Average GPA at SWW (DC "magnet") is 3.93 unweighted; this is what private kids are up against

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is pretty shocking to see the SWW hate here. The school has crappy facilities, the students aren’t coddled, and the school still must contend with DCPS bureaucracy. And lots of their families there can’t afford to go to the schools you drool over, even though their kids get in. If kids can navigate all that and still end up at Cornell or Yale, good for them! Even more impressive are the kids who got full rides or massive amounts of merit aid to highly regarded schools. Walls is a rare DCPS success story. Anyone who pays taxes in the city should celebrate this.

I think this thread is just about grade inflation, which helps no one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Insane grade inflation in DCPS:
https://www.swwrookery.com/post/hugely-inflated-are-pandemic-era-grading-policies-doing-more-harm-than-good
A's are given for "any effort at all"

SWW has fantastic college admissions again this year--better than any private. This is what the DC private school kids are up against with their
3.4's for working their a$$es off. 🙁

Can you provide evidence for that?

They're probably the best in the DC for getting unhooked (white/Asian, non-legacy, non athletic recruit) kids into Ivies. This year I don't know exactly but it's probably as many as 10 kids.
Some are on their Instagram, others I just know about. In contrast, the Big 3s' are maybe getting in 2 of these kids per class this year. I have a Big3 kid who attended DCPS until middle school
so we know Walls kids very well as many of my kid's friends attend Walls.

This.And it happening at MCPS also (Whitman and BCC). Incredible years for college acceptances. It's really great to see such success for these kids who had some really crappy covid years.

SWW’s 7 total acceptances to Yale (1), Penn (2), Cornell (3), and Barnard (1) is nice for an academic magnet high school. However, 7 admissions out of 150 to 160 students is not “incredible.”

. Barnard is counting as an Ivy these days??

I’m trying to help Walls by including Ivy-adjacent Barnard in their count.

The Barnard degree says Columbia University so there is that. It is one of Columbia's colleges. But not sure why people here care so much about whats going on at SWW. You made a choice for your kid. Just focus on that and the mental health of your kids.

No matter how we choose to educate our children, we are free to discuss anything we want. If you don’t like it, too bad. You can only control yourself.

Whine..Whine..Whine..and it will change nothing...But your therapist will continue to reap the rewards

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ Once again, for those in the cheap seats: What is Harvard’s legacy admit rate for legacies who are NOT also URM, recruited athletes, and the children of big donors? It’s not 33%.

6 percent acceptance rate for all applicants who are not legacies - URM, athletes, first gen, donors included. 33 percent when the legacy thumb is on the scale - for URM, athletes, donors.

Clearly, legacy still matters whether you want to acknowledge it or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But for YEARS everyone has been saying that they're just competing against the others in their school. So, that's not correct?

It this year. I think the grading differences are so severe that colleges are now entirely passing on private school kids with sun 3.5 GPAs.

Maybe the college actually knows what they are doing?
Maybe they realize the privilege the private school child was afforded.
Do you really think readers of applications are not aware of how private schools grade?

That "privilege" comment makes no sense at all. So what if a kid's parents struggled to afford them a private school education? So what if they put a kid in private school because they were being bullied in public school? So what if a kid was brilliant and got a scholarship to a private school? Why would you want this count against them in college applications? Why does it matter? Focus on the education the kid got and their preparedness to take on what your college has to offer.

Your child is privileged in comparison to the kid who is stuck in public school being bullied.


And therefore should not be considered for college admissions? Why? How does that make sense?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is pretty shocking to see the SWW hate here. The school has crappy facilities, the students aren’t coddled, and the school still must contend with DCPS bureaucracy. And lots of their families there can’t afford to go to the schools you drool over, even though their kids get in. If kids can navigate all that and still end up at Cornell or Yale, good for them! Even more impressive are the kids who got full rides or massive amounts of merit aid to highly regarded schools. Walls is a rare DCPS success story. Anyone who pays taxes in the city should celebrate this.

That's the major difference and the story doesn't fit the narrative. I really wish SWW did some coddling. It's almost like Lord of the Flies They have been sending kids to top schools for years. So this is nothing new. Colleges know exactly what SWW produces so they must like the product.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is pretty shocking to see the SWW hate here. The school has crappy facilities, the students aren’t coddled, and the school still must contend with DCPS bureaucracy. And lots of their families there can’t afford to go to the schools you drool over, even though their kids get in. If kids can navigate all that and still end up at Cornell or Yale, good for them! Even more impressive are the kids who got full rides or massive amounts of merit aid to highly regarded schools. Walls is a rare DCPS success story. Anyone who pays taxes in the city should celebrate this.

That's the major difference and the story doesn't fit the narrative. I really wish SWW did some coddling. It's almost like Lord of the Flies They have been sending kids to top schools for years. So this is nothing new. Colleges know exactly what SWW produces so they must like the product.

Yeah Walls kids are the ones with families that stick it out in DCPS and thrive - these generally will be people who are independent and proactive, rooted in their communities, and rely on their skills and effort rathet than money. Plus the experience of Walls itself (taking Metro or bus downtown) is likely to facilitate independence and drive as well. I imagine this is similar for any urban magnet - these kids are going to be prized admits for good reasons.

[Anonymous]

The narrative that private school kids are coddled is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Definitely well done SWW.

The headline was clearly inaccurate

[Anonymous]

How is getting 50% instead of 0 for not doing the assignment, or being guaranteed a 68 for turning in something with your name on not coddling?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Insane grade inflation in DCPS:
https://www.swwrookery.com/post/hugely-inflated-are-pandemic-era-grading-policies-doing-more-harm-than-good
A's are given for "any effort at all"

SWW has fantastic college admissions again this year--better than any private. This is what the DC private school kids are up against with their
3.4's for working their a$$es off. 🙁

Can you provide evidence for that?

They're probably the best in the DC for getting unhooked (white/Asian, non-legacy, non athletic recruit) kids into Ivies. This year I don't know exactly but it's probably as many as 10 kids.
Some are on their Instagram, others I just know about. In contrast, the Big 3s' are maybe getting in 2 of these kids per class this year. I have a Big3 kid who attended DCPS until middle school
so we know Walls kids very well as many of my kid's friends attend Walls.

This.And it happening at MCPS also (Whitman and BCC). Incredible years for college acceptances. It's really great to see such success for these kids who had some really crappy covid years.

SWW’s 7 total acceptances to Yale (1), Penn (2), Cornell (3), and Barnard (1) is nice for an academic magnet high school. However, 7 admissions out of 150 to 160 students is not “incredible.”

. Barnard is counting as an Ivy these days??

I’m trying to help Walls by including Ivy-adjacent Barnard in their count.

The Barnard degree says Columbia University so there is that. It is one of Columbia's colleges. But not sure why people here care so much about whats going on at SWW. You made a choice for your kid. Just focus on that and the mental health of your kids.

No matter how we choose to educate our children, we are free to discuss anything we want. If you don’t like it, too bad. You can only control yourself.

Whine..Whine..Whine..and it will change nothing...But your therapist will continue to reap the rewards

You should know…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ Once again, for those in the cheap seats: What is Harvard’s legacy admit rate for legacies who are NOT also URM, recruited athletes, and the children of big donors? It’s not 33%.

6 percent acceptance rate for all applicants who are not legacies - URM, athletes, first gen, donors included. 33 percent when the legacy thumb is on the scale - for URM, athletes, donors.

Clearly, legacy still matters whether you want to acknowledge it or not.

What is the statistic for legacy admissions ALONE (not in conjunction with URM, athlete, and donor)? And where is the link? I’m not taking your word for anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is pretty shocking to see the SWW hate here. The school has crappy facilities, the students aren’t coddled, and the school still must contend with DCPS bureaucracy. And lots of their families there can’t afford to go to the schools you drool over, even though their kids get in. If kids can navigate all that and still end up at Cornell or Yale, good for them! Even more impressive are the kids who got full rides or massive amounts of merit aid to highly regarded schools. Walls is a rare DCPS success story. Anyone who pays taxes in the city should celebrate this.

That's the major difference and the story doesn't fit the narrative. I really wish SWW did some coddling. It's almost like Lord of the Flies They have been sending kids to top schools for years. So this is nothing new. Colleges know exactly what SWW produces so they must like the product.

Let’s see if colleges continue to like the grade-inflated Walls product. Seven admits to Ivy/Ivy equivalent colleges (out of 150-160 students) isn’t an impressive result—especially for an academic magnet school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is pretty shocking to see the SWW hate here. The school has crappy facilities, the students aren’t coddled, and the school still must contend with DCPS bureaucracy. And lots of their families there can’t afford to go to the schools you drool over, even though their kids get in. If kids can navigate all that and still end up at Cornell or Yale, good for them! Even more impressive are the kids who got full rides or massive amounts of merit aid to highly regarded schools. Walls is a rare DCPS success story. Anyone who pays taxes in the city should celebrate this.

That's the major difference and the story doesn't fit the narrative. I really wish SWW did some coddling. It's almost like Lord of the Flies They have been sending kids to top schools for years. So this is nothing new. Colleges know exactly what SWW produces so they must like the product.

Yeah Walls kids are the ones with families that stick it out in DCPS and thrive - these generally will be people who are independent and proactive, rooted in their communities, and rely on their skills and effort rathet than money. Plus the experience of Walls itself (taking Metro or bus downtown) is likely to facilitate independence and drive as well. I imagine this is similar for any urban magnet - these kids are going to be prized admits for good reasons.

Lol! Most Walls families “stick it out in DCPS” because they can’t afford private high school. Let’s just be honest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is pretty shocking to see the SWW hate here. The school has crappy facilities, the students aren’t coddled, and the school still must contend with DCPS bureaucracy. And lots of their families there can’t afford to go to the schools you drool over, even though their kids get in. If kids can navigate all that and still end up at Cornell or Yale, good for them! Even more impressive are the kids who got full rides or massive amounts of merit aid to highly regarded schools. Walls is a rare DCPS success story. Anyone who pays taxes in the city should celebrate this.

That's the major difference and the story doesn't fit the narrative. I really wish SWW did some coddling. It's almost like Lord of the Flies They have been sending kids to top schools for years. So this is nothing new. Colleges know exactly what SWW produces so they must like the product.

Let’s see if colleges continue to like the grade-inflated Walls product. Seven admits to Ivy/Ivy equivalent colleges (out of 150-160 students) isn’t an impressive result—especially for an academic magnet school.

Wishing failure on teenagers really is not the great look you think it is. Try to do better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ Once again, for those in the cheap seats: What is Harvard’s legacy admit rate for legacies who are NOT also URM, recruited athletes, and the children of big donors? It’s not 33%.

6 percent acceptance rate for all applicants who are not legacies - URM, athletes, first gen, donors included. 33 percent when the legacy thumb is on the scale - for URM, athletes, donors.

Clearly, legacy still matters whether you want to acknowledge it or not.

What is the statistic for legacy admissions ALONE (not in conjunction with URM, athlete, and donor)? And where is the link? I’m not taking your word for anything.

You really want to push back on this legacy hook idea, don’t you? Acc to the Harvard paper itself, all things being equal, legacy applicants have an appreciable advantage over non-legacy.

But keep your fingers in your ears if you like. That usually works.