Anonymous wrote:It's very simple show us the beef. These numbers are not manipulated by legacy, siblings, money, haughty entitlement. We are talking pure and unadulterated academic and intellectual performance ... For TJ and Blair Magnet the facts speak for themselves ....
One positive thing I can say about Sidwell is that I very rarely see Sidwell parents acting like complete jackasses on DCUM. I've always respected that about the school. PP is acting like such an absolute putz that I'm not even sure if he's real.
But how about these pure and unadulterated numbers on Presidential Scholars and Presidential Scholar Candidates?: The Candidate designation is a straight function of SAT scores -- the top SAT scores in the state get designated as candidates. The Scholar awards are based on each candidate's full academic record. Judging is conducted by the US Department of Education.
Over the past 8 years, 4.98% of TJ students are Presidential Scholar Candidates, and 1.24% are designated Presidential Scholars. Those are very impressive numbers. Better than top boarding schools like Andover and Deerfield. Better even than Stuyvesant in NYC.
Sidwell's percentages over the past 8 years? 9.67% of Sidwell students are Presidential Scholar Candidates, and 2.20% are designated Presidential Scholars. Those percentages are almost twice as good as TJ's. And don't think it's only Sidwell. St. Albans is at 7.93%/1.32%. NCS is at 10.41%/0.65%.
I'm not trying to take anything away from TJ or Blair. Both are excellent programs (despite having some idiot students who have nothing better to do on Friday nights than post to parenting websites!). But it's pretty foolish to deny that there are other strong schools in the region.
Now listen to this advice, kid. Go swipe some booze from your parents' shelf. Sneak into a club to see a band. Get laid if you can. Play some computer games if you have to. But quit wasting your time here. You really should have better things to do. The rest of us have children and mortgages and frustrating jobs -- you really don't want to spend your time with us.