Current family of an US student--I found LS to be nurturing, MS the right amount of a step up but the step from 8th to 9th was too big in terms of academic expectations.

Anonymous wrote:^and to add — there are plenty of girls you happily thrive in a grindstone environment like NCS. I was not one of them. It’s important to know your kid.

This is the important part. NCS has had this reputation for decades, as long as I can remember. It's a school for a particular type of student who responds well to academic rigor. Many parents are drawn to the school's reputation as being an academic powerhouse, and yet complain about how much of a grind it is for their DD. For most students, it comes down to whether or not the school is a good fit. The same can be said for Sidwell and GDS, among other peer schools. Just do a search on this discussion board and you'll see similar posts complaining about the rigor of these schools. Again, most parents like the reputations of the school, but some don't like it when they see first-hand the work students to to earn this reputation.

do those of you with current girls in the UPPER school and especially those with older kids or graduates think that it's gotten softer/easier this year or last?

^and to add — there are plenty of girls you happily thrive in a grindstone environment like NCS. I was not one of them. It’s important to know your kid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My friend with a daughter at NCS told me that the motto of the school should be something along the lines of: Where the excellent go to feel like they suck

That about sums up my personal experience there.
-NCS grad

How did college go? Due to coming from this environment, did you feel it benefited you in the long run? Were you more prepared?

PP you’re responding to. It was a very strong education. Was I “more prepared” than if I had attended a HS that didn’t make me miserable and think I was a failure even though I was a solid B+ student? (Literally. I was talking to my mom years later about how I nearly failed out of HS and she was like, what are you talking about? She actually dug up my old report cards to show me I was just fine — I remembered it as always being on the brink of failure.)

No, I don’t think I was more prepared because of NCS. I was actually a solid but not amazing student, and a very strong writer without much effort. I think I would have been just as well prepared and far happier and less burned out at any one of the many strong schools in the DC area.

College was ROUGH, not because I was unprepared but because I was burned out and had a hard time settling myself to focus and study.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My friend with a daughter at NCS told me that the motto of the school should be something along the lines of: Where the excellent go to feel like they suck

That about sums up my personal experience there.
-NCS grad

How did college go? Due to coming from this environment, did you feel it benefited you in the long run? Were you more prepared?

It was a very strong education. Was I “more prepared” than if I had attended a HS that didn’t make me miserable and think I was a failure even though I was a solid B+ student? (Literally. I was talking to my mom years later about how I nearly failed out of HS and she was like, what are you talking about? She actually dug up my old report cards to show me I was just fine — I remembered it as always being on the brink of failure.)

No, I don’t think I was more prepared because of NCS. I was actually a solid but not amazing student, and a very strong writer without much effort. I think I would have been just as well prepared and far happier and less burned out at any one of the many strong schools in the DC area.

College was ROUGH, not because I was unprepared but because I was burned out and had a hard time settling myself to focus and study.

Our society is so overboard with the idea of "perfection" and "excellence." It is not only happening at school, but in sports and other activities (see the WaPo article today about club sports).

As a parent of an NCS student, we are having a good experience (not yet US) and hope the culture becomes more balanced as we move up (I'm interested to learn about the new advanced studies and schedule soon).

NCS administrators, teachers, and parents need to realize that in order to have strong student/ young adult outcomes (not just where they end up in college) they need to focus on student burnout, early onset anxiety and unnecessary pressure. A recent NCS student survey apparently showed that students put pressure on themselves the most but it stems from somewhere -- parents' and teachers' expectations. That doesn't mean we should expect less of our girls, but collective we need to change our thoughts around perfection and return to the "joy of learning" at all levels.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD graduated from NCS 8 years ago. She got a great education but it was definitely a pressure cooker. Agree with the sentiment that great girls get the message that they are not good enough throughout the process. One point is that the academic pressure is only a piece of it. My DD had more pressure from the social norms about how to look, dress, act, etc. It is a very conformist place and she felt a lot of judgment on lots of fronts.

I graduated from FCPS in the 1980s and this describes my experience. What you've described is what most kids face in high school. NCS has always had a reputation for being a rigorous school, so I'm left to wonder why so many parents complain after their DDs are admitted.

I wonder why if this pressure cooker system is such a problem but yet the same parents on here crying, end up sending kid there anyway. You got a choice but the benefit now compared to the 80's is this information is very easily assessable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My friend with a daughter at NCS told me that the motto of the school should be something along the lines of: Where the excellent go to feel like they suck

That about sums up my personal experience there.
-NCS grad

How did college go? Due to coming from this environment, did you feel it benefited you in the long run? Were you more prepared?

I don't understand why parents are so fixated on this.

Yes, most likely a graduate from NCS will be "more prepared" for a rigorous college curriculum as compared to a graduate from a rural high school in Ohio. But so what? Motivated students are everywhere, and by sophomore year, at least, they are all on the same level.

So is it really worth wrecking your high school experience over? I don't know.

So would it had been more worth wrecking college experience over?

Anonymous wrote:My DD graduated from NCS 8 years ago. She got a great education but it was definitely a pressure cooker. Agree with the sentiment that great girls get the message that they are not good enough throughout the process. One point is that the academic pressure is only a piece of it. My DD had more pressure from the social norms about how to look, dress, act, etc. It is a very conformist place and she felt a lot of judgment on lots of fronts.

I graduated from FCPS in the 1980s and this describes my experience. What you've described is what most kids face in high school. NCS has always had a reputation for being a rigorous school, so I'm left to wonder why so many parents complain after their DDs are admitted.

My DD graduated from NCS 8 years ago. She got a great education but it was definitely a pressure cooker. Agree with the sentiment that great girls get the message that they are not good enough throughout the process. One point is that the academic pressure is only a piece of it. My DD had more pressure from the social norms about how to look, dress, act, etc. It is a very conformist place and she felt a lot of judgment on lots of fronts.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My friend with a daughter at NCS told me that the motto of the school should be something along the lines of: Where the excellent go to feel like they suck

That about sums up my personal experience there.
-NCS grad

How did college go? Due to coming from this environment, did you feel it benefited you in the long run? Were you more prepared?

I don't understand why parents are so fixated on this.

Yes, most likely a graduate from NCS will be "more prepared" for a rigorous college curriculum as compared to a graduate from a rural high school in Ohio. But so what? Motivated students are everywhere, and by sophomore year, at least, they are all on the same level.

So is it really worth wrecking your high school experience over? I don't know.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My friend with a daughter at NCS told me that the motto of the school should be something along the lines of: Where the excellent go to feel like they suck

That about sums up my personal experience there.
-NCS grad

How did college go? Due to coming from this environment, did you feel it benefited you in the long run? Were you more prepared?

Anonymous wrote:My friend with a daughter at NCS told me that the motto of the school should be something along the lines of: Where the excellent go to feel like they suck

That about sums up my personal experience there.
-NCS grad

Anonymous wrote:My friend with a daughter at NCS told me that the motto of the school should be something along the lines of: Where the excellent go to feel like they suck

This sentiment comes from the administration.