My child was admitted and we thought it was a nice school with good class offering, but were turned off that a lot of parents/admitted students parents kept stressing how it was a better environment/safer than public. I don't feel our zoned public is unsafe or a bad environment - we were interested in the school for the learning center, as my child has a mild disability.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because they accepts students with a wide range of abilities, even in the Upper School and many people on DCUM are snobs and only want their kids to go to schools where the acceptance rate is very low. I think people on here also look down on it's location since it's a bit further out.

+1 Flint Hill is huge, and offers multiple tracks.

It's worth pointing out that they had four National Merit Semi-Finalists for 2023, and this is in line with previous years. This suggests they've got a reasonably sized cohort of very smart kids.

Since I'm the local datanaut, I present to you the list of Northern Virginia private schools by number of NMSF:

Bishop Ireton 1
St Paul VI 2
Bishop O'Connell 3
St John Paul the Great 2
Trinity Christian 1
Basis 3
Madeira 1
Potomac 7
Ideaventions 3
Flint Hill 4
SSAS 1

not as much of a difference between Potomac and FH as I would have expected.

About double, when the class sizes are comparable? That is a big difference.

DCUM tends to attract people who both live and work inside the beltway. Those same people tend not to endorse any day school (eg, FH) which is outside the beltway.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because they accepts students with a wide range of abilities, even in the Upper School and many people on DCUM are snobs and only want their kids to go to schools where the acceptance rate is very low. I think people on here also look down on it's location since it's a bit further out.

+1 Flint Hill is huge, and offers multiple tracks.

It's worth pointing out that they had four National Merit Semi-Finalists for 2023, and this is in line with previous years. This suggests they've got a reasonably sized cohort of very smart kids.

Since I'm the local datanaut, I present to you the list of Northern Virginia private schools by number of NMSF:

Bishop Ireton 1
St Paul VI 2
Bishop O'Connell 3
St John Paul the Great 2
Trinity Christian 1
Basis 3
Madeira 1
Potomac 7
Ideaventions 3
Flint Hill 4
SSAS 1

not as much of a difference between Potomac and FH as I would have expected.

There is no comparison between Potomac and Flint Hill.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because they accepts students with a wide range of abilities, even in the Upper School and many people on DCUM are snobs and only want their kids to go to schools where the acceptance rate is very low. I think people on here also look down on it's location since it's a bit further out.

+1 Flint Hill is huge, and offers multiple tracks.

It's worth pointing out that they had four National Merit Semi-Finalists for 2023, and this is in line with previous years. This suggests they've got a reasonably sized cohort of very smart kids.

Since I'm the local datanaut, I present to you the list of Northern Virginia private schools by number of NMSF:

Bishop Ireton 1
St Paul VI 2
Bishop O'Connell 3
St John Paul the Great 2
Trinity Christian 1
Basis 3
Madeira 1
Potomac 7
Ideaventions 3
Flint Hill 4
SSAS 1

not as much of a difference between Potomac and FH as I would have expected.

Anonymous wrote:Because they accepts students with a wide range of abilities, even in the Upper School and many people on DCUM are snobs and only want their kids to go to schools where the acceptance rate is very low. I think people on here also look down on it's location since it's a bit further out.

+1 Flint Hill is huge, and offers multiple tracks.

It's worth pointing out that they had four National Merit Semi-Finalists for 2023, and this is in line with previous years. This suggests they've got a reasonably sized cohort of very smart kids.

Since I'm the local datanaut, I present to you the list of Northern Virginia private schools by number of NMSF:

Bishop Ireton 1
St Paul VI 2
Bishop O'Connell 3
St John Paul the Great 2
Trinity Christian 1
Basis 3
Madeira 1
Potomac 7
Ideaventions 3
Flint Hill 4
SSAS 1

The only North Arlington kids I know who go to FH were struggling at APS.

Lots of smart kids at SMU and Richmond and Bates but they ain’t HPY. It’s the way life works.

Anonymous wrote:Because they accepts students with a wide range of abilities, even in the Upper School and many people on DCUM are snobs and only want their kids to go to schools where the acceptance rate is very low. I think people on here also look down on it's location since it's a bit further out.

Honestly, all the schools accept students with a wide range of abilities. The truth it that the Big Whatever nonsense is just a DCUM thing, and it is all about old school prestige. Nothing to do with education (even the Ivy tallying is just self perpetuating nonsense).

I interviewed a FH kid for the ivy I went to a couple of years ago. I was pretty impressed. That is all.

I can tell you this -- they just hired a former colleague of mine who is just about the worst kind of employee imaginable and not too bright to boot. She does not have a teaching certificate and her teaching experience is very limited and does not include K-12. So I wonder about their faculty.

It’s well known that the HOS doesn’t even lift. Also, very few presidential fitness award winners have come out of the school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because nobody really cares that much about robotics.

They are also in the robotics program that is considered easier and not taking as seriously. I think SSSAS also competes in that one whereas the top schools do VEX.

That's funny...the top schools do FIRST Robotics or MATE challenge.

lol. passive voice in title was a giveaway

Our son has gone to FH since fifth grade, and this thread appears to be written by people whose only knowledge of the school comes from reading other DCUM threads. He was in the gifted program in a "good" public school before going to FH, and there is a HUGE difference between FH and his previous school. FH gives so much more individualized attention, challenges him more, and, most importantly, focuses on interpersonal relationships and skills in a way that his public school never did.

No, it doesn't have the "prestige" of Sidwell or Potomac, but that is not a concern. If he continues to do well, he'll get into a good college and more importantly, graduate as a well-rounded and kind human being.