Anonymous
Post 11/06/2025 18:42     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:None of you have any idea if schools themselves turned students into top 1% test-takers, or if they were already that way from the start.


This. Correlation is not causality.


but why do all the best students keep picking the same schools?


Laugh. Disagree with the premise. DCUM can't even agree on which schools are "Big 3".
Anonymous
Post 11/06/2025 16:59     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:None of you have any idea if schools themselves turned students into top 1% test-takers, or if they were already that way from the start.


This. Correlation is not causality.


but why do all the best students keep picking the same schools?


Because, despite their excellent test taking skills, those students have not yet learned to differentiate correlation and causation. Understandable, but not a (positive) indication of the quality of the academics at the schools they pick.
Anonymous
Post 11/06/2025 16:50     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Why isn’t anyone talking about Veritas?

The families of the Veritas community probably don’t frequent DCUM.


Their priorities are not very closely aligned with DCUM priorities
Anonymous
Post 11/06/2025 16:49     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:None of you have any idea if schools themselves turned students into top 1% test-takers, or if they were already that way from the start.


This. Correlation is not causality.


but why do all the best students keep picking the same schools?
Anonymous
Post 11/06/2025 16:49     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
Anonymous wrote:Folks here seem to be confusing how difficult a school is to get into with the strength of its academic programming. It should be no surprise that kids who excel at the former become excellent test-takers who ace the PSATs & SATs, get into elite colleges, etc. But that says nothing about the quality of academics at the school they attend.

Correlation does not imply causation, full stop.


There is no reason why all the highest scoring students pick the same schools?
Anonymous
Post 11/04/2025 21:43     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
Anonymous wrote:Why isn’t anyone talking about Veritas?

The families of the Veritas community probably don’t frequent DCUM.
Anonymous
Post 11/04/2025 21:35     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
Anonymous wrote:None of you have any idea if schools themselves turned students into top 1% test-takers, or if they were already that way from the start.


This. Correlation is not causality.
Anonymous
Post 11/04/2025 13:32     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
Anonymous wrote:WIS offers the hardest high school diploma anyone can obtain. The dual IB diploma. And the school has kids in top colleges in the US and around the world.

So I would definitely have them in the top five.


+1

WIS is the only school in the DC area that gives students the chance to earn an IB Bilingual Diploma, an extremely challenging course of study. The school's curriculum is focused on IB success, not on SAT/PSAT/ACT success. And not all of its students even take the usual US college application tests because many are applying instead to foreign universities. To evaluate the success of the school's academic programming, you should be looking at the percentage of WIS seniors who achieve an IB Bilingual Diploma, and that is extraordinarily high every year.
Anonymous
Post 11/02/2025 15:24     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
Anonymous wrote:Why isn’t anyone talking about Veritas?


I’d be curious to hear from parents whose kids have actually attended or are attending there.
Anonymous
Post 11/02/2025 11:59     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
Why isn’t anyone talking about Veritas?
Anonymous
Post 11/02/2025 10:24     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
Anonymous wrote:1. Maret
2. Whittle


Top schools not the ones at the bottom.
Anonymous
Post 11/02/2025 09:34     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:no consideration for campus, sports, location, etc


Cathedral Schools
Sidwell
GDS
Holton Arms
Potomac



WIS ranks above most of those.


LOL
Anonymous
Post 10/28/2025 09:45     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
Folks here seem to be confusing how difficult a school is to get into with the strength of its academic programming. It should be no surprise that kids who excel at the former become excellent test-takers who ace the PSATs & SATs, get into elite colleges, etc. But that says nothing about the quality of academics at the school they attend.

Correlation does not imply causation, full stop.
Anonymous
Post 10/27/2025 17:43     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
None of you have any idea if schools themselves turned students into top 1% test-takers, or if they were already that way from the start.
Anonymous
Post 10/27/2025 15:45     Subject: Based solely on academics, rank the top 5 private high schools in DC/VA/MD
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Potomac had a very high year (maybe 9?) and Holton had 5. Both far more than others.


Holton has 12 this year


Wow! Are they the highest private in the DMV this year?


How is that a measure of the school's academic program?

That is a measure of how that group of kids individually prepared for the PSAT. Which was not OP's question. That data point does not tell a prospective parent what their child will experience at the school academically. Consider: some kids who do well on the PSAT attend abysmal high schools; they did well because of the individual effort they put in to taking that test. On the flip side, some kids at all the schools people are saying are academically superior did not do well on the PSAT. It simply isn't a useful measure for this much broader question. The question is what is the academic program at the school (even if some students don't do well at it).


Actually, there is lots of serious research that shows that standardized test results are the best predictor of academic success in college and beyond.

Regarding Holton, I do think the very high number this year is an aberration to the norm of 4-5 per year. The Holton class of 2026 is just exceptionally strong, which is reflected in the 12 NMSFs plus 17 commented students (out of about 100 girls).


That is about an individual student doing well in college. We are talking about the academic program at high schools, not SAT prep.