Anonymous
04/25/2026 20:04
Subject: Seeking advice for applying to 9th grade this winter
I’ll just add that the schools have different application processes. Field and Burke put a lot of weight on the kid snd parent interviews because they are shooting for a specific culture fit. St John’s doesn’t do interviews except for the Benilde program, I think. Much more focused on test scores and grades.
Definitely do the open houses in the fall, we found them extremely informative, but also gave a really good sense of the school vibes. Also have your child do the shadow visits. They fill Up early so get those scheduled as soon as you can. I think they don’t allow registration until certain portions of the applications are complete, so keep that in mind also.
Good luck. It’s an exhausting process.
Definitely do the open houses in the fall, we found them extremely informative, but also gave a really good sense of the school vibes. Also have your child do the shadow visits. They fill Up early so get those scheduled as soon as you can. I think they don’t allow registration until certain portions of the applications are complete, so keep that in mind also.
Good luck. It’s an exhausting process.
Anonymous
04/25/2026 19:56
Subject: Seeking advice for applying to 9th grade this winter
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:OP here, thanks everyone. By central DC I mean the Shaw/U St area, so a bus from the Hill would not be that convenient for us. I'm just trying to get my head around this now, and to be honest I was a little spooked by seeing some of my friends' 8th graders not get the results they hoped for at Walls and certain privates. So I'm trying to just casually see what schools are realistic options for us logistically and in terms of admissions.
Burke seems an okay size to me, I just meant not like alternative-model small like Templeton. St. John's is definitely one of the bigger schools I'm looking at, but that's okay too. It's still smaller than some of the suburban publics, which I guess would be our plan if we moved.
There have to be at least 25 kids we know who got into St John’s this year - B/C students, so you could always use that as a safety school as it doesn’t seem difficult to get into. Walls is a total crapshoot and has zero transparency. A lot of kids we know who didn’t get in were well rounded and 4.0’s and kids we know who did get in were around 3.7 GPA’s and just regular kids- we had thought walls was supposed to be a school that only selected top students that excel in every way but that doesn’t seem to be the case- I would avoid applying there unless you really just want to spin the lottery wheel.
St. John's is no longer a safety school. They had roughly 1,200 kids apply for the 320+ 9th grade slots this year, so a lot of applicants won't get in.
Not sure who isn’t getting in. Literally everyone we know who applied got in. And it was a lot of kids.
Its math. 1200 - 320 = 880 kids who will not be able to get in.
I believe at least a slight preference is given to fully qualified students who are coming from a Catholic school.
Anonymous
04/25/2026 19:47
Subject: Seeking advice for applying to 9th grade this winter
How far is the airport for an occasional commute?
If your child is indeed super bright and wants amazing co-curriculars, I’d look at the boarding schools up north, and apply to a few in addition to local day schools. Then re-evaluate your actual options next year.
These schools accept between 80 to 200 new freshman each year, depending on the school. There are no pre-established friendship groups that make arriving as a 9th grader difficult. And a few also give amazing aid, even to families earning up to $600k/year. Just focus on the large endowment per student schools.
Our favorites are Deerfield, St. Paul’s, and Lawrenceville. But there are at least a dozen at the super elite level.
If your child is indeed super bright and wants amazing co-curriculars, I’d look at the boarding schools up north, and apply to a few in addition to local day schools. Then re-evaluate your actual options next year.
These schools accept between 80 to 200 new freshman each year, depending on the school. There are no pre-established friendship groups that make arriving as a 9th grader difficult. And a few also give amazing aid, even to families earning up to $600k/year. Just focus on the large endowment per student schools.
Our favorites are Deerfield, St. Paul’s, and Lawrenceville. But there are at least a dozen at the super elite level.
Anonymous
04/16/2026 05:44
Subject: Seeking advice for applying to 9th grade this winter
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I recommend visiting open houses this fall so your kiddo can start getting a feel for the schools without all the pressure that comes in 8th grade. We found this very helpful.
The problem is that many schools won’t let you register for a HS open house in 7th grade. The events are already too crowded with 8th grade families.
That was not our experience at any school we visited, and DC’s k-8 encouraged families to start going to HS open houses in the fall of 7th. Every school was welcoming of 7th graders.
Now, we obviously didn’t visit every single school in the greater DMV area, so sure, there could be a school that doesn’t want 7th graders, but it’s certainly not common.
GDS does this....
We went to GDS's open house with our 7th grader this past winter and saw many 7th graders from our k-8. It was their first in person open house post-covid.
Anonymous
04/15/2026 17:23
Subject: Seeking advice for applying to 9th grade this winter
GDS has been course correcting after overenrollment during early COVID years.