I went to Whitman and chose WJ district for my kids. We're not there yet so can't speak to it (and who knows, might move before then). But I love our neighborhood in the Kensington Parkwood school district--tons of kids on our block who play together; walking distance to a pool, great elementary school, and an active PTA. A nice mix of families (SAHM/D, WAHM/D, WOHM/D, and other combinations). Very similar to the neighborhood I grew up in when I went to Bethesda Elementary. Now when I go through my old neighborhood, the houses are huge, I rarely see kids playing outside and many parents send their kids to the privates.

I had some great teachers at Whitman but I also had some horrible ones. The Principal/administration was fine, but many teachers just weren't inspiring. The student body was quite homogeneous and there was quite a sense of entitlement. Just look at the students' cars parked in the lot.

I believe my kids will be what they will be at any school. I do believe that as a parent I need to be active and involved in their education and help them work to their strengths and help them overcome their weaknesses. So I chose to pick our school district based on the neighborhood--is it (relatively) safe? are there lots of kids? do we have easy access, preferably walking, to parks and other recreational activities? do we fit in as a family? does our community have community events? if so, are they low-key and about meeting neighbors, not showing them up? for example, to join our pool, you move into the neighborhood, get on the waitlist (1-2 year wait) and pay a reasonable joining fee. At the neighborhood pool where I grew up, you had to be sponsored and the joining fee was/is significantly higher. You could also get on the waitlist but I think it was like 5-8 years to get in.

Anonymous wrote:I currently live in MOCO, near the Glenmont Metro. As I'm sure most of you know, this is in the DownCounty Consortium with Wheaton as the base school. Obviously not our first choice of schools, but we bought before we had kids with the intention of moving before they (when they appeared) entered school. That time has come, and now my husband seems stuck on wanting to move into Whitman, Churchill, or Wootton. I'm trying to convince him that Walter Johnson and BCC should also be on our list, and possibly Richard Montgomery as well. We definitely want out of the DCC, but want to stay as close in as possible (so no to poolesville). I don't think we can afford the schools he wants, but he seems willing to sacrifice things that we have said are must haves in order to get into Whitman in particular. For example, both of us have hobbies that are based in the kitchen. We currently have a galley kitchen and HATE it. We have both said many times that whenever we move we must have more space in the kitchen. We live on a busy street (Georgia) and we HATE it. The noise makes it impossible to sleep with any windows open. Yet now he is trying to sell me on a house on a busy street with a galley kitchen that is somehow even smaller than what we currently have. He thinks that the sacrifice is worth it to get into Whitman. Any advice for how to convince him that these schools are not the only place on earth where our kids can succeed? Sure, great schools are wonderful, but the tradeoff between having a house that meets our needs is not worth it.

Interesting mix. IMO BCC is far preferable to Wooten, and churchill, while mostly rich kids, is just okay. I think WJ has gotten much better too. But then again, i went to whitman. If i was looking at MoCo, id suffer from similar biases as your husband, but would be looking at whitman, bcc, and then wj. But then again, i prefer living close in.

what does "non-hooked" mean?

Op, Bethesda magazine has stats on college acceptances from area schools - it's published every September I think. Get acces to the archives if you really want a sense of trends. Whitman does very well, so does Churchill and blair at some great schools. Bcc isn't far behind, WJ always seems to underperform, Wooten does great. It is all self reported so who knows how accurate it is, but it may help your husband broaden his horizons.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blair had 54 applicants, 6 admissions in 2012

Blair magnet program. Brilliant kids.

yes, agree

cure for cancer

I have a friend who used t say that the only non-hooked kids getting into the Ivies either: 1) come from extreme poverty or other unusually challenging circumstances, 2) started their own nonprofit in high school, or 3) built their own nuclear reactor in their family's garage.

You forgot another possibility:

4) brought peace to the Middle East

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blair had 54 applicants, 6 admissions in 2012

Blair magnet program. Brilliant kids.

yes, agree

cure for cancer

I have a friend who used t say that the only non-hooked kids getting into the Ivies either: 1) come from extreme poverty or other unusually challenging circumstances, 2) started their own nonprofit in high school, or 3) built their own nuclear reactor in their family's garage.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blair had 54 applicants, 6 admissions in 2012

Blair magnet program. Brilliant kids.

yes, agree

cure for cancer

Blair cannot be compared to the W's or BCC; the magnet program really skews the stats. If you eliminated the magnet kids it's a very different story.

I think the differences between Wooten, BCC, Whitman and Churchill are somewhat exaggerated. They are more alike than they are different.

Anonymous wrote:Blair had 54 applicants, 6 admissions in 2012

Blair magnet program. Brilliant kids.

Blair had 54 applicants, 6 admissions in 2012