Anonymous wrote:And what's wrong with putting a school magnet on the car? Why can't private school families be proud of their school too?

NP: Of course you can. But I think PP’s comment was directed at people who only apply to Big 3 or think HS is only about maximizing the chance of getting into HYPS because it is what is expected in their social circle. Some feel like an outsider if they don’t send their kids there. That is not school pride. It is ego. I don’t send my kids to big 3 but am happy at the privates my kids are in. If I lived in Spring Valley or AU park, if I’m honest with myself, I’m guessing I’d fall into the category above.

And what's wrong with putting a school magnet on the car? Why can't private school families be proud of their school too?

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Anonymous wrote:Could this seriously be an educational decision for elementary school or is it just pure social climbing strategy?

Not sure why it's any business of yours. We only applied to GDS, Sidwell, and STA. Those were the only schools where we felt it was worth $50,000/year tuition. We have no need to climb socially, but are people who want good educational value for the money.

And wouldn't your best bet be to just go to a highly regarded public school for elementary? That'd be free. So yes, you want to be able to put that magnet on the BMW so folks can see it at the Chevy Chase Club.

FWIW - we're a family that has had our children in private from the start. We have never put a school magnet on our car, don't belong to country clubs, and don't think privates are better than our highly regarded public. But we did feel the private our children attended for LS was a better match than our public for each of our children and same with the Big 3 high schools they chose. Have had to get used the the price tag and the stigma from public parents - but it's been a good path for our children. College placement never played a factor. Try not to paint everyone with the same brush.

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Anonymous wrote:Could this seriously be an educational decision for elementary school or is it just pure social climbing strategy?

Not sure why it's any business of yours. We only applied to GDS, Sidwell, and STA. Those were the only schools where we felt it was worth $50,000/year tuition. We have no need to climb socially, but are people who want good educational value for the money.

And wouldn't your best bet be to just go to a highly regarded public school for elementary? That'd be free. So yes, you want to be able to put that magnet on the BMW so folks can see it at the Chevy Chase Club.

The Eminent, All-Knowing Judge has made her decree. What would we do without this font of unassailable insight and judgment?

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Anonymous wrote:Could this seriously be an educational decision for elementary school or is it just pure social climbing strategy?

Not sure why it's any business of yours. We only applied to GDS, Sidwell, and STA. Those were the only schools where we felt it was worth $50,000/year tuition. We have no need to climb socially, but are people who want good educational value for the money.

And wouldn't your best bet be to just go to a highly regarded public school for elementary? That'd be free. So yes, you want to be able to put that magnet on the BMW so folks can see it at the Chevy Chase Club.

Seriously - do folks just think about college when getting a private education?!?!?!

My kids are in private and for us it's about EDUCATING them (wholly as people) not about their decisions afterwards. I want kids who make good decisions for themselves. Maybe that includes college, maybe it doesn't. I was not thinking about the Ivys when I found top preschool programs for my kids or when I transferred them to Big 3. I think folks have their priorities misplaced. Really it should be about providing the best foundation we can. The kids themselves take it from there if we've done our job properly.

The most impressive notable alumnis graduating from private schools in this area is Georgetown Prep.

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Anonymous wrote:The list in the title was exactly our list for a while. We were not interested in STA/Cathedral or other religious schools, and SFS did not seem religious in the same way. Silent meeting is not the same as a chapel service. Well, no one in our family enjoyed Sidwell and we eventually left. Now I'd recommend a longer list that includes friendlier schools. They tend not to be as selective but they're often better in other ways.

I wouldn't say we were social climbers. When we made our original list, we thought we were identifying the three schools that fit the best. We were wrong.

Curious to hear more, if you’re willing to say more. Was the religiousness at all a factor? Maybe we’re outliers, but we found SFS far more religious than we were expecting. And even when it wasn’t religious, we felt like “quaker values” got pulled out anytime anyone disagreed with someone or disliked someone—not dissimilar to “regular” religion Relatedly, our oldest kid hasn’t really enjoyed themselves, but we’re giving it a bit longer. We though some of this came from the quakerism, which kind of put a somberness on everything.

Anyway, we would love to hear more, as we’re struggling with the long-term decision here.

I'm not Quaker but have experience with both Sidwell Friends and Sandy Spring Friends. Quaker values are a far more significant part of student life at Sandy Spring, but I wasn't annoyed by it at all. It seemed very genuine. At Sidwell it didn't always seem sincere because of the social and academic competition that affects so many things there.

On the other hand, there's no denying that Sidwell students get a great college preparatory education surrounded by many bright students. There are some excellent students at Sandy Spring, but I'd estimate that a quarter to a third of Sandy Spring students couldn't handle the intense Sidwell workload. There are a lot of very smart kids at Sidwell and very few weak students there.

If they are all so smart and well prepared - why do so many Sidwell kids end up at mediocre colleges? Yes, understand Harvard isn't going to take all of them but there are a lot each year going to schools ranked outside top 100 or top 200. Don't tell me it's "fit"

This isn’t at all true. About five or six kids a year out of ~130 go to a school that’s listed >100 in USNWR. Two of those will invariably be male athletes

This is for the last five years - I can’t speak to time before that.

Want to be cautious in replying as we are talking about specific young adults colleges here - but colleges like Northeastern, Penn State and Tulane (all common destinations after Sidwell) don't necessarily jump to mind first with image of "very smart kids" who have been "very well prepared". Lots of private LACs too that while in theory are top100 certainly aren't need-blind and a track record of parents paying 50k/yr isn't going to be a disadvantage. Not dunking on Sidwell - clearly best of bunch in this area - just agreeing that either characterization is too rosy or significant negative x-factor coming from one of these privates when it comes to college admissions.

I am not speaking with any specific knowledge of the SFS kids who may attend these schools, but keep in mind that not all kids at Sidwell are filthy rich. Some very smart kids end up at places based on financial aid and merit scholarships. The school they choose doesn't tell you anything about the schools they were accepted to, and not every kid has the luxury (or, more correctly, I'd say the ridiculous short sightedness) of picking a school purely based on USNWR ranking! Consider a kid who may not quite make Ivy, but otherwise could go to a high ranked school but needs support. Furthermore, not every kid wants an Ivy and places like Northeastern, Penn State, and Tulane are great schools for a bright student who will take advantage that all these schools have to offer.

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Anonymous wrote:The reason some people apply to only those three schools is all about insurance -- not quality. They can get the same (or better) lower school quality at several other coed independent schools in the area, and common sense would suggest applying to others as well if you want a lower school private. But if they get their kid into one of those three for lower school, they have bought insurance that their child will attend the same high school unless they are counseled out or choose to leave. It's a very, very expensive insurance policy.

If you were already going to send your kid to private for lower school, it is not much more expensive to go big 3 than to other privates. And if you think you might want to stay, why not? It’s expensive compared to public. Most families going to big 3 lower schools were *never* going to public. They weren’t even considering it. So this isn’t right.

This wasn't true for us. Schools like Sidwell charged the same for all grades, k-12 when my child was in lower and middle school (now Sidwell differentiates cost by grade, but not by much). Our k-8 school has a tiered structure that charged less at lower grades, the difference from MS to K is quite a bit, and at all grades the cost is (and has been) significantly lower than Sidwell. This definitely makes a difference cost-wise over 9-10 years (depending on when you start). We never applied to Sidwell for LS to start. We looked over time but just weren't interested in paying more just for a HS slot when the education was excellent at the k-8. DC went on to Sidwell with much success for HS.

Anonymous wrote:Because their kids is bright, they are rich, and for some reason or another they aren't applying to cathedral schools.

Other than a few exceptions, most people who apply to private apply to these + beauvoir/sta/NCS. Why? It's not worth the money otherwise

Where does Potomac rank in this?

Maret is the most difficult to get in among these three schools.

Anonymous wrote:Maret has gotten easier to get into in recent years.

Absolutely not true.

Anonymous wrote:Maret has gotten easier to get into in recent years.

Not this past year---at least not from public. I know about 20 great students who applied from our public and none got in.
My own (from public) did not but was accepted to Sidwell, Potomac and STA.

Maret has gotten easier to get into in recent years.

Well if you’re going to post a list with long explanations of the GDS alumni, and say nothing about the alumni from the other schools, of course the GDS list is going to look longer.

Guess we wouldn’t recognize most of the GDS alumni without it, though?