We have three kids in HS and college and among their friends, I can count nearly a dozen who went to NPS. I'd never really noticed this, but now that you mention it, yeah, every one of those kids comes from a pretty-WASPy family. Kinda retro. Nice people, though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Primarily VISI. No great mystery.

NPS is Presbyterian, not Catholic. Try again.

So? Catholic families still attend NPS and their children sometimes later go to Catholic high schools. You try again.

Current NPS parent here. NPS ends in 6th and Visi starts in 9th so no child is going there directly. End of story. Each year, 1-2 girls go to an interim choice (Norwood, Woods, Holy trinity) and eventually end up at visitation but it is a small percentage of NPS grads. If you are specifically interested in Visitation, NPS is probably not the best choice. Looking for Catholic — Stone Ridge and Holy child generally end up with a girl or two, but again, not many.

Holton was big choice for NPS girls this year. I believe 6 will attend in the fall. Many also got into NCS or Stone Ridge but Holton is where they chose. The previous year it was NCS, with 5 girls attending. It tends to flip flop, more on the preferences of families as it seems girls frequently are accepted at both.

Also, FWIW, I can’t think of a boy who applied to Gonzaga or prep later on - maybe 1 or 2 if I rack my brain and go back 5-7 years? A small number of boys (1-2) end up at the St Anselm’s, but not sure why more boys aren’t taking that interim step and heading to the catholic high schools? Anyway, just a clarification.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Primarily VISI. No great mystery.

NPS is Presbyterian, not Catholic. Try again.

So? Catholic families still attend NPS and their children sometimes later go to Catholic high schools. You try again.

Current NPS parent here. NPS ends in 6th and Visi starts in 9th so no child is going there directly. End of story. Each year, 1-2 girls go to an interim choice (Norwood, Woods, Holy trinity) and eventually end up at visitation but it is a small percentage of NPS grads. If you are specifically interested in Visitation, NPS is probably not the best choice. Looking for Catholic — Stone Ridge and Holy child generally end up with a girl or two, but again, not many.

Holton was big choice for NPS girls this year. I believe 6 will attend in the fall. Many also got into NCS or Stone Ridge but Holton is where they chose. The previous year it was NCS, with 5 girls attending. It tends to flip flop, more on the preferences of families as it seems girls frequently are accepted at both.

While NPS has more Catholics than Presbyterians (Presbyterians comprise a small %age), every year or two there are only a couple who go to a school just for middle because they're thinking Zaga, Visi etc. for HS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Primarily VISI. No great mystery.

NPS is Presbyterian, not Catholic. Try again.

So? Catholic families still attend NPS and their children sometimes later go to Catholic high schools. You try again.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The parents are nice if insular. The academics are good to very good. Alums get into good schools for MS and later HS. It is very WASPy. The school looks for a certain model of child/family as do all private schools. NPS’s model is narrowly defined, more so than many other privates. If that is what you want, you will fit in.

What does "later HS" mean? The vast majority spend 7-12 at the same school after leaving NPS, unless there are special circumstances (i.e., they have their eye on a certain catholic HS or boarding). As a current parent, I'm also curious as to what this "model" is.

I would assume this means if a student decides to apply to a different school for 9-12, that they do well in admissions

Anonymous wrote:Primarily VISI. No great mystery.

NPS is Presbyterian, not Catholic. Try again.

NPS is a wonderful and warm school. We ended up choosing a different school (because we were offered more in financial aid). The things I appreciated about the admissions process and the people I met was:

1. They really adapted families where both parents work. Not all schools made those accommodations but NPS did. Making sure there are supports for families where both parents work is very important to achieving income and racial diversity. There are lots of barriers out there to achieving diversity and one big barrier is adaptive a place is to families that are living in different circumstances than say the typical NW DC private school family.

2. We ended up not applying to St. Pats, but I found the tour and the ambiance to be very homogeneous and not as inclusive. This was about five years ago and it sounds like things have changed.

3. You have to go and look at these schools on your own to see what works best your your family. You can get input from DCUrbanMom, but you really have to see these places for yourself and understand what works best for your child and your family.

Primarily VISI. No great mystery.

Anonymous wrote:The parents are nice if insular. The academics are good to very good. Alums get into good schools for MS and later HS. It is very WASPy. The school looks for a certain model of child/family as do all private schools. NPS’s model is narrowly defined, more so than many other privates. If that is what you want, you will fit in.

What does "later HS" mean? The vast majority spend 7-12 at the same school after leaving NPS, unless there are special circumstances (i.e., they have their eye on a certain catholic HS or boarding). As a current parent, I'm also curious as to what this "model" is.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve heard it’s WASPy but I was surprised to learn that. I would have though the Episcopal schools (Beauvoir, St Pat’s, WES) would be more so, but alas, I’ve been told NPS is actually more WASPy than the WASP-affiliates schools.

Not sure if it’s true, but I literally had this conversation with an NPS parent for fun!

We ended up selecting St Pat's over NPS and the WASP factor was one thing that pushed us to St. Pat's. The diversity was really lacking and the community doesn't seem to care about that at all.

St. Patrick’s is much WASPier than NPS IMO...

I agree, St Pat’s and Beauvoir are so WASPY!

Anonymous wrote:The parents are nice if insular. The academics are good to very good. Alums get into good schools for MS and later HS. It is very WASPy. The school looks for a certain model of child/family as do all private schools. NPS’s model is narrowly defined, more so than many other privates. If that is what you want, you will fit in.

What is their model?

The parents are nice if insular. The academics are good to very good. Alums get into good schools for MS and later HS. It is very WASPy. The school looks for a certain model of child/family as do all private schools. NPS’s model is narrowly defined, more so than many other privates. If that is what you want, you will fit in.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve heard it’s WASPy but I was surprised to learn that. I would have though the Episcopal schools (Beauvoir, St Pat’s, WES) would be more so, but alas, I’ve been told NPS is actually more WASPy than the WASP-affiliates schools.

Not sure if it’s true, but I literally had this conversation with an NPS parent for fun!

We ended up selecting St Pat's over NPS and the WASP factor was one thing that pushed us to St. Pat's. The diversity was really lacking and the community doesn't seem to care about that at all.

St. Patrick’s is much WASPier than NPS IMO...

The other lesson from this thread is people love to spout old second-hand stereotypes with no current relation to reality. If you are interested in NPS, check it out for yourself because this board is not going to provide useful or accurate information.

I could provide a lot of info about the new diversity coordinator, minority HOS, and commitment to inclusion but no one seems to actually want the truth.

If you are at all interested, attend an open house and you can get real data and also a feel for the community. It is a lovely place with really welcoming families that has served our kids well. I personally think it is a overlooked choice. My kids were incredibly well prepared for their next schools, but more importantly, they loved the time they were there.

The school’s unofficial mantra is “preserving the decade of childhood” and we really appreciated that about the school.

And, if it is not your choice, for whatever reason, know there are many good choices out there.

Good luck!