Feedback on Washington & Liberty High School?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| Does anyone have any recent feedback on Washington & Liberty High School? Have your kids been happy there? |
Anonymous
| This is pretty broad. Are you thinking of moving to Arlington or are your kids at APS? Where are you starting from knowledge-wise? |
Anonymous
I’m guessing out of area because everyone in Arlington calls it W-L, but we shall see. Happy to provide info, but like PP said, what info are you looking for? |
Anonymous
|
For general info, I have a junior there and a DS who graduated last year. Our experience has been good. Both kids made friends easily, which had worried me a bit since most of their MS friends went to different HS's. They take a mix of regular, AP and IB classes and seem to be well challenged and DS is doing well in college. My junior is in band and that's a very friendly and supportive group. Teachers have been responsive when I've reached out about issues (both kids have ADHD and 504 plans).
Downsides, it is crowded and DD says the cafeteria is crazy loud. I hear mixed things about counselor support. Ours is good but not everyone has the same experience. It can be a pressure cooker for kids who are sensitive to that. My DS didn't really care what anyone else was doing but we have to actively work to counter the college pressure DD feels from school. But I would assume that's going to be the case at any HS in an affluent area. |
Anonymous
| What are the No cut sports, just cross country?? |
Anonymous
Wasn’t ultimate an option before? https://wl.apsva.us/activities-athletics-office/generals-team-sports/ |
Anonymous
| I have a rising 11th grader. I am extremely impressed with the wide selection of courses offered at W&L. IB, AP, dual enrollment. Really excellent choices. |
Anonymous
| Bump. We are considering moving from DC to Arlington (to stay close in) and W-L would be a high school option. Kid (boy) tends to be sensitive and need a bit of hand holding. Sounds like it might not be a great school for that? |
Anonymous
| And - any perspective on whether the academics at W&L (which seems to be less prestigious than Yorktown?) better than you can get in DCPS? |
Anonymous
| New pp yes academics will be good at w-l, as good as Yorktown. Yorktown frankly just has a bit more white wealthy kids so you see that test score skew. I don’t know if any public high school anywhere will necessarily be good at hand holding honestly. Public high schools are usually quite big though arlington high schools are smaller than some Fairfax high schools which can be HUGE (like Robinson). I think you’ll only find that in a very small private school. But generally kids seem happy there from what I’ve heard from our neighbors who have had kids go through there (my kids haven’t made it yet) |
Anonymous
Sure, the high schools in western Fairfax for the masses get huge (but also have enormous campuses) https://www.niche.com/k12/search/largest-high-schools/c/fairfax-county-va/ But the close in peers to WL, like Mclean, Langley, Madison -- all tend to stick around 2200 students, while WL will be ballooning to 3000 and beyond. |
Anonymous
I don't know that any of the schools are "prestigious". Yorktown is, on average, wealthier, while W-L has a wider range of incomes. W-L is very well liked, so much so that when the school board tries to change boundaries to move families to Yorktown, families pitch a fit about it, just as much as those potentially moved to Wakefield. As a result, the board just added on to W-L to let it be bigger. W-L also has the magnet IB program (in addition to a full range of AP classes) that draws kids from across the county so there is a substantial segment of high achieving kids. |
Anonymous
|
For a smaller more hand holding environment, I think you need to go to Falls Church City. Con of falls church city is that those kids have been together since elementary so it may be a bit harder for your kid to break in socially.
Other high schools in inner burbs are pretty big. But it is a good chance for kids to learn to advocate for themselves if you think your kid is up for it. We moved from DC to Arlington and are happy with middle school. Don't have experience with high school yet but we are so happy we moved. |
Anonymous
For the inner burbs, WL will be the largest by at least 800 (36% more students) |
Anonymous
Better than DCPS? You are definitely not from around here! Lol. Yes, academics are very good at W-L. Supportive teachers and counselors in our experience. Not less prestigious than Yorktown, just two different student bodies. Both have incredibly smart kids. W-L has the IB program, but is also more diverse. Yorktown is a little more wealthy and white. |