BASIS v. Walls for high school

[Anonymous]

Now that application season is approaching, I would love to hear from any parents with kids who recently (in the last 2-3 years) made the switch from BASIS to Walls for high school. Are your kids happy they switched? Any substantive comparisons of the two schools/differences (academics/teachers/cohort/administration)? Are you glad your child switched, or do you wish kid had stayed at BASIS.

Thanks in advance for any informed thoughts on this topic. Assuming my kid gets into Walls in the spring we will have to decide whether to switch (kid is currently quite happy overall with BASIS and has done great/tippy top in class throughout middle school).

[Anonymous]

Search BASIS vs. Walls. There have been other threads. I’d wait to see if you get in before doing detective work. Your odds aren’t fantastic if your student is white.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Search BASIS vs. Walls. There have been other threads. I’d wait to see if you get in before doing detective work. Your odds aren’t fantastic if your student is white.

Weird you say this. Every white kid I know who applied got in, which made sense as they were all qualified. A few chose walls, most who were already at basis chose to stay at basis. I’m not in any way trying to say which choice is better. Just stating data points.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Search BASIS vs. Walls. There have been other threads. I’d wait to see if you get in before doing detective work. Your odds aren’t fantastic if your student is white.

That was incredibly unhelpful and nonresponsive to a very specific question.

I too am interested in hearing from people who opted to make the move to Walls. Would be helpful to know what prompted the move, what was as expected and what maybe not so much.

[Anonymous]

Your odds aren't fantastic, period. The admissions process seems only to get murkier with each passing year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Search BASIS vs. Walls. There have been other threads. I’d wait to see if you get in before doing detective work. Your odds aren’t fantastic if your student is white.

Weird you say this. Every white kid I know who applied got in, which made sense as they were all qualified. A few chose walls, most who were already at basis chose to stay at basis. I’m not in any way trying to say which choice is better. Just stating data points.

No not weird for somebody to say. Bowser is on the record as having pushed DCPS to ditch the Walls admissions exam AND the standardized test score requirement (PSAT, SAT or PARCC) to draw in more Ward 7 and 8 applicants, thereby increasing diversity at Walls. It's working, at least a little.

[Anonymous]

Why would you leave BASIS?

[Anonymous]

OP did not ask what their odds were. They asked whether people who moved to Walls from BASIS could provide their thoughts.

[Anonymous]

Rule of thumb, stick with Basis for math, switch to Walls for humanities.

[Anonymous]

It is a small pool of kids who have moved from Basis to Walls. Even then, can they really answer your question with much precision since high school is a different kettle of fish than middle school

[Anonymous]

Maybe BASIS folks can weigh in as to what their considerations were in making the switch to Walls or not (if they had the option) and also whether/why they might regret the decision that they made based on what they know from other families who made a different decision…

[Anonymous]

I'm a Basis HS parent who has second-hand knowledge. A friend's kid switched from Basis to Walls for the "more complete" high school experience. They were bored out of their mind in math and science for two years. By the end, it was all good though.

[Anonymous]

Not OP. Current basis family a few years from having to make this decision. But, the BASIS support with college applications, scholarship applications and the flexible senior year seems like an awesome reason to stay. Does it live up to the hype?

[Anonymous]

Kids can pay a high price for all that flexibility senior year. Almost all the AP learning and testing at BASIS is shoehorned in to the first 3 years of HS. We were unusual in that we continued with full on AP prep through senior year before our kid applied to colleges in the fall of a gap year. Our kid’s stretched out learning process was happier, and more successful, than the abridged version pushed on many BASIS classmates. College counseling is over-rated at BASIS so we hired help. Do your own thing, folks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids can pay a high price for all that flexibility senior year. Almost all the AP learning and testing at BASIS is shoehorned in to the first 3 years of HS. We were unusual in that we continued with full on AP prep through senior year before our kid applied to colleges in the fall of a gap year. Our kid’s stretched out learning process was happier, and more successful, than the abridged version pushed on many BASIS classmates. College counseling is over-rated at BASIS so we hired help. Do your own thing, folks.

How did you negotiate that?