Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell’s two campuses have a combined 20 acres (5 in Bethesda, 15 in DC) which is bigger than most public schools and twice the size of GDS’s two “campuses” (10 acres).

The Cathedral schools all share the 60 acres or so of the National Cathedral grounds and the top suburban schools (Prep, Landon, Holton, Madeira, Potomac, Stone Ridge, Episcopal, SSSA) all have large campuses that rival those of small liberal arts colleges.

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Can you explain how having more grass makes a school better?

Athletics

Sidwell has an overwhelming number of kids who participate in the school's athletic program. In recent years, 25-30% of graduating seniors have earned at least 6 varsity letters. Lack of grass doesn't seem to be a problem in this regard.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell’s two campuses have a combined 20 acres (5 in Bethesda, 15 in DC) which is bigger than most public schools and twice the size of GDS’s two “campuses” (10 acres).

The Cathedral schools all share the 60 acres or so of the National Cathedral grounds and the top suburban schools (Prep, Landon, Holton, Madeira, Potomac, Stone Ridge, Episcopal, SSSA) all have large campuses that rival those of small liberal arts colleges.

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Can you explain how having more grass makes a school better?

Athletics

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell’s two campuses have a combined 20 acres (5 in Bethesda, 15 in DC) which is bigger than most public schools and twice the size of GDS’s two “campuses” (10 acres).

The Cathedral schools all share the 60 acres or so of the National Cathedral grounds and the top suburban schools (Prep, Landon, Holton, Madeira, Potomac, Stone Ridge, Episcopal, SSSA) all have large campuses that rival those of small liberal arts colleges.

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Can you explain how having more grass makes a school better?

I’ve wondered about the importance of campus environment too. With the exception of GDS (and perhaps Sidwell) the elite private schools of this area are sitting on real estate gold mines. I was shocked when Georgetown Prep leased less than four acres of a corner of the Prep campus for $888 million over the course of the 99-year lease. That deal (which affected less than 5% of the Prep campus allowed Prep to build a $23 million athletic center. If campus open space isn’t important (as some seem to think), but don’t these schools just sell the open space to bolster the endowment and retreat to a micro campus model like GDS? Unthinkable most would say – but why? What is it about a spacious campus that justifies foregoing the money that could be raised from the land? Prep didn’t even have to sell the land – they leased it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell’s two campuses have a combined 20 acres (5 in Bethesda, 15 in DC) which is bigger than most public schools and twice the size of GDS’s two “campuses” (10 acres).

The Cathedral schools all share the 60 acres or so of the National Cathedral grounds and the top suburban schools (Prep, Landon, Holton, Madeira, Potomac, Stone Ridge, Episcopal, SSSA) all have large campuses that rival those of small liberal arts colleges.

OMG! If the schools has 60+ acres it must be awesome. Sign me up, dude.

Hello GDS parent

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell’s two campuses have a combined 20 acres (5 in Bethesda, 15 in DC) which is bigger than most public schools and twice the size of GDS’s two “campuses” (10 acres).

The Cathedral schools all share the 60 acres or so of the National Cathedral grounds and the top suburban schools (Prep, Landon, Holton, Madeira, Potomac, Stone Ridge, Episcopal, SSSA) all have large campuses that rival those of small liberal arts colleges.

OMG! If the schools has 60+ acres it must be awesome. Sign me up, dude.

Anonymous wrote:Why does anyone care about campus size? It is really a silly discussion.

The notion of an academic campus is almost exclusively Anglo-American. In continental Europe and Asia even the great universities are just classroom buildings in an urban center (a little bit like NYU). That said, spacious campus environments seem to be the main thing that distinguish the facilities of elite college preparatory schools from public high schools.

Why does anyone care about campus size? It is really a silly discussion.

Actually Whitman's campus (31 acres) is more than twice the size of Sidwell's DC campus - Walter Johnson would be a closer comparison.

Sidwell’s two campuses have a combined 20 acres (5 in Bethesda, 15 in DC) which is bigger than most public schools and twice the size of GDS’s two “campuses” (10 acres).

The Cathedral schools all share the 60 acres or so of the National Cathedral grounds and the top suburban schools (Prep, Landon, Holton, Madeira, Potomac, Stone Ridge, Episcopal, SSSA) all have large campuses that rival those of small liberal arts colleges.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Neither school has much of a campus and their are few school traditions. Public-like schools for the rich kids in a city that has horrific public schools.

Both campuses are relatively small, yes, but Sidwell has plenty of school traditions as I imagine GDS and most public schools do.

Sidwell has at least 4 tennis courts, a football field, a field hockey field, a grass soccer field, Nice track. A beautiful new gym. An old gym. I think GDS has a soccer field and a beautiful new gym (but smaller). I would not characterise Sidwells wisconsin ave campus as small.

Whitman has that too -- a solid public school campus.

I thought Sidwell =>GDS=Maret.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell is a lot more like a co/ed Sta than it is like gds

That only makes sense . . . and barely at that . . . if one is perhaps talking about similar teaching styles of some faculty and overall intellectual rigor. Otherwise the cultures of STA and Sidwell are incredibly dissimilar, and both are places where there is a distinct culture that is very important to the soul of the school.

STA is an IAC school. Academics come first, but athletics are important too. Jocks are at the top of the pecking order and the school is a true tradtional all boys school. At the coed MAC schools (Maret, Sidwell,Potomac, St. Andrews, GDS) athletics and competition have been deemphasized and the environment is more sex/drugs/rock & roll for non-jocks. All have superior academics, but the difference in culture, especially at the extremes of STA and GDS is night and day. It’s hard to imagine two more different environments.

If you think that jocks drink less and do fewer drugs than non-jocks, you weren't one in high school.

GDS, of course!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Neither school has much of a campus and their are few school traditions. Public-like schools for the rich kids in a city that has horrific public schools.

Both campuses are relatively small, yes, but Sidwell has plenty of school traditions as I imagine GDS and most public schools do.

Sidwell has at least 4 tennis courts, a football field, a field hockey field, a grass soccer field, Nice track. A beautiful new gym. An old gym. I think GDS has a soccer field and a beautiful new gym (but smaller). I would not characterise Sidwells wisconsin ave campus as small.