Anonymous wrote:I personally would stay at Lake Braddock.

McLean High will have many more academically strong students than Bishop O'Connell.

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Anonymous wrote:McLean does have a stronger academic reputation than O’Connell but that’s not the only consideration. What does DS want? It seems an introverted kid might want to stay with as many of his current friends as possible.

It's not an option. They are scattering to different public schools, none of which we are zoned for.

In that case I’d go with McLean. It’s apparently your base school, it’s stronger academically than O’Connell, and it has lots of ECs where an introverted kid can find his niche.

It's not actually our base school; we would have to move. Or rent something there for 4 years. I hate my current house so this is kind of a plus, but also irrelevant. I don't like our base school, and the scores there are abysmal.

What’s your base school and why do you hate it? What experience do you actually have with it? Have you actually sent a kid to it? This is relevant to this discussion for sure.

It's Lake Braddock. I heard we can also go to Robinson if we wanted IB, since LB doesn't have that. But the scores of Robinson are even worse than LB. We have friends at both, and haven't heard anything good. They say both schools are huge and basically a free for all, with the Covid effect causing most kids to be so far behind that teachers aren't even teaching the regular curriculum. That's aside from the social aspects, like widespread bullying. Anyway, that's what friends say, although they still send their kids there. After our poor public ES experience, I'm wary of going through something similar.

What scores are you looking at?

We looked at school size, teacher ratio, SATs, IB and AP test scores and related data.

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Anonymous wrote:McLean does have a stronger academic reputation than O’Connell but that’s not the only consideration. What does DS want? It seems an introverted kid might want to stay with as many of his current friends as possible.

It's not an option. They are scattering to different public schools, none of which we are zoned for.

In that case I’d go with McLean. It’s apparently your base school, it’s stronger academically than O’Connell, and it has lots of ECs where an introverted kid can find his niche.

It's not actually our base school; we would have to move. Or rent something there for 4 years. I hate my current house so this is kind of a plus, but also irrelevant. I don't like our base school, and the scores there are abysmal.

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Anonymous wrote:McLean is certainly a more academically rigorous school then BOC. Now if your child needs a small environment because of anxiety or what not, BOC would be a better choice — McLean is large and competitive

A lot of kids who missed the cut for TJ go to McLean and Langley. I agree that the academics are strong. We moved our kids from a small private to public schools, and there was way more differentiation in the public schools and better paid teachers. There were large groups of very smart kids in the public, not just a few like at the private school. It's also nice to live close to your friends.

This is the opposite of what our elementary experience was like. The public elementary had a mix of good and bad teachers, some so bad that the principal expressed verbally that she wished she could fire them but central administration wouldn't allow it. The classes were overcrowded - 30 in K, for example - so all of the attention went to the super gifted kids and the problem kids. Any kid in the middle, like mine, was completely ignored and had to fend for himself. When we switched to private, there was a lot more personal attention, since only 10-12 kids were in a class. He learned a lot more and finally gained some of the academic skills that the public wasn't even teaching, like writing an essay and giving a presentation. I had imagined public HS would be similar, so I'm surprised to hear that Mclean would be more rigorous - unless it's a case where, like in our elementary, it's only the really self-motivated and self-advocating students that get enough attention to learn anything.

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Anonymous wrote:McLean does have a stronger academic reputation than O’Connell but that’s not the only consideration. What does DS want? It seems an introverted kid might want to stay with as many of his current friends as possible.

It's not an option. They are scattering to different public schools, none of which we are zoned for.

In that case I’d go with McLean. It’s apparently your base school, it’s stronger academically than O’Connell, and it has lots of ECs where an introverted kid can find his niche.

It's not actually our base school; we would have to move. Or rent something there for 4 years. I hate my current house so this is kind of a plus, but also irrelevant. I don't like our base school, and the scores there are abysmal.

What’s your base school and why do you hate it? What experience do you actually have with it? Have you actually sent a kid to it? This is relevant to this discussion for sure.

It's Lake Braddock. I heard we can also go to Robinson if we wanted IB, since LB doesn't have that. But the scores of Robinson are even worse than LB. We have friends at both, and haven't heard anything good. They say both schools are huge and basically a free for all, with the Covid effect causing most kids to be so far behind that teachers aren't even teaching the regular curriculum. That's aside from the social aspects, like widespread bullying. Anyway, that's what friends say, although they still send their kids there. After our poor public ES experience, I'm wary of going through something similar.

What scores are you looking at?

Anonymous wrote:If doing very well in private, why heck would you throw the kid in public school - and for the first time in high school no less? Sounds rough. I'd stay put with your kids cohort of friends and go to O'Connell if that's where they are all going. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Asking for trouble

Anonymous wrote:we had a terrible elementary experience in the Woodson pyramid but had great MS/HS experience. I would give LB or Robinson a chance- especially for an introverted kid- I would choose either one of those over McLean.

Anonymous wrote:Personally, I’d stick with lake Braddock. Good education and honestly, will be easier to get into good colleges from.

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Anonymous wrote:McLean does have a stronger academic reputation than O’Connell but that’s not the only consideration. What does DS want? It seems an introverted kid might want to stay with as many of his current friends as possible.

It's not an option. They are scattering to different public schools, none of which we are zoned for.

In that case I’d go with McLean. It’s apparently your base school, it’s stronger academically than O’Connell, and it has lots of ECs where an introverted kid can find his niche.

It's not actually our base school; we would have to move. Or rent something there for 4 years. I hate my current house so this is kind of a plus, but also irrelevant. I don't like our base school, and the scores there are abysmal.

What’s your base school and why do you hate it? What experience do you actually have with it? Have you actually sent a kid to it? This is relevant to this discussion for sure.

It's Lake Braddock. I heard we can also go to Robinson if we wanted IB, since LB doesn't have that. But the scores of Robinson are even worse than LB. We have friends at both, and haven't heard anything good. They say both schools are huge and basically a free for all, with the Covid effect causing most kids to be so far behind that teachers aren't even teaching the regular curriculum. That's aside from the social aspects, like widespread bullying. Anyway, that's what friends say, although they still send their kids there. After our poor public ES experience, I'm wary of going through something similar.

What scores are you looking at?

+1. There’s no way I’d move to McLean just to send my kid to high school there instead of either one of these schools. They’re just fine for most kids. Your friends sound like drama queens.

+1 (and we’re a happy McLean family).

+1

Robinson 9-12 and McLean are very close in size and LB is bigger but has a larger facility so it doesn't feel overcrowded. If you're moving and concerned about school size, why look at McLean and not Langley?

Bishop O'Connell is a solid choice but it might depend on whether your child would be in all honors/APs at McLean or more so in grade-level classes. I'd stick with McLean if you know they'll be successful in the highest track all 4 years and can handle 10+ APs, and look closer at O'Connell if it will be mostly honors with just a few APs here and there. If it's all regular, I would definitely lean towards O'Connell.