Anonymous
Post 10/22/2025 18:44     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I find it a bit disheartening that only St Albans and St Anselms Abbey require 4 years of math. Girls and co-Ed schools keep it at 3 years. I’m sure many students go over the graduation requirements, but perhaps the bottom 20% of the class is weaker in math.


Where are you getting this? And regardless, I’m guessing 98-99% of Big3/Top 5 school students are taking four years of math .. because that is what the top 50 colleges expect …


Look up each school’s graduation requirements. 3 years math for the named schools. Gotta bail out the weaker students.


Requirements are one thing, but practice is another. I teach and advise at one of these schools and about 95% of students take four years of math, ending with calculus, higher level math (mutivariable), or AP stats. This is what may colleges want to see on transcripts, or so we're told, especially for STEM kids.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2025 17:59     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
Anonymous wrote: Those schools select good test takers and strong students.

Maybe for 9th grade admissions, but for the vast majority of the students who joined well before then, it's about their parents and whether they have a sibling at the school already.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2025 17:12     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
The number of NMSF is not an indicator of “academics” like this post was asking about. If that were the case many of the top privates have subpar academics.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2025 14:02     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The psat literally means nothing for most.

Really? I thought DCUM was full of so-called donut hole families who likely could use any scholarship money their kids can get.


No. That’s just the St Anselms Abbey crew.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2025 13:50     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
Anonymous wrote:The psat literally means nothing for most.

Really? I thought DCUM was full of so-called donut hole families who likely could use any scholarship money their kids can get.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2025 13:47     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
Congrats to your awesome srandarized test takers! I not interested in the school teaching the test. I would like them to focus on critical thinking and in class work. But you might be pro AP. I’m not. Different strokes for different folks.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2025 13:43     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
Anonymous wrote:You do realize that there are kids at all schools training for the psat, esp the kids that need the money. They have taken the sat multiple times before they sit for the past. Most kids do not care and put little effort into it. This is really a nothing burger and is centered around the few who are going for it. Or have intense home lives. The psat literally means nothing for most.

Without any “training” both my kids (who attended schools on the list) started with a 1500 on the first practice test. It’s not all about training. Those schools select good test takers and strong students. In addition, the schools do a good job of teaching skills that are on the SAT, such as grammar, inferences, trig, etc.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2025 13:37     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
You do realize that there are kids at all schools training for the psat, esp the kids that need the money. They have taken the sat multiple times before they sit for the past. Most kids do not care and put little effort into it. This is really a nothing burger and is centered around the few who are going for it. Or have intense home lives. The psat literally means nothing for most.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2025 13:07     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If one is "pretty bad," how would you describe STA's two?


Not great either. But people shell out 55K a year for all sorts of reasons, and academic performance isn't always top of the list.


But this post is asking about academics.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2025 12:38     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
Anonymous wrote:Always love people trying to jam Maret into the same category as SFS/STA/GDS when it simply isn't.

Good oversall school, but different league.


I posted the same thing. It’s a great school but it isn’t those. Whatever though. I think Maret people are insecure.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2025 12:36     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
Always love people trying to jam Maret into the same category as SFS/STA/GDS when it simply isn't.

Good oversall school, but different league.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2025 11:01     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If one is "pretty bad," how would you describe STA's two?


Not great either. But people shell out 55K a year for all sorts of reasons, and academic performance isn't always top of the list.

So why doesn’t that defense apply to Maret as well?
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2025 11:00     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
Anonymous wrote:If one is "pretty bad," how would you describe STA's two?


Not great either. But people shell out 55K a year for all sorts of reasons, and academic performance isn't always top of the list.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2025 08:28     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
If one is "pretty bad," how would you describe STA's two?
Anonymous
Post 10/21/2025 23:12     Subject: Re:Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:1. BIM
2. Sidwell
3. GDS
4. STA/NCS
5. Maret


Agreed!

Maret doesn't belong in this list


+1 Maret produced 1 National Merit Semifinalist this year. That's pretty bad.