Anonymous
01/04/2026 07:53
Subject: Gonzaga
No one got in from our public last year except legacies
Anonymous
01/04/2026 07:51
Subject: Re:Gonzaga
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:You need to look at his own specific class to see if anybody’s gonna block them and look at historically how many come from your school?
Really not competing against the masses, competing against the courts in your own eighth grade.
So historically, your school sons five boys Gonzaga and there are no athletes or legacies Buckingham I’ll get him. But if you school historically free and there’s two athletes in a legacy ahead of him no matter what their grades are. He’s not gonna get it..
This is probably true. I know someone with a 99% who was rejected last year. My kid was WL with an HSPT in the high 50s.
Straight rejected coming from a Catholic grade school with a 99% HSPT? There’s certainly more to that story.
Yes, there is.
Anonymous
01/04/2026 06:53
Subject: Gonzaga
My son still talks about the essays! He worked very, very hard in them. They have to be handwritten, which was a lot of work. He really wanted Gonzaga after visiting. We are Catholic, but he attended a k-8 independent school so he was worried about admission. I can not imagine a better high school experience for my son, and I have had other kids attend high school at the so-called Big3. The commitment to serving others and instilling that ethos into the boys is on an entirely different level than I have experienced before. Love this school. One word of caution-making sports teams is really hard.
Anonymous
Anonymous
01/03/2026 22:19
Subject: Gonzaga
There is so much more to getting admitted to Gonzaga than grades. GZA’s admissions team is really talented at getting to know and understand each applicant. They somehow know how to admit the kids that walk the walk. This article explains how service is central and critically important to the school. Gonzaga is truly an amazing place and the best parenting decision we have made for our boys.
“There is no other high school in the United States that has a homeless shelter on its campus,” says McKenna Center President Kim Cox. Watching the students interact with guests heartens her. “I know it is actually profound for me and the rest of our staff,” she says. “There is hope for the future, seeing them engage at this level and at this depth.”
“There is no other high school in the United States that has a homeless shelter on its campus,” says McKenna Center President Kim Cox. Watching the students interact with guests heartens her. “I know it is actually profound for me and the rest of our staff,” she says. “There is hope for the future, seeing them engage at this level and at this depth.”
Anonymous
01/03/2026 09:58
Subject: Gonzaga
Anonymous wrote:Technically it has a 33% admit rate. That's misleading because they give preferential treatment to their feeder Catholic middle schools and legacies. The real admit rate is probably in the mid 20's.
Get a really high HPST (90th percentile or higher) and demonstrate heavy interest. Gonzaga tends to like really committed families and will often reject families they get the sense are "shopping around."
It the applicant is a legacy, goes to a feeder K-8, is full-pay, a good student and an athlete their chances of Admission are close to 100%.
The fewer of these boxes you check, the lower your odds of getting in.
Even within Legacies there is a hierarchy. There are families with multiple generations in which all the boys attended. The school is aware of this, especially as many of these people are active in the community.
Things have changed somewhat since they increased the size of the student body and started to bring large numbers in from Virginia.
But to your point, knowing the “mean average” admission rate tells applicants almost nothing of value.
Anonymous
01/03/2026 09:23
Subject: Gonzaga
Technically it has a 33% admit rate. That's misleading because they give preferential treatment to their feeder Catholic middle schools and legacies. The real admit rate is probably in the mid 20's.
Get a really high HPST (90th percentile or higher) and demonstrate heavy interest. Gonzaga tends to like really committed families and will often reject families they get the sense are "shopping around."
Get a really high HPST (90th percentile or higher) and demonstrate heavy interest. Gonzaga tends to like really committed families and will often reject families they get the sense are "shopping around."
Anonymous
01/02/2026 20:42
Subject: Gonzaga
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The average SAT score of seniors at Gonzaga is no higher than the better public schools in Montgomery, Fairfax and Arlington. So how competitive can admissions really be?
The school turns boys into men. Can’t say the same at public.
"The school turns boys into men. "
As a graduate of a Jesuit school I cannot stress how important this is to the ethos of the Jesuit education. The Jesuits are focused on developing men for others. Which is to say they believe that serving the community, working for the greater good, and focusing on social justice is an important part of the whole person. Anything you can do before applying to show this is a core belief, in action, will go a long way. If you try to fake it they will see through it in an instant.
How does a school measure that “the school turns boys into men.”? Just curious as that seems like a tough one to quantify.
It’s quite obvious when you meet them. Have you heard Fernando Mendoza speak? Is he similar to regular public school boys?
Did Fernando vandalize often in group events like Gonzaga boys have recently?
I know you are being facetious, since we all know that the actions of a few do not define nor represent the whole, but for fun, I looked up incidents from Fernando’s high school that also do not define nor represent him:
- A classmate of his who was arrested and charged with making a music video about conducting a school shooting (this one put the high school on CBS Evening News!)
- A classmate who per Reddit was sleeping with another classmate’s mom (scandalous!)
- Another classmate (whew!) and fellow athlete who was suspended and kicked off their team for hurling racial slurs during games.
- Senior class members who got in a whole bunch of trouble for having a living tiger at their Welcome to the Jungle themed prom.
- A 15-year-old student who was arrested after he was trying to persuade a 13-year-old to help him kill his mother
I stopped looking because the point is clear: The actions of a few do not represent the whole.
AND the other clear point: Every high school (but please someone correct me if you can name any high school anywhere where a student or group of students didn’t do something absolutely boneheaded if not illegal) has a bad kid or heck even a group of them at different points. It might not be a bad egg in every year, but it happens. You are lying to yourself if you don’t believe this, but again I’d love to hear about the school with only perfectly behaved kids, anywhere in our country.
Don’t worry, I’ve already Googled just about every well known private school (Catholic or not) that I know about in the DC area make sure I am not missing some pristine example. Spoiler: I can find incidents and allegations for students at ALL OF THEM. Do they represent their school or what their school believes in? Clearly not.
Anonymous
01/02/2026 19:47
Subject: Gonzaga
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The average SAT score of seniors at Gonzaga is no higher than the better public schools in Montgomery, Fairfax and Arlington. So how competitive can admissions really be?
The school turns boys into men. Can’t say the same at public.
"The school turns boys into men. "
As a graduate of a Jesuit school I cannot stress how important this is to the ethos of the Jesuit education. The Jesuits are focused on developing men for others. Which is to say they believe that serving the community, working for the greater good, and focusing on social justice is an important part of the whole person. Anything you can do before applying to show this is a core belief, in action, will go a long way. If you try to fake it they will see through it in an instant.
How does a school measure that “the school turns boys into men.”? Just curious as that seems like a tough one to quantify.
It’s quite obvious when you meet them. Have you heard Fernando Mendoza speak? Is he similar to regular public school boys?
Did Fernando vandalize often in group events like Gonzaga boys have recently?
I know you are being facetious, since we all know that the actions of a few do not define nor represent the whole, but for fun, I looked up incidents from Fernando’s high school that also do not define nor represent him:
- A classmate of his who was arrested and charged with making a music video about conducting a school shooting (this one put the high school on CBS Evening News!)
- A classmate who per Reddit was sleeping with another classmate’s mom (scandalous!)
- Another classmate (whew!) and fellow athlete who was suspended and kicked off their team for hurling racial slurs during games.
- Senior class members who got in a whole bunch of trouble for having a living tiger at their Welcome to the Jungle themed prom.
- A 15-year-old student who was arrested after he was trying to persuade a 13-year-old to help him kill his mother
I stopped looking because the point is clear: The actions of a few do not represent the whole.
Anonymous
01/02/2026 19:46
Subject: Gonzaga
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:It’s not a quantifiable thing. Turning “boys into men" in Jesuit education is about forming well-rounded, ethically grounded, and service-oriented individuals, not just academically successful ones. They think a lot about character, faith, and service, in addition to academics. It’s a good thing IMO.
I have watched the lacrosse team play several times and I am always amazed by the trash talking and lack of sportsmanship.
So what you're saying is that bunch of teenage boys acted like....teenage boys. I get it sportsmanship matters. But boys are going to say some wild things. These things don't go unnoticed by the school. Talking trash isn't new, and it certainly isn't unique to Gonzaga.
Anonymous
01/02/2026 19:25
Subject: Re:Gonzaga
I don't love the "turn boys to men" but they absolutely graduate with a sense of looking out for their neighbors and helping others. All while this sense is being sucked out of American culture which is every (white christian male)n out for himself.
Anonymous
01/02/2026 19:19
Subject: Gonzaga
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The average SAT score of seniors at Gonzaga is no higher than the better public schools in Montgomery, Fairfax and Arlington. So how competitive can admissions really be?
The school turns boys into men. Can’t say the same at public.
"The school turns boys into men. "
As a graduate of a Jesuit school I cannot stress how important this is to the ethos of the Jesuit education. The Jesuits are focused on developing men for others. Which is to say they believe that serving the community, working for the greater good, and focusing on social justice is an important part of the whole person. Anything you can do before applying to show this is a core belief, in action, will go a long way. If you try to fake it they will see through it in an instant.
How does a school measure that “the school turns boys into men.”? Just curious as that seems like a tough one to quantify.
It’s quite obvious when you meet them. Have you heard Fernando Mendoza speak? Is he similar to regular public school boys?
He went to Christopher Columbus HS, which is Marist not Jesuit. He went to Jesuit middle school.
Where does that leave Jesuit universities? Wouldn’t they be able to mold their students as well?
I went to both a Jesuit HS (not GCHS) and a Jesuit university, so I can give you a thought. Because of the age of high school students, they are able to (and do) focus a lot on personal development and foundational skills. I found at the university level, they cared about this quite deeply, but there’s so much personal autonomy in college that there’s less of this day to day. Both high school and college courses focused on the critical thinking Jesuits are known for. Both emphasized service and social justice.
Anonymous
01/02/2026 19:18
Subject: Gonzaga
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The average SAT score of seniors at Gonzaga is no higher than the better public schools in Montgomery, Fairfax and Arlington. So how competitive can admissions really be?
The school turns boys into men. Can’t say the same at public.
"The school turns boys into men. "
As a graduate of a Jesuit school I cannot stress how important this is to the ethos of the Jesuit education. The Jesuits are focused on developing men for others. Which is to say they believe that serving the community, working for the greater good, and focusing on social justice is an important part of the whole person. Anything you can do before applying to show this is a core belief, in action, will go a long way. If you try to fake it they will see through it in an instant.
How does a school measure that “the school turns boys into men.”? Just curious as that seems like a tough one to quantify.
It’s quite obvious when you meet them. Have you heard Fernando Mendoza speak? Is he similar to regular public school boys?
Did Fernando vandalize often in group events like Gonzaga boys have recently?
Anonymous
01/02/2026 19:13
Subject: Gonzaga
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The average SAT score of seniors at Gonzaga is no higher than the better public schools in Montgomery, Fairfax and Arlington. So how competitive can admissions really be?
The school turns boys into men. Can’t say the same at public.
"The school turns boys into men. "
As a graduate of a Jesuit school I cannot stress how important this is to the ethos of the Jesuit education. The Jesuits are focused on developing men for others. Which is to say they believe that serving the community, working for the greater good, and focusing on social justice is an important part of the whole person. Anything you can do before applying to show this is a core belief, in action, will go a long way. If you try to fake it they will see through it in an instant.
How does a school measure that “the school turns boys into men.”? Just curious as that seems like a tough one to quantify.
It’s quite obvious when you meet them. Have you heard Fernando Mendoza speak? Is he similar to regular public school boys?
I think your point is that he went to an all boys Catholic high school that focuses on developing well rounded young men. His high school was Marist, not Jesuit, but for the sake of your argument, I understand your point and agree.
Anonymous
01/02/2026 19:06
Subject: Re:Gonzaga
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:You need to look at his own specific class to see if anybody’s gonna block them and look at historically how many come from your school?
Really not competing against the masses, competing against the courts in your own eighth grade.
So historically, your school sons five boys Gonzaga and there are no athletes or legacies Buckingham I’ll get him. But if you school historically free and there’s two athletes in a legacy ahead of him no matter what their grades are. He’s not gonna get it..
This is probably true. I know someone with a 99% who was rejected last year. My kid was WL with an HSPT in the high 50s.
Straight rejected coming from a Catholic grade school with a 99% HSPT? There’s certainly more to that story.