OP, I went to a big three starting at seventh and a neighborhood DCPS thru sixth. I am SO glad I got to go to public school thru sixth. Everyone posting is ignoring that there are real benefits to going to a public school vs being in private since birth. My public school was socioeconomically diverse. Ranged from poor immigrant kids to ambasaador kids to middle class African Americans to wealthy white kids to senators' kids etc. So so glad I did not spend my entire childhood in the bubble that is private school.

You have plenty of money to throw at this situation. If you're happy where you are, stay there till you have to move. Worst case scenario, pick up at move to Takoma Park or Bethesda at middle school and re-apply to privates. if you don't like it.

I do recommend private for high school. I think my high school education was superior to the MCPS high school education my first kid got. We sent the second to private (with apologies to the first).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, it is not simple. You should do a real assessment of your finances and be honest with yourself about what year you can afford to start and begin applying in that year.

This will also force you to evaluate whether or not you can even afford the option at all.

OP here. We have a HHI of $750k or higher (depending on bonuses and stock performance). Our current PITI is <$3k with a mortgage we could pay off tomorrow if we wanted to, but we don't because it's 3.5%. For us the money is there, we just have to decide if we want to spend it on private school for 2 kids or a mortgage on a new pricey house with a good in bounds. We're genuinely very torn. We love our DC public and aren't very competitive people, we just want our kids to be happy, well rounded, and reasonably challenged academically.

So it's less about whether the money is there and more about whether this is how we want to spend it. This thread has been really helpful though, so thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to reply.

Private school for two starting at 6th. If you don't get in, move to a better school district for middle.

Honestly you could afford private school for two plus a home in Hardy or Deal district.

If you’re still checking this OP and are in the Hill, the should know that many people have the same plan. If you’re willing to cast a wide net then you’ll be fine. If you shooting for a top school, it’s tough. We ended up moving our oldest for K and commute from the Hill to NW for private. Yes the commute stinks but it’s worth it to us to have locked down a path through HS. Be honest with yourself about what you are willing to pay for and decide accordingly- we weren’t willing to pay private school tuition at any private so moved early to give our kids the best shot at getting in.

We are in MCPS and our plan was to wait to apply until 6th grade and go private for MS and HS. Several school-related factors made me start thinking we should move earlier and then I got nervous about competition for 6th grade spots. After doing extensive research and attending countless tours/info sessions, only 2 schools seem like the right fit for our kid, so we are applying now to get them in to where we want them to go. (If we need to apply multiple times, so be it.) Time will tell what happens with decisions in March.

Would have loved to save $150k+ and continue with public, but it's not sustainable for us at this point.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD got shut out of DC privates at grades 5 & 6. Don't count on it if you aren't wealthy with big jobs.

Genuinely asking why you think wealth and jobs will help your kid to get in?

Why “shut out”? I’ve never heard of that. We applied to many schools. DC got into one school with generous financial aid. We are not wealthy people with big jobs. Far from it.

Anonymous wrote:No, it's not simple unless you have a kid with excellent grades AND income such that you wouldn't miss the money.

The middle class leaves DC for MoCo or NoVa and their good public schools, and the poors can only afford DCPS.

That's all.

This.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We moved to private at 6th grade and it was a great decision. We came from a great public elementary school, but the public MS and HS options were less than ideal. We are not wealthy or special in any way, so we cast a wide net for private and was accepted into a handful of schools that in hindsight were better fits for my child than the schools that didn't offer a spot.

What schools accepted?

This was several years ago, but we were accepted at Bullis, Maret, and Field. We chose based on FA award and commute but would have been happy at any of these schools. Did not get into GDS, Sidwell and Holton.

Thank you so much for sharing! This is trending with other admission results I’ve asked about for the older entry years

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We moved to private at 6th grade and it was a great decision. We came from a great public elementary school, but the public MS and HS options were less than ideal. We are not wealthy or special in any way, so we cast a wide net for private and was accepted into a handful of schools that in hindsight were better fits for my child than the schools that didn't offer a spot.

What schools accepted?

This was several years ago, but we were accepted at Bullis, Maret, and Field. We chose based on FA award and commute but would have been happy at any of these schools. Did not get into GDS, Sidwell and Holton.

Anonymous wrote:We moved to private at 6th grade and it was a great decision. We came from a great public elementary school, but the public MS and HS options were less than ideal. We are not wealthy or special in any way, so we cast a wide net for private and was accepted into a handful of schools that in hindsight were better fits for my child than the schools that didn't offer a spot.

What schools accepted?

We moved to private at 6th grade and it was a great decision. We came from a great public elementary school, but the public MS and HS options were less than ideal. We are not wealthy or special in any way, so we cast a wide net for private and was accepted into a handful of schools that in hindsight were better fits for my child than the schools that didn't offer a spot.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD got shut out of DC privates at grades 5 & 6. Don't count on it if you aren't wealthy with big jobs.

Anyone who is banking on moving from public to private for 6th or 9th needs to read these boards at the time admissions decisions are made. Tons of families are shut out every year. There’s simply not enough spaces.

This is why we are making some life changes and applying to big 5s for K. I don’t want to risk it for 6th.

Anonymous wrote:My DD got shut out of DC privates at grades 5 & 6. Don't count on it if you aren't wealthy with big jobs.

Genuinely asking why you think wealth and jobs will help your kid to get in?