I would not say that Compass is twice as good as DESS or Doha College, but I know a number of people at compass and they are all generally happy with it. The facilities are not nearly as good as DESS, but the teaching and curriculum are both solid. The reason for the difference in costs is twofold:
1. DESS is nonprofit, while Compass is for profit.
2. Tuition has to be approved by the government here. Compass is a new school trying to raise funds to purchase land, build purpose-built school buildings, etc. and so it is allowed to charge substantially more.
3. Many expats' companies (particularly American ones and the oils companies) pay tuition regardless of the cost, and so Compas and schools like it have tapped in to that group allowing them to charge quite a bit.
Waiting lists are substantial at all the better schools, and it will be near impossible to land a space for your children at DESS for next fall (from what others have posted they probably aren't even adding people to the waiting lists). So my advice at this point in the year is that if ANY of the better schools (I include Compas in this) is to take any place you can find and then put your names on the waiting lists for your first choices. Based on what people have posted here before, you'll likely have to wait an academic year for a place at DESS, but because it preferences siblings that my be shorter as you have two children. IMO DESS is worth the effort of finding out when the application process opens up (usually in October) and going through the hassle of the waiting list. I cannot speak personally to Doha College.
I would not say that Compass is twice as good as DESS or Doha College, but I know a number of people at compass and they are all generally happy with it. The facilities are not nearly as good as DESS, but the teaching and curriculum are both solid. The reason for the difference in costs is twofold:
1. DESS is nonprofit, while Compass is for profit.
2. Tuition has to be approved by the government here. Compass is a new school trying to raise funds to purchase land, build purpose-built school buildings, etc. and so it is allowed to charge substantially more.
3. Many expats' companies (particularly American ones and the oils companies) pay tuition regardless of the cost, and so Compas and schools like it have tapped in to that group allowing them to charge quite a bit.
Waiting lists are substantial at all the better schools, and it will be near impossible to land a space for your children at DESS for next fall (from what others have posted they probably aren't even adding people to the waiting lists). So my advice at this point in the year is that if ANY of the better schools (I include Compas in this) is to take any place you can find and then put your names on the waiting lists for your first choices. Based on what people have posted here before, you'll likely have to wait an academic year for a place at DESS, but because it preferences siblings that my be shorter as you have two children. IMO DESS is worth the effort of finding out when the application process opens up (usually in October) and going through the hassle of the waiting list. I cannot speak personally to Doha College.