Both schools are great schools and have comparable college acceptances. One thing you will find at Visi is the high number of legacies admitted. These legacies may be fully qualified, but more often than not, may not be as academic as the newer girls applying. What winds up happening is that many better qualified, smarter girls who have no legacy connections are put on the wait list or not admitted. I'm not knocking the practice, it is what seems to have worked for them in terms of keeping a solid fundraising base and the loyalty of those who attended. But it does make your scratch your head when you see lower performing girls going there when some very academic, well-rounded girls get wait listed. Visi is also very connected with their brother school, Gonzaga, which is a nice way for the girls to have interactions with high school boys. They are regulated by the Archdiocese of Washington (making it one of only two Catholic schools you can apply to when making your decision). The HSPT is the test required for girls to get into their school.

Stone Ridge is an independent Catholic school (no oversight from ADW) who accepts the SSAT for admittance. Stone Ridge is consistently rated higher in rankings: https://k12.nichebeta.com/rankings/private-high-schools/best-overall/m/washington-dc-metro-area/ and is the highest ranked CATHOLIC all-girls school in the DC area. SR is impressive for many reasons - it's commitment to service, which is integrated in the curriculum, it's structuring classes based on the latest brain research, and the international network of Sacred Heart Schools, which allows for easy exchange programs and job connections/networking all over the country and the world.

From what I've heard, both schools are very academic and seem to have similar work loads. The bottom line to me is which school is a better fit for your daughter. Commute is a huge factor, IMHO, and you may want to consider which is easier for you to get to - thinking about social life, sports and integrating into the community. Both are excellent choices - good luck on your decision!

Stone Ridge has grown in reputation year after year (although it was never unknown). I've been told that they enrolled its largest first year class ever this year--100 students. That's still smaller than Visitation, but supposedly Stone Ridge wants to see how far it can expand the Upper School. Does this mean they would ever toy with dropping or seriously limiting the size of the lower and middle schools? No idea.

Anonymous wrote:Visi is also hard to get into because so many legacies apply.

This is an interesting perception because the legacy issue at SR extends to Sacred Heart legacies as well, which increases the number of legacies on the whole. SR tends to counsel out unsuited girls prior to upper school, but most who were there for LS and MS remain.

If 160 families come from VA, the remaining families are probably split evenly between DC and MD, thus 165 each out of the 330 total, which makes it a fairly balanced representation of families across the DC Metro area.

Although, I would have to do the same exercise used by PP to determine the exact number of families Visitation is pulling students from both DC and MD based on zip codes published the school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Visitation probably gets more VA families because of its DC location, thus generally an easier commute for the students from Northern Virginia in cities such as McLean, Vienna, Falls Church, Fairfax, etc.

Just looked at the current Visi student directory by ZipCode and counted about 160 Visi students from Virginia out of 490 total. So about 30% Virginia students.

Thank you! We are probably looking for private starting in middle school so maybe we want to explore a local parochial or SR and then consider Visi when DD gets to HS. We are in Arlington.

Anonymous wrote:Visitation probably gets more VA families because of its DC location, thus generally an easier commute for the students from Northern Virginia in cities such as McLean, Vienna, Falls Church, Fairfax, etc.

Just looked at the current Visi student directory by ZipCode and counted about 160 Visi students from Virginia out of 490 total. So about 30% Virginia students.

Visitation probably gets more VA families because of its DC location, thus generally an easier commute for the students from Northern Virginia in cities such as McLean, Vienna, Falls Church, Fairfax, etc.

2015-2016 Tuition
$27,400
Uniforms $350
Technology fee $200
Books $450-700
Ipad $500, but will allow to use you own device.

http://www.visi.org/data/files/gallery/ContentGallery/Average_Cost_of_a_Visitation_Education_201516.pdf

We will be seeking admision for our DD for class of 2020 and report results...

Anonymous wrote:Which school has more Virginia families?

Quite a few Virginia families at Stone Ridge too. Bus service from Alexandria/Arlington and McLean/Great Falls.

Anonymous wrote:Which school has more Virginia families?

Visi -- the location in Georgetown is only a 1/4 mile from Virginia and fairly easy to get to via the Key Bridge.

Which school has more Virginia families?

NP with no connection to the school. http://www.visi.org/data/files/gallery/ContentGallery/Average_Cost_of_a_Visitation_Education_201516.pdf Doing that addition and you get just shy of $30K. I'm guessing over the course of the year there are probably other one-off fees and expenses as well

You have to buy your books. You might get lucky and get the used ones at the end of the year. My DD books cost this year around $300-$450

Uniforms another $200-$300

Ipad

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Visitation averages approximately 400 applicants per year and accepts only 120 girls to the new 9th grade class.

They also offer almost no tuition support except for the most needy. In other words, you pay full freight unless you are incapable of paying anything. Their philosophy seems to be, if you don't want or can't pay the full $30k plus there is a line behind you of people who will. Talk about narrowing the diversity of the student body.

Not sure where you are getting your impressions .... but tuition at Visi is not "$30k plus" -- it is $27,400 according to the website.

All in with the added costs? You'll spring for much more than $30k per year.

I'm thinking about Visi for our DD. Could you identify each of the added costs please, and what they all add up to? Thank you.

There's enough Financial Aid to allow 14% of each class to go free, Or 28% to go at 50% off.