Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While a lot of Landon 9th graders are returning students, there is also a fair amount of expansion in that grade. I can't say anything about GP, because we never considered a religious based school for our sons, but, other than the prevalence of Catholics at Prep, the student bodies seem quite similar, in good and not so good ways.

On the surface both student bodies may seem similar. Afterall, both are all boys private high schools in the same general geography. But once you scratch that surface they are very dissimilar.

The Prep kids are predominately members of the rather large Catholic community that is indigenous to Montgomery County and Northwest DC. In many cases they have gone to the same small set of grammar schools, belong to the same set of parishes and have played on the same youth teams.

Rarely do families consider both Landon and Prep. Gonzaga is the alternative to Georgetown Prep.

But aren't they fairly similar socioeconomically?

To a degree. Both have groups from the same neighborhoods (although they stop associating with one another in 4th grade)



LOL , this is ridiculous and the adults perpetuating it should be ashamed. Where are we: Washington or Texas ???

At least within Prep --- because that's all I know --- there's quite a range. There are a fair number of kids from NW DC. Bethesda and Potomac who are paying list price. But there are also a large number of families from places like Silver Spring and Kensington that are making huge sacrifices to send their boy or boys to Prep. I'm guessing that there is a higher percentage of this group at Prep than there is at Landon.

"To a degree. Both have groups from the same neighborhoods (although they stop associating with one another in 4th grade)"


That is only true of the non-jocks and those who don't pursue girls at the private schools in MoCo. The athletes have ongoing interaction on club teams and invitational tournaments and then socially once they can drive.

We have had three sons go through Prep and they were multi-sport athletes (Football, basketball, track and lacrosse). They and their large network of friends had no contact with the Landon kids except at parties hosted by Holton girls and at these the interaction was uncomfortable. Integrated club teams are pretty much over by the 9th grade.

There are isolated examples of friendships, but in general an animosity overlays the relationship between the two schools. A Landon magazine article written in the last two years describes the situation. In the 90's it was so bad a joint Landon-GP-St Albans Father's Club meeting was held at Landon to discuss how to decrease the weekend violence that was occuring.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happens with the Ivy's and selective D3 lax programs, where grades and sat scores actually matter.

Well, they sort of matter. If you think that star lacrosse or football or basketball players have to have the same academic profile as the average student at Ivy League schools, you are operating under a faulty assumption. I have seen many lacrosse players recruited by Ivies and admitted, who wouldn't stand a chance to be admitted without the coaching staffs full involvement in the process. Not a few of these instances have stunned teachers and classmates.


The Ivies use something called the "Academic Index" or AI. It allows the Athletic Department to recruit athletes with lower SATs and GPAs, but it's not a blank check. They can recruit only so many in each Academic Index band. The lower the band requirements, the fewer they can admit. But that lower band is lower than you think it is. Amherst and Williams do the same thing, but I don't believe its a Conference requirement (NESCAC)

If you have a 1250 on the SATs and a class rank in the 60th percentile of your class, you are well within the AI range. (http://home.comcast.net/~charles517/ivyai.html) The 1250 isn 't all that hard especially with a waiver allowing you to take it on an untimed basis several times with extensive coaching between the multiple attempts.


Now the tricky part is that is that the Academic Index is different for the different schools. Penn, for example, can recruit athletes that Harvard cannot because the average non-athlete scores at Harvard are higher than at Penn.

Ivy League recruiting is some of the most aggressive recruiting you'll see. Frequently helped by local DC alumni -- which is border line legal -- they put the full court press on students they think will help their program and that they think they can get past the admissions hurdle.

The schools when questioned about this say that they do the same sort of thing with musicians they need or to meet diversity goals or to satisfy various constitutencies on the campus.

So get if you want to go to an Ivy League school and want to avoid the crowd clawing their way in through studying, competiting for grades and lists of extracurricular activities, get out of the library and start throwing the lacrosse ball against a concrete wall. Since no one ever fails out of the Ivies, you can look forward to graduating with an Ivy degree even though you were mystified in many of the classes.

Want to know why so many people are involving their kids in the sport at an early age and spending big bucks for high school? It's the HOV lane to selective college admissions for the those slightly above the average in class rank.

Anonymous wrote:So how are Preppies different from Landonites, except for religion? Is the animosity about sports (lacrosse)? Is it because they compete for the same girls? From an outside viewpoint, it seems that the student bodies are very similar in intelligence and economics and demographics. I'd like to read that article.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While a lot of Landon 9th graders are returning students, there is also a fair amount of expansion in that grade. I can't say anything about GP, because we never considered a religious based school for our sons, but, other than the prevalence of Catholics at Prep, the student bodies seem quite similar, in good and not so good ways.

On the surface both student bodies may seem similar. Afterall, both are all boys private high schools in the same general geography. But once you scratch that surface they are very dissimilar.

The Prep kids are predominately members of the rather large Catholic community that is indigenous to Montgomery County and Northwest DC. In many cases they have gone to the same small set of grammar schools, belong to the same set of parishes and have played on the same youth teams.

Rarely do families consider both Landon and Prep. Gonzaga is the alternative to Georgetown Prep.

But aren't they fairly similar socioeconomically?

To a degree. Both have groups from the same neighborhoods (although they stop associating with one another in 4th grade)

At least within Prep --- because that's all I know --- there's quite a range. There are a fair number of kids from NW DC. Bethesda and Potomac who are paying list price. But there are also a large number of families from places like Silver Spring and Kensington that are making huge sacrifices to send their boy or boys to Prep. I'm guessing that there is a higher percentage of this group at Prep than there is at Landon.

"To a degree. Both have groups from the same neighborhoods (although they stop associating with one another in 4th grade)"


That is only true of the non-jocks and those who don't pursue girls at the private schools in MoCo. The athletes have ongoing interaction on club teams and invitational tournaments and then socially once they can drive.

We have had three sons go through Prep and they were multi-sport athletes (Football, basketball, track and lacrosse). They and their large network of friends had no contact with the Landon kids except at parties hosted by Holton girls and at these the interaction was uncomfortable. Integrated club teams are pretty much over by the 9th grade.

There are isolated examples of friendships, but in general an animosity overlays the relationship between the two schools. A Landon magazine article written in the last two years describes the situation. In the 90's it was so bad a joint Landon-GP-St Albans Father's Club meeting was held at Landon to discuss how to decrease the weekend violence that was occuring.

You are talking about 10-15 years ago. I think you need to provide some evidence that is a little more recent of all this violence that is occurring on the weekends.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While a lot of Landon 9th graders are returning students, there is also a fair amount of expansion in that grade. I can't say anything about GP, because we never considered a religious based school for our sons, but, other than the prevalence of Catholics at Prep, the student bodies seem quite similar, in good and not so good ways.

On the surface both student bodies may seem similar. Afterall, both are all boys private high schools in the same general geography. But once you scratch that surface they are very dissimilar.

The Prep kids are predominately members of the rather large Catholic community that is indigenous to Montgomery County and Northwest DC. In many cases they have gone to the same small set of grammar schools, belong to the same set of parishes and have played on the same youth teams.

Rarely do families consider both Landon and Prep. Gonzaga is the alternative to Georgetown Prep.

But aren't they fairly similar socioeconomically?

To a degree. Both have groups from the same neighborhoods (although they stop associating with one another in 4th grade)

At least within Prep --- because that's all I know --- there's quite a range. There are a fair number of kids from NW DC. Bethesda and Potomac who are paying list price. But there are also a large number of families from places like Silver Spring and Kensington that are making huge sacrifices to send their boy or boys to Prep. I'm guessing that there is a higher percentage of this group at Prep than there is at Landon.

"To a degree. Both have groups from the same neighborhoods (although they stop associating with one another in 4th grade)"


That is only true of the non-jocks and those who don't pursue girls at the private schools in MoCo. The athletes have ongoing interaction on club teams and invitational tournaments and then socially once they can drive.

We have had three sons go through Prep and they were multi-sport athletes (Football, basketball, track and lacrosse). They and their large network of friends had no contact with the Landon kids except at parties hosted by Holton girls and at these the interaction was uncomfortable. Integrated club teams are pretty much over by the 9th grade.

There are isolated examples of friendships, but in general an animosity overlays the relationship between the two schools. A Landon magazine article written in the last two years describes the situation. In the 90's it was so bad a joint Landon-GP-St Albans Father's Club meeting was held at Landon to discuss how to decrease the weekend violence that was occuring.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While a lot of Landon 9th graders are returning students, there is also a fair amount of expansion in that grade. I can't say anything about GP, because we never considered a religious based school for our sons, but, other than the prevalence of Catholics at Prep, the student bodies seem quite similar, in good and not so good ways.

On the surface both student bodies may seem similar. Afterall, both are all boys private high schools in the same general geography. But once you scratch that surface they are very dissimilar.

The Prep kids are predominately members of the rather large Catholic community that is indigenous to Montgomery County and Northwest DC. In many cases they have gone to the same small set of grammar schools, belong to the same set of parishes and have played on the same youth teams.

Rarely do families consider both Landon and Prep. Gonzaga is the alternative to Georgetown Prep.

But aren't they fairly similar socioeconomically?

To a degree. Both have groups from the same neighborhoods (although they stop associating with one another in 4th grade)

At least within Prep --- because that's all I know --- there's quite a range. There are a fair number of kids from NW DC. Bethesda and Potomac who are paying list price. But there are also a large number of families from places like Silver Spring and Kensington that are making huge sacrifices to send their boy or boys to Prep. I'm guessing that there is a higher percentage of this group at Prep than there is at Landon.

"To a degree. Both have groups from the same neighborhoods (although they stop associating with one another in 4th grade)"


That is only true of the non-jocks and those who don't pursue girls at the private schools in MoCo. The athletes have ongoing interaction on club teams and invitational tournaments and then socially once they can drive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While a lot of Landon 9th graders are returning students, there is also a fair amount of expansion in that grade. I can't say anything about GP, because we never considered a religious based school for our sons, but, other than the prevalence of Catholics at Prep, the student bodies seem quite similar, in good and not so good ways.

On the surface both student bodies may seem similar. Afterall, both are all boys private high schools in the same general geography. But once you scratch that surface they are very dissimilar.

The Prep kids are predominately members of the rather large Catholic community that is indigenous to Montgomery County and Northwest DC. In many cases they have gone to the same small set of grammar schools, belong to the same set of parishes and have played on the same youth teams.

Rarely do families consider both Landon and Prep. Gonzaga is the alternative to Georgetown Prep.

But aren't they fairly similar socioeconomically?

To a degree. Both have groups from the same neighborhoods (although they stop associating with one another in 4th grade)

At least within Prep --- because that's all I know --- there's quite a range. There are a fair number of kids from NW DC. Bethesda and Potomac who are paying list price. But there are also a large number of families from places like Silver Spring and Kensington that are making huge sacrifices to send their boy or boys to Prep. I'm guessing that there is a higher percentage of this group at Prep than there is at Landon.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While a lot of Landon 9th graders are returning students, there is also a fair amount of expansion in that grade. I can't say anything about GP, because we never considered a religious based school for our sons, but, other than the prevalence of Catholics at Prep, the student bodies seem quite similar, in good and not so good ways.

On the surface both student bodies may seem similar. Afterall, both are all boys private high schools in the same general geography. But once you scratch that surface they are very dissimilar.

The Prep kids are predominately members of the rather large Catholic community that is indigenous to Montgomery County and Northwest DC. In many cases they have gone to the same small set of grammar schools, belong to the same set of parishes and have played on the same youth teams.

Rarely do families consider both Landon and Prep. Gonzaga is the alternative to Georgetown Prep.

But aren't they fairly similar socioeconomically?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While a lot of Landon 9th graders are returning students, there is also a fair amount of expansion in that grade. I can't say anything about GP, because we never considered a religious based school for our sons, but, other than the prevalence of Catholics at Prep, the student bodies seem quite similar, in good and not so good ways.

On the surface both student bodies may seem similar. Afterall, both are all boys private high schools in the same general geography. But once you scratch that surface they are very dissimilar.

The Prep kids are predominately members of the rather large Catholic community that is indigenous to Montgomery County and Northwest DC. In many cases they have gone to the same small set of grammar schools, belong to the same set of parishes and have played on the same youth teams.

Rarely do families consider both Landon and Prep. Gonzaga is the alternative to Georgetown Prep.

Anonymous wrote:While a lot of Landon 9th graders are returning students, there is also a fair amount of expansion in that grade. I can't say anything about GP, because we never considered a religious based school for our sons, but, other than the prevalence of Catholics at Prep, the student bodies seem quite similar, in good and not so good ways.