Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Getting back on topic. Both Landon and Gonzaga are excellent schools. Having gone to a school like Landon I would prefer a Gonzaga because it will be more diverse and a bit more grounded to reality. Landon will be almost exclusively rich, even more so than in the past with the pricing out of upper middle class families. While Gonzaga isn't cheap either, the lower tuition means you will have a broader range of socio-economic backgrounds from wealthy to middle class. It's just a bit more real. And being in a more urban setting also helps with this.

I'm not Catholic, nor do I have much in the way of faith but I also have respect for the Jesuit beliefs and ethics/moral instruction.

Gonzaga is much more socio-economically diverse, but far less ethnically-culturally-religiously diverse, as you might expect in a Catholic school. They are known as “The Eye Street Irish”.

Gonzaga has a commitment to the local community. It enrolls a significant number of AA’s, hosts the Washington Jesuit Academy, and the McKenna Center which serves the homeless and downtrodden. All of which are consistent with Jesuit philosophy. But the non-AA proportion of the student population is overwhelmingly Catholics, many of whom are legacies or that come from families that are connected with to the school.

The Maryland-DC contingent of any class will be dominated by boys who attended Catholic/parish schools, especially the traditional feeders. These boys will frequently know one another through family connections and CYO interactions.

Landon is much more ethnically-culturally-religiously diverse. It’s location and price obviously affect the composition of the student body.

Also, the self segregation at Gonzaga is huge. So if that is a problem for your family, something to take into account.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Getting back on topic. Both Landon and Gonzaga are excellent schools. Having gone to a school like Landon I would prefer a Gonzaga because it will be more diverse and a bit more grounded to reality. Landon will be almost exclusively rich, even more so than in the past with the pricing out of upper middle class families. While Gonzaga isn't cheap either, the lower tuition means you will have a broader range of socio-economic backgrounds from wealthy to middle class. It's just a bit more real. And being in a more urban setting also helps with this.

I'm not Catholic, nor do I have much in the way of faith but I also have respect for the Jesuit beliefs and ethics/moral instruction.

Gonzaga is much more socio-economically diverse, but far less ethnically-culturally-religiously diverse, as you might expect in a Catholic school. They are known as “The Eye Street Irish”.

Gonzaga has a commitment to the local community. It enrolls a significant number of AA’s, hosts the Washington Jesuit Academy, and the McKenna Center which serves the homeless and downtrodden. All of which are consistent with Jesuit philosophy. But the non-AA proportion of the student population is overwhelmingly Catholics, many of whom are legacies or that come from families that are connected with to the school.

The Maryland-DC contingent of any class will be dominated by boys who attended Catholic/parish schools, especially the traditional feeders. These boys will frequently know one another through family connections and CYO interactions.

Landon is much more ethnically-culturally-religiously diverse. It’s location and price obviously affect the composition of the student body.

Anonymous wrote:Both good schools. It's a matter of fit people. What is good for one boy may be a disaster for another. Go shadow and see which one feel good.

Anonymous wrote:Getting back on topic. Both Landon and Gonzaga are excellent schools. Having gone to a school like Landon I would prefer a Gonzaga because it will be more diverse and a bit more grounded to reality. Landon will be almost exclusively rich, even more so than in the past with the pricing out of upper middle class families. While Gonzaga isn't cheap either, the lower tuition means you will have a broader range of socio-economic backgrounds from wealthy to middle class. It's just a bit more real. And being in a more urban setting also helps with this.

I'm not Catholic, nor do I have much in the way of faith but I also have respect for the Jesuit beliefs and ethics/moral instruction.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There really isn’t much these two schools have in common. Are you catholic or not? If so, then choose Gonzaga. If not, Landon.

This sums up what I was thinking and about to write!

It's probably the simplest decision tree you'll ever see. If "True" do this. If "False" do that.

The big problem with this whole conversation is that the OP is pretty much at square one of understanding. The help he/she needs is to say, "If you are considering Landon, you might also consider other smaller, secular, schools within a reasonable distance from Bethesda." That list might include St Albans, Bullis, St Andrew's, etc..

The face-offs for Gonzaga might be Prep, St Johns, the Heights, etc.

Or if your son isn’t already in a K-8 Catholic school you might want to go to Landon since he’s going to be an outcast and everybody’s already created their friends group.

BS. My son started at Gonzaga in 9th as the only student from his public middle school and knew no one. He joined a team and a club right away and was fine.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There really isn’t much these two schools have in common. Are you catholic or not? If so, then choose Gonzaga. If not, Landon.

This sums up what I was thinking and about to write!

It's probably the simplest decision tree you'll ever see. If "True" do this. If "False" do that.

The big problem with this whole conversation is that the OP is pretty much at square one of understanding. The help he/she needs is to say, "If you are considering Landon, you might also consider other smaller, secular, schools within a reasonable distance from Bethesda." That list might include St Albans, Bullis, St Andrew's, etc..

The face-offs for Gonzaga might be Prep, St Johns, the Heights, etc.

Or if your son isn’t already in a K-8 Catholic school you might want to go to Landon since he’s going to be an outcast and everybody’s already created their friends group.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Academics at Landon are far better than what you would experience at GZ

What makes you say that? The outcome is that much different. Avg. ACT: Landon 31, GZ 30. Avg. SAT: Landon 1330, GZ 1300. Not significant enough considering GZ serves a much larger scale of academic abilities.

Don't discount the old Landon leg-up when it comes to SAT scores!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Academics at Landon are far better than what you would experience at GZ

What makes you say that? The outcome is that much different. Avg. ACT: Landon 31, GZ 30. Avg. SAT: Landon 1330, GZ 1300. Not significant enough considering GZ serves a much larger scale of academic abilities.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There really isn’t much these two schools have in common. Are you catholic or not? If so, then choose Gonzaga. If not, Landon.

This sums up what I was thinking and about to write!

It’s 2019 so that thinking is myopic. It’s not the 60’s or even the 80’s.

To many, the idea of Catholic education for Catholic families has not gone out of fashion. We send or children to Catholic schools to reinforce our faith and values and to build the community. Its been going on quite successfully for a couple of hundred years here and is not subject to the whims of the latest 2019-era thinking.

Eh, seems antiquated and oddly clannish but you do you.

I'm sure to non-Catholics, the Catholic community seems "clannish" and so terribly not modern.

But to us, it's our history and our culture.

It's just an example of how completely clueless the non-Catholics are about Catholics, the Catholic church and Catholic education.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An older Gonzaga parent, not from the area, once told me that he hadn't seen a doctor, dentist, lawyer, accountant or real estate person in the last twenty years that wasn't somehow associated with Gonzaga.

Meritocracy is clearly alive and well.

It's called a "network". That's one of the things most Gonzaga people buy into. And that others don't get.

...notwithstanding that in every other aspect of their lives in this town, they glom on to networks as if their life depended on it.