Snark aside - you can't go wrong either way. I think location is a big factor for most families.

But where is Katie Ledecky? Nuff said.

My DD has just attended the Visitation and SR open houses and, sure enough, loved both. Both campuses are very nice (in different ways) and the students at both schools were very welcoming. This was especially nice since my DD can be a bit reserved at first. She also saw several older girls at both schools she knew from her middle school. A big difference I noticed is that SR conveyed a more "liberal" Catholicism or maybe more accurately a more "activist" Catholicism, whereas Visitation felt more traditional. We're Catholic so either model works for us, but it was just something that struck me. DD plays sports but it is not her everything so the arts will be a deciding factor too. Both schools seem to send girls to upper tier colleges every year, so that is less a concern. What is a concern is finding the right fit that is academically challenging but also provides a balance for a broad learning experience. At the end of the day, it probably comes down to comfort level.

I have two daughters at Visi, and considered SR. My research showed that the curriculum at both schools is quite similar, although SR seems to place more emphasis on service and the arts. Visi has a reputation for a heavy homework load, which from my perspective appears to be well-deserved. I think a dedicated student at either school will be well-prepared for college. The suggestion that only athletes at Visi are successful with college placements is absolutely untrue. While several outstanding athletes from Visi in recent years have gone to prestigious colleges, many of them that I know are also outstanding students who would have had a shot at those schools anyway. The top students at Visi are probably comparable to the top students at any of the high schools (public or private) in this area.

Go Visi

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Visii is too much focused around athletics. It's a much bigger spool than SR. They can lower the bar and get a few recruited athletes in due to the much higher class size.

SR seems or have a more balanced feel between academics and athletics.

Historically SR college placement is better than Visi (minus the few recruited basketball and lady lasers)

Yes! SR is better. Visi is dumb jocks. They inflate their college placements. The girls going to Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford this year are a fluke. Wait until next year.

Oh please, every school has dumb jocks. Yup, even SR, NCS, Holton, Visi...but at all these schools, dumb jocks are in the extreme minority. Pretty sure there have been girls going to Stanford from Visi every year for the past 4 or 5 years. (DD graduated from Visi...and isn't going to Stanford.) Harvard is a new one, but there are usually students going to UPenn, Cornell, Stanford, Notre Dame. Last year one GV student went to Yale. College placements at both Visitation and SR are very good. So are athletics. Visit both schools, talk to the students, and decide which one you like better. The academics and athletics will be just fine at both.

Ninth Grade is a big expansion year at SR with loads of new girls (40-50 each year) joining the class.

An important point is SR girls have gone to school together for years - many since grammar school. If your daughter joins in 9th grade, she may feel like an outsider. Visi is only 9-12. Many of the girls are from Blessed Sacrament and Holy Trinity but there are also many other schools and VA\MD represented. Good luck!

Also interested in this info. A lot of girls from our parish school go to one of the two, along with AHC.

Anonymous wrote:Visii is too much focused around athletics. It's a much bigger spool than SR. They can lower the bar and get a few recruited athletes in due to the much higher class size.

SR seems or have a more balanced feel between academics and athletics.

Historically SR college placement is better than Visi (minus the few recruited basketball and lady lasers)

Yes! SR is better. Visi is dumb jocks. They inflate their college placements. The girls going to Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford this year are a fluke. Wait until next year.

Visii is too much focused around athletics. It's a much bigger spool than SR. They can lower the bar and get a few recruited athletes in due to the much higher class size.

SR seems or have a more balanced feel between academics and athletics.

Historically SR college placement is better than Visi (minus the few recruited basketball and lady lasers)

Anonymous wrote:Elizabeth Seton is further away, but would it compare to SR or Visi?

No, nothing in common except that it's a Catholic school.

Elizabeth Seton is further away, but would it compare to SR or Visi?

Anonymous wrote:OP is her own thread-killer! The first responder had some pretty good info in a response to a pretty vague question, but OP jumped down her throat.

- alumni of one of the two schools who has no experience with the other

I'm a guy and have to admit that I was initially taken aback by OP's initial response. If everyone looks at the tone of responses in plain print, maybe this thread can turn into a meaningful discussion. I have 2 daughters, so I'm interested.

I'm interested in learning more about how SR has rolled out the "flipped classroom approach"?