Anonymous
Post 01/09/2026 11:22     Subject: Indulge my fantasy - top private vs. Walls
Cross this bridge when you come to it.
Anonymous
Post 01/09/2026 11:20     Subject: Indulge my fantasy - top private vs. Walls
Anonymous wrote:I would choose private over Walls. Walls seemed too disorganized when I toured it.


Walls is not disorganized, but it does require strong executive function skills. If your kid is truly independent and driven, Walls is a great fit. If student (or parents) require any degree of hand-holding, go private.
Anonymous
Post 01/09/2026 10:54     Subject: Indulge my fantasy - top private vs. Walls
We had a flavor of this choice and it was up to our kid to decide.They thought the cohort at Walls was more uniformly academics-focused than the private and would push them to do better. They also thought the diversity felt real and not curated.

It was not an economic decision and we were OK with either option. Saying no to the amazing facilities and on-premise lunch options at the private did hurt.

I will say that many of their friends who had the choice and were not financially constrained went private.

Assuming your kid is mature and not flighty, I'd let them make the decision once you have the choice.
Anonymous
Post 01/09/2026 06:59     Subject: Re:Indulge my fantasy - top private vs. Walls
My child decided to go to a big 3 at 9th while we have pretty solid public options. Kid enjoys it - much more sports and other activities and academics are more challenging. So far not much private school drama. Kids are all focused and busy.

Regarding the rich thing, about 25 percent of kids receive financial aid in school, not sure if higher share in HS. You probably would find a lot of people with similar or less income. I am single parenting and child support does not include private school tuition. Did not apply for FA, unsure if we would qualify or the amount. It is a financial commitment bigger than my mortgage. But the kid wants it, so I set aside 250k, and told the kid to work or apply for student loans to finance part of the college expenses later, and myself to delay retirement by 2 years.
Anonymous
Post 01/09/2026 04:39     Subject: Indulge my fantasy - top private vs. Walls
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:By posting on the private school thread you're going to get more responses pushing private.

Personally, I think you sound entitled and difficult to deal with and think your kid is better than everybody else. You're clearly one of those parents that the rest of us roll our eyes at.

So, as a DCPS parent, sure, go private and don't let the door hit you in the a$$ on the way out.


The thing is, some kids -are- better at school and life than other kids.


lol. If the kid is so much better at school and life then why do they need to waste $200k for high school?


It’s a better experience, a better education, and many DC families can afford the tuition. Who shortchanges their children to be miserly? wtf
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2026 22:49     Subject: Indulge my fantasy - top private vs. Walls
Walls and invest 50k for her for each of the next four years.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2026 22:01     Subject: Indulge my fantasy - top private vs. Walls
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:By posting on the private school thread you're going to get more responses pushing private.

Personally, I think you sound entitled and difficult to deal with and think your kid is better than everybody else. You're clearly one of those parents that the rest of us roll our eyes at.

So, as a DCPS parent, sure, go private and don't let the door hit you in the a$$ on the way out.


The thing is, some kids -are- better at school and life than other kids.


lol. If the kid is so much better at school and life then why do they need to waste $200k for high school?
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2026 20:32     Subject: Indulge my fantasy - top private vs. Walls
How many kids do you have? The answer may depend on that
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2026 19:10     Subject: Re:Indulge my fantasy - top private vs. Walls
If you could afford sidwell with no pain, that would probably be the better academic choice. On the other hand, I would have had some discomfort with sending my kid to a school full of rich elites. That just makes me a tad uncomfortable. We could have afforded to send kid to private bc we only have one. In the end didn’t apply bc of my general unease with the richly-rich thing. But - In talking with my friend who has a same age kid at NCS - there is no doubt in my mind the academics are (overall) 100 times stronger than at Walls (my kid is there). On the other other hand, the cohort at Walls is uniformly lovely and full of smart, hard-working kids. And, my kid is smart - so notwithstanding lackluster coursework and teachers, scored a 1550 on the SAT and a 5 on calc BC. Kid may have to do some catch-up work on how to write well in college (but again, she is very smart - so I am confident she can do it). I say “may” because the way things are going with AI it seems nobody needs to know how to write anymore ….
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2026 18:39     Subject: Indulge my fantasy - top private vs. Walls
Anonymous wrote:We had this exact choice in 2018, begin 9th grade at Sidwell or at Walls. Once DS shadowed for the entire day at Walls, there was no question in his mind that he would never attend Walls. He deeply disliked multiple (not all) teachers, specifically their condescending, teach to the lowest common denominator style. DS was shocked at what I would label 'classroom management techniques,' ie, harshly keeping kids in line.

He was unimpressed with the apparent intellectual level of his assigned mentor and others (not all) in the classes he attended. He found the ECs under-resourced, especially music.

His dad and I were shocked at the poor quality writing that was on display for prospective parents. As a point of reference, DS was about to graduate from an independent K-8 and already had better analytical and writing skills than were on display at Walls.

(we're also IB for then-Wilson, which wasn't on the table)

If you get into GDS or Sidwell at 9th, you go. Maybe you work an extra 3 years at the end of your careers to pad your retirement accounts to compensate for the money well spent



You could tell all of this about Walls’ kids’ writing skills from a shadow day? Your comments seem very one sided.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2026 17:35     Subject: Indulge my fantasy - top private vs. Walls
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Just a quick note to say that at the high school level, I don't know that the social stuff will be different between a wealthy private school and a wealthy-but-more-integrated public school. I could be wrong and disillusioned here, but I feel like DC kids are just DC kids at that point. Happy to hear that I'm wrong, though.


Walls (and the good DCPS middle schools) have less social drama than the privates. The authentic diversity has benefits.


This is true. But the downside of really (really!) underresourced extracurricular activities and sports is a significant drawback, too.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2026 17:17     Subject: Indulge my fantasy - top private vs. Walls
We had this choice last year, kid got into all 3 of these and chose Sidwell. My kid really benefits from and enjoys close relationships with teachers and that seemed like something that may not happen at Walls. We did really like Walls, but not as much as the other two. We were also able to afford it, and the calculation would be very different if money was an issue or it would have been stressful to pay.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2026 17:12     Subject: Indulge my fantasy - top private vs. Walls
Anonymous wrote:Just a quick note to say that at the high school level, I don't know that the social stuff will be different between a wealthy private school and a wealthy-but-more-integrated public school. I could be wrong and disillusioned here, but I feel like DC kids are just DC kids at that point. Happy to hear that I'm wrong, though.


Walls (and the good DCPS middle schools) have less social drama than the privates. The authentic diversity has benefits.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2026 17:08     Subject: Indulge my fantasy - top private vs. Walls
Just a quick note to say that at the high school level, I don't know that the social stuff will be different between a wealthy private school and a wealthy-but-more-integrated public school. I could be wrong and disillusioned here, but I feel like DC kids are just DC kids at that point. Happy to hear that I'm wrong, though.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2026 16:55     Subject: Indulge my fantasy - top private vs. Walls
Anonymous wrote:By posting on the private school thread you're going to get more responses pushing private.

Personally, I think you sound entitled and difficult to deal with and think your kid is better than everybody else. You're clearly one of those parents that the rest of us roll our eyes at.

So, as a DCPS parent, sure, go private and don't let the door hit you in the a$$ on the way out.


Huh? What capable parent with a high-performing kid can *not* have DCPS fatigue?!

I have a kid who chose Walls over big 3 options, and DC is very happy.

But DCPS is still super-frustrating. Their standard is that okay is good enough. Strong students and many DCPS schools succeed despite the drag of Central, but it's work.

Do I think the problems of DCPS are worse than the negatives of private? Not at all. But I can see the grass-is-greener attraction of dealing with a different set of negatives.