Anonymous wrote:We switched in 3rd to private and are very happy. The experience compared with our top local public was night and day. Our kids are thriving and can't wait for school to start again in the fall. It is expensive but worth it for us: we cut back in other areas to allow us to do it.

The argument it is "poor value for money" is nonsensical and short sighted. Public school parents looking to justify their decisions should not weigh in private school forums.

Where did your kid enroll?

We switched in 3rd to private and are very happy. The experience compared with our top local public was night and day. Our kids are thriving and can't wait for school to start again in the fall. It is expensive but worth it for us: we cut back in other areas to allow us to do it.

The argument it is "poor value for money" is nonsensical and short sighted. Public school parents looking to justify their decisions should not weigh in private school forums.

We have been happy with our public school elementary but were interested in private for later and, on the encouragement of some teachers and because I didn’t want the regret of wishing we had tried earlier, we applied. To our surprise, both got in, so our kids are starting at the private in the fall. But now I feel some regret about pulling the trigger so early. I feel like if I said no now, admissions wouldn’t be likely to let us in later (why take a chance again on a family that has already declined?!), but I wish I had waited until middle to apply. I think there’s something wonderful about a neighborhood elementary school for building community (both for parents and kids).

I am hoping ultimately I will feel happy about this decision and grateful to not be battling for a spot in an increasingly competitive environment. At this moment, I feel like my anxiety about the future ruined the good thing we had going with our local elementary.

There aren’t a lot of bilingual privates so you’d be giving that up. But I’m sure you know that already.

We had a kid in a DCPS bilingual and considered private after 5th. No, we didn’t bother with the so-called Big 3 when applying because those schools aren’t our style, especially the parent cohort, and obviously they are long shots for everyone anyway.

Our kid, who is bright and confident and accomplished but not, shall we say, extraordinary, got admitted to every private they applied to except one, where they were waitlisted. We are talking about schools that are routinely mentioned on this board and that have good reputations. The waitlist school basically told us that if we could full pay they’d find a spot. The remaining offers dangled minimal aid to us, an average of maybe $10,000 each, but it wasn’t enough to make sense to us financially. In the end, we just could not justify the tuitions for the education being offered compared to our DCPS options. So we stayed in public after being lucky enough in the lottery game.

Our general take away from the process was that there are plenty of private options out there, and many of those schools — including some highly reputed ones — are happy to make a spot for any kid whose family is willing to be full pay. That just wasn’t us. It may be you.

Never. Most private schools have poor value for the money. I would switch to a better quality public school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My advice would be to tour schools now so you have a list of ones you like, where might be the best fit, etc. Then you will know when is best to target the schools you're interested in based on their entry years.

Only caveat is, after touring the schools, you might want to move her ASAP like we did.

+1 We started looking in 3rd thinking we were getting an early start on which schools we liked for middle school, but we ended up pulling the trigger early because we liked what we saw.

You toured schools and met with admissions people starting in 3rd hoping to enter in 6th or 7th? Did you visit their cohort classrooms or only 6th/7th, or both?

Anonymous wrote:9th? You’ve got to be joking. That’s the most competitive year for admissions.

6th is also competitive if you’re looking at the top 5-7 privates.

Easiest entry grade is 4th and even that is highly competitive for top privates.

This! OP, it gets harder and harder with each grade level. Without a doubt, ninth grade is the hardest year to get admitted.