New GDS LS parent here. We love the school, but Day 1 afternoon carpool was an absolute nightmare. We have one kid at GDS and another at a different school, and we were late picking up the second kid because of this. Any other parents have a strategy for navigating this? And no, we don't have a nanny or grandparent to send to pick up one of the kids, and we don't want to enroll one kid in an after school program just to deal with this. Thanks!

GDS parent here. The after-school program at the lower school was not as good as I hoped. It was a drag but I made other arrangements. My daughter did not love the lower school nor the middle school. But she learned how to study, to write and to persuade. Her high school experience was phenomenal, and there was no guarantee she'd have gotten in if we hadn't stayed with it. And on top of that, the sibling factor for my youngest was a godsend.

Anonymous wrote:We just applied and got accepted to Sidwell for two DCs and I do not remember answering what colleges parents went to.

Maybe you didn't answer it, but the application asks the question.

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you are for real, then just take the GDS spot. Schools don't get kids into Harvard, kids do. Your kid can get into an Ivy from almost any school. The trick is they need to have super grades/test scores/ECs, etc. There is no magic.

Well put, there is no guarantee, so just put your child where they will be happy and excel.

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you are for real, then just take the GDS spot. Schools don't get kids into Harvard, kids do. Your kid can get into an Ivy from almost any school. The trick is they need to have super grades/test scores/ECs, etc. There is no magic.

Well put, there is no guarantee, so just put your child where they will be happy and excel.

OP, if you are for real, then just take the GDS spot. Schools don't get kids into Harvard, kids do. Your kid can get into an Ivy from almost any school. The trick is they need to have super grades/test scores/ECs, etc. There is no magic.

Anonymous wrote:My kids go to Sidwell. My guess is there are four significant differences.

1)The relationship between teachers and students is a little more formal at Sidwell.
2) Sidwell serves lunch
3) Sidwell has much better athletic facilities.
4) Sidwell has a religous orientation

Other than that, both schools churn out kids that are extremely well prepared for college.

Well said and the same could be said of all the top DC and suburban DMV schools.

My kids go to Sidwell. My guess is there are four significant differences.

1)The relationship between teachers and students is a little more formal at Sidwell.
2) Sidwell serves lunch
3) Sidwell has much better athletic facilities.
4) Sidwell has a religous orientation

Other than that, both schools churn out kids that are extremely well prepared for college.

Anonymous wrote:If your child was outright rejected by Sidwell, chances are not good for that he or she will get in for Kindergarten.

If you like GDS, accept and move on.

I agree. The truth is most current GDS families thought they preferred Sidwell before being rejected and "settling" for GDS. Most are perfectly happy at GDS.

Anonymous wrote:If you believe your dc is better off at Sidwell, then reapply and hope for the best. Dont waste time by accepting GDS. You likely aren't a great fit for GDS--maybe dc is a great fit, but you seem unhappy about possibly sending your child to GDS. Let someone else have your GDS spot and move on.

I disagree, she should go with the sure thing. She cannot make a proper judgement of either school until her dc has actual experience in the school. It will not hurt to see how it goes this year. GDS is a great school, I doubt she will be disappointed in the decision.

If you believe your dc is better off at Sidwell, then reapply and hope for the best. Dont waste time by accepting GDS. You likely aren't a great fit for GDS--maybe dc is a great fit, but you seem unhappy about possibly sending your child to GDS. Let someone else have your GDS spot and move on.

You need a reality check. Both schools have some of the highest percentages of NMSFs (some years Sidwell more, others GDS more on a % basis) and incredible college admissions (but with experience at both schools, college counseling was much much better at GDS although I gather Sidwell finally got some new and hopefully better people). GDS may have a few more kids interested in the arts and less focused on academics than Sidwell (and much better arts programs) but for similar kids academically, they are going to be around plenty of similar peers at both schools and have very similar college admissions chances, which has much more to do with the specific kid than the school. But you are really going to drive yourself and your kid crazy (Literally) if you are worried about this stuff for deciding where to go for preK. For HS kids transfer back and forth between the two schools with some regularity, mostly due to social fit/friends, or a specific sport, or arts. And if the kid is an academic star the other school will welcome them in our experience

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thanks a lot for the advices. I don't know much about schools except those from reading that sidwell has slightly higher percentage of students going to ivy and higher number of national finalists. I understand that numbers can't truly reflect whether a school is better, so I would really appreciate if I could get more information about the two schools from insiders.

Things like those statistics can change from year to year based on a lot of variables. One grade may have more gifted students than another grade for example, I doubt that those statistics can be given too much weight considering how many years you have to go before your daughter will be graduating.
You really should not be worrying about that at this stage. You are accepted to a good school and you should try it. You could always switch later.

Anonymous wrote:If your DD was rejected by Sidwell it is highly, highly unlikely she will get in. Even if she was waitlisted it would be a long shot.

If you are real person, I think you are really not understanding the admissions process. If you are in at GDS, better to stay thee then to lose your place trying for Sidwell.

Thank you so much for your informative reply. I will definitely call them next week.