Anonymous
Post 05/08/2020 10:45     Subject: Which area (to include Baltimore) all boys private has the most national recognition?
Honest answer when I moved here - DeMatha because they were so dominant in sports, and Sidwell because Chelsea Clinton went there. That is it, and I went to a prominent prep school near Philly.
Anonymous
Post 05/08/2020 10:44     Subject: Which area (to include Baltimore) all boys private has the most national recognition?
STA does not have a national reputation, sorry. The only schools that do are Phillips Exeter, Andover, and Choate. A few other schools people may know nationally are Deerfield, Hotchkiss, Middlesex, Groton, Northfield Mt. Hermon, Taft, Ethel Walker, and Miss Porter's. Out west the upper and upper middle class have only really heard of these top schools because they are boarding schools and people will consider sending their kids there for high school. STA is not even on their radar. Its boarding program is insignificant and not attractive to most people, especially anyone nationally.
Anonymous
Post 05/08/2020 10:11     Subject: Re:Which area (to include Baltimore) all boys private has the most national recognition?
Anonymous wrote:In the old traditional prep world, St. Albans and Gilman would both have been known. Because it was that world. The kind of family who lived in DC and sent their sons to STA would have gone to Gilman had they lived in Baltimore, and the graduates of both schools hung out with each other when they matriculated at college, and married the sisters and so forth. Every major American city has 1-2 private schools that fits this category. This world largely doesn't exist these days outside small circles but it is why among certain sets in every city you will find people who know the other schools by reputation even if they may have never set foot in the respective cities.

I didn't come from that world, but I graduated from an Ivy in 2002 and by the end of my first year I pretty much knew the names of all the major private schools across America through osmosis, not because I set out to know what they were. You just pick it up. I've never been to Cleveland but I know of Hathaway Brown and University. Or Blake in Minneapolis. Or Pembroke in Kansas City. Names that are all vaguely familiar to me as the good private schools of those places.

The mistake is thinking national reputation is meaningful. It's not.


I agree with this 100% and it's my experience as well.

Really, the only nationally known schools are Andover, Exeter and maybe Groton, Hotchkiss, Choate and St. Paul's. And even then it's more likely to be UMC people and up who have heard of them.
Anonymous
Post 05/08/2020 09:19     Subject: Which area (to include Baltimore) all boys private has the most national recognition?
Gilman is a great school, DH went there and DS probably will as well. As far as I know, that only means something in Baltimore.
Anonymous
Post 05/08/2020 09:10     Subject: Which area (to include Baltimore) all boys private has the most national recognition?
why on earth would a k-12 regional institution have a "national" reputation. Unless someone you went to college with went to one of the high schools we are talking about, or a movie was made about the school, or a book, why would a school register with ANYONE.

I guess, someone needs to revamp the Preppy Handbook, because we are all completely adrift and have no idea where to send our children without its guidance.

This has to be one of the more painful examples of misguided parenting I've seen on DCUM. Relying on "national prestige" to pick a k-12 school for your child instead of focusing on what is right for YOUR child and your family is not going to end well.
Anonymous
Post 05/07/2020 11:08     Subject: Re:Which area (to include Baltimore) all boys private has the most national recognition?
Anonymous wrote:In the old traditional prep world, St. Albans and Gilman would both have been known. Because it was that world. The kind of family who lived in DC and sent their sons to STA would have gone to Gilman had they lived in Baltimore, and the graduates of both schools hung out with each other when they matriculated at college, and married the sisters and so forth. Every major American city has 1-2 private schools that fits this category. This world largely doesn't exist these days outside small circles but it is why among certain sets in every city you will find people who know the other schools by reputation even if they may have never set foot in the respective cities.

I didn't come from that world, but I graduated from an Ivy in 2002 and by the end of my first year I pretty much knew the names of all the major private schools across America through osmosis, not because I set out to know what they were. You just pick it up. I've never been to Cleveland but I know of Hathaway Brown and University. Or Blake in Minneapolis. Or Pembroke in Kansas City. Names that are all vaguely familiar to me as the good private schools of those places.

The mistake is thinking national reputation is meaningful. It's not.


But that isn't actually a "national reputation." That is simply a truth that wealthy and privileged people know where other wealthy and privileged people went to private school, and if you happen to exist on the outer hem of that inner circle of wealth, you learn that info by and by as well. I agree that it is not meaningful (unless you are interested in wealthy lifestyles), and that it has nothing to do with academics.
Anonymous
Post 05/07/2020 10:42     Subject: Re:Which area (to include Baltimore) all boys private has the most national recognition?
In the old traditional prep world, St. Albans and Gilman would both have been known. Because it was that world. The kind of family who lived in DC and sent their sons to STA would have gone to Gilman had they lived in Baltimore, and the graduates of both schools hung out with each other when they matriculated at college, and married the sisters and so forth. Every major American city has 1-2 private schools that fits this category. This world largely doesn't exist these days outside small circles but it is why among certain sets in every city you will find people who know the other schools by reputation even if they may have never set foot in the respective cities.

I didn't come from that world, but I graduated from an Ivy in 2002 and by the end of my first year I pretty much knew the names of all the major private schools across America through osmosis, not because I set out to know what they were. You just pick it up. I've never been to Cleveland but I know of Hathaway Brown and University. Or Blake in Minneapolis. Or Pembroke in Kansas City. Names that are all vaguely familiar to me as the good private schools of those places.

The mistake is thinking national reputation is meaningful. It's not.
Anonymous
Post 05/07/2020 10:32     Subject: Which area (to include Baltimore) all boys private has the most national recognition?
Very few high schools have national "reputations" unless they are famous for something like really famous and wealthy alumni or a scandal. None of that has anything to do with academics.
Anonymous
Post 05/07/2020 07:59     Subject: Re:Which area (to include Baltimore) all boys private has the most national recognition?
Anonymous wrote:Gilman has a national reputation


Reputation for what?
Anonymous
Post 05/07/2020 07:58     Subject: Which area (to include Baltimore) all boys private has the most national recognition?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I live in DC and have never heard of Dematha so probably not that one


If you had grown up here, you would know about it.


It’s known as a basketball factory.....I assume the OP was inquiring about academic reputation.
Anonymous
Post 05/07/2020 01:06     Subject: Which area (to include Baltimore) all boys private has the most national recognition?
Anonymous wrote:Dematha is probably most recognized


Bless your heart.
Anonymous
Post 05/06/2020 20:18     Subject: Re:Which area (to include Baltimore) all boys private has the most national recognition?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Gilman has a national reputation


Where's that?


Baltimore
Anonymous
Post 05/06/2020 11:53     Subject: Re:Which area (to include Baltimore) all boys private has the most national recognition?
Anonymous wrote:Gilman has a national reputation


Where's that?
Anonymous
Post 05/06/2020 11:49     Subject: Re:Which area (to include Baltimore) all boys private has the most national recognition?
Gilman has a national reputation
Anonymous
Post 05/06/2020 11:48     Subject: Which area (to include Baltimore) all boys private has the most national recognition?
Anonymous wrote:I live in DC and have never heard of Dematha so probably not that one


If you had grown up here, you would know about it.