better than this year. This is just to say that whomever keeps asserting that GDS automatically has the best college matriculation isn't tying it to any facts.

Similarly, if you want to compare Presidential Scholar Candidates -- the number who scored top SATs in 2014 ...

Sidwell, 1 out if every 12 seniors
NCS, 1 out if every 19 seniors
Maret, 1 out if every 19 seniors
GDS, 1 out if every 29 seniors
STA, 1 out if every 38 seniors

Anonymous wrote:I think that elite university admission officers know that GDS has a nationally-recognized community service program, respect its stellar academics and arts programs and are very familiar with the school's unique history in DC.

GDS is a great school and is in the very top rank. A generation ago kids didn't turn Sidwell down for GDS but now some do. And, of course, some turn down GDS for Sidwell. This is a very, very well-educated region and there are LOTS of smart, motivated, talented kids, only some of whom go to school at GDS, independent schools in general, or in DC. (TJ, anyone.)

If this poster is a sincere GDS booster and not somebody trolling (successfully, I might add), then you are coming across as rather myopic and provincial in your approach. If the poster IS a troll, hats off to you, poster, you might be able to get a nickname like "GDS Mom" if you keep going!

Anonymous wrote:I think that elite university admission officers know that GDS has a nationally-recognized community service program, respect its stellar academics and arts programs and are very familiar with the school's unique history in DC.

Unlike Sidwell, Maret, etc which they have never heard of.