Anonymous wrote:My son actually left the school last year - it was too PC for us.

Hmmm elaborate. What was the issue?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Consider a place like Burke or Field.

Or Capitol Hill Day School.

There is no HS there.

An appropriately challenging program for an ACT 35 or 36 kid is high stress for a 26 or 27 kid. All these schools have faster and slower tracks to accommodate those differences. It is annoying to have a set of schools being characterized as "pressure cookers" by parents whose kids need a slower pace and prefer to be surrounded by others also requiring a slower pace ... That's a reasonable requirement, but why the pejorative description of what works really well for others?

My son actually left the school last year - it was too PC for us.

Looks like someone didn't get in.

Maret is not in the same sentence as STA or Sidwell or NCS.

If it were not located in Woodley Park, no one would care much about it.

It's on par with Potomac - maybe a little less

Anonymous wrote:I think it's ridiculous that Maret was founded as a French school, but doesn't teach French anymore in the younger grades.

In today's market a DC Private can consider itself doing well if it has managed to evolve its mission to meet the demands of local parents.

Those schools that have not, have closed

^ agree. I think a block schedule really helps the kids manage the high school workload. Not every high school offers a block schedule. 45 minutes of homework per subject per night makes a huge difference if you have a traditional schedule or a block schedule. Schools that do not offer a block schedule (like Sidwell) will say that each subject will have one homework free night during freshman year. But that's not the cast from Sophomore - Senior year. So if you have a block schedule with 4-5 classes vs. a traditional schedule with 7, that CAN be an additional 1 1/2 hours of homework per night.

Anonymous wrote:It is not pressure cooker in the sense of Sidwell or STA/NCS, where the workload is staggering. It does become a pressure cooker in high school, as competition increases between students to elbow everyone else out of the way to land the "Maret slot" at X top college. Maret doesn't place as many kids in X top college as Sidwell or STA/NCS, so it can become very cuthroat and unpleasant.

OP please talk to these schools about their homework policies before turning them away completely. My DD is at NCS and her workload is not staggering. We are new this year but I understand the school has made changes over the years to improve on this front (block scheduling, homework time limits, etc). She does a Varsity sport year round and has enough time in the evening to get her work done and relax. She has very supportive teachers who are always available to help her sort something out. The biggest change I have seen in her is that she has learned to advocate for herself and manage her time wisely. She could not be happier.

Anonymous wrote:To OP, there isn't a private high school that isn't a pressure cooker to some degree. Similarly, for the kids on the college track, there isn't a public school that isn't, either.

Best comment on this thread. My kids have experienced both - one at Top 3 private and one in public HS. Sames pressures in both environments. However, personally as parents we do not pressure our children about grades and college admissions so maybe they don't feel it as much as other kids. We don't care where our kids go to college as long as they are prepared for whichever college they choose. Right now it's our private school kid who is more prepared but of course we pay $ for that so I would expect that outcome.

All of the independent schools with type A parents who expect top tier colleges for their kids are pressure cookers. Maret is among the group that fits this bill.

Maret is a lovely school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not pressure cooker in the sense of Sidwell or STA/NCS, where the workload is staggering. It does become a pressure cooker in high school, as competition increases between students to elbow everyone else out of the way to land the "Maret slot" at X top college. Maret doesn't place as many kids in X top college as Sidwell or STA/NCS, so it can become very cuthroat and unpleasant.

This simply isn't true. I grew tired of people making things up on this site.

What exactly isn't true? That it's not a pressure cooker?

Anonymous wrote:It is not pressure cooker in the sense of Sidwell or STA/NCS, where the workload is staggering. It does become a pressure cooker in high school, as competition increases between students to elbow everyone else out of the way to land the "Maret slot" at X top college. Maret doesn't place as many kids in X top college as Sidwell or STA/NCS, so it can become very cuthroat and unpleasant.

This simply isn't true. I grew tired of people making things up on this site.

Maret: you won't pressure cook but you'll definitely get baked.