Anonymous
01/18/2026 14:04
Subject: How hard is it to get into Potomac?
DMV private schools consider Asians, Middle Eastern kids, etc as URM. Anyone who is not 100% caucasian gets put into their "XX% URM" category. It's weird.
In contrast, colleges view URM as black, hispanic, American Indian. Asians, Middle Eastern, etc are definitely not considered to be URM in their stats.
In contrast, colleges view URM as black, hispanic, American Indian. Asians, Middle Eastern, etc are definitely not considered to be URM in their stats.
Anonymous
01/18/2026 13:51
Subject: How hard is it to get into Potomac?
I think private schools think of international kids as diversity, so parents might be generally white but are European or Middle Eastern.
Anonymous
01/18/2026 13:47
Subject: Re:How hard is it to get into Potomac?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:What demographics do you think they typically need to fill? latin/hispanic?
You would think so, but they don’t need to fill anything
When we toured, there wasn’t much diversity.
Not sure what you saw…
We have 2 kids there. We are POC. US class my daughter is in is about 35% UMR and my 4th grader’s class is about 40% UMR. We feel very comfortable there. Lots of diverse families at the school. Many Asian and South asian families there. Also a decent amount of AA. Not to many Hispanic families though.
Also about admissions, yeah, super hard at 9th. Many recruits come in there, so only really 20 spots of the 30 are for applicants. Most siblings come in at K and 4th. Many siblings get rejected. Best entry year is likely 7th grade as they do not recruit at that grade and there are 20 spots. K is also one to want to try as they start there.
4th, 6th and 9th are super competitive with admit rates around 10%.
Do you mean URM, underrepresented minority? Or what does UMR mean?
I toured the lower school and it was absolutely NOT 40% URM. It looked about 80% white. I did see a few kids who looked mixed or Persian. Middle Easterns I believe are considered white and Asians are not URM.
It probably is 40%. It’s probably just white URM’s accounting for that 40%.
What the heck is a “white URM”??
The white URMs are the majority white people I must have seen during my tour. In the halls and classrooms, it looked mostly white kids and then an Asian kid or two and then one black or mixed race kid. The Asians and black students I saw also looked mixed race. I wasn’t doing a count of kids when I toured.
Anonymous
01/18/2026 13:19
Subject: Re:How hard is it to get into Potomac?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:What demographics do you think they typically need to fill? latin/hispanic?
You would think so, but they don’t need to fill anything
When we toured, there wasn’t much diversity.
Not sure what you saw…
We have 2 kids there. We are POC. US class my daughter is in is about 35% UMR and my 4th grader’s class is about 40% UMR. We feel very comfortable there. Lots of diverse families at the school. Many Asian and South asian families there. Also a decent amount of AA. Not to many Hispanic families though.
Also about admissions, yeah, super hard at 9th. Many recruits come in there, so only really 20 spots of the 30 are for applicants. Most siblings come in at K and 4th. Many siblings get rejected. Best entry year is likely 7th grade as they do not recruit at that grade and there are 20 spots. K is also one to want to try as they start there.
4th, 6th and 9th are super competitive with admit rates around 10%.
Do you mean URM, underrepresented minority? Or what does UMR mean?
I toured the lower school and it was absolutely NOT 40% URM. It looked about 80% white. I did see a few kids who looked mixed or Persian. Middle Easterns I believe are considered white and Asians are not URM.
It probably is 40%. It’s probably just white URM’s accounting for that 40%.
What the heck is a “white URM”??
Anonymous
01/18/2026 13:17
Subject: Re:How hard is it to get into Potomac?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:What demographics do you think they typically need to fill? latin/hispanic?
You would think so, but they don’t need to fill anything
When we toured, there wasn’t much diversity.
Not sure what you saw…
We have 2 kids there. We are POC. US class my daughter is in is about 35% UMR and my 4th grader’s class is about 40% UMR. We feel very comfortable there. Lots of diverse families at the school. Many Asian and South asian families there. Also a decent amount of AA. Not to many Hispanic families though.
Also about admissions, yeah, super hard at 9th. Many recruits come in there, so only really 20 spots of the 30 are for applicants. Most siblings come in at K and 4th. Many siblings get rejected. Best entry year is likely 7th grade as they do not recruit at that grade and there are 20 spots. K is also one to want to try as they start there.
4th, 6th and 9th are super competitive with admit rates around 10%.
Do you mean URM, underrepresented minority? Or what does UMR mean?
I toured the lower school and it was absolutely NOT 40% URM. It looked about 80% white. I did see a few kids who looked mixed or Persian. Middle Easterns I believe are considered white and Asians are not URM.
It probably is 40%. It’s probably just white URM’s accounting for that 40%.
Anonymous
01/18/2026 08:47
Subject: How hard is it to get into Potomac?
Potomac values geographic diversity and has many bus routes to other counties / cities and to MD/DC. Slightly easier admit from MD or DC than from VA.
VA has a fair number of K-8 schools, so 9th grade admissions is competitive at many VA private schools, including Potomac.
VA has a fair number of K-8 schools, so 9th grade admissions is competitive at many VA private schools, including Potomac.
Anonymous
01/17/2026 12:42
Subject: Re:How hard is it to get into Potomac?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:What demographics do you think they typically need to fill? latin/hispanic?
You would think so, but they don’t need to fill anything
When we toured, there wasn’t much diversity.
Not sure what you saw…
We have 2 kids there. We are POC. US class my daughter is in is about 35% UMR and my 4th grader’s class is about 40% UMR. We feel very comfortable there. Lots of diverse families at the school. Many Asian and South asian families there. Also a decent amount of AA. Not to many Hispanic families though.
Also about admissions, yeah, super hard at 9th. Many recruits come in there, so only really 20 spots of the 30 are for applicants. Most siblings come in at K and 4th. Many siblings get rejected. Best entry year is likely 7th grade as they do not recruit at that grade and there are 20 spots. K is also one to want to try as they start there.
4th, 6th and 9th are super competitive with admit rates around 10%.
Do you mean URM, underrepresented minority? Or what does UMR mean?
I toured the lower school and it was absolutely NOT 40% URM. It looked about 80% white. I did see a few kids who looked mixed or Persian. Middle Easterns I believe are considered white and Asians are not URM.
Hence my questions to the pp who used the term UMR, which still stand.
Anonymous
01/17/2026 12:41
Subject: Re:How hard is it to get into Potomac?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:What demographics do you think they typically need to fill? latin/hispanic?
You would think so, but they don’t need to fill anything
When we toured, there wasn’t much diversity.
Hence my questions to the pp who used the term UMR, which still stand.
Not sure what you saw…
We have 2 kids there. We are POC. US class my daughter is in is about 35% UMR and my 4th grader’s class is about 40% UMR. We feel very comfortable there. Lots of diverse families at the school. Many Asian and South asian families there. Also a decent amount of AA. Not to many Hispanic families though.
Also about admissions, yeah, super hard at 9th. Many recruits come in there, so only really 20 spots of the 30 are for applicants. Most siblings come in at K and 4th. Many siblings get rejected. Best entry year is likely 7th grade as they do not recruit at that grade and there are 20 spots. K is also one to want to try as they start there.
4th, 6th and 9th are super competitive with admit rates around 10%.
Do you mean URM, underrepresented minority? Or what does UMR mean?
I toured the lower school and it was absolutely NOT 40% URM. It looked about 80% white. I did see a few kids who looked mixed or Persian. Middle Easterns I believe are considered white and Asians are not URM.
Anonymous
01/17/2026 12:33
Subject: Re:How hard is it to get into Potomac?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:What demographics do you think they typically need to fill? latin/hispanic?
You would think so, but they don’t need to fill anything
When we toured, there wasn’t much diversity.
Not sure what you saw…
We have 2 kids there. We are POC. US class my daughter is in is about 35% UMR and my 4th grader’s class is about 40% UMR. We feel very comfortable there. Lots of diverse families at the school. Many Asian and South asian families there. Also a decent amount of AA. Not to many Hispanic families though.
Also about admissions, yeah, super hard at 9th. Many recruits come in there, so only really 20 spots of the 30 are for applicants. Most siblings come in at K and 4th. Many siblings get rejected. Best entry year is likely 7th grade as they do not recruit at that grade and there are 20 spots. K is also one to want to try as they start there.
4th, 6th and 9th are super competitive with admit rates around 10%.
Do you mean URM, underrepresented minority? Or what does UMR mean?
I toured the lower school and it was absolutely NOT 40% URM. It looked about 80% white. I did see a few kids who looked mixed or Persian. Middle Easterns I believe are considered white and Asians are not URM.
Anonymous
01/17/2026 12:21
Subject: Re:How hard is it to get into Potomac?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:What demographics do you think they typically need to fill? latin/hispanic?
You would think so, but they don’t need to fill anything
When we toured, there wasn’t much diversity.
Not sure what you saw…
We have 2 kids there. We are POC. US class my daughter is in is about 35% UMR and my 4th grader’s class is about 40% UMR. We feel very comfortable there. Lots of diverse families at the school. Many Asian and South asian families there. Also a decent amount of AA. Not to many Hispanic families though.
Also about admissions, yeah, super hard at 9th. Many recruits come in there, so only really 20 spots of the 30 are for applicants. Most siblings come in at K and 4th. Many siblings get rejected. Best entry year is likely 7th grade as they do not recruit at that grade and there are 20 spots. K is also one to want to try as they start there.
4th, 6th and 9th are super competitive with admit rates around 10%.
Do you mean URM, underrepresented minority? Or what does UMR mean?
And if you mean URM, are you just using that interchangeably with POC? Asians are often considered an overrepresented minority.
Anonymous
01/17/2026 12:18
Subject: Re:How hard is it to get into Potomac?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:What demographics do you think they typically need to fill? latin/hispanic?
You would think so, but they don’t need to fill anything
When we toured, there wasn’t much diversity.
Not sure what you saw…
We have 2 kids there. We are POC. US class my daughter is in is about 35% UMR and my 4th grader’s class is about 40% UMR. We feel very comfortable there. Lots of diverse families at the school. Many Asian and South asian families there. Also a decent amount of AA. Not to many Hispanic families though.
Also about admissions, yeah, super hard at 9th. Many recruits come in there, so only really 20 spots of the 30 are for applicants. Most siblings come in at K and 4th. Many siblings get rejected. Best entry year is likely 7th grade as they do not recruit at that grade and there are 20 spots. K is also one to want to try as they start there.
4th, 6th and 9th are super competitive with admit rates around 10%.
Do you mean URM, underrepresented minority? Or what does UMR mean?
Anonymous
01/17/2026 11:02
Subject: Re:How hard is it to get into Potomac?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:What demographics do you think they typically need to fill? latin/hispanic?
You would think so, but they don’t need to fill anything
When we toured, there wasn’t much diversity.
Not sure what you saw…
We have 2 kids there. We are POC. US class my daughter is in is about 35% UMR and my 4th grader’s class is about 40% UMR. We feel very comfortable there. Lots of diverse families at the school. Many Asian and South asian families there. Also a decent amount of AA. Not to many Hispanic families though.
Also about admissions, yeah, super hard at 9th. Many recruits come in there, so only really 20 spots of the 30 are for applicants. Most siblings come in at K and 4th. Many siblings get rejected. Best entry year is likely 7th grade as they do not recruit at that grade and there are 20 spots. K is also one to want to try as they start there.
4th, 6th and 9th are super competitive with admit rates around 10%.
Anonymous
01/17/2026 00:22
Subject: How hard is it to get into Potomac?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Not as hard as Sidwell GDS NCS St Albans and Maret.
I think it’s harder than those schools. Atleast it was for us.
Agree. Same for us.
Anonymous
01/16/2026 21:06
Subject: Re:How hard is it to get into Potomac?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:What demographics do you think they typically need to fill? latin/hispanic?
You would think so, but they don’t need to fill anything
When we toured, there wasn’t much diversity.
You can believe they had what they wanted. For high school years they may try to bring in a more diverse student body.
Anonymous
01/16/2026 21:02
Subject: How hard is it to get into Potomac?
Anonymous wrote:Not as hard as Sidwell GDS NCS St Albans and Maret.
I think it’s harder than those schools. Atleast it was for us.