Look at the student parking lot. Are the students all driving the exact same vehicles? I’m weary of the schools full of jeeps and broncos with the overconsumption of rubber ducks on the dashboard. Not only are those giant vehicles expensive, but why are the kids all trying to be clones? That feels very country club versus a schooo community where kids can be themselves and all kinds of diversity is celebrated.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NCS depends on the grade. Last year's senior class had very little flashy money. This year's class has quite a bit more extreme money and flash.

STA is a wealthier school but my older kid found his way there and we are not rich or fancy. The boys totally accepted him and he graduated with a half dozen life-long friends.

Boys socialize differently than girls might.

They are less likely to notice wealth and far more likely to notice other things.

Guys do not generally treat each other differently based on wealth, sometimes girls do.

Yes they do. The boys that can't afford to golf or belong to the clubs that the kids are all golfing at do get excluded.

Also the family vacations that those kids don't attend but others do if they summer in the right place also get kids excluded.

The country club folks tend to be the worst offenders in our experience at both schools. The others are pretty normal and nice even if they are wealthy.

We are not wealthy and have two that attended Catholic high schools. DS attended Gonzaga and there was no issue with exclusions based on socioeconomic status. He socialized with very wealthy and middle class kids. My girl attended SR, and the opposite was the case. Girls are very much into brand name labels, makeup, and fancy jeeps. My daughter was repulsed by that culture and had to find a very small group of girls who were more subtle about their wealth or were UMC like us. It's rare there unfortunately.

My daughter is at NCS and the flashy money girls often transfer to Stone Ridge. NCS is surprisingly low key. There are few $$/label types in every class but the vast majority of girls/families are not into labels etc at all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NCS depends on the grade. Last year's senior class had very little flashy money. This year's class has quite a bit more extreme money and flash.

STA is a wealthier school but my older kid found his way there and we are not rich or fancy. The boys totally accepted him and he graduated with a half dozen life-long friends.

Boys socialize differently than girls might.

They are less likely to notice wealth and far more likely to notice other things.

Guys do not generally treat each other differently based on wealth, sometimes girls do.

Yes they do. The boys that can't afford to golf or belong to the clubs that the kids are all golfing at do get excluded.

Also the family vacations that those kids don't attend but others do if they summer in the right place also get kids excluded.

The country club folks tend to be the worst offenders in our experience at both schools. The others are pretty normal and nice even if they are wealthy.

We are not wealthy and have two that attended Catholic high schools. DS attended Gonzaga and there was no issue with exclusions based on socioeconomic status. He socialized with very wealthy and middle class kids. My girl attended SR, and the opposite was the case. Girls are very much into brand name labels, makeup, and fancy jeeps. My daughter was repulsed by that culture and had to find a very small group of girls who were more subtle about their wealth or were UMC like us. It's rare there unfortunately.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Beauvoir was great for my kids. Enough with the negativity. It was and always has been a wonderful school.

Beauvoir was awful for my kids. Why are you shutting down feedback? Post about your great experience, it doesn’t negate mine (and others) awful experiences.

What were the bad experiences?

Anonymous wrote:Beauvoir was great for my kids. Enough with the negativity. It was and always has been a wonderful school.

Beauvoir was awful for my kids. Why are you shutting down feedback? Post about your great experience, it doesn’t negate mine (and others) awful experiences.

Anonymous wrote:Curious which ones have these reputations and whether they’re well deserved or not.

Like, I don’t know Sandy Springs Friend School, but I have to imagine it ranks highly on the down-to-earth scale.

There are plenty of such small independent schools. We are in one of these. The less elite schools are those that don't have a reputation for sending 30% of their students to Ivies. The K-8 might be top-notch, but just a few steps away from that college competition. Smaller independent schools mostly attract students in elementary and middle school, so parents are low-key, not ultra-competitive. Those parents in Big5, of course, claim they emphasize "education", but they all still hope to send their kids to Ivies (not even Dartmouth), mostly HYP. And they somehow believe Bi5 will do that. So yes, those are the elitists.

Least snobby/elitist but still academically very challenging: WIS

Anonymous wrote:Lowell is quite down to earth.

Clearly, there are people with a lot of money. That's true of any private school. And, it is also a lot of people making sacrifices to have their kids there. Lots of financial aid. Lots of public sector parents.

Many Lowell parents are really nice. Too nice though; very liberal but institutionally governed. Not nearly tough enough or empowered enough to speak up for a disempowered and unsupported teaching staff. Others are very snobby and will rub it in your face that they are SO enlightened, only to showcase their true colors when they have to compromise the immediate needs of their precious Larlo or Larla (or Larlx) for the greater good. Ultimately, the only thing many of them care about is sheltering their kids from the sometimes uncomfortable characteristics of real life. When we were there, we had to walk on eggshells over eggshells not to say anything or do anything that might offend their cultural hyper-sensitivities, and we consider ourselves to be incredibly liberal. It was like being in a cultish environment.

St. Peter School in Capitol Hill is very snobby.

Beauvoir was great for my kids. Enough with the negativity. It was and always has been a wonderful school.

I think Beauvoir trends towards insufferable. You kind of have to be "special" to pay $50K for early elementary school.

Both NCS and STA get far more down-to-earth as they go along because they start admitting based on academic skill and not just based on who's who. And people who are willing to pay for private high school are a whole different crowd than those who can and will pay $50K+ for early elementary and $60K for 4th grade on.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NCS depends on the grade. Last year's senior class had very little flashy money. This year's class has quite a bit more extreme money and flash.

STA is a wealthier school but my older kid found his way there and we are not rich or fancy. The boys totally accepted him and he graduated with a half dozen life-long friends.

Boys socialize differently than girls might.

They are less likely to notice wealth and far more likely to notice other things.

Guys do not generally treat each other differently based on wealth, sometimes girls do.

Yes they do. The boys that can't afford to golf or belong to the clubs that the kids are all golfing at do get excluded.

Also the family vacations that those kids don't attend but others do if they summer in the right place also get kids excluded.

The country club folks tend to be the worst offenders in our experience at both schools. The others are pretty normal and nice even if they are wealthy.

Rich people's life is pretty boring. Golfing is so boring. We go to our home countries in the summer. Who cares where the rich people go? They might even find the interesting places, and certainly don't speak many languages.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Outwardly flashy social climbing types where people are sizing each other up for what they drive, where they live, etc

That’s snobby, not elitist. For elitist, just use the tuition as shorthand. The more expensive, the more elitist.

+1. The newly minted over $60k club:

Bullis: $61,345
Holton: $60,535
McLean School (?): $61,750
Sidwell, NCS, St. Albans, Madeira: have not announced, but likely to follow suit.

NCS is a tad below 60k. 59,600 I think

🙄

400 under? A school for the common (wo)man!

Anonymous wrote:Another vote for the catholic schools. Parents are 95% normal. The 5% who show wealth loudly are ignored. Not as people but nobody is salivating over their loud car and jewels. There isn’t a stage for that.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NCS depends on the grade. Last year's senior class had very little flashy money. This year's class has quite a bit more extreme money and flash.

STA is a wealthier school but my older kid found his way there and we are not rich or fancy. The boys totally accepted him and he graduated with a half dozen life-long friends.

Boys socialize differently than girls might.

They are less likely to notice wealth and far more likely to notice other things.

Guys do not generally treat each other differently based on wealth, sometimes girls do.

Yes they do. The boys that can't afford to golf or belong to the clubs that the kids are all golfing at do get excluded.

Also the family vacations that those kids don't attend but others do if they summer in the right place also get kids excluded.

The country club folks tend to be the worst offenders in our experience at both schools. The others are pretty normal and nice even if they are wealthy.