Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just be aware that it is much harder to get into Maret than GDS. Plan accordingly.

However, you should also consider that the applicant pools for GDS and Maret are differentiated to a certain degree.

A real-world example from the collegiate process illustrates the point. Dickinson College is a lot smaller than Harvard and Yale, so admits it fewer applicants. So superficially Dickinson appears much harder to get into than Harvard and Yale. However, it's obviously not.

Still, my guess is there is no one at Harvard who wanted to get in to Dickinson and did not get in. That doesn't apply here.

so many kids just go whereever little place and then nail it big on grad school.

Just keep telling yourself that, until your kid's choice is that she'll get to pursue her graduate degree in communications at UMBC over UDC.

Anonymous wrote:Maret is not casual liberal leaning. it leans all the way, every day.

I think you may have misread the prior post. It says that both schools are liberal leaning, but that GDS seems to be thought of as being more liberal than Maret (and also more casual, as in... laid-back). That said, I agree that Maret is certainly, clearly well over on the liberal side of the spectrum. As with DC generally though, DC private schools (at least the ones normally discussed here) tend to lean liberal/Democratic - favoring Obama/Clinton, lots of interest in community service, constant push for diversity among students, obvious school admin push to have diversity among faculty (gender/race/ethnicity), absence of religious recognition (i.e., no Christmas trees; no religious-traditional songs at December band/chorus concerts), etc.

Maret is not casual liberal leaning. it leans all the way, every day.

OP, I'd encourage you to spend a lot of time on the schools' websites, listen to the videos, and talk to people at the school. Take what you hear here with a grain of salt. I'd also encourage you to go to the school on a weekend -- say midday on a Saturday where there's likely to be a soccer game going on -- just to walk around the campus and check it out. Of course, do an official tour at the schools if you haven't already.

I agree with the PP that a 30 minute commute isn't a big deal (we have a 15 minute drive to one of the two schools you mention and have thought ourselves lucky to have such a short commute) -- some people drive or sub-it an hour each way, daily.

As others have said, both schools are well thought of academically. Lots of opportunities for kids who want to learn. Certainly some differences though. For example, Maret has all grades on one campus whereas GDS's high school is on a separate campus from lower/middle (though plans to combine campuses to the general high school location in a few years); GDS is bigger; Maret is perhaps more sports-focused than GDS (they have a football team for instance, whereas GDS doesn't); and while both schools are well over on the liberal (vs. conservative) end of the spectrum, I think most people think GDS is a little more liberal-leaning and is more casual than Maret (e.g., students call teachers by first name).

Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just be aware that it is much harder to get into Maret than GDS. Plan accordingly.

However, you should also consider that the applicant pools for GDS and Maret are differentiated to a certain degree.

A real-world example from the collegiate process illustrates the point. Dickinson College is a lot smaller than Harvard and Yale, so admits it fewer applicants. So superficially Dickinson appears much harder to get into than Harvard and Yale. However, it's obviously not.

Still, my guess is there is no one at Harvard who wanted to get in to Dickinson and did not get in. That doesn't apply here.

so many kids just go whereever little place and then nail it big on grad school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just be aware that it is much harder to get into Maret than GDS. Plan accordingly.

However, you should also consider that the applicant pools for GDS and Maret are differentiated to a certain degree.

A real-world example from the collegiate process illustrates the point. Dickinson College is a lot smaller than Harvard and Yale, so admits it fewer applicants. So superficially Dickinson appears much harder to get into than Harvard and Yale. However, it's obviously not.

How does that example highlight a differentiated applicant pool? it highlights small and selective but that's it. so maret is small and thus selecting based on filling unique holes in a class, and GDS is larger (but still small) and is selecting based on filling holes in a class.

Is the PPP saying that the applicant pool for GDS intermediate/upper school are different than that of Maret? How so? More homogenous, less, from different neighborhoods, sporty or arty, what?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just be aware that it is much harder to get into Maret than GDS. Plan accordingly.

However, you should also consider that the applicant pools for GDS and Maret are differentiated to a certain degree.

A real-world example from the collegiate process illustrates the point. Dickinson College is a lot smaller than Harvard and Yale, so admits it fewer applicants. So superficially Dickinson appears much harder to get into than Harvard and Yale. However, it's obviously not.

Still, my guess is there is no one at Harvard who wanted to get in to Dickinson and did not get in. That doesn't apply here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just be aware that it is much harder to get into Maret than GDS. Plan accordingly.

However, you should also consider that the applicant pools for GDS and Maret are differentiated to a certain degree.

huh? at what intake years? how are they differentiated?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just be aware that it is much harder to get into Maret than GDS. Plan accordingly.

However, you should also consider that the applicant pools for GDS and Maret are differentiated to a certain degree.

A real-world example from the collegiate process illustrates the point. Dickinson College is a lot smaller than Harvard and Yale, so admits it fewer applicants. So superficially Dickinson appears much harder to get into than Harvard and Yale. However, it's obviously not.

Anonymous wrote:Just be aware that it is much harder to get into Maret than GDS. Plan accordingly.

However, you should also consider that the applicant pools for GDS and Maret are differentiated to a certain degree.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you for this thoughtful response. We are certainly not assuming our kid would get in but if he does, we won't have long to make a decision so I just want to have a good sense of the school. It's interesting that you mention the commute. Unless we moved, it would be a half hour or so commute - I hear you on possibly renting near the school. Do most of the students live close by or near one another? I imagine that socially being from farther away could be challenging too.

OP, the catchment area is large, so you will get a few kids from way out in Great Falls, VA or Frederick, MD, etc. A 30 min commute is not terrible, and is actually in the range for a lot of kids who live in DC. It can take forever to get from one point of DC to another.

When you said commuting from far away, I was thinking one hour plus each way, which some families actually do. However, I think 30 min would be my outer limit for each way. I say that as a former commuter during elementary years. We moved in once DC started middle school. The commute does take a toll on the kids once there’s more homework and academics get more demanding. .

Just be aware that it is much harder to get into Maret than GDS. Plan accordingly.

I am a GDS parent. I don't know enough about Maret to compare. But can say that my kids are very happy at GDS. I think these are hard comparisons because most people do not have kids in both schools. OP, have your son visit and spend time in each school. That is the best you will do. The next best is to hunt around for parents with kids in both schools. There are some.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GDS parents have a seriously gross superiority complex. Its exhausting and there is zero reason for it. I'd stay far, far away from that school, OP.

The funniest part is the claim on these threads that the over-the-top booster posters are trolls impersonating a GDS parent. They aren't. GDS parents really are just that awful.

Many GDS parents are very normal and down to earth. But for others, the "seriously gross superiority complex" you describe may mask a certain insecurity. Like how gifted and talented GDS kids are, or that GDS was the Obamas' first choice school, but the security didn't work out, etc., etc.

All true.

Is GDS really in the so-called “Top 3”? It’s definitely in the Top 10 at least, and maybe in the Top 5 or 6.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GDS parents have a seriously gross superiority complex. Its exhausting and there is zero reason for it. I'd stay far, far away from that school, OP.

The funniest part is the claim on these threads that the over-the-top booster posters are trolls impersonating a GDS parent. They aren't. GDS parents really are just that awful.

Many GDS parents are very normal and down to earth. But for others, the "seriously gross superiority complex" you describe may mask a certain insecurity. Like how gifted and talented GDS kids are, or that GDS was the Obamas' first choice school, but the security didn't work out, etc., etc.

All true.

An anonymous chat board with parroting poseurs makes something true now, huh?