Anonymous wrote:Good Lord people.
I have kids at another Big3 and they have had not had more things "handed to them" vs. their equally well-off friends from publics. We came from public in 8th (and graduated one kid from pubic) so i know of what I speak.

You live in a bubble. Not all publics are filled with kids who are equally well off.

Good Lord people.
I have kids at another Big3 and they have had not had more things "handed to them" vs. their equally well-off friends from publics. We came from public in 8th (and graduated one kid from pubic) so i know of what I speak.
The only difference is that they're having to work harder for their grades. Teachers aren't any friendlier or easier to deal with at the Big3. Extracurriculars and resume building items aren't falling off trees. The is no safety net---if you start failing
no one from the school writes home and schedules in intervention (in fact, nothing is really done when the kid asks for help). There are no retakes, no late work.

Please stop this whole "private school high schoolers are coddled while the kids at Whitman and Blair are impoverished and slogging through the mines on the way to school" line of crap.
They come from households who are just as resourced as the private school kids' are. In many cases (the 40% of the private school kids who receive aid), more so.
The privates are not lands of warm and fuzzy hand-holding. Quite the opposite: in my experience the If anything, the expectations of self-reliance and
self-advocation are higher. I know really well of what I speak---I've had kids at both.

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell: https://www.instagram.com/sidwellseniors2023/
GDS: https://www.instagram.com/gdsseniors23/
Holton: https://www.instagram.com/holtonarms2023/?hl=en
Landon: https://www.instagram.com/landonseniors23/?hl=en

Amazing?

My DC got into an ivy with no hooks from an average DMV public. The resume she had to build to beat out kids from these schools and other hooked kids is impressive. I know she and her public school counterparts will excel next to these kids because nothing was handed to her - she has learned to work hard for everything. I have friends at these schools and the advantages money can buy in this process cannot be understated.

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Anonymous wrote:Sidwell parents say they don’t send their kids there for college admissions purposes. But they are on the college admissions forum of DCUM more than any other high school and are bragging incessantly.

This is not a bragging forum; this is a discussion forum. We are discussing. If we had a forum to discuss this (and exchange information) within Sidwell, we would do so. If you are not a Sidwell parent, then go start your own thread to discuss your own school’s admission outcomes.

Yes, an anonymous, public (!) forum. Not a little bubble. If Sidwell parents can’t figure out how to set up a private online discussion forum and end up bragging here, others are free to comment.

My child’s FCPS high school already has a number of Ivy admits. Not impressed with Sidwell.

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Anonymous wrote:So, to answer the question about Sidwell ED results, what I know is 1 Harvard, 1 Yale, 2 Cornell, 2 UPenn, 4 Princeton. Lots of admits along the range of Rice, WashU, Pitzer, etc. But lots of ED deferrals and rejections as well. GDS is having similar results. My Sidwell senior didn’t do ED. For all of this talk of accommodations and such, I really haven’t much about it, and we’ve been here since K. Maybe we travel in different circles.

This seems like a completely normal an expected outcome for a school like Sidwell.

And not so different from my kid's public high school to be quite honest.

Public school my kid graduated from has better college acceptances w/o legacies, donors, connections etc.

If this is true then all the whiners on this board who complain about all the unqualified hooked kids taking their precious kid’s spot should STFU, because clearly public schools are getting tons of unhooked kids into the top schools.

They do stfu. That is the point. There are not braggy threads from every high school about future college plans on dcum. Always a thread about this high school.

Are you kidding me? Check any thread on this board and see how many parents whine about their unhooked white UMC kid not getting into college when all these hooked kids are stealing their spots. If public schools get all these kids in why do you whine like this?

Please link us to all the DCUM threads set up to report the "amazing" college be plans of graduates from public high schools

Last week, a friend whose DD is at Sidwell immediately posted her daughter's ED acceptance result on Facebook. She used a social media frame that the college had apparently sent out.

The mom predictably got many of us to "like" and congratulate her for her DD's wonderful news. I am generally happy for my friend's DD, but it seemed tone deaf of the mom (my friend) to send that out when so many kids are awaiting ED results right now, and so many were deferred or rejected.

^ This is untrue. There are PLENTY of Ivy grads in this area who send their kids to public schools. Saying otherwise makes a poster lose all credibility.

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Anonymous wrote:So, to answer the question about Sidwell ED results, what I know is 1 Harvard, 1 Yale, 2 Cornell, 2 UPenn, 4 Princeton. Lots of admits along the range of Rice, WashU, Pitzer, etc. But lots of ED deferrals and rejections as well. GDS is having similar results. My Sidwell senior didn’t do ED. For all of this talk of accommodations and such, I really haven’t much about it, and we’ve been here since K. Maybe we travel in different circles.

This seems like a completely normal an expected outcome for a school like Sidwell.

And not so different from my kid's public high school to be quite honest.

Public school my kid graduated from has better college acceptances w/o legacies, donors, connections etc.

If this is true then all the whiners on this board who complain about all the unqualified hooked kids taking their precious kid’s spot should STFU, because clearly public schools are getting tons of unhooked kids into the top schools.

They do stfu. That is the point. There are not braggy threads from every high school about future college plans on dcum. Always a thread about this high school.

Are you kidding me? Check any thread on this board and see how many parents whine about their unhooked white UMC kid not getting into college when all these hooked kids are stealing their spots. If public schools get all these kids in why do you whine like this?

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Anonymous wrote:So, to answer the question about Sidwell ED results, what I know is 1 Harvard, 1 Yale, 2 Cornell, 2 UPenn, 4 Princeton. Lots of admits along the range of Rice, WashU, Pitzer, etc. But lots of ED deferrals and rejections as well. GDS is having similar results. My Sidwell senior didn’t do ED. For all of this talk of accommodations and such, I really haven’t much about it, and we’ve been here since K. Maybe we travel in different circles.

This seems like a completely normal an expected outcome for a school like Sidwell.

And not so different from my kid's public high school to be quite honest.

Public school my kid graduated from has better college acceptances w/o legacies, donors, connections etc.

If this is true then all the whiners on this board who complain about all the unqualified hooked kids taking their precious kid’s spot should STFU, because clearly public schools are getting tons of unhooked kids into the top schools.

They do stfu. That is the point. There are not braggy threads from every high school about future college plans on dcum. Always a thread about this high school.

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Anonymous wrote:So, to answer the question about Sidwell ED results, what I know is 1 Harvard, 1 Yale, 2 Cornell, 2 UPenn, 4 Princeton. Lots of admits along the range of Rice, WashU, Pitzer, etc. But lots of ED deferrals and rejections as well. GDS is having similar results. My Sidwell senior didn’t do ED. For all of this talk of accommodations and such, I really haven’t much about it, and we’ve been here since K. Maybe we travel in different circles.

This seems like a completely normal an expected outcome for a school like Sidwell.

And not so different from my kid's public high school to be quite honest.

Public school my kid graduated from has better college acceptances w/o legacies, donors, connections etc.

If this is true then all the whiners on this board who complain about all the unqualified hooked kids taking their precious kid’s spot should STFU, because clearly public schools are getting tons of unhooked kids into the top schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, to answer the question about Sidwell ED results, what I know is 1 Harvard, 1 Yale, 2 Cornell, 2 UPenn, 4 Princeton. Lots of admits along the range of Rice, WashU, Pitzer, etc. But lots of ED deferrals and rejections as well. GDS is having similar results. My Sidwell senior didn’t do ED. For all of this talk of accommodations and such, I really haven’t much about it, and we’ve been here since K. Maybe we travel in different circles.

This seems like a completely normal an expected outcome for a school like Sidwell.

And not so different from my kid's public high school to be quite honest.

Public school my kid graduated from has better college acceptances w/o legacies, donors, connections etc.

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Anonymous wrote:My Sidwell senior says that a not insignificant number of the class has accommodations, therefore, receive extra time on regular and standardized tests and other special conditions, like private rooms. Maybe this is typical for the age cohort, but it surprised me. So yeah, I guess it is "truly special" at least in this regard.

Many with resources buy special diagnosis so that their 'thriving' snowflakes can receive extra time on exams (including ACT/SAT) and homework in HS and college.

Absolutely true, from what my kid describes. Says close to half the grade has some form of accommodation. Having not known about these angles, I feel naive. And badly for my kid.

My kid is a Head TA at one of the top CS/Engineering programs in the country and he says each year number of special 'accommodations' for exams/tests grow each year and that this intro CS class had almost 15% of the class students receiving accommodations in his last year of being a Head TA.

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Anonymous wrote:Sidwell is truly a wonderful place, and I am very very familiar with the approach - I believe the secret sauce is taking a small group of incredibly special kids and layering on a caring and thoughtful guidance department that helps encourage them to have a unique and authentic approach with T15 schools. It always rings true and never seems forced - it always seems that the kids belong at the great schools they ultimately attend. Would be very hard pressed to find one one bad apple in the bunch, and many would be valedictorians at their public high schools. I believe that’s why the kids typically feel vindicated with the nonstop T15 admits - all the hard work is finally recognized! Good luck to all and a happy holiday season!

I’m a Sidwell parent and this sounds nothing like the high school my child attends . Gag

what part is incorrect?

Public high schools have their own super nerd, motivated, valedictorians and the part about "many would be valedictorians at their public high schools" is ridiculous.

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Anonymous wrote:My Sidwell senior says that a not insignificant number of the class has accommodations, therefore, receive extra time on regular and standardized tests and other special conditions, like private rooms. Maybe this is typical for the age cohort, but it surprised me. So yeah, I guess it is "truly special" at least in this regard.

Many with resources buy special diagnosis so that their 'thriving' snowflakes can receive extra time on exams (including ACT/SAT) and homework in HS and college.

I was shocked to learn this and told a friend about this scam and she went and got the diagnosis for her kid and her kid is receiving 'accommodations' for exams and projects, homework etc. She says I should have told her sooner. Crazy.

i mean cmon people - is this even a real advantage? they still have to answer the questions right? an untimed test doesn’t change that

Rewarding poor character may be an eventual disadvantage when a situation arises that won't do that. At least let's hope so.

All selective colleges do this. Liars and cheaters with fake awards, fake non profits, fake ECs, heavily edited essays by professional editors, etc

But hard working athletes are the bad people?

Maybe you may have heard of 'Varsity Blues' that caused prison blues for dozens of students and parents?