Anonymous wrote:Have a hs daughter at Holton with a best friend at Potomac. School experiences have been similar (except the co-Ed/single sex part which has pros and cons to both).
Both have strong academics, sports, arts, college placement, etc. If given a choice, I would go to the school on the same side of the river as your home. Yes both have bussing, but crossing the AL bridge everyday is a pain—and nerve-wracking once your child starts driving. Yes people make both schools work from either side of the river, but it’s so much easier living closer to school. Especially socially—if you live on the other side, you are the one that has to make the effort to continuously cross over for events, hang-outs, etc.

Anonymous wrote:As a current Potomac parent, I strongly encourage you to speak directly with other Potomac high school parents. There are serious issues in the upper school with teachers.

Anonymous wrote:Potomac is a tier above Holton academically but Holton is still very strong.

They are very different schools, though, and not just because one is coed and one is girls. I’d urge you and DD to explore them further, definitely visit and shadow. I’d be pretty surprised for someone to really not have a preference between them.

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Anonymous wrote:Because of hooks, college acceptance and matriculation data for local privates can be highly misleading with respect to an unhooked student's chances of admission to a particular college.

OP here. Thanks for the above, this is the kind of insight we’re hoping to gain. For example, which of these two schools enable more unhooked kids into better colleges?

You won't escape hooked problem anywhere among the highly selective DMV schools but I'd note that Potomac has a lot of athletic hooks.

As others have pointed out - these schools are both very strong academically and not different enough to outweigh the importance of fit. The schools are very different and most girls would have a clear preference for one or the other. If not, then pick the one on your side of the bridge in the lucky chance she is accepted to both.

Anonymous wrote:We are considering switching our DD (rising 6th grader) to private school for 7th grade and are exploring Potomac and Holton. We understand that our DD needs to get accepted first but we’re looking for some insight. We are relatively equidistant from both schools and comfortable with either co-ed or single gender schools.

Looking at each of their school profiles which highlights college matriculation, SAT/ACT scores, class size, teacher years of experience, they both seem to be relatively similar (Holton being better in some years while Potomac being better in others). However, it seems Potomac is more widely known or sought after. Honestly asking to understand, is this because of stronger academics or otherwise?

Can folks share any perspective on which of these two schools they’ve found to be stronger when it comes to academic rigor, college destination and readiness?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I am a Potomac parent and I view the schools as academically comparable. When I meet someone whose child is at Holton I assume they wanted a great, single school education and preferred Holton’s culture over NCS.

They’re both great schools, one with the single sex component, and I don’t think either choice could be the wrong one!

Holton parent here. We looked at both and came to the exact conclusion. We felt single sex was a better fit for our child. NCS was too far away and too intense for our DD. It boiled down to co-ed or single sex. Had we chosen co-ed, Potomac would have been our choice.