Anonymous
Post 03/05/2023 16:00     Subject: What are the “Big 3” or “Big 5” in Baltimore?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am an alum of one of the schools in Roland Park and pretty much my entire family went to one of the Roland Park schools or McDonogh. I think people are right to say that it is tough to do an apples to apples comparison with DC. The biggest thing I would say is that the top kids from each school, despite the schools reputation for academic rigor, got into top schools. These schools also do not have an abundance of applicants where they are rejecting hoards of students or can fill classes with kids guaranteed to get 1500s on their SATs (this is the impression I am starting to get from the DC schools). Each school really emphasized fit. And a lot of my friends seemed to go to one school over another simple because it was close by or they had a family member (like a cousin) already going there. When I was there in the aughts, this was what the rep was for each school:

The Roland Park 5

Gilman - old money, elitist, more
academically rigorous

Boys Latin - lax jocks, less academically rigorous with more
emphasis on smaller class sizes/saying they were a family

Friends - art types with more programs focused on dance, music, etc. also the only coed school in the Roland Park 5. Emphasized quicker values.

Bryn Mawr - girl Gilman with a little less elitism and similar academic rigor

Roland Park Country School - girl Gilman with a little more focus on athletics with slightly less academic rigor

Catholic Schools (don’t know these reps as well)

Calvert Hall - large student body, opposite of elitist

Loyola - most elite catholic school (but not like in the same sense as gilman)

NDP - jocks

Maryvale - smallest student body catholic school

Burb Schools

Garrison Forest - wealthy (polo arena and boarders); skewed less academically rigorous

Park - Jewish artsy kids (I don’t think it ever had a religious affiliation unlike most the other schools, which is why it skews jewish)

St Paul’s - new money and skewed towards lax jocks

McDonogh - Similar to Gilman but coed and campus has more of a country feel due to location; felt less elitist and old moneyish/WASPy

There are other schools like St Tims and Oldfields that I really know nothing about.


Oughts is now 20 years ago! Having watched changes from the 1990s heyday where all the schools were bursting at the seams (it helped to be a lot more affordable back then), Friends is probably the only Roland Park school that may have a majority of its students living inside the city limits but even I doubt that. The other RP schools all draw the majority of their students from the counties. In "those days" so many north Baltimore kids headed to the county for privates as well as the RP privates, making it a wash altogether. As it is, all I'm commenting is that RP versus County is a bit of a misleading binary.

Park, by the way, is significantly less "Jewish" than it was 25 years ago. It's firmly progressive. I have several friends who are Park alums who send their children to other schools because even they thought they needed something a bit more balanced.


I’m definitely seeing a trend where more people are opting for private schools again despite the exorbitant price tag. Several families I know who moved to the Dulaney or Towson area for public schools are now looking at private school.


Interesting… pontificating but wondering if it’s some combination of the below:

1. With baby boomers retiring, more people with young kids are being promoted to positions where they can afford tuition. I have seen antidotal evidence of this with friends starting to make partner at the large law firms and get promoted with in the F1000 companies around the area (Under Armour and T. Rowe specifically). Not to mention DC prices driving people into the area.

2. Population growth in the county starting to strain the public schools. I think Delaney has to close on super hot days due to the lack of air conditioning?

3. More people electing to stay in the city that don’t want to risk getting rejected from City, Poly or School for the Arts. I know we have no plans of moving out…

4. Since a lot of private schools started daycares, people sticking with them even after their kids qualify for public school rather than pulling them out.


Another poster above mentioned the fact that teachers now have very little freedom to teach how they want, and have to adhere strictly to approved content and pacing. This has been our public school experience in the county as well and this is also why we moved to private. I don't know when this rigidity started, but I think this happened within the past few years. They don't use textbooks, even for math, and the district materials are ridiculous and full of mistakes. In my opinion, the pacing is terrible for kids who learn either faster or slower than average. The facilities aren't great either, but it's the curriculum that scared us off. Maybe the magnet schools are more flexible. I know very little about them but if anyone knows please chime in.
Anonymous
Post 03/05/2023 15:19     Subject: What are the “Big 3” or “Big 5” in Baltimore?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I totally agree! It seems that DC has more coed options. I truly wish there were more coed options in the Roland Park area.


What is different about all-boys schools and the whites-only schools of the past? This is a serious question. Most colleges have corrected this a long time ago.


I daresay most of us can tell it's not a serious question but someone with an agenda who's not looking for an informative dialogue on single sex schools.
Anonymous
Post 03/05/2023 14:34     Subject: Re:What are the “Big 3” or “Big 5” in Baltimore?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I know that some of the private schools opened to in-class instruction before public schools like Towson and Dulaney and other public grade schools, so some parents, especially of younger kids, made the move to private school for that reason. Now if they can afford it, prefer it.

Of the Baltimore Catholic schools, I am partial to Loyola because my son went there. Again, what’s right for one kid at Loyola might not fit at Calvert Hall, which also has a lot of strengths. NDP and Maryvale get most of the ink in terms of the the Catholic genre for girls, though Mercy in the northern part of the city is doing some great things.

It is all about fit. Your Catholic girl might also find she likes a place like Park or St Tim’s or Friends, and they are nothing like the Catholic schools


Is there any mixing with the opposite sex at Loyola Marymount or Calvert Hall?


Do you mean socially? Yes, they tend to have mixers with NDP and Maryvale. Quite a few of my dd’s friends from Bryn Mawr date boys from Loyola. But neither schools is physically close to an all girl’s school so they do not have coed classes like the trischools. Roland Park, Gilman and Bryn Mawr are all adjacent to one another.
Anonymous
Post 03/05/2023 13:51     Subject: Re:What are the “Big 3” or “Big 5” in Baltimore?
Anonymous wrote:I know that some of the private schools opened to in-class instruction before public schools like Towson and Dulaney and other public grade schools, so some parents, especially of younger kids, made the move to private school for that reason. Now if they can afford it, prefer it.

Of the Baltimore Catholic schools, I am partial to Loyola because my son went there. Again, what’s right for one kid at Loyola might not fit at Calvert Hall, which also has a lot of strengths. NDP and Maryvale get most of the ink in terms of the the Catholic genre for girls, though Mercy in the northern part of the city is doing some great things.

It is all about fit. Your Catholic girl might also find she likes a place like Park or St Tim’s or Friends, and they are nothing like the Catholic schools


Is there any mixing with the opposite sex at Loyola Marymount or Calvert Hall?
Anonymous
Post 03/05/2023 13:47     Subject: What are the “Big 3” or “Big 5” in Baltimore?
Gilman, bryn mawr, McDonough. Really lucky to have all these great schools. Thrilled with the academics at Gilman and bryn mawr and the trachea are amazing.
Anonymous
Post 03/05/2023 12:01     Subject: Re:What are the “Big 3” or “Big 5” in Baltimore?
I know that some of the private schools opened to in-class instruction before public schools like Towson and Dulaney and other public grade schools, so some parents, especially of younger kids, made the move to private school for that reason. Now if they can afford it, prefer it.

Of the Baltimore Catholic schools, I am partial to Loyola because my son went there. Again, what’s right for one kid at Loyola might not fit at Calvert Hall, which also has a lot of strengths. NDP and Maryvale get most of the ink in terms of the the Catholic genre for girls, though Mercy in the northern part of the city is doing some great things.

It is all about fit. Your Catholic girl might also find she likes a place like Park or St Tim’s or Friends, and they are nothing like the Catholic schools
Anonymous
Post 03/05/2023 11:56     Subject: What are the “Big 3” or “Big 5” in Baltimore?
Anonymous wrote:We chose to send DD to Bryn Mawr, but I have to say I would be thrilled if there were a more academically rigorous co-ed option in the Roland Park area. I am really scratching my head as to why the most rigorous academic options are both single-sex. At least they can take co-ed classes together in the upper school.


That is a great gesture and does make them basically co-ed
Anonymous
Post 03/05/2023 11:55     Subject: What are the “Big 3” or “Big 5” in Baltimore?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I totally agree! It seems that DC has more coed options. I truly wish there were more coed options in the Roland Park area.


What is different about all-boys schools and the whites-only schools of the past? This is a serious question. Most colleges have corrected this a long time ago.
Anonymous
Post 03/05/2023 11:32     Subject: What are the “Big 3” or “Big 5” in Baltimore?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am an alum of one of the schools in Roland Park and pretty much my entire family went to one of the Roland Park schools or McDonogh. I think people are right to say that it is tough to do an apples to apples comparison with DC. The biggest thing I would say is that the top kids from each school, despite the schools reputation for academic rigor, got into top schools. These schools also do not have an abundance of applicants where they are rejecting hoards of students or can fill classes with kids guaranteed to get 1500s on their SATs (this is the impression I am starting to get from the DC schools). Each school really emphasized fit. And a lot of my friends seemed to go to one school over another simple because it was close by or they had a family member (like a cousin) already going there. When I was there in the aughts, this was what the rep was for each school:

The Roland Park 5

Gilman - old money, elitist, more
academically rigorous

Boys Latin - lax jocks, less academically rigorous with more
emphasis on smaller class sizes/saying they were a family

Friends - art types with more programs focused on dance, music, etc. also the only coed school in the Roland Park 5. Emphasized quicker values.

Bryn Mawr - girl Gilman with a little less elitism and similar academic rigor

Roland Park Country School - girl Gilman with a little more focus on athletics with slightly less academic rigor

Catholic Schools (don’t know these reps as well)

Calvert Hall - large student body, opposite of elitist

Loyola - most elite catholic school (but not like in the same sense as gilman)

NDP - jocks

Maryvale - smallest student body catholic school

Burb Schools

Garrison Forest - wealthy (polo arena and boarders); skewed less academically rigorous

Park - Jewish artsy kids (I don’t think it ever had a religious affiliation unlike most the other schools, which is why it skews jewish)

St Paul’s - new money and skewed towards lax jocks

McDonogh - Similar to Gilman but coed and campus has more of a country feel due to location; felt less elitist and old moneyish/WASPy

There are other schools like St Tims and Oldfields that I really know nothing about.


Oughts is now 20 years ago! Having watched changes from the 1990s heyday where all the schools were bursting at the seams (it helped to be a lot more affordable back then), Friends is probably the only Roland Park school that may have a majority of its students living inside the city limits but even I doubt that. The other RP schools all draw the majority of their students from the counties. In "those days" so many north Baltimore kids headed to the county for privates as well as the RP privates, making it a wash altogether. As it is, all I'm commenting is that RP versus County is a bit of a misleading binary.

Park, by the way, is significantly less "Jewish" than it was 25 years ago. It's firmly progressive. I have several friends who are Park alums who send their children to other schools because even they thought they needed something a bit more balanced.


I’m definitely seeing a trend where more people are opting for private schools again despite the exorbitant price tag. Several families I know who moved to the Dulaney or Towson area for public schools are now looking at private school.


Interesting… pontificating but wondering if it’s some combination of the below:

1. With baby boomers retiring, more people with young kids are being promoted to positions where they can afford tuition. I have seen antidotal evidence of this with friends starting to make partner at the large law firms and get promoted with in the F1000 companies around the area (Under Armour and T. Rowe specifically). Not to mention DC prices driving people into the area.

2. Population growth in the county starting to strain the public schools. I think Delaney has to close on super hot days due to the lack of air conditioning?

3. More people electing to stay in the city that don’t want to risk getting rejected from City, Poly or School for the Arts. I know we have no plans of moving out…

4. Since a lot of private schools started daycares, people sticking with them even after their kids qualify for public school rather than pulling them out.


We lived in the county for elementary school , and switched for middle for oldest (younger child was still in lower school). Our county elementary, which is still highly sought after, was fantastic for the first few years, then the county got rid of all acceleration at the elementary level and some at the middle school level. Teachers and schools also went from having a fair amount of freedom, to being given highly scripted curriculum. A lot of great teachers retired at this point.

The condition of the physical facilities of all the “top” public high school, both in the county and city, is horrible. In the county, at least, there are plans for improvements but not in the city.

College placement is still better in the private schools, at least for the middle portion of the class. This may change given colleges changing priorities but hasn’t yet. Similarly, for kids hoping to get recruited for a college sport, the pipeline remains much stronger from the private/Catholic schools.
Anonymous
Post 03/05/2023 11:30     Subject: What are the “Big 3” or “Big 5” in Baltimore?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I would remove Gilman until they are cleared of wrongdoing


Declining interest in all-boys education is also real.


Doesn't seem to affect boys schools in Baltimore. Gilman, Boys Latin, SP, Loyola and Calvert Hall are all going strong. Boys Latin has grown in size and popularity.

Anonymous
Post 03/05/2023 11:22     Subject: What are the “Big 3” or “Big 5” in Baltimore?
Anonymous wrote:We chose to send DD to Bryn Mawr, but I have to say I would be thrilled if there were a more academically rigorous co-ed option in the Roland Park area. I am really scratching my head as to why the most rigorous academic options are both single-sex. At least they can take co-ed classes together in the upper school.


I have a child at each school. We also would have preferred co ed but the single sex is actually really nice in middle school. There are enough mixers that kids can make opposite sex friends and have a normal social life. By high school, even before in coed classes (one of mine had first coed class freshman year, the other, junior), there is a lot of mixing among all 3 schools socially, even as freshman.

I believe Saint Paul’s is similar, but with even more interaction between boys and girls schools.

It’s very different from the true single sex experience of BL, Garrison, and the Catholic single sex high schools.
Anonymous
Post 03/05/2023 11:21     Subject: What are the “Big 3” or “Big 5” in Baltimore?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am an alum of one of the schools in Roland Park and pretty much my entire family went to one of the Roland Park schools or McDonogh. I think people are right to say that it is tough to do an apples to apples comparison with DC. The biggest thing I would say is that the top kids from each school, despite the schools reputation for academic rigor, got into top schools. These schools also do not have an abundance of applicants where they are rejecting hoards of students or can fill classes with kids guaranteed to get 1500s on their SATs (this is the impression I am starting to get from the DC schools). Each school really emphasized fit. And a lot of my friends seemed to go to one school over another simple because it was close by or they had a family member (like a cousin) already going there. When I was there in the aughts, this was what the rep was for each school:

The Roland Park 5

Gilman - old money, elitist, more
academically rigorous

Boys Latin - lax jocks, less academically rigorous with more
emphasis on smaller class sizes/saying they were a family

Friends - art types with more programs focused on dance, music, etc. also the only coed school in the Roland Park 5. Emphasized quicker values.

Bryn Mawr - girl Gilman with a little less elitism and similar academic rigor

Roland Park Country School - girl Gilman with a little more focus on athletics with slightly less academic rigor

Catholic Schools (don’t know these reps as well)

Calvert Hall - large student body, opposite of elitist

Loyola - most elite catholic school (but not like in the same sense as gilman)

NDP - jocks

Maryvale - smallest student body catholic school

Burb Schools

Garrison Forest - wealthy (polo arena and boarders); skewed less academically rigorous

Park - Jewish artsy kids (I don’t think it ever had a religious affiliation unlike most the other schools, which is why it skews jewish)

St Paul’s - new money and skewed towards lax jocks

McDonogh - Similar to Gilman but coed and campus has more of a country feel due to location; felt less elitist and old moneyish/WASPy

There are other schools like St Tims and Oldfields that I really know nothing about.


Oughts is now 20 years ago! Having watched changes from the 1990s heyday where all the schools were bursting at the seams (it helped to be a lot more affordable back then), Friends is probably the only Roland Park school that may have a majority of its students living inside the city limits but even I doubt that. The other RP schools all draw the majority of their students from the counties. In "those days" so many north Baltimore kids headed to the county for privates as well as the RP privates, making it a wash altogether. As it is, all I'm commenting is that RP versus County is a bit of a misleading binary.

Park, by the way, is significantly less "Jewish" than it was 25 years ago. It's firmly progressive. I have several friends who are Park alums who send their children to other schools because even they thought they needed something a bit more balanced.


I’m definitely seeing a trend where more people are opting for private schools again despite the exorbitant price tag. Several families I know who moved to the Dulaney or Towson area for public schools are now looking at private school.


Interesting… pontificating but wondering if it’s some combination of the below:

1. With baby boomers retiring, more people with young kids are being promoted to positions where they can afford tuition. I have seen antidotal evidence of this with friends starting to make partner at the large law firms and get promoted with in the F1000 companies around the area (Under Armour and T. Rowe specifically). Not to mention DC prices driving people into the area.

2. Population growth in the county starting to strain the public schools. I think Delaney has to close on super hot days due to the lack of air conditioning?

3. More people electing to stay in the city that don’t want to risk getting rejected from City, Poly or School for the Arts. I know we have no plans of moving out…

4. Since a lot of private schools started daycares, people sticking with them even after their kids qualify for public school rather than pulling them out.
Anonymous
Post 03/05/2023 10:21     Subject: What are the “Big 3” or “Big 5” in Baltimore?
Anonymous wrote:We chose to send DD to Bryn Mawr, but I have to say I would be thrilled if there were a more academically rigorous co-ed option in the Roland Park area. I am really scratching my head as to why the most rigorous academic options are both single-sex. At least they can take co-ed classes together in the upper school.


I totally agree! It seems that DC has more coed options. I truly wish there were more coed options in the Roland Park area.
Anonymous
Post 03/05/2023 09:51     Subject: What are the “Big 3” or “Big 5” in Baltimore?
We chose to send DD to Bryn Mawr, but I have to say I would be thrilled if there were a more academically rigorous co-ed option in the Roland Park area. I am really scratching my head as to why the most rigorous academic options are both single-sex. At least they can take co-ed classes together in the upper school.
Anonymous
Post 03/05/2023 09:43     Subject: What are the “Big 3” or “Big 5” in Baltimore?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I would remove Gilman until they are cleared of wrongdoing


Declining interest in all-boys education is also real.


It would be hard to defend against claims of being regressive and discriminatory, but people shrug their shoulders.