school without walls essay prompt

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tell us why you think academic merit and objective tests are bad? Bonus points if you can explain why diversity is more important than what you learn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parent of a Walls sophomore; I don’t remember the prompt but they had to write a few paragraphs, handwritten. It was not too intense - just want to make sure your kid can write and organize their thoughts clearly.

This may sound a bit harsh, but it feels worth saying: if you are worried about your child being able to handle the admissions essay, I would think hard if Walls is the right place for your kid. There is a lot of independent work and the writing expectations are high, so if you’re providing a lot of support or have to motivate your child, Walls may not be the right fit.

Lol.

There is so much grade inflation at Walls that the average GPA is close to 4.0.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of a Walls sophomore; I don’t remember the prompt but they had to write a few paragraphs, handwritten. It was not too intense - just want to make sure your kid can write and organize their thoughts clearly.

This may sound a bit harsh, but it feels worth saying: if you are worried about your child being able to handle the admissions essay, I would think hard if Walls is the right place for your kid. There is a lot of independent work and the writing expectations are high, so if you’re providing a lot of support or have to motivate your child, Walls may not be the right fit.

Lol.

There is so much grade inflation at Walls that the average GPA is close to 4.0.

Cite your references!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of a Walls sophomore; I don’t remember the prompt but they had to write a few paragraphs, handwritten. It was not too intense - just want to make sure your kid can write and organize their thoughts clearly.

This may sound a bit harsh, but it feels worth saying: if you are worried about your child being able to handle the admissions essay, I would think hard if Walls is the right place for your kid. There is a lot of independent work and the writing expectations are high, so if you’re providing a lot of support or have to motivate your child, Walls may not be the right fit.

Lol.

There is so much grade inflation at Walls that the average GPA is close to 4.0.

Cite your references!

Given how many APs kids take, and the fact that most other classes are honors, yes the average GPA is close to a 4.0.

Even if you got a B- in every AP class, that GPA is a 3.7.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of a Walls sophomore; I don’t remember the prompt but they had to write a few paragraphs, handwritten. It was not too intense - just want to make sure your kid can write and organize their thoughts clearly.

This may sound a bit harsh, but it feels worth saying: if you are worried about your child being able to handle the admissions essay, I would think hard if Walls is the right place for your kid. There is a lot of independent work and the writing expectations are high, so if you’re providing a lot of support or have to motivate your child, Walls may not be the right fit.

Lol.

There is so much grade inflation at Walls that the average GPA is close to 4.0.

Cite your references!

Given how many APs kids take, and the fact that most other classes are honors, yes the average GPA is close to a 4.0.

Even if you got a B- in every AP class, that GPA is a 3.7.

How many ap classes do most walls kids take each year? Does it change for juniors and seniors?

[Anonymous]

Wondering if anyone has experience from last year’s interview? Was it 1-1 or group for students? Also for the essay - how long is it supposed to be and how long do students have to complete it? Thanks so much! Trying to make sure my daughter knows what to expect - and how long I should plan to be there!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of a Walls sophomore; I don’t remember the prompt but they had to write a few paragraphs, handwritten. It was not too intense - just want to make sure your kid can write and organize their thoughts clearly.

This may sound a bit harsh, but it feels worth saying: if you are worried about your child being able to handle the admissions essay, I would think hard if Walls is the right place for your kid. There is a lot of independent work and the writing expectations are high, so if you’re providing a lot of support or have to motivate your child, Walls may not be the right fit.

Lol.

There is so much grade inflation at Walls that the average GPA is close to 4.0.

Cite your references!

Given how many APs kids take, and the fact that most other classes are honors, yes the average GPA is close to a 4.0.

Even if you got a B- in every AP class, that GPA is a 3.7.

How many ap classes do most walls kids take each year? Does it change for juniors and seniors?

Most juniors and seniors take 4 APs. All sophomores take at least one AP. Most freshmen take no APs. But the lower level math, history and English classes are honors so you get a 0.5 GPA bump for those.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of a Walls sophomore; I don’t remember the prompt but they had to write a few paragraphs, handwritten. It was not too intense - just want to make sure your kid can write and organize their thoughts clearly.

This may sound a bit harsh, but it feels worth saying: if you are worried about your child being able to handle the admissions essay, I would think hard if Walls is the right place for your kid. There is a lot of independent work and the writing expectations are high, so if you’re providing a lot of support or have to motivate your child, Walls may not be the right fit.

Lol.

There is so much grade inflation at Walls that the average GPA is close to 4.0.

Cite your references!

The junior class at Walls has an average GPA of 3.93, a number school counselor Kathryn Moore called “very high.” She also noted that the median GPA was over a 4.0.

“It’s definitely hurt my work ethic,” Douglas said. “When I go to college, it’s going to hurt me because I’m not actively putting in as much effort as I should or as I could because of those policies. So when I go to college, I won’t be as prepared. I won’t have the strong work ethic that I probably could have [had] if those policies weren’t in place.”

https://www.swwrookery.com/post/hugely-inflated-are-pandemic-era-grading-policies-doing-more-harm-than-good

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of a Walls sophomore; I don’t remember the prompt but they had to write a few paragraphs, handwritten. It was not too intense - just want to make sure your kid can write and organize their thoughts clearly.

This may sound a bit harsh, but it feels worth saying: if you are worried about your child being able to handle the admissions essay, I would think hard if Walls is the right place for your kid. There is a lot of independent work and the writing expectations are high, so if you’re providing a lot of support or have to motivate your child, Walls may not be the right fit.

Lol.

There is so much grade inflation at Walls that the average GPA is close to 4.0.

Cite your references!

The junior class at Walls has an average GPA of 3.93, a number school counselor Kathryn Moore called “very high.” She also noted that the median GPA was over a 4.0.

“It’s definitely hurt my work ethic,” Douglas said. “When I go to college, it’s going to hurt me because I’m not actively putting in as much effort as I should or as I could because of those policies. So when I go to college, I won’t be as prepared. I won’t have the strong work ethic that I probably could have [had] if those policies weren’t in place.”

https://www.swwrookery.com/post/hugely-inflated-are-pandemic-era-grading-policies-doing-more-harm-than-good

Wow. I just read above and it’s terrible. So much grade inflation and kids thinking they mastered the material when they have not.

Then there is the minimum 63% and 50% even if you don’t do anything.

This is setting the kids up to fail in the real world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of a Walls sophomore; I don’t remember the prompt but they had to write a few paragraphs, handwritten. It was not too intense - just want to make sure your kid can write and organize their thoughts clearly.

This may sound a bit harsh, but it feels worth saying: if you are worried about your child being able to handle the admissions essay, I would think hard if Walls is the right place for your kid. There is a lot of independent work and the writing expectations are high, so if you’re providing a lot of support or have to motivate your child, Walls may not be the right fit.

Lol.

There is so much grade inflation at Walls that the average GPA is close to 4.0.

Cite your references!

Given how many APs kids take, and the fact that most other classes are honors, yes the average GPA is close to a 4.0.

Even if you got a B- in every AP class, that GPA is a 3.7.

How many ap classes do most walls kids take each year? Does it change for juniors and seniors?

Most juniors and seniors take 4 APs. All sophomores take at least one AP. Most freshmen take no APs. But the lower level math, history and English classes are honors so you get a 0.5 GPA bump for those.

This was the norm when I was in high school too. We had students who would only take the extracurricular classes with honors or AP options in pursuit of a top 10 class rank. Many had played an instrument since middle school or earlier, but would drop band or orchestra by 11th once they could completely fill their schedule with the APs only offered to upperclassmen. They had to go to several decimal places to determine the valedictorian. Somewhere in the 4.6 range?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there any evidence that these gifted programs are necessary or that they produce genuine innovators or scholars?

I went to an HYP with lots of kids from Stuyvesant and Lowell. Do some have impressive outcomes? Sure. More impressive than the kids who were just the smart kid at the local public high school? Nope.

I went from a very mid HS in the Deep South and exactly this.