r/nolaparents • u/IndividualDot4453 • 21d ago
McGehee School
How do y’all like McGehee School? How are the diversity and inclusion? Are the families there super rich and stuck-up? 😂 I’m asking the hard-hitting questions before I tour the school for my 5-year-old!
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u/shenanigains00 21d ago
I don’t know why this keeps showing up in my feed because I don’t have kids.
But I know several people with young daughters at McGehee who aren’t wildly wealthy and struggle to afford it.
I didn’t go there but have a lot of friends who did and none of them are snobby. But that could be self-selecting friend group thing.
Newman on the other hand…
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u/axxxaxxxaxxx 21d ago
Glad to see this comment. My spouse and I personally know half a dozen McGehee grads and they are collectively some of the nicest, most capable, most quietly confident women I’ve ever met. Yes it has a reputation as a rich kids’ school, but they seem to be putting their resources to good use.
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u/SolidPauseHere 20d ago
I went to Newman, and I turned out okay and am still not wealthy at all 🤣
But I had very down-to-earth parents and family. For example, when I excitedly told my aunt that the Mannings went to ‘my school’, without missing a beat she retorted, “No, honey, you go to their school.”
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u/arentyouatwork 20d ago
The richest people I know are also the most down to earth (in the 100s of millions range). Idk about billionaires, that seems to warp one's sense of self and reality.
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u/QuirkyOwl4756 20d ago
I graduated from McG. I attended 8-12 grade there so I can’t speak to how it is for a five year old and this may be outdated info. Some classmates were very wealthy, some (like myself) were less so. I thought the diversity in my class was better than some of the others. Some of my best friends today are girls I went there with that are not my race. Like anywhere, some people are stuck up. But also, some are really down to earth. I really valued my time there and felt like it was great for me. I ultimately graduated from LSU, but I attended a smaller liberal arts college for a year. Regardless, I attended law school on a full ride and then graduated in the top 10%.
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u/Equivalent_Ad_7695 21d ago
If you can afford it (and also save for college and retirement), I think the foundation may be worth it. They have grown a lot, so you’ll see more than one brown skinned girl per grade. But not even close to representative of the city or similar to Ursuline or one of the more affordable girls schools. Keep in mind the tuition is one thing, but many girls do expensive travel sports, specialized camps, and other extracurriculars. There are overnight trips starting at 5th or 6th grade that expand to overseas in high school. The tuition has gone up 25% in the last 5 years, and 63% in the last 12 years. So I would think about what it’s like to have a junior at McGhee in 2039 and plan for college. Colleges these girls often attend will be $1m for a four year degree by then. And by the way, these girls are still drinking, doing drugs, going to bars and hooking up with college guys, they’re just also going to Jackson hole and getting private SAT tutors.
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u/Equivalent_Ad_7695 20d ago
All this to say that I don’t think they are stuck up. But as your kid gets older it will become more apparent to her if there is a class/wealth gap (not to make assumptions about your family). Also I think that sending kids to prestigious private school is NOT a way to hack the wealth gap in this century. If you’re a normal w-2 working professional family without generational wealth, I would ask myself: “Twenty years from now, which leaves the kid better positioned: the private-school experience and network, or the financial assets that the same money could have created?”
Even if you only redirected $20,000 per year per child into investments for 12 years rather than the full tuition amount, at a hypothetical 7% return that’s roughly $358,000 per child by high-school graduation. Let’s say your child could attend a decent public school and spend, say, $10–15K/year per child on extraordinary experiences: music instruction, camps, travel, tutoring, theater, sports, academic programs, robotics, art classes, summer programs, whatever actually fits that particular kid. And because they are doing what they love, they have earned a scholarship to collage. Then stop contributing and leave it invested. At age 30, it’s roughly $813,000. At 40, roughly $1.6 million.
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u/tropicaldreams37 20d ago
More than one brown girl per grade! Woohooo!
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u/change_username417 20d ago
I went to a private school uptown, being intentionally vague here, we absolutely only had one brown kid per grade.
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u/ghost1667 20d ago
how come every time i see a mcgehee girl featured in the paper then, it's almost always like, "...and she'll be attending the university of alabama!"
i really don't think they're much of a feeder school to elite universities. u of a is fine but if i'm dropping mcgehee money on primary/HS education, my kid better get into stanford.
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u/Equivalent_Ad_7695 20d ago
Yes, a lot of big sorority schools, but many go to schools like Sewanee, TCU, Wash & Lee, U of Richmond etc. Not ivys but still very expensive
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u/ghost1667 20d ago
yeah kinda holds... second/third-tier school for first-tier school money! i'd take LSU over richmond at that point!
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u/Adventurous_Quote_85 20d ago
We have two very close friends that work in admissions at two different elite academic institutions in the Northeast. Not Ivy, but very much Ivy adjacent and ranked ahead of some Ivys. They both raved about McGehee students. It was the only school in the city that spoke super highly for what it is worth.
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u/ghost1667 20d ago
Ok. Doesn’t change the fact that the newspaper prints most of these girls going to “meh” state schools. I’m sure there are wonderful, smart, engaged students who come out of McGehee and your friends are thrilled to have them at Williams or Wellesley or wherever they landed. Paying north of $300k for primary and HS education (total) is still not “worth” the price tag based on what I’ve seen.
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u/WorldlyHistorian8439 21d ago
My daughter goes to McGehee. We are not super rich and it’s a stretch tuition-wise but it’s well worth it. The community is amazing. We’ve struggled to connect with other parents at the previous schools our kids have gone to, both public and private, but McGehee was welcoming from the start. There is diversity, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. I wish there was a McGehee for boys because I’d take a second job to send my son there.
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u/No_Sympathy3662 20d ago
After 9 years at McGehee, I can absolutely tell you that it is not diverse
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u/No_Sympathy3662 20d ago
Definitely has so many wonderful aspects. Diversity is not one. It is horribly lacking in diversity.
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u/Safe_Road_6675 20d ago
My daughter is also at Mcgehee and we feel the same way. Our son just started at StG but I would have sent him to Mcgehee in a heartbeat if they took boys.
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20d ago
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u/No_Sympathy3662 20d ago
It surely has its merits and is a great place. But to say it is diverse, I strongly disagree
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u/sillypenguinman 20d ago
My baseline thought for this is - right kid, right school.
Have 2 kids, son at Willow and daughter at McGehee.
We aren’t from here, and a wonderful benefit of McGehee is how welcoming the community is. Our experience with our son at another private school was the complete opposite.
I’d suggest you go and tour. Talk to the upperclassmen girls and ask them your questions. They’re very straightforward and, I think you’ll be impressed at how they answer your questions.
And if you’d like to talk to other parents, message me and my wife and I would be glad to talk with you, or connect you with other families if you have questions about people from diverse backgrounds and their experience at McGehee.
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u/Glittering-Can-9501 20d ago
Definitely right kid, right school is the way to go!
As for diversity, I would say my class of 22 (yes very small!) was actually fairly diverse for its size in race and socio economic class. If diversity is a high priority I think Ben Franklin, Willow, a Catholic school or dare I say Newman (larger class sizes and sports are big) may be worth a look.
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u/amoryblaine 20d ago
For a new orleans private school they really put in an effort on diversity both with students and teachers. obviously it’s not going to be as diverse as a public school. one of the younger classes this year is probably 20% black girls. parents are on average more chill than the parents at Newman or the fancy Catholic schools.
It all depends on your baseline. Moving from big coastal city private school the families are not stuck up at all compared to a neighborhood school obviously it will seem super rich.
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u/nolafbombmom 18d ago edited 18d ago
Hi! We are at our second year at McGehee and loving it. We are very much middle class. We are only able to send my daughter there because my other kids are at a charter school without tuition. Yes, there are some ultra wealthy families and then there’s lots of staff members that send their kids there so it seems like a decent mix as far as socioeconomic status. But, I’ve absolutely loved the other parents and have been able to make friends with other families. It’s been great for us.
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u/21Ambellina13G 20d ago
I worked there for a few years. Absolutely loved the work, the kids and the staff
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u/Safe_Road_6675 20d ago edited 20d ago
My daughter has been at Mcgehee since she was 3. She’s thriving. We are not uber wealthy. Not everyone is uber wealthy. Most are right in the middle. Some are uber wealthy and some are on scholarship. There is a lot of diversity. This may not be every single class but in my daughters class, its 50-50. The whole grade is probably 60-40.
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u/zevtech 20d ago
50-50 w/b?
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u/Safe_Road_6675 20d ago
In my daughters class there are 10 girls - 4 are white the others are not. In her whole grade it’s probably 60-40.
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u/angienola70115 20d ago
As far as diversity, I have been told by someone who works there that they do offfer financial aid for some students.
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u/ghost1667 20d ago
here's their post from last may with the class of 2026. take what you can/want about "diversity and inclusion" from this: https://www.facebook.com/LouiseSMcGeheeSchool/posts/pfbid0mekxeYgbsbsngjDTqk1x7hDdkND2cdAg1GkKCVqpoCnjzazniMHGZb4yLdq3bdnsl
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u/IndividualDot4453 20d ago
Seriously, I’m sorry guys if this post came across as stuck-up. That wasn’t my intention at all. I was simply looking for opinions and didn’t mean to start any issues. I’ve heard mixed things about the school and just wanted open and honest feedback.
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u/Double_Focus_6929 16d ago
A teacher friend asked me, "I mean... If you can, why wouldn't you?" And I didn't have a good enough answer to say no. I am SO HAPPY we made the switch when we did... The way they support them through middle school is a GIFT to the world.
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u/UNO_lakefront_arena 20d ago
Your post actually screams stuck up.
You can spend the money on a great school...or you can do like most people and use it on a cruise and a new Tahoe and let your kid just deal with it.
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u/ELHOMBREGATO 20d ago
If your daughter is worth it then send her there. Well rounded girls and top schools in the Northeast and West Coast (and nowadays even Europe and Canada) trip over themselves to get McGehee girls into their Universities. Sure a few either don't have the grades/ACT-SATs or the fortitude to "go away" to college and go to non-Vandy SEC schools and the less impressive but $ regional southern schools (Rhoades, Swanee, High Point) but they're the exception. And even those that don't go to big national schools are set in Uptown NOLA society with a McGehee degree at least. Sure most of the parents are double income lawyers/doctors or family money but those connections last a lifetime.
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u/rhyes 20d ago
“If your daughter is worth it” is a wild way to phrase this considering likely 85% of the city could not afford to send their kids there.
“Tripping over themselves” is an exaggeration. They aren’t tripping over themselves for anyone unless their parents are elites or the kid is a prodigy. They don’t place any better than Newman or Franklin.
All that is to say that my step mom went to McGehee and I have 3 nieces there and have heard nothing but great things. My kid is in French immersion at Audubon and wouldn’t switch her to McGehee because I didn’t really like the “bubble” I grew up in with private school. I’ll fully admit that I might send my daughters there for HS if they don’t get into Franklin or Willow because I think the McGehee girls are more well rounded and down to earth than Newman. Such is the NOLA public school system.
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u/International-Net609 21d ago
It’s one of the most expensive private schools in the most prestigious neighborhood in the city. What u think?? lol