Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, having grown up here and gone to another W school (WJ), I would choose BCC in a heartbeat. I knew way too many kids who found Whitman to be a complete pressure cooker, and the whiteness of it is completely unappealing. If we were to move for schools, I would actively avoid Whitman and Churchill. I know that's an unpopular opinion among many, but there it is. And no, it's not some kind of sour grapes or feeling like my HS was less than (who really cares about that, anyway), it's that I want quality education with some measure of diversity for my kids. Almost all of the families/kids I know who moved to the Whitman district exclusively for the schools are complete snobs, and I have no patience for that.

That is such a load of crap. You can find plenty of down-to-earth friendly people in both districts and you can find snobs in either. Hell, the parts of BCC right around downtown are generally more expensive than a comparable house in the Whitman district because the BCC house is more walkable.

BCC does have more FARMS and BCC has more true MC than Whitman. (Parts of Whitman are DCUM MC.) But both schools have a lot of UMC/wealthy and the idea that Whitman is snobbier is just silly.

Reread what I said: the ones who insist on Whitman only, over, say, WJ or BCC, are snobs. I'm not talking about people who take myriad variables into the equation, e.g., the OP's concern about commute. But I know plenty of people who are Whitman are bust, and to them little else matters, and I stand by what I said.

Do you always argue over meaningless trivia?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, having grown up here and gone to another W school (WJ), I would choose BCC in a heartbeat. I knew way too many kids who found Whitman to be a complete pressure cooker, and the whiteness of it is completely unappealing. If we were to move for schools, I would actively avoid Whitman and Churchill. I know that's an unpopular opinion among many, but there it is. And no, it's not some kind of sour grapes or feeling like my HS was less than (who really cares about that, anyway), it's that I want quality education with some measure of diversity for my kids. Almost all of the families/kids I know who moved to the Whitman district exclusively for the schools are complete snobs, and I have no patience for that.

That is such a load of crap. You can find plenty of down-to-earth friendly people in both districts and you can find snobs in either. Hell, the parts of BCC right around downtown are generally more expensive than a comparable house in the Whitman district because the BCC house is more walkable.

BCC does have more FARMS and BCC has more true MC than Whitman. (Parts of Whitman are DCUM MC.) But both schools have a lot of UMC/wealthy and the idea that Whitman is snobbier is just silly.

Reread what I said: the ones who insist on Whitman only, over, say, WJ or BCC, are snobs. I'm not talking about people who take myriad variables into the equation, e.g., the OP's concern about commute. But I know plenty of people who are Whitman are bust, and to them little else matters, and I stand by what I said.

Anonymous wrote:OP, having grown up here and gone to another W school (WJ), I would choose BCC in a heartbeat. I knew way too many kids who found Whitman to be a complete pressure cooker, and the whiteness of it is completely unappealing. If we were to move for schools, I would actively avoid Whitman and Churchill. I know that's an unpopular opinion among many, but there it is. And no, it's not some kind of sour grapes or feeling like my HS was less than (who really cares about that, anyway), it's that I want quality education with some measure of diversity for my kids. Almost all of the families/kids I know who moved to the Whitman district exclusively for the schools are complete snobs, and I have no patience for that.

That is such a load of crap. You can find plenty of down-to-earth friendly people in both districts and you can find snobs in either. Hell, the parts of BCC right around downtown are generally more expensive than a comparable house in the Whitman district because the BCC house is more walkable.

BCC does have more FARMS and BCC has more true MC than Whitman. (Parts of Whitman are DCUM MC.) But both schools have a lot of UMC/wealthy and the idea that Whitman is snobbier is just silly.

OP, having grown up here and gone to another W school (WJ), I would choose BCC in a heartbeat. I knew way too many kids who found Whitman to be a complete pressure cooker, and the whiteness of it is completely unappealing. If we were to move for schools, I would actively avoid Whitman and Churchill. I know that's an unpopular opinion among many, but there it is. And no, it's not some kind of sour grapes or feeling like my HS was less than (who really cares about that, anyway), it's that I want quality education with some measure of diversity for my kids. Almost all of the families/kids I know who moved to the Whitman district exclusively for the schools are complete snobs, and I have no patience for that.

OP, we don't have kids at either school but we bought in the BCC cluster and went through the same thought process that you are now. We have preschoolers and decided to prioritize commutes to our jobs and the elementary school since we are so many years from high school. A lot about schools can change in twelve years and our ES (Somerset) seems great. I think Westland and BCC will also work out for us, but we will know more about our kids and their personalities by then and can adjust if necessary by going private. We have been really happy with our choice so far. The commute downtown is very easy.

We picked a house in BCC because we liked the neighborhood better-- the walkable part was more affordable, plus our neighborhood has a nice feel/spirit.

Given the choice of swapping BCC and Whitman and keeping our house I'm not sure which I would choose. I think the IB program is a great option. I think greater diversity is nice in theory (not sure how much difference there is within the IB program). I hear Whitman is more pressure packed (but again not sure how different it is from the IB program).

Cocaine v pot

Whitman is superior because it's WHITE. haha - please don't come to BCC

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I'd rather not get into a debate about other schools besides Whitman and BCC. I fully appreciate strengths of all of the other schools, but for location purposes, I am just considering Whitman and BCC cluster areas. Thanks.

well sounds like you want the white school or you would be looking at the other ones which are better than both.

Thanks for the snark, PP. I am not looking for "the white school." I am looking to balance my family's commute time downtown for work, so that I can minimize time away from home and maximize my involvement with my children's daily events. It's a simple fact that these two schools are the closest into the city. I appreciate the first poster who explained her experience and her sister's at BCC. More feedback like that would be helpful.

If it is about commuting then go with blair, you will be home in 15 minutes. but willing to bet it really isn't about that.

NP here, give it a rest already. We have so far had a sincere OP and a very sincere response. Following that has just been sniping and nonsense. Both are good schools. As PP said, one is more diverse and the other less diverse, for good and bad. One is more centrally located and the other more suburban, for good and bad. And on and on.

OP doesn't want to hear about the "best" school or program in the county. Just about the relative merits of the two.

For my own take, we decided on BCC cluster over Whitman because ease of commuting. We thought an edge neighborhood near downtown Bethesda offered us the best quality of life. We have years to go before hitting HS, but its been okay so far.

I think generally, the biggest concern is just that schools don't stay static and who knows what they will be like 10 years from now. While unlikely to completely deteriorate in a decade, we do have concerns about all the development in downtown Bethesda as well as Chevy Chase Lake and overcrowding. On the other side, Whitman has the Westbard issue, but what is happening in the BCC cluster is on another scale.

Another issue to consider with the BCC cluster is that it one of the most transient student populations in the area. For example, turnover at Bradley Hills ES is like 1%, turnover at our ES is like 10%. If you value your child growing up with a stable group of kids who they will know for a long time, the Whitman cluster might be better.

At our ES, many families are starting to whisper about moving, even just blocks away for Whitman, or going private. It's a major concern and something that you should be aware of.

On the other hand, I have a colleague at work whose DD went to Whitman and he said it not a good fit for her at all. Too much pressure and she didn't feel like she fit in. She hung in there and graduated, but they seriously thought about other options.

For our family, it is a tough choice. We value the diversity in our cluster and value our quality of life to be able to walk to the Imagination Stage on a whim for a show and lots of other activities. But, at least at the ES level, I think we may have been happier if we were in the Bradley Hills boundary. Still very close in, but Whitman cluster.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I'd rather not get into a debate about other schools besides Whitman and BCC. I fully appreciate strengths of all of the other schools, but for location purposes, I am just considering Whitman and BCC cluster areas. Thanks.

well sounds like you want the white school or you would be looking at the other ones which are better than both.

Thanks for the snark, PP. I am not looking for "the white school." I am looking to balance my family's commute time downtown for work, so that I can minimize time away from home and maximize my involvement with my children's daily events. It's a simple fact that these two schools are the closest into the city. I appreciate the first poster who explained her experience and her sister's at BCC. More feedback like that would be helpful.

If it is about commuting then go with blair, you will be home in 15 minutes. but willing to bet it really isn't about that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have two students at BCC now and the post above largely reflects our experience. BCC is more diverse, location is much better for the students and academics seem similar. Have one child in IB and for her, it is ideal.

Academics are not similar in terms of test results, graduations rates and many other measurable metrics but fell free to claim they are. I will give you it is unclear how much of that disparity is the token amount of low income students bused in from Silver Spring but it should be noted BCC is statistically behind other schools that are actually located in Silver Spring and have a much higher percentage of Silver Spring kids. Whitman is superior in just about every metric but if you boil it down to like for like experiences, I am sure a wealthy driven student would be fine at both. Here is a link to recent SAT results where BCC finished 8th even against schools with higher FARMS rates and Whitman as always finished number 1 even over the highly touted Magnet schools. Whitman is doing something right.

http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Beat/2015/Schools-Highest-SAT-Scores/1/

RMIB magnet kids avg SAT is almost 350 pts higher than Whitman. You don't want to go there.

Does that mean that the rest of RM kids are really dumb to pull the averages down to the point where the school barely cracked the Top 5 for the county? Or are you stating that when you compare the few smartest kids in RM to an average of almost 2000 kids that it makes few look smarter? I am sure if you took the top couple of scores from Whitman they would do just fine if not beat any RM or Blair magnet scores. What we are talking about isn't how a school treats it's best students but rather the entire student body.

Bring it on bud.