Mount Notre Dame High School

My daughter and I both attended MND and had a similar, great experience, albeit 30 years apart. The faculty and administration are extremely caring and dedicated to their philosophy of empowering young women. The atmosphere is accepting of all and academically motivating and as a result most graduates leave with confidence and skills that serve them well at college and beyond. In contrast to the previous reviewer, my daughter changed from a large public school district for K-​8 to MND with a little push from mom and has been very thankful for her decision.

best all-​girls’ school in cincy.
down to earth, great teachers and awesome staff.
if i had a duaghter, and she didn’t go to purcell marian, she would go here. i have learned so much from the staff at this school and the strong, young women they graduate are inspiring.

This is my alma mater. What to say about my high-​school experience at MND? Well, first off, I’ll admit to being slightly negatively biased against the school because I was forced (thanks, mom and dad!) into attending the private, single-​sex Catholic high-​school after spending eight lovely years in the Lakota Public School system.
There are just a few points I’d like to make about the school, faculty, and my own personal experiences as a «Cougar».
First, MND is an all-​girls school. For those not in the Cincy mindset, this is not at all rare. In fact, all but a few (two? three?) of the city’s Catholic high-​schools are single-​sex, either male or female entirely. Supposedly many studies have shown that teaching high-​school in a single-​sex environment eliminates romantic distractions and stresses academic success instead of social success or popularity. I can’t speak to the experience of all students, but personally, I found the female dominated environment at Mount Notre Dame to be both catty (what do you expect in a school full of emotionally unbalanced teenage girls?) and not at all conducive to my development as a normal, well-​adjusted teenager. Honestly, girls are going to have to socialize with men for the rest of their lives… why not show them how in high-​school instead of eliminating the boys entirely?
Gender issue aside, the school building is mostly rundown… in a way that the administration would like you to believe is historically accurate and charming. I thought it was decrepit and full of asbestos (and it fact, it was, a major construction project went into place to eliminate the mold during my senior year). The one exception to this is the gymnasium, which was renovated the year before I started at the school. The cafeteria menu, at least as it stood when I graduated in 2005, was in need of a serious over-haul…I brown-​bagged everyday for four years, it just looked that unappetizing and overly caloric. I know that cafeteria food doesn’t speak volumes about education, but c’mon, look at my other reviews. I’m all about the food, baby.
Faculty: basically awful with a (very) few outstanding exceptions. I got a lot of laughs from comparing my high school teacher’s curriculums and credits to those of the teachers at the local public school. In my freshmen year «Honors English» class I was instructed to read Out of the Dust, a novel I had read in the fourth grade. I don’t want to criticize the whole English department, though, as two of my favorite and most academically decorated high-​school instructors (Mr. Tom Geier and Mrs. Julie Haggerty) call this department home. At MND the general rule is that there is one great teacher in each department, so if you send your daughter there, be sure to request them. History: Magnus, Foreign Language: Ortega, Religion: Grote, Science: Peppercorn. MND offers very few AP classes; I had little opportunity to earn college credits.
One more note about MND-​as with any other Catholic high-​school, this place is after your wallet. The tuition is not as high as some comparable schools (UA) but those in charge of soliciting donations from fundraisers and alumni parties get an A + for their ability to guilt.
Moral of the story: Save your money, go public. More AP’s, better teachers (due to the drastic pay difference), and a better environment for kids to grow socially.