I visited the upper school once. Just walking in the halls with the kids I could tell it was a haven for white, not too bright, athletes.

I'm in the SSSAS high school and I came to the school in middle school. I know first hand what it is actually like. The teachers are superb, they are enthusiastic and helpful to individual needs. The school, lead by Mrs. Holden, focuses on its legacies and lacrosse players without a doubt. Kids who play lacrosse (or are african americans--reverse racism anyone?) get away with far more than the other kids. Average students are forgotten and have a hard time because the classes are competitive and difficult, and possibly corrupt. I have benefited a good education by going here, but my grades don't prove that therefore I'm in the bottom 50 precent of my grade leaving me to lower my college standards. The lacrosse boys range from perfect students from wealthy families to kids on scholarship with terrible grades. The high intuition is used to benefit those who Mrs. Holden holds dearly to her heart, the alumni, legacies, lacrosse players, and the few geniuses. This school has toughened me up for the real world though which in a way I am grateful for. I played sports my whole life and was a good athlete till the school's strangely corrupt and almost evil athletic program destroyed my confidence and my love of lacrosse and basketball. I don't even know where to begin about the parents and how much they have hurt me. The parents are the worst part of the school. They social climb and gossip and ruin kids' reputations because false accusations and they usually do so to up there kids' chances in some way. If your child is a legacy or a great athlete or tough enough to handle the complete ridicule starting at whatever age they begin there from 8 years old to 12 the school can be ruthless. Oh and I have many friends who go to Bishop Ireton, NCS, and TC and all of them would agree that SSSAS is the meanest and most corrupt school. If you send your there kid make sure your wallet is packed full and you're ready to kiss Mrs. Holden's and Coach Jenkin's(lax coach for girls) or the boys coaches' asses. all social climbers and rich snobby people who think they are better than others (even though most of them inherited money) are welcome!!! mrs holden will LOVE you! To all of you avg athletes/students or artists and actors or genuinely nice kids I would run as far away from this school as you can. GO TO TC and be in the TOP PRECENT and you have a better chance of getting into a great school than you would at SSSAS. Because by the way big state schools have no idea what our school is and don't care if the reason your in the bottom precent is because how prestigious the academics are.

whew i feel better now. I will go finish my 12 history page paper and 5 page physics and study for my algerbra 2 test!

What I heard about TC recently is consistent with PP's take -- the very top does great, and the rest do terribly -- "Yale or Jail" -- that's what my neighbors call it.
Since I'm not confident my kids are Yale material, I guess I better go private or move, rather than risk Jail!

I do think that most private high schools have some forms of snobbishness/obnoxiousness. By definition, these are schools that cater to the very affluent. So on one end of the spectrum you have the "we are the upper class" snobs -- and plenty of them populate places like Sidwell-- and on the other end you have GDS: "we are pure, good, liberals, more PC than thou." You can't send your kids to a $25k/year private school and hope to entirely avoid the pretensions of the rich.

But to the PP who knocked TC Williams: lots of Alexandria families whose children go private for k-8 choose TC. It's not an uncomplicated place, but bright kids with supportive families tend to to exceptionally well there. Read early threads on TC. Look at SAT scores broken down by, for instance, family income. Those are way above the state averages for the same income groups. In other words, the underperforming TC students underperform more than demographically similar underperformers state-wide; the over-performers over-perform more than demographically similar overperformers state-wide. I plan to send my children there.

Oh please. This (or worse) is true for every single school in existence. Educate yourselves about the realities of applying for college today, quick, before you seriously damage your kids with insane expectations.

Parents talk. Could be that.

How on earth do you know that they didn't get into their top three choices? Seriously, did you interview them?? Are you the guidance counselor? That's just crazy talk. LOL!!

Of the top 10% of this year's graduating class at SSSA, half of them did not get into any of their top 3 choices for college.

Just saying.

Sorry - I meant to say don't be swayed by this Forum......

Don't be swayed by this post - some of my very favorite Alexandria kids, families and friends either attend or attended SSSA. The group I'm referring to is a friendly, lovely, down-to-earth yet successful group of people (and fun too - what's so wrong with that?). I'd describe most SSSA families as comfortable in their own shoes whether they are Dems, Repubs, or whatever other stereotype you want to throw out there. Whether your child is in JK or HS - if you are exploring privates in the Alexandria area, please go see for yourself what this school is all about. We are certainly planning to give it a look when it comes time for Middle School - and our kids are not into super competitive sports and we do not belong to a CC. As somebody else mentioned, if you are afraid that TC is too big, DC too far, your'e not Catholic and you want your kids to have a neighborhood feel with some of the extras of private school SSSA is a wonderful option.

Anonymous wrote:I'm not OP - but we have two kids at Lyles Crouch and one in private - Lyles is awesome for many reasons. If you are lucky enough to be in the district - give it a try. You will not be sorry - it compares (or outshines) any private in Alexandria. If you attend LCTA for lower grades, and then move to private, your child will be more than prepared (and so much more) - it provides a wonderful foundation and parent community. Don't miss out.

Thank you! This is great to know as we live in the LCTA district.

We actually turned down SSSAS to attend another school... but I feel I should chime in here and respond to these highly negative posts about the school. We did not get this impression going through the admissions process. We found the parents, teachers, and administrators we interacted with to be very gracious and kind - seemed like the kind of people we'd enjoy being around. It may not be a good fit for "Sidwell" type parents, but there is nothing wrong with having a number of parents who fit the affluent, Southern, good public university educated (UVA), golf and tennis playing, fraternity/sorority types, mold - some of the most successful people in America fit that mold (granted they are usually CEOs of companies rather than PHD professors at an Ivy League School).

I'm wondering if there aren't a few people posting on this board who are in some way disgruntled with the school... or perhaps their child attends one of the less prestigious K-8 schools in the are and thus they're trying to bring SSSAS down a notch.

I'm sure some of the comments above are legit, but I'm also sure there are plenty of positive attributes to the school as well.

To my knowledge, SSSA is the only school in Alexandria that has no sort of strictly adhered to code of conduct. Bullying and other inappropriate behavior is tolerated and takes place without disciplinary consequence or intervention. If I am wrong about this St. Stephens families - please speak up and post the schools conduct/character policy or share a story about how your bullied child was defended by the school.

DC graduated from one of the K-8 schools in the Alexandria area, and I can honestly say that the best students in the class are attending either TC Williams or DC privates. The students who chose SSSAS are not among the most intellectually gifted graduates from our school.

From a non-Republican, non-Clubby, non-Southern, Ivy League grad whose kids are thriving at SSSAS: It's a nice school, and yes, there are those families there, but yup, those families are at all the private schools. If it stops working for me or my kids, I'll move them. If it keeps working for them, they'll stay where they are. Much as some of the earlier posters said, it's a good option for Alexandrians, and most of the folks who go to SSSAS in the lower grades, at least, are from one of the two Alexandrias (Fairfax or City Of). Although not looking at high school yet, i would bet that some of the Fairfax Alexandria kids end up going to TJ, so that's where some attrition would happen.