8th Grade Parents where is your DC going to HS?

[Anonymous]

Having a talk with DH about high school for our DD and we are stuck as what we want to do. Rent in MoCo or try our hands with the lottery for Latin, Banneker or SWW. DD currently attends Deal OOB so we do have the options of Wilson and MA. She’s very artsy, speaks and understands Spanish very well to the point her teacher asked if she spoke Spanish at home. Prior to Deal, she attended two dual-language DCPS so we would like to continue her language education if she could as I think it’s impressive as one wouldn’t expect her to be fluent as a black girl. We have a son too at Deal who’s in the 6th grade.

DCI? Of course it’s all luck, but where are you all going or hoping to land?

[Anonymous]

Put in applications for all the charter/application schools. After you hear, there's time to decide if you want to move.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]Having a talk with DH about high school for our DD and we are stuck as what we want to do. Rent in MoCo or try our hands with the lottery for Latin, Banneker or SWW. DD currently attends Deal OOB so we do have the options of Wilson and MA. She’s very artsy, speaks and understands Spanish very well to the point her teacher asked if she spoke Spanish at home. Prior to Deal, she attended two dual-language DCPS so we would like to continue her language education if she could as I think it’s impressive as one wouldn’t expect her to be fluent as a black girl. We have a son too at Deal who’s in the 6th grade.

DCI? Of course it’s all luck, but where are you all going or hoping to land?[/quote]

How are her grades though? Still try for those selective HS but if her grades are only so so you should add some safeties.

[Anonymous]

SWW isn’t a lottery, it is an application high school.

Consider Duke Ellington as well if your student is artsy.

Definitely DCI if your child has the language skills.

I am a parent with two kids that went through Deal and one went to SWW and one goes to DESA. Neither are perfect, both were good for my kids.

Many families I know are happy with JR.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SWW isn’t a lottery, it is an application high school.

Consider Duke Ellington as well if your student is artsy.

Definitely DCI if your child has the language skills.

I am a parent with two kids that went through Deal and one went to SWW and one goes to DESA. Neither are perfect, both were good for my kids.

Many families I know are happy with JR.

Huh? Walls is a lottery. I know many 4.0 kids who were not accepted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SWW isn’t a lottery, it is an application high school.

Consider Duke Ellington as well if your student is artsy.

Definitely DCI if your child has the language skills.

I am a parent with two kids that went through Deal and one went to SWW and one goes to DESA. Neither are perfect, both were good for my kids.

Many families I know are happy with JR.

It's absolutely a lottery, because there are more qualified prospective students than there is room at the school. It's an application high school in the sense that you have to apply, but really you're applying to enter the lottery.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]SWW isn’t a lottery, it is an application high school.

Consider Duke Ellington as well if your student is artsy.

Definitely DCI if your child has the language skills.

I am a parent with two kids that went through Deal and one went to SWW and one goes to DESA. Neither are perfect, both were good for my kids.

Many families I know are happy with JR.
[/quote]

Huh? Walls is a lottery. I know many 4.0 kids who were not accepted. [/quote]

It's an application school without enough seats s die all qualified applicants, plus there are some quota elements as they do seek to admit students from across the city.

But it's not like you can get in by just winning the lottery. You need minimal grades just to qualify for the lottery and then you still might not get a spot.

[Anonymous]

SWW admission is based on GPA, and, if you make the cut, then it appears that it is based on essays and interviews. I am somewhat disappointed they have done away with the test. Admittedly the description of the process on SWW website is vague. Nonetheless, it is not a lottery. All the application schools use the MySchools DC lottery but the schools order the applications for acceptance and waitlist. If there has been an announcement to the contrary, please point to it.

Good luck to all parents, it is a miserable process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SWW admission is based on GPA, and, if you make the cut, then it appears that it is based on essays and interviews. I am somewhat disappointed they have done away with the test. Admittedly the description of the process on SWW website is vague. Nonetheless, it is not a lottery. All the application schools use the MySchools DC lottery but the schools order the applications for acceptance and waitlist. If there has been an announcement to the contrary, please point to it.

Good luck to all parents, it is a miserable process.

There is no essay for SWW. If you make the GPA cutoff, the entirety of whether or not you are admitted is how other students/a teacher score your kid on a 5-10 minute interview. The scoring rubric for the interview, if there is one, has never been made public.

Therefore, once your kid makes the GPA cutoff, admission is a lottery.

OP, to your point, yes - check out SWW and Banneker. Latin and DCI (and all the other charters you might consider, Cap City, EL Haynes) are extremely difficult admits - they just don't take very many 9th graders. You have ok by-right options, though - so no need to move unless you want to.

[Anonymous]

hopefully leaving basis for SWW - fingers crossed!

[Anonymous]

Have a freshman at Banneker with a similar profile (AA, artsy, bilingual). She loves it FYI. Open house is this Saturday.

[Anonymous]

I know you posted on the public board but with that language background you may want to learn more about Washington International School and see if financial aid is available too. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SWW admission is based on GPA, and, if you make the cut, then it appears that it is based on essays and interviews. I am somewhat disappointed they have done away with the test. Admittedly the description of the process on SWW website is vague. Nonetheless, it is not a lottery. All the application schools use the MySchools DC lottery but the schools order the applications for acceptance and waitlist. If there has been an announcement to the contrary, please point to it.

Good luck to all parents, it is a miserable process.

There is no essay for SWW. If you make the GPA cutoff, the entirety of whether or not you are admitted is how other students/a teacher score your kid on a 5-10 minute interview. The scoring rubric for the interview, if there is one, has never been made public.

Therefore, once your kid makes the GPA cutoff, admission is a lottery.

OP, to your point, yes - check out SWW and Banneker. Latin and DCI (and all the other charters you might consider, Cap City, EL Haynes) are extremely difficult admits - they just don't take very many 9th graders. You have ok by-right options, though - so no need to move unless you want to.

Just circling back on this based on the other Walls thread to say that it looks like Walls plans to have an essay and recommendations in addition to the interview as part of their admissions criteria this year. TBD how it will play out, the official documentation has not yet been released.

[Anonymous]

So we got an 8th grader at a "very few white students" DCPS and we're expecting applications to SWW, Banneker and Coolidge's Early College. Possible interest in McKinley Tech, but we know little about it right now.

[Anonymous]

https://www.myschooldc.org/events/edfest

I just put this link in the walls thread as well. There is a separate edfest just for high school this year, so it could be a good spot to learn about the different programs.