Anonymous wrote:

I think Sidwell had 8 out of this years senior class and the class is substantially larger than St.A. (120 v. 75)

Somebody a few weeks ago was arguing that Sidwell is for "brilliant leaders" and the cathedral schools are for dull but hard-working kids. So much for that.

OK, can I change the subject? Would you send a very smart but very shy boy to STA for high school? Athletically capable (at least in the one non-contact sport he seriously plays) but uninterested in and somewhat averse to athletic competition. Studious and musical. Would he be eaten alive (or just disregarded) by more assertive, socially confident classmates? TIA.

Anonymous wrote:

Man, if I had the option to send my kid to TJ, I might think twice if this booster reflects a large part of the parent body.

Wonder why all this stuff pours out only on the StA thread? Do you think StA and TJ used to be lovers and broke up or something?

I am not from TJ or a TJ parent. But, if I were a TJ parent I might not wish to have your children in that pool or sample as the SAT and PSAT scores may take a hit.

You don't know anything about me. I'm reacting to what is a maniacal interest in having some StA parent (which I am not) say, "Hey, yeah! We was robbed! TJ is better!"

Whoever you are, this is actually a thread about people interested in getting into StA. That may make you shiver, but unfortunately that is the thread. Why not start a thread about how much better TJ is? I am sure it will attract a lot of interest. But that doesn't mean it's productive to use every opportunity possible to insert your NMSF statistics on TJ.

If you want to say StA is not doing well, why not compare to a variety of schools? Why only one other school in the nation? In my view, if StA is inferior to only 1 or 2 schools, I could live with those odds. But then, maybe I'm not ambitious enough...

Anonymous wrote:

And for those of us who don't live in Fairfax County, or even in Virginia, the performance of TJ is irrelevant since our children aren't going there.

But, does the performance of STA concern you when other nearby free schools have 4 fold the number of NMFs (40% of the graduating class) and great exmissions. PSAT is a surrogate for SAT scores (there are conversion factors). This "fluke" does not translate into worse SAT scores at these schools or better SAT scores at St Albans.

It does concern potential applicants and their parents who might just take a hike and fork over the dough to Sidwell or Phillips Exeter Academy. Better yet, keep it in the pocket and head over to Richard Montgomery IB or Blair magnet en route to Ivy.

Not really because 1 school, which happens to be the top school in the country has produced more NMSFs. The rest of the top schools in the area don't come close based on what people have posted. And as a parent currently looking at schools for my son, the number of NMSFs is not even a factor I have considered. And I have no intention of moving to Fairfax County. If people want to go to Sidwell or Exeter, more power to them (and as noted Sidwells percentage of NMSFs is the same/lower than STA). Those are all very different schools and I assume people are looking for more than test scores when they evaluate the fit for their child. These are children living lives, not products. I feel quite strongly that I want my children to get an excellent education and be well rounded. If they aren't NMSFs I don't care. If they don't go to an ivy league college I don't care. I suspect we have very different philosophies on this.

"My kids go to another independent school with statistics like St. A's, and they are receiving excellent educations and have close relationships with brilliant, diverse, and sophisticated teachers and friends -- there is the value."


How lovely, but most of us don't find it endearing to play with a quarter of a million dollars. I suppose it all depends on how you measure an excellent education.

Why do people insist on believing that an excellent school ought to be able to turn virtually any kid into an excellent student? TJ accepts students based solely on their academic achievement and testing. Thus, they are an excellent school working only with excellent students to begin with. Schools like St. Albans accept kids based on aptitude, certainly, but acceptance is also based on legacy, money, other personal qualifications, plus the willingness to pay the tuition, and acceptance often occurs during the elementary school years, when aptitude is less clear. Thus, they are an excellent school working with a broader range of inborn abilities. My kids go to another independent school with statistics like St. A's, and they are receiving excellent educations and have close relationships with brilliant, diverse, and sophisticated teachers and friends -- there is the value. We would never have dreamed that a school would get them into Yale if they didn't have the aptitude to begin with. One statistic will always be true: it will always be impossible for 99 out of 100 to make it into the top 1%.

Man, if I had the option to send my kid to TJ, I might think twice if this booster reflects a large part of the parent body.

Wonder why all this stuff pours out only on the StA thread? Do you think StA and TJ used to be lovers and broke up or something?

I am not from TJ or a TJ parent. But, if I were a TJ parent I might not wish to have your children in that pool or sample as the SAT and PSAT scores may take a hit.

That is a great question. Why not start a thread?

Well, I am the statistician here. I think we are spitting into the wind.

Oh really, I bet you are a member of the Big 3 too?

I am no booster or fan of STA or TJ or Blair magnet since I relocated here from the West Coast. However, this board is the epitome of colloquial boosterism (Think Big 3). It's nice to be able to look at data and facts in a nonaligned fashion.

By the way can you tell me what the Big 3 is? Is STA a Big 3?

Well, I am the statistician here. I think we are spitting into the wind.

Comparing TJ to STA is a totally bogus comparison ... the kids admitted to TJ were screened for academics before they were even admitted. Many kids admitted to STA were admitted at an earlier age and with a portfolio that may have included strengths in many areas (sports, character, family wealth, the arts, etc.) instead of or in addition to their academic talents. If TJ didn't "outscore" STA and almost any other school in the region by any test you might choose (PSAT, SAT, or their age 4 WPPSI), then there would be a serious problem. It says nothing about the bright prospects of STA graduates

Don't the Beauvoir kids come in with near 99.9 percentile age 4 WPPSI scores? What happened? Why the divergence by high school? I would have expected the rich and intense intellectual environment and bonding with superb faculty at STA would in the least keep our students performing equitablt with TJ. Let's not forget that this carries 1/2 million dollar price tag from families who are also supplementing what STA brings to the table with SAT/AP prep and the like.

Man, if I had the option to send my kid to TJ, I might think twice if this booster reflects a large part of the parent body.

Wonder why all this stuff pours out only on the StA thread? Do you think StA and TJ used to be lovers and broke up or something?

Comparing TJ to STA is a totally bogus comparison ... the kids admitted to TJ were screened for academics before they were even admitted. Many kids admitted to STA were admitted at an earlier age and with a portfolio that may have included strengths in many areas (sports, character, family wealth, the arts, etc.) instead of or in addition to their academic talents. If TJ didn't "outscore" STA and almost any other school in the region by any test you might choose (PSAT, SAT, or their age 4 WPPSI), then there would be a serious problem. It says nothing about the bright prospects of STA graduates.

FollThe semifinalists in this 54th annual competition are:



Public Schools

Bethesda-Chevy Chase

Diehl, Sanford Kalsi, Richa Kochman, Drew Levey, Elaine
Reese, Mark Scott, Soren Shehata, Soraya Sheys, Laura
Valenstein, Max



Damascus

Grysavage, Julie


James Hubert Blake

Gonzales, James Pereira, Justin


Montgomery Blair

An, Boyang Bedi, Mandeep Bodine, Christopher Cavicchi, Violet
Cember, Abigail Chainani, Samir Chen, Jessica Cheng, Kerry
Chung, Elaine Dewan, Ramita Dreher, Robin Edelstein, David
Fang, Jiali Gan, Edward Gootenberg, Jonathan Hess, William
Hogge, Akimitsu Hsiao, Emily Huang, Sally Kannan, Sneha
Kong, Charles Kuang, Eric Lu, Alisa Myers, Peter
Rawlings, Kevin Robey, Stefanie Shahamatdar, Sahar Shan, Xin
Shen, Stone Snyder, Joshua So, Elizabeth Teng, Kevin
Villadsen, Andrew Wang, Qiyu Wang, Yichen Wei, Monica
Wheeler, Timothy Xu, Matthew Zhang, Henry Zhao, Richard
Zheng, Tai Zhou, Ya Zitelman, Kiera



Northwest

Ingraham, John


Paint Branch

Eakin, Brian Sonty, Adam


Poolesville

Gayle, Carly


Quince Orchard

Paiva, Jennifer Poetzschke, Max


Richard Montgomery

Bastek, Stephanie Blair, Jeremy Chai, Kevin Cheng, Eric
Fein, Arielle Feldblyum, Leonard Goldberg, Bonnie Haaga, Kevin
Hopkins, Samuel Hutchinson, Elena Ip, Katherine Jamieson, Keith
Johns, Lucas Kaku, Upasana Karitis, Rachel Karpman, Kara
King, Rachel Ko, Leon Kwong, Claire Laniyonu, Abiola
Lin, Raishay Nguyen, My-Linh Pfeifer, Charlotte Pi, Annie
Posthumus, Martin Prillaman, Nathan Rappaport, Jeffrey Rave, Helen
Shawen, Nicholas Shi, Weili Shiao, David Shiau, Yvonne
Sun, Linyao Suzich, Peter Wacholder, Jonah Wang, Joseph
Yuan, Jing Yuan, Lin Zhou, Ivy




Sherwood

Low, Seth


Springbrook

Chen, Michelle Hauser, Miriam Kirchner, Ella Regan Fanelli, Julia
Roisman, Liza



Thomas S. Wootton

Chao, Katherine Dong, Joanna Gorjifard, Sayeh Lee, Seonwoo
Liang, Jonathan Nelson, Seth Pham, Anna Zhong, Rui
Zhou, Zachary




Walt Whitman

Anandalingam, Kavitha Berry, Thomas Brand, Nicole Gordon, Seth
Judson, Benjamin Kirsch, Max Levitt, Jacob Longstreth, Sarah
Lyon, Emily Olson, Sarah Shapiro, Zachary Sisco, Will
Vogel, Hannah Weaver, Harriet Zhang, Rachel




Walter Johnson

Fornace, Mark Harding, Jamie Lillibridge, Judith Polach, Zoe
Riva, Clare Ueda, Daichi Valivullah, Zaheer Vujcic, Natasha




Winston Churchill

Chang, Lucas Cho, Andrew Dolginow, Mackenzie Khovanskaya, Vera
Moy, Eric Roca, Alexander Weston-Dawkes, Michael Woo, Rani



Private Schools and Home Schooled

Bullis School

Randazzo, Paul



Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School

Feith, Dafna Greenberg, Samuel Marcus, Sara Seidel, Hannah
Steinberg, David Tracer, Andrew




Heights School

Hildreth, Richard



Holton Arms School

Allison, Hannah Berstein-Simpson, Anna Leah Buhler, Victoria Garlock, Stephanie
Iqbal, Meher Li, Jennifer Thomas, Christina




Home Schooled


Belland, Kristopher (Bethesda) Sullivan, Nathan (Laytonsville)


Landon School

Costescu, Vladimir


Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy

Susser, Jeffrey


Our Lady of Good Council

Casamento, Joseph Fortunak, Joseph


Sandy Spring Friends School

Stedman, Eleanor


Spencerville Adventist Academy

Herzel, Benjamin


Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart

Stouffer, Kaitlin

The names National Merit, Merit Scholarship, and Merit Scholar are federally registered service marks of National Merit Scholarship Corporation. PSAT/NMSQT is a registered trademark of National Merit Scholarship Corporation and the College Board.

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Last edited by Howard Hartman; 09-18-2008 at 08:52 PM.
ow - up for Montgomery County and Private Schools in 2009