Anonymous wrote:If your looking for another option - Just down the road is Edlin School in Reston about 10 minutes if that from Mclean. We were at the Langley School and switched and so happy we did. Our daughter is so much more challenged and met at her learning level.

Can you share your experiences a bit more about Edlin school? We are considering it for Kinder/1st grade and would love to hear your experience overall!

There are so few HS in northern VA. Potomac is top of the heap. Then you have Flint Hill and SSSAS as your more mainstream, non-Catholics. O’Connell, PVI, etc — the Catholic schools. Madeira is single sex. Episcopal is boarding. New School is small, progressive, kind of niche. Ideaventions is even smaller and more niche. Sycamore School and Commonwealth Academy for learning differences, etc. BIM for the super STEMy who don’t care about a traditional HS experience. TJ as the specialty public gets an honorable mention.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Congressional is a joke. Potomac and flint hill are both on another level as schools.

Why is congressional a joke? can we get some color here or information?

Anyone who puts Flint Hill on the same level as Potomac is deeply confused and should be disregarded.

I like FH, a lot. It was a very close second choice for DC for HS. But the only reason Potomac doesn’t make “big 3” or “big 5” status is the fact that it’s in Virginia. Flint Hill is not on the same level.

Congressional is a great school. DC loved it.

Well since Potomac isn’t "big 3” or "big 5”, which schools are on Potomac’s level?

In Northern Virginia? Probably none but maaaybe Madeira for girls.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Congressional is a joke. Potomac and flint hill are both on another level as schools.

Why is congressional a joke? can we get some color here or information?

The primary knock on congressional is probably the fact they age out at high school so you have to deal with the application process again.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Congressional is a joke. Potomac and flint hill are both on another level as schools.

Why is congressional a joke? can we get some color here or information?

Anyone who puts Flint Hill on the same level as Potomac is deeply confused and should be disregarded.

I like FH, a lot. It was a very close second choice for DC for HS. But the only reason Potomac doesn’t make “big 3” or “big 5” status is the fact that it’s in Virginia. Flint Hill is not on the same level.

Congressional is a great school. DC loved it.

Well since Potomac isn’t "big 3” or "big 5”, which schools are on Potomac’s level?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Congressional is a joke. Potomac and flint hill are both on another level as schools.

Why is congressional a joke? can we get some color here or information?

Anyone who puts Flint Hill on the same level as Potomac is deeply confused and should be disregarded.

I like FH, a lot. It was a very close second choice for DC for HS. But the only reason Potomac doesn’t make “big 3” or “big 5” status is the fact that it’s in Virginia. Flint Hill is not on the same level.

Congressional is a great school. DC loved it.

I am not sure why people put flint hill so far ahead of congressional. Flint hill is wealthier, I guess

This is why.

It’s the DC area. All of these schools have extremely wealthy families. It’s a matter of degrees. As a 200k HHI family, some of the wealth we saw at Congressional was eye opening for us.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Congressional is a joke. Potomac and flint hill are both on another level as schools.

Why is congressional a joke? can we get some color here or information?

Anyone who puts Flint Hill on the same level as Potomac is deeply confused and should be disregarded.

I like FH, a lot. It was a very close second choice for DC for HS. But the only reason Potomac doesn’t make “big 3” or “big 5” status is the fact that it’s in Virginia. Flint Hill is not on the same level.

Congressional is a great school. DC loved it.

I am not sure why people put flint hill so far ahead of congressional. Flint hill is wealthier, I guess

This is why.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Congressional is a joke. Potomac and flint hill are both on another level as schools.

Why is congressional a joke? can we get some color here or information?

Anyone who puts Flint Hill on the same level as Potomac is deeply confused and should be disregarded.

I like FH, a lot. It was a very close second choice for DC for HS. But the only reason Potomac doesn’t make “big 3” or “big 5” status is the fact that it’s in Virginia. Flint Hill is not on the same level.

Congressional is a great school. DC loved it.

I am not sure why people put flint hill so far ahead of congressional. Flint hill is wealthier, I guess

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Congressional is a joke. Potomac and flint hill are both on another level as schools.

Why is congressional a joke? can we get some color here or information?

Anyone who puts Flint Hill on the same level as Potomac is deeply confused and should be disregarded.

I like FH, a lot. It was a very close second choice for DC for HS. But the only reason Potomac doesn’t make “big 3” or “big 5” status is the fact that it’s in Virginia. Flint Hill is not on the same level.

Congressional is a great school. DC loved it.

Anonymous wrote:Congressional is a joke. Potomac and flint hill are both on another level as schools.

Why is congressional a joke? can we get some color here or information?

Flint Hill, SSSAS, and Congressional are fairly similar, and Congressional sends a handful of kids to each of FH and SSSAS each year (the two schools together accounted for about 1/4-1/3 of DC’s 8th grade class), and often one or two kids to Potomac. Potomac is a far more competitive admit than the others.

DC’s path was Congressional to SSSAS, and loved/loves the experience at both schools.

Anonymous wrote:Congressional is a joke. Potomac and flint hill are both on another level as schools.

Honestly, Potomac and Flint Hill are not on the same level.

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Anonymous wrote:Potomac in K is almost impossible to get into. There are 48 spots. Once they let in the siblings, legacies , big donor and VIP kids, sprinkle in some diversity candidates , you’re realistically competing for 10-20 spots.

They've all but eliminated the legacy preference when they realized they had more legacies than spots.

+1
I’m an alum and was nervous when my dd was applying bc there were over 50 legacy kids applying. Some were siblings so kind of a double boost for them. Statistically it’s still a lot easier to get in for K than 9th.

If your goal is Potomac down the road, then I’d also look at Langley and McLean Montessori. If your dd is on the younger side, apply to K at Country Day and then the following year apply to repeat K at Potomac.

They still have the sibling boost and it is pretty significant.

In theory, you can join at any time. I have seen kids join almost all throughout lower school.

+1 on sibling boost. About 2/3 of the incoming K class has a sibling, so agree that you’re realistically only looking at 10-20 available spots (out of 48 total).

Congressional is a joke. Potomac and flint hill are both on another level as schools.

I would look at other back-up options besides Congressional.