Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the education that much better than Whitman?

Not at all.

Yes, it’s a much better educational experience.

It's an inferior academic product

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the education that much better than Whitman?

Not at all.

Yes, it’s a much better educational experience.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anybody paying 50k for preschool is a fool.

That’s why you wait until high school.

Isn't it harder to get into a private school if you wait until 8th grade to apply?

I assume that parents paying either make $$$$$ or they live in cheaper areas to offset the cost.

Yes, it’s harder to get in later but it’s a trade off. You assume the risk of your child not being admitted in 9th grade, in exchange for paying less for tuition (4 years only).

Anonymous wrote:Is the education that much better than Whitman?

Not at all.

A majority of tuition dollars go to paying salaries and benefits of teachers and administrators. Schools must offer at least COLA raises each year to their employees (usually around 3%), so you should expect tuition to increase at least by this amount each year.

Anonymous wrote:60% POC, 1 in 4 to 1 in 5 on financial aid. What more do you want?

About 20% are on financial aid. I personally know a few of Sidwell’s financial aid recipients (because they’re open about it). They are all well educated professionals (e.g., combinations of two-parent feds, teachers, professors, journalists, etc). By US standards, these are solidly middle class and upper middle class families.

Sidwell is a great school, but there isn’t much economic diversity. It’s a school for the uber wealthy, regular wealthy and middle/upper middle class. There are very few, if any, impoverished students at Sidwell.

Anonymous wrote:How do people pay this and save for college?

Family money.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anybody paying 50k for preschool is a fool.

That’s why you wait until high school.

Or better yes middle school
That’s when many public schools tank in their educational experience. And those middle school years at a top private prepare your kid for to perform their best in high school

Middle school is worth the money to pay for private school. It is really easy to supplement in elementary school. Then private middle school prepares students for public high school where tip students are all together in AP classes.

Instead of paying 60k a year in tuition we have our oldest in public high school then we pay for tutors so our kids get one in one help and the ability to discuss whatever topic they are studying. For example we are paying $50 an hour to a medical student to tutor our son in AP chemistry twice a week. So that is $400 a month fir 8 months = $3200. We pay for a writing tutor and a math tutor as well. Not because our child is struggling but ti get extra attention because the class sizes in public are larger.

So for younger child in middle school it’s around 55k and oldest 12k for tutors.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not pretending. It was important to me the school body was diverse enough, and it’s much more than that. I love it and feel lucky to be cutting them checks for Sidwell and not some other lesser school.

Visible diversity was important to you.

I will respond earnestly although I don’t think that’s what this comment was.

The most important to me was the quality: teaching, values, facilities, ethos, peer group, prospects. I also cared about diversity mostly to confirm what I knew of their values.

At 1 in 4-5 on financial aid and no outstanding candidates being turned away for the lack of ability to pay, my socioeconomic expectations were met or exceeded.

At 6 in 10, my racial diversity expectations were exceeded. I was hoping to see them to be in the ballpark en par with the community which for me isn’t DMV. In DC fewer than 6 in 10 are not white.

It’s a great ROI including socially and in the long term, not so sure about some of the others.

I don’t think anyone the admissions thought was an outstanding candidate was turned away on the basis of the ability to pay. This whole thing is an absurd argument.

If you want to question a private schools worth, there’s a dozen right next door I wouldn’t pay for so how about that?

Anonymous wrote:Not pretending. It was important to me the school body was diverse enough, and it’s much more than that. I love it and feel lucky to be cutting them checks for Sidwell and not some other lesser school.

Visible diversity was important to you.

Not pretending. It was important to me the school body was diverse enough, and it’s much more than that. I love it and feel lucky to be cutting them checks for Sidwell and not some other lesser school.

Anonymous wrote:60% POC, 1 in 4 to 1 in 5 on financial aid. What more do you want?

When people on this board making $250k/yr are told they can get FA? Not diverse.

It’s what you want and pay for. Just own it. Why pretend?

The alumni network is very strong, supported and worth it alone. It’s actually quite cheap given the alumni network is unmatched other than maybe the top New York day schools and the top boarding schools

That’s the real difference. You pay the same elsewhere but it’s not at the same level

Also, it’s the peer group. Which starts in pre-K