Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You'd be hard pressed to find a single Sidwell student that "settled" for Sidwell after trying for GDS. 50% or more of the GDS class "settled" for GDs after applying to Sidwell. Does that tell you enough? Those who have GDS as a FIRST choice are students trapped in the District who don't want a traditional private school experience.

I don't have personal experience with either of these schools, since I grew up in DC, but moved before high school, although I have a number of friends who attended various DC privates. Could it be that part of the reason this is true these days is that Sidwell has been given an even higher profile than it already had due to it being the choice of the Obama girls, Chelsea Clinton, and Al Gore III? I can imagine that in as status-oriented of a place as DC, there are all kinds of parents who are biased by this and their ability to name drop that their school is the school that the Obamas go to. From as far as I can tell, Sidwell, NCS/STA, Maret, and GDS all seem like fantastic, extremely (to the point of cutthroat) competitive schools with families hyper-focused on education, but all have different social and academic vibes.

This.
Had the Obamas chosen GDS, there'd be far more kids "settling" for Sidwell.

Anonymous wrote:Neither school has much of a campus and their are few school traditions. Public-like schools for the rich kids in a city that has horrific public schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You'd be hard pressed to find a single Sidwell student that "settled" for Sidwell after trying for GDS. 50% or more of the GDS class "settled" for GDs after applying to Sidwell. Does that tell you enough? Those who have GDS as a FIRST choice are students trapped in the District who don't want a traditional private school experience.

I don't have personal experience with either of these schools, since I grew up in DC, but moved before high school, although I have a number of friends who attended various DC privates. Could it be that part of the reason this is true these days is that Sidwell has been given an even higher profile than it already had due to it being the choice of the Obama girls, Chelsea Clinton, and Al Gore III? I can imagine that in as status-oriented of a place as DC, there are all kinds of parents who are biased by this and their ability to name drop that their school is the school that the Obamas go to. From as far as I can tell, Sidwell, NCS/STA, Maret, and GDS all seem like fantastic, extremely (to the point of cutthroat) competitive schools with families hyper-focused on education, but all have different social and academic vibes.

This.
Had the Obamas chosen GDS, there'd be far more kids "settling" for Sidwell.

Agree (from a Sidwell parent). I would only add that the differences among the schools in terms of social culture are often overstated on DCUM.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You'd be hard pressed to find a single Sidwell student that "settled" for Sidwell after trying for GDS. 50% or more of the GDS class "settled" for GDs after applying to Sidwell. Does that tell you enough? Those who have GDS as a FIRST choice are students trapped in the District who don't want a traditional private school experience.

I don't have personal experience with either of these schools, since I grew up in DC, but moved before high school, although I have a number of friends who attended various DC privates. Could it be that part of the reason this is true these days is that Sidwell has been given an even higher profile than it already had due to it being the choice of the Obama girls, Chelsea Clinton, and Al Gore III? I can imagine that in as status-oriented of a place as DC, there are all kinds of parents who are biased by this and their ability to name drop that their school is the school that the Obamas go to. From as far as I can tell, Sidwell, NCS/STA, Maret, and GDS all seem like fantastic, extremely (to the point of cutthroat) competitive schools with families hyper-focused on education, but all have different social and academic vibes.

This.
Had the Obamas chosen GDS, there'd be far more kids "settling" for Sidwell.

Anonymous wrote:

You'd be hard pressed to find a single Sidwell student that "settled" for Sidwell after trying for GDS. 50% or more of the GDS class "settled" for GDs after applying to Sidwell. Does that tell you enough? Those who have GDS as a FIRST choice are students trapped in the District who don't want a traditional private school experience.

I don't have personal experience with either of these schools, since I grew up in DC, but moved before high school, although I have a number of friends who attended various DC privates. Could it be that part of the reason this is true these days is that Sidwell has been given an even higher profile than it already had due to it being the choice of the Obama girls, Chelsea Clinton, and Al Gore III? I can imagine that in as status-oriented of a place as DC, there are all kinds of parents who are biased by this and their ability to name drop that their school is the school that the Obamas go to. From as far as I can tell, Sidwell, NCS/STA, Maret, and GDS all seem like fantastic, extremely (to the point of cutthroat) competitive schools with families hyper-focused on education, but all have different social and academic vibes.

You'd be hard pressed to find a single Sidwell student that "settled" for Sidwell after trying for GDS. 50% or more of the GDS class "settled" for GDs after applying to Sidwell. Does that tell you enough? Those who have GDS as a FIRST choice are students trapped in the District who don't want a traditional private school experience.

Anonymous wrote:I use to be able to access the google spreadsheet with the data on the schools but it now requires a log in --does anyone have a nonsecure link?

Anonymous wrote:Actually NCS and STA are both still in school until Wednesday.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10:08 - LOL!

An effect of smoking marijuana is finding things LOL funny that really aren't that funny. Party on dude!

Anonymous wrote:10:08 - LOL!