I can’t speak to APS, but we chose DJO over GCM HS. It’s about 1/2 the size of GCM (but still big enough to have a broad range of activities and groups) and the average class size at DJO is around 18. Some are bigger and some (a few) are smaller. I think they have a hard cap of 22 or 24 in any given class. It can be as rigorous or not as you want. They offer a ton of AP, but also have have a Meuller program for mild LD’s and executive functioning issues.

Anonymous wrote:My child is a new freshman at DJO. We spent a lot of time researching schools and chose DJO for its academics and extracurricular activities, including but not limited to sports. We've been very happy so far.

We know quite a few DJO families and so we had the benefit of hearing from them before making our decision.

It's a Catholic school, and Catholic teaching is "conservative" by today's "woke" standards. But DJO seems to be a fairly typical Catholic school in that regard.

Just recirculating this thread...after being completely underwhelmed by both the APS High School Night and last night's virtual Wakefield session, I am wondering if it would be worth spending the money to attend O'Connell. I would love to hear from anyone chose DJO over the local APS schools or vice-versa. (And FWIW we love South Arlington are not trying to avoid Wakefield based on poverty or diversity--however, at the high school level APS class sizes are rather large and don't seem to have a great guidance counselor to student ratio.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should check out their college list. If you are in Fairfax County, the Public Schools would be better. I knew some kids who went there...middle of the road students...nice but not superstars.

LOL ok.

Why LOL? Where was the lie? (I have no ties to O'Connell but just looked at the college list and "fine" is the best way to describe it.)

I also have no ties to DJO but I think this list is pretty good:
UVA
BC
Emory
Naval Academy
Duke
Air Force Academy
Georgetown
USMA
Rice
UCLA
Embry-Riddle
NYU
W&M

That looks better than “meh” to me. And keep in mind the matriculation list is where they are going, not everywhere they got admitted.

No Ivies, but there are some good schools there.

Though the Ivies have been working to improve their Catholic Centers to attract more Catholic school kids. Brown-RISD just built a new space this year.

That smallish Catholic Center looks like it’s a refuge for Catholics sheltering the from the dominant culture at Brown. No wonder Catholics send their kids to Catholic colleges and Universities where they don’t need special areas to hang out.

You can be Catholic and hang out in other places on campus, too.

Sure. But these kids are definitely in the minority and the prevailing attitude on campus isolates them. There’s a student op ed in the Brown student newspaper (Google) describing what it’s like to be at Catholic at Brown. She’s surviving, but it isn’t something I’d sign up for when there are other alternatives.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should check out their college list. If you are in Fairfax County, the Public Schools would be better. I knew some kids who went there...middle of the road students...nice but not superstars.

LOL ok.

Why LOL? Where was the lie? (I have no ties to O'Connell but just looked at the college list and "fine" is the best way to describe it.)

I also have no ties to DJO but I think this list is pretty good:
UVA
BC
Emory
Naval Academy
Duke
Air Force Academy
Georgetown
USMA
Rice
UCLA
Embry-Riddle
NYU
W&M

That looks better than “meh” to me. And keep in mind the matriculation list is where they are going, not everywhere they got admitted.

No Ivies, but there are some good schools there.

Though the Ivies have been working to improve their Catholic Centers to attract more Catholic school kids. Brown-RISD just built a new space this year.

That smallish Catholic Center looks like it’s a refuge for Catholics sheltering the from the dominant culture at Brown. No wonder Catholics send their kids to Catholic colleges and Universities where they don’t need special areas to hang out.

You can be Catholic and hang out in other places on campus, too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should check out their college list. If you are in Fairfax County, the Public Schools would be better. I knew some kids who went there...middle of the road students...nice but not superstars.

LOL ok.

Why LOL? Where was the lie? (I have no ties to O'Connell but just looked at the college list and "fine" is the best way to describe it.)

I also have no ties to DJO but I think this list is pretty good:
UVA
BC
Emory
Naval Academy
Duke
Air Force Academy
Georgetown
USMA
Rice
UCLA
Embry-Riddle
NYU
W&M

That looks better than “meh” to me. And keep in mind the matriculation list is where they are going, not everywhere they got admitted.

Secret theme....

Heaven > Harvard


(I don't feel this way, but it is an expression in Catholic Ed circles)


https://encourageandteach.wordpress.com/2014/09/03/heaven-over-harvard/

Reads like an excuse. You can get to Harvard AND Heaven.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should check out their college list. If you are in Fairfax County, the Public Schools would be better. I knew some kids who went there...middle of the road students...nice but not superstars.

LOL ok.

Why LOL? Where was the lie? (I have no ties to O'Connell but just looked at the college list and "fine" is the best way to describe it.)

I also have no ties to DJO but I think this list is pretty good:
UVA
BC
Emory
Naval Academy
Duke
Air Force Academy
Georgetown
USMA
Rice
UCLA
Embry-Riddle
NYU
W&M

That looks better than “meh” to me. And keep in mind the matriculation list is where they are going, not everywhere they got admitted.

No Ivies, but there are some good schools there.

Though the Ivies have been working to improve their Catholic Centers to attract more Catholic school kids. Brown-RISD just built a new space this year.

That smallish Catholic Center looks like it’s a refuge for Catholics sheltering the from the dominant culture at Brown. No wonder Catholics send their kids to Catholic colleges and Universities where they don’t need special areas to hang out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should check out their college list. If you are in Fairfax County, the Public Schools would be better. I knew some kids who went there...middle of the road students...nice but not superstars.

LOL ok.

Why LOL? Where was the lie? (I have no ties to O'Connell but just looked at the college list and "fine" is the best way to describe it.)

I also have no ties to DJO but I think this list is pretty good:
UVA
BC
Emory
Naval Academy
Duke
Air Force Academy
Georgetown
USMA
Rice
UCLA
Embry-Riddle
NYU
W&M

That looks better than “meh” to me. And keep in mind the matriculation list is where they are going, not everywhere they got admitted.

No Ivies, but there are some good schools there.

Though the Ivies have been working to improve their Catholic Centers to attract more Catholic school kids. Brown-RISD just built a new space this year.

These schools have a steep hill to climb. Their reputation, especially Brown’s, on The campuses and dinner tables of Catholic high schools are quite bad. I’ve seen families of athletes recruited by Brown reject the idea out of hand.

One’s comment was, Why would I send my DC to a school where our value system is under attack”.

Georgetown, ND and Boston College are comparable but aren’t havens for the Woke majority like Brown.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should check out their college list. If you are in Fairfax County, the Public Schools would be better. I knew some kids who went there...middle of the road students...nice but not superstars.

LOL ok.

Why LOL? Where was the lie? (I have no ties to O'Connell but just looked at the college list and "fine" is the best way to describe it.)

I also have no ties to DJO but I think this list is pretty good:
UVA
BC
Emory
Naval Academy
Duke
Air Force Academy
Georgetown
USMA
Rice
UCLA
Embry-Riddle
NYU
W&M

That looks better than “meh” to me. And keep in mind the matriculation list is where they are going, not everywhere they got admitted.

No Ivies, but there are some good schools there.

Though the Ivies have been working to improve their Catholic Centers to attract more Catholic school kids. Brown-RISD just built a new space this year.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should check out their college list. If you are in Fairfax County, the Public Schools would be better. I knew some kids who went there...middle of the road students...nice but not superstars.

LOL ok.

Why LOL? Where was the lie? (I have no ties to O'Connell but just looked at the college list and "fine" is the best way to describe it.)

I also have no ties to DJO but I think this list is pretty good:
UVA
BC
Emory
Naval Academy
Duke
Air Force Academy
Georgetown
USMA
Rice
UCLA
Embry-Riddle
NYU
W&M

That looks better than “meh” to me. And keep in mind the matriculation list is where they are going, not everywhere they got admitted.

Secret theme....

Heaven > Harvard


(I don't feel this way, but it is an expression in Catholic Ed circles)


https://encourageandteach.wordpress.com/2014/09/03/heaven-over-harvard/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should check out their college list. If you are in Fairfax County, the Public Schools would be better. I knew some kids who went there...middle of the road students...nice but not superstars.

LOL ok.

Why LOL? Where was the lie? (I have no ties to O'Connell but just looked at the college list and "fine" is the best way to describe it.)

I also have no ties to DJO but I think this list is pretty good:
UVA
BC
Emory
Naval Academy
Duke
Air Force Academy
Georgetown
USMA
Rice
UCLA
Embry-Riddle
NYU
W&M

That looks better than “meh” to me. And keep in mind the matriculation list is where they are going, not everywhere they got admitted.

No Ivies, but there are some good schools there.

Though the Ivies have been working to improve their Catholic Centers to attract more Catholic school kids. Brown-RISD just built a new space this year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should check out their college list. If you are in Fairfax County, the Public Schools would be better. I knew some kids who went there...middle of the road students...nice but not superstars.

LOL ok.

Why LOL? Where was the lie? (I have no ties to O'Connell but just looked at the college list and "fine" is the best way to describe it.)

I also have no ties to DJO but I think this list is pretty good:
UVA
BC
Emory
Naval Academy
Duke
Air Force Academy
Georgetown
USMA
Rice
UCLA
Embry-Riddle
NYU
W&M

That looks better than “meh” to me. And keep in mind the matriculation list is where they are going, not everywhere they got admitted.

No Ivies, but there are some good schools there.

My child is a new freshman at DJO. We spent a lot of time researching schools and chose DJO for its academics and extracurricular activities, including but not limited to sports. We've been very happy so far.

We know quite a few DJO families and so we had the benefit of hearing from them before making our decision.

It's a Catholic school, and Catholic teaching is "conservative" by today's "woke" standards. But DJO seems to be a fairly typical Catholic school in that regard.

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid at a DC co-educational catholic HS, and now I am very curious about these pants! Somebody post a link.

To the rest of the world they look like the old khaki pants uniform but now gray. The look a little car mechanic. But fine. I have kids at O’Connell and the uniforms have not been a topic of conversation.

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid at a DC co-educational catholic HS, and now I am very curious about these pants! Somebody post a link.

https://www.bishopoconnell.org/parents/schooluniform

They’re really just gray slacks rather than khakis.

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid at a DC co-educational catholic HS, and now I am very curious about these pants! Somebody post a link.

https://flynnohara.com/mens-classic-pants-va252-class-oc-sa-char/

NP. They're just pants. I don't understand the issue.