Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could anyone with experience at Mclean please give an opinion of how it might compare to Bishop O'Connell? I'm a graduate of Catholic schools and my husband is a graduate of Mclean - he believes Mclean is just as good as a private, but I don't. However, he never went to private, and I didn't experience public. So we don't really know. DS is very introverted, and a good but not great student. He's at a small private now and doing really well. Any opinions or experiences at Mclean to share?

My sister sent her kids to private catholic schools like Gonzaga even though she was zoned for McLean. I'm sure you get a fine education at either, but would pick McLean unless you value religious indoctrination. My niece went to Bishop Oconnel and mainly complained about all the pro-life teachings.

Anonymous wrote:Could anyone with experience at Mclean please give an opinion of how it might compare to Bishop O'Connell? I'm a graduate of Catholic schools and my husband is a graduate of Mclean - he believes Mclean is just as good as a private, but I don't. However, he never went to private, and I didn't experience public. So we don't really know. DS is very introverted, and a good but not great student. He's at a small private now and doing really well. Any opinions or experiences at Mclean to share?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are districted for McLean, and we chose private for my kid. Coming out of Longfellow, there was concern about the size of McLean and while it is an excellent academic school, that creates a lot of stress within the student body, and that can really affect a kid. We have a strong student, was straight As at Longfellow, NJHS, etc. and I think those two years of ubercompetitiveness in all things was a lot. Additionally, most MHS classes are 30-32 students.

I do know kids that diverted from Longfellow to BOC and they are happy there. I think you *have* to be on board with the Catholic doctrine and social beliefs, to include abortion, and a lot of Catholic Families have strong feelings about that and political issues.

McLean is big and as we all know from this board, FCPS isn't doing much about it. The building is in bad repair - It's understood that on a daily basis, a toilet is going to be flooding a bathroom, there are rats in the cafeteria and a ceiling tile might fall from the ceiling during class. The trailer situation is real - a lot of them (probably in the neighborhood of 20 classrooms) and most students will spend a lot of time "not in the building" as a result.

Most McLean classes are not 30-32 kids; there are only 4 trailers this year; and they are getting money to renovate the bathrooms next summer. FCPS ought to be spending more money on the school, especially with the growth in Tysons, but the quality of the education is still very strong. The band, crew, and student publications are all really strong and McLean had more National Merit Semifinalists this fall than any other high school in the state besides TJ. The idea that it’s a “pressure cooker” are overblown, but there are a lot of bright kids there doing different things.

did they get rid of the ten classroom mega trailer?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are districted for McLean, and we chose private for my kid. Coming out of Longfellow, there was concern about the size of McLean and while it is an excellent academic school, that creates a lot of stress within the student body, and that can really affect a kid. We have a strong student, was straight As at Longfellow, NJHS, etc. and I think those two years of ubercompetitiveness in all things was a lot. Additionally, most MHS classes are 30-32 students.

I do know kids that diverted from Longfellow to BOC and they are happy there. I think you *have* to be on board with the Catholic doctrine and social beliefs, to include abortion, and a lot of Catholic Families have strong feelings about that and political issues.

McLean is big and as we all know from this board, FCPS isn't doing much about it. The building is in bad repair - It's understood that on a daily basis, a toilet is going to be flooding a bathroom, there are rats in the cafeteria and a ceiling tile might fall from the ceiling during class. The trailer situation is real - a lot of them (probably in the neighborhood of 20 classrooms) and most students will spend a lot of time "not in the building" as a result.

Most McLean classes are not 30-32 kids; there are only 4 trailers this year; and they are getting money to renovate the bathrooms next summer. FCPS ought to be spending more money on the school, especially with the growth in Tysons, but the quality of the education is still very strong. The band, crew, and student publications are all really strong and McLean had more National Merit Semifinalists this fall than any other high school in the state besides TJ. The idea that it’s a “pressure cooker” are overblown, but there are a lot of bright kids there doing different things.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We are districted for McLean, and we chose private for my kid. Coming out of Longfellow, there was concern about the size of McLean and while it is an excellent academic school, that creates a lot of stress within the student body, and that can really affect a kid. We have a strong student, was straight As at Longfellow, NJHS, etc. and I think those two years of ubercompetitiveness in all things was a lot. Additionally, most MHS classes are 30-32 students.

I do know kids that diverted from Longfellow to BOC and they are happy there. I think you *have* to be on board with the Catholic doctrine and social beliefs, to include abortion, and a lot of Catholic Families have strong feelings about that and political issues.

McLean is big and as we all know from this board, FCPS isn't doing much about it. The building is in bad repair - It's understood that on a daily basis, a toilet is going to be flooding a bathroom, there are rats in the cafeteria and a ceiling tile might fall from the ceiling during class. The trailer situation is real - a lot of them (probably in the neighborhood of 20 classrooms) and most students will spend a lot of time "not in the building" as a result.


Most McLean classes are not 30-32 kids; there are only 4 trailers this year; and they are getting money to renovate the bathrooms next summer. FCPS ought to be spending more money on the school, especially with the growth in Tysons, but the quality of the education is still very strong. The band, crew, and student publications are all really strong and McLean had more National Merit Semifinalists this fall than any other high school in the state besides TJ. The idea that it’s a “pressure cooker” are overblown, but there are a lot of bright kids there doing different things.

I never said it wasn't great academically. You can't deny it's at 125% capacity, academics or not, and that this year's freshman class is 600 students.

They aren't using the brand new, 14 classroom trailer complex close the softball fields this year? What is the average class size?

Anonymous wrote:
We are districted for McLean, and we chose private for my kid. Coming out of Longfellow, there was concern about the size of McLean and while it is an excellent academic school, that creates a lot of stress within the student body, and that can really affect a kid. We have a strong student, was straight As at Longfellow, NJHS, etc. and I think those two years of ubercompetitiveness in all things was a lot. Additionally, most MHS classes are 30-32 students.

I do know kids that diverted from Longfellow to BOC and they are happy there. I think you *have* to be on board with the Catholic doctrine and social beliefs, to include abortion, and a lot of Catholic Families have strong feelings about that and political issues.

McLean is big and as we all know from this board, FCPS isn't doing much about it. The building is in bad repair - It's understood that on a daily basis, a toilet is going to be flooding a bathroom, there are rats in the cafeteria and a ceiling tile might fall from the ceiling during class. The trailer situation is real - a lot of them (probably in the neighborhood of 20 classrooms) and most students will spend a lot of time "not in the building" as a result.


Most McLean classes are not 30-32 kids; there are only 4 trailers this year; and they are getting money to renovate the bathrooms next summer. FCPS ought to be spending more money on the school, especially with the growth in Tysons, but the quality of the education is still very strong. The band, crew, and student publications are all really strong and McLean had more National Merit Semifinalists this fall than any other high school in the state besides TJ. The idea that it’s a “pressure cooker” are overblown, but there are a lot of bright kids there doing different things.

Anonymous wrote:We are districted for McLean, and we chose private for my kid. Coming out of Longfellow, there was concern about the size of McLean and while it is an excellent academic school, that creates a lot of stress within the student body, and that can really affect a kid. We have a strong student, was straight As at Longfellow, NJHS, etc. and I think those two years of ubercompetitiveness in all things was a lot. Additionally, most MHS classes are 30-32 students.

I do know kids that diverted from Longfellow to BOC and they are happy there. I think you *have* to be on board with the Catholic doctrine and social beliefs, to include abortion, and a lot of Catholic Families have strong feelings about that and political issues.

McLean is big and as we all know from this board, FCPS isn't doing much about it. The building is in bad repair - It's understood that on a daily basis, a toilet is going to be flooding a bathroom, there are rats in the cafeteria and a ceiling tile might fall from the ceiling during class. The trailer situation is real - a lot of them (probably in the neighborhood of 20 classrooms) and most students will spend a lot of time "not in the building" as a result.