Be yourself, be friendly, don't try to be what you think they are looking for. Our dd got in with no connections, no first choice indication, yes tested well, and we were attentive to the process but not braggy or attention seeking. Make clear you are seriously interested, but also behave yourself - make clear you are not the kind of parents who will be a pain in the a** to the teachers or other parents.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a horrible school. That's why nobody wants to go there and it's so easy to get in. I don't have a kid there but a frend of a friend whose kid goes there says the facilities are terrible and the teachers are rejects from other area private schools.
PS. the food is terrible

You sound like a Sidwell reject.

Actually, she sounds sarcastic - and I think it's funny!

Go back to your homework, St Albans. You're not doing your school any favors here.

+1. This thread, ironic or not, was focused on the parents back grounds in getting their kids into sidwell. Someone noted how this was even carried into the sidwell Wikipedia entry. A cursory review of other Wikipedia entries shows no other school trumpeting the parent body. Rather, top prep schools typically focus on te accomplishments of its actual student bosy.

Considering the dearth of highly accomplished sidwell grads compared to, for example, the St. Albans grads, (at least publicized on wikipedia), I think that the PPs were reasonable in their assumptions. I get it. The takeaway to the casual observer is if you already are accomplished and want a comfortable and safe place for your children, you choose sidwell, if you want your child to be an astronaut, senator, or general world leader, they go to St. Albans or holton etc.

To confirm. This is based purely on observation from this site and wikipedia , not necessarily my belief.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Wikipedia entry on sidwell saw fit to include the notable parents (of otherwise undistinguished offspring). The notable alumni list is fairly impressive, but can't really compare to what alumni of St. Albans have done. Flame away.

Way to stay klassy, St. Albans.

I blame the Sidwell administrator or alum who posted the list of famous parents in the first place. It's kind of "look at how many rich and powerful people send their kids here" and makes the unfortunate comparisons with the kids pretty unavoidable. Unless the point was supposed to be, who cares about the kids because you send your kids to Sidwell if you want to network with the other parents.

Most schools on Wikipedia have these lists.

St. Albans doesn't have a parent list on Wikipedia - that was the point. Don't know about other schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a horrible school. That's why nobody wants to go there and it's so easy to get in. I don't have a kid there but a frend of a friend whose kid goes there says the facilities are terrible and the teachers are rejects from other area private schools.
PS. the food is terrible

You sound like a Sidwell reject.

Actually she sounds like a Sidwell parent with a sense of humor, even if she's understandably a little bitter.

I read the post as entirely ironic and not bitter at all (and rather funny). People are irony-deaf on DCUM.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Wikipedia entry on sidwell saw fit to include the notable parents (of otherwise undistinguished offspring). The notable alumni list is fairly impressive, but can't really compare to what alumni of St. Albans have done. Flame away.

Way to stay klassy, St. Albans.

I blame the Sidwell administrator or alum who posted the list of famous parents in the first place. It's kind of "look at how many rich and powerful people send their kids here" and makes the unfortunate comparisons with the kids pretty unavoidable. Unless the point was supposed to be, who cares about the kids because you send your kids to Sidwell if you want to network with the other parents.

Most schools on Wikipedia have these lists.

Anonymous wrote:Seriously though, hold your child back a year if applying for K. They prefer to admit older kids.

Inaccurate.

Anonymous wrote:Some of these are tongue in cheek. But the result is it sounds just awful. Anyone actually like the school? Are the grads doing great things - setting aside the obvious famous ones.

This is why someone (not me) linked to the Wikipedia article about the student body. And I assume that's when she accidentally stumbled on the parent list.

Actually, the whole thread was kind of a joke until you took it seriously and started putting down the student body. Just chose the school that's right for you. Why is everyone on this board so insecure?