Private Christian Schools in North Dallas

[DFWGuy422]

Originally Posted by Taub201

Yes, I would venture that the average household income at Catholic schools is lower than that of much higher cost Episcopal schools. My nephews got a $5K discount off the already reasonable price at JPII so it was sort of a scholarship to play sports. The Catholics aren't particularly rigorous academically after Jesuit/Ursuline.

The sports arena is another area that might skew college matriculation for the Catholic schools. They’re bigger and tend to be the best athletically as a group, and Jesuit/Ursuline are on a different planet than other privates here. Anyway, if they send more kids to college for sports they likely won’t be excellent colleges - the top 25 USNWR looks a lot different than the top 25 in football, basketball, baseball and so on (although not lacrosse) plus smaller schools that pick up kids who really want to keep playing but missed the D1 cut.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by DFWGuy422

This is very consistent with what I have observed. I was just surprised about Collin specifically because I would imagine that most kids at a tougher private could probably get at least some money at an OU, Arkansas, Alabama, Auburn etc..

All the CoCo high schools have very large matriculations into Collin. I don’t get it given the overall affluence of the area but I guess combo of bottom 50% of class + low tuition + saving a ton of extra money on room & board, no flights / travel expenses, etc.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by DFWGuy422

Rarely attending Church seems like it wouldn’t play over well at TCA.

I’m surprised about Collin being on there (and Tech frankly). The Catholic schools seem to lag behind the Episcopal schools and secular privates in terms of highly selective college matriculation. My theory is that a little bit of self-selection at play — the Catholic school families that I know didn’t really have the Ivy bug and were content with UT, A&M, SMU, and TCU with OU or Arkansas as a fallback option, even with kids who had the aptitude/drive to compete for more elite schools. There are also probably more families at Catholic schools who consider scholarship money to be a determinative factor with the Catholic schools having lower tuition and more financial aid (plus big Catholic families with 4+ kids).

As I've mentioned I'm a non-Catholic (atheist actually) dad of both JCP and UA grads.

IMO much nuance is in play:

A. While the genpop's list of premiere schools might be something like:
1. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Standford, Penn etc.
2. Rice, Brown, Wash. U., Cornell etc.
3. Michigan, Cal, UCLA, GT etc.

The Catholic list might look like this.
1. Notre Dame, Georgetown, Harvard, Yale, Stanford etc.
2. BC, Holy Cross, Rice, Brown, SLU
3. Santa Clara, Loyola Marymount, Villanova, Michigan, Cal., US Naval Academy etc.

IOW the Catholic kid's list of premiere schools is larger and different.

B. As a group Catholics, around here anyway, strike me as amazingly practical.

C. The guy who ran JCP's counseling effort for two stints over a lot of years had a fairly simple outlook on all of this and it oozes Catholic practicality mentioned in B.........
1. If offered a good scholarship anywhere take it.
2. Shop per individual program quality instead of overall school quality/perceptions of quality.
3. Save the war-chest for graduate school so much as possible.
4. He used to tell boys...........a successful college career is much more what you do than where you go.

Using the above we were able to send both our son and daughter to college and medical school for less than Ivy undergrad (son was accepted to Brown, daughter to Dartmouth). In hindsight there was no real decision to be made. In my son's case the delta between the two leave enough to cover is first partner buy in as well (we think anyway). Too early to tell with the DD.

D. I'd guess you are right about Catholic school family wherewithal. As many local Catholic school kids and their families pay little or nothing because they can't. Thumbing through a JCP or UA Parent's Directories.........lots of gardeners, lawn care workers, mechanics, cops, teachers, EMS, cooks, custodians etc.

[DFWGuy422]

Originally Posted by EDS_

As I've mentioned I'm a non-Catholic (atheist actually) dad of both JCP and UA grads.

IMO much nuance is in play:

A. While the genpop's list of premiere schools might be something like:
1. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Standford, Penn etc.
2. Rice, Brown, Wash. U., Cornell etc.
3. Michigan, Cal, UCLA, GT etc.

The Catholic list might look like this.
1. Notre Dame, Georgetown, Harvard, Yale, Stanford etc.
2. BC, Holy Cross, Rice, Brown, SLU
3. Santa Clara, Loyola Marymount, Villanova, Michigan, Cal., US Naval Academy etc.

IOW the Catholic kid's list of premiere schools is larger and different.

B. As a group Catholics, around here anyway, strike me as amazingly practical.

C. The guy who ran JCP's counseling effort for two stints over a lot of years had a fairly simple outlook on all of this and it oozes Catholic practicality mentioned in B.........
1. If offered a good scholarship anywhere take it.
2. Shop per individual program quality instead of overall school quality/perceptions of quality.
3. Save the war-chest for graduate school so much as possible.
4. He used to tell boys...........a successful college career is much more what you do than where you go.

Using the above we were able to send both our son and daughter to college and medical school for less than Ivy undergrad (son was accepted to Brown, daughter to Dartmouth). In hindsight there was no real decision to be made. In my son's case the delta between the two leave enough to cover is first partner buy in as well (we think anyway). Too early to tell with the DD.

D. I'd guess you are right about Catholic school family wherewithal. As many local Catholic school kids and their families pay little or nothing because they can't. Thumbing through a JCP or UA Parent's Directories.........lots of gardeners, lawn care workers, mechanics, cops, teachers, EMS, cooks, custodians etc.

All of these points make sense, and the counselor sounds great. To be clear, I don’t consider at all the Ivy bug to be a good thing. Some students might thrive in that environment, but many more won’t. A lot of the Ivy grads that I’ve come across are very uptight and not always the best socially. I’m a huge fan of the UT’s, UNC’s, UVA’s of the world that are still top-notch educationally but produce grads that are generally higher on the soft and interpersonal skills.

That obviously was the correct choice re your kids IMO. I was in a similar position and picked one of the public Ivies for cost and environment.

[fearthegoat]

I went to ESD and frankly won’t give them a dime. It was great when I went but forget it. Personally I would look at Cistercian.

[DFWGuy422]

Originally Posted by fearthegoat

I went to ESD and frankly won’t give them a dime. It was great when I went but forget it. Personally I would look at Cistercian.

Cistercian is incredible, but the original poster mentioned commute as a big factor meaning Cistercian is probably off the table.

[widespreadfan]

Originally Posted by DFWGuy422

Cistercian is incredible, but the original poster mentioned commute as a big factor meaning Cistercian is probably off the table.

Cistercian would be too far out of the way. I have heard good things about it though.

[DFWGuy422]

Originally Posted by widespreadfan

I have heard good things about it though.

IMO Cistercian is the best school, public or private, anywhere in the metroplex

[barnicles]

Cistercian is a wonderful, wonderful school and environment but it serves a vary narrow type of student. I mean that not all students will be happy in this kind of environment, it is a very specific type of student that excels here and benefits from the rigorous education.

Additionally, the type of religious education that is happening at Cistercian is a Grand Canyon sized chasm away from the religious education at TCA. The focus is different, the purpose is different, the doctrine is different, the teaching style is different, the material is different. I'm not judging either one, but it's important to realize that they aren't really comparable.

I say this with first hand experience at both schools, over the course of many years.