Bottom Half at Sidwell - How is college placement?

[Anonymous]

There is a Sidwell grad working at our local Starbucks. Very nice girl.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another Sidwell parent here -- can I ask what you're basing this on? I know the kids claim to know what everyone else scored, but do you really think those reports are credible beyond your child's circle of very close friends? I sure don't.''

Like I said, I read it somewhere here on a spreadsheet. That said, my recent grad had a score in that range that was average for the school. Sidwell kids tend to do extremely well in verbal and reading- writing sections of the SAT which brings up averages. As to your snarky tone about whether or not the reports are credible, the scores and grades were consistent with the colleges kids got in to. You get to know the families pretty well and I don't think there was any misinformation about grades and scores. That hasn't been my experience at the school.

Sidwell kids do well on the SAT because the SAT is highly correlated with family income.

And with access to a good SAT tutor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any more updates on this thread? Where do the kids at the lower end of the Sidwell class go to college?

Great schools, but none attended that "#1 ranked International Business School - South Carolina" or that fine institution Indiana. They settled for Top 25 schools and selective SLACs.

Are you the "keep Sidwell weird" poster? Because you're not doing the school any favors with all this nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Why would you think someone who keeps posting "keep Sidwell wierd" is a Sidwell booster? I would think the opposite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would you think someone who keeps posting "keep Sidwell wierd" is a Sidwell booster? I would think the opposite.

No, the "keep Sidwell wierd" poster is old Sidwell -- probably someone who also refers to certain traditions at the school as "Sidwellian" and who regrets the school's evolution over the past two decades from Quaker crunchy to Clintonistas and now Obama-mamas. That person is not going to give a hoot about college placement and will, in fact, decry the US News-ization of Sidwell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you think someone who keeps posting "keep Sidwell wierd" is a Sidwell booster? I would think the opposite.

No, the "keep Sidwell wierd" poster is old Sidwell -- probably someone who also refers to certain traditions at the school as "Sidwellian" and who regrets the school's evolution over the past two decades from Quaker crunchy to Clintonistas and now Obama-mamas. That person is not going to give a hoot about college placement and will, in fact, decry the US News-ization of Sidwell.

I think they are the same poster, possibly a teenager. It's the same smug delivery of half-truths, even lies in the case of the exmissions post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you think someone who keeps posting "keep Sidwell wierd" is a Sidwell booster? I would think the opposite.

No, the "keep Sidwell wierd" poster is old Sidwell -- probably someone who also refers to certain traditions at the school as "Sidwellian" and who regrets the school's evolution over the past two decades from Quaker crunchy to Clintonistas and now Obama-mamas. That person is not going to give a hoot about college placement and will, in fact, decry the US News-ization of Sidwell.

I think they are the same poster, possibly a teenager. It's the same smug delivery of half-truths, even lies in the case of the exmissions post.

Should add, I wouldn't rule out a troll preying on DCUMers' insecurities !

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you think someone who keeps posting "keep Sidwell wierd" is a Sidwell booster? I would think the opposite.

No, the "keep Sidwell wierd" poster is old Sidwell -- probably someone who also refers to certain traditions at the school as "Sidwellian" and who regrets the school's evolution over the past two decades from Quaker crunchy to Clintonistas and now Obama-mamas. That person is not going to give a hoot about college placement and will, in fact, decry the US News-ization of Sidwell.

I think they are the same poster, possibly a teenager. It's the same smug delivery of half-truths, even lies in the case of the exmissions post.

How is "keep Sidwell weird" a half-truth? It's not a statement of fact, but a slogan -- neither true or false.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you think someone who keeps posting "keep Sidwell wierd" is a Sidwell booster? I would think the opposite.

No, the "keep Sidwell wierd" poster is old Sidwell -- probably someone who also refers to certain traditions at the school as "Sidwellian" and who regrets the school's evolution over the past two decades from Quaker crunchy to Clintonistas and now Obama-mamas. That person is not going to give a hoot about college placement and will, in fact, decry the US News-ization of Sidwell.

I think they are the same poster, possibly a teenager. It's the same smug delivery of half-truths, even lies in the case of the exmissions post.

How is "keep Sidwell weird" a half-truth? It's not a statement of fact, but a slogan -- neither true or false.

Well it doesn't describe any of the many Sidwell kids I know, who are neither crunchy or hipsterish or extremely awkward, or any of the things you commonly associate with the word "weird." Mostly, they are nice, hard-working kids who really want (or their parents really want) to go to highly selective colleges. It's too bad the slogan suggests they're ashamed of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you think someone who keeps posting "keep Sidwell wierd" is a Sidwell booster? I would think the opposite.

No, the "keep Sidwell wierd" poster is old Sidwell -- probably someone who also refers to certain traditions at the school as "Sidwellian" and who regrets the school's evolution over the past two decades from Quaker crunchy to Clintonistas and now Obama-mamas. That person is not going to give a hoot about college placement and will, in fact, decry the US News-ization of Sidwell.

I think they are the same poster, possibly a teenager. It's the same smug delivery of half-truths, even lies in the case of the exmissions post.

How is "keep Sidwell weird" a half-truth? It's not a statement of fact, but a slogan -- neither true or false.

Well it doesn't describe any of the many Sidwell kids I know, who are neither crunchy or hipsterish or extremely awkward, or any of the things you commonly associate with the word "weird." Mostly, they are nice, hard-working kids who really want (or their parents really want) to go to highly selective colleges. It's too bad the slogan suggests they're ashamed of that.

I agree that most Sidwell kids, including my own, are bright, friendly, moderately preppy kids. There's also a sprinkling of bright, friendly, moderately crunchy kids and bright, friendly, moderately hipsterish kids. If you go back a couple of decades, the mix was slightly different --more crunchy kids -- but not dramatically so. The "keep Sidwell weird" folks would like to see the pendulum swing back, but they're not ashamed of Sidwell -- I can assure you of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you think someone who keeps posting "keep Sidwell wierd" is a Sidwell booster? I would think the opposite.

No, the "keep Sidwell wierd" poster is old Sidwell -- probably someone who also refers to certain traditions at the school as "Sidwellian" and who regrets the school's evolution over the past two decades from Quaker crunchy to Clintonistas and now Obama-mamas. That person is not going to give a hoot about college placement and will, in fact, decry the US News-ization of Sidwell.

I think they are the same poster, possibly a teenager. It's the same smug delivery of half-truths, even lies in the case of the exmissions post.

How is "keep Sidwell weird" a half-truth? It's not a statement of fact, but a slogan -- neither true or false.

It's the original "Keep Austin [Texas] weird" slogan, later adopted by students at Wesleyan U., now seemingly adopted by some Sidwell kids -- and I don't know why anyone would care one way or the other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you think someone who keeps posting "keep Sidwell wierd" is a Sidwell booster? I would think the opposite.

No, the "keep Sidwell wierd" poster is old Sidwell -- probably someone who also refers to certain traditions at the school as "Sidwellian" and who regrets the school's evolution over the past two decades from Quaker crunchy to Clintonistas and now Obama-mamas. That person is not going to give a hoot about college placement and will, in fact, decry the US News-ization of Sidwell.

I think they are the same poster, possibly a teenager. It's the same smug delivery of half-truths, even lies in the case of the exmissions post.

How is "keep Sidwell weird" a half-truth? It's not a statement of fact, but a slogan -- neither true or false.

It's the original "Keep Austin [Texas] weird" slogan, later adopted by students at Wesleyan U., now seemingly adopted by some Sidwell kids -- and I don't know why anyone would care one way or the other.

Exactly . . . and, interestingly, a bunch of Sidwell kids have gone on to Wesleyan in recent years.

[Anonymous]

But college counseling at Sidwell starts with a class junior year, no? That's more than most privates and certainly more than any public.

Nonsense. I graduated from a highly performing public suburban school in the mid-2000s and college counseling started junior year. I would imagine that most high quality public and privates these days start junior year in competitive urban areas. If you don't think that's true, you're comparing it to your experience in the '80s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

But college counseling at Sidwell starts with a class junior year, no? That's more than most privates and certainly more than any public.

Nonsense. I graduated from a highly performing public suburban school in the mid-2000s and college counseling started junior year. I would imagine that most high quality public and privates these days start junior year in competitive urban areas. If you don't think that's true, you're comparing it to your experience in the '80s.

Nonsense. I'm comparing it to DC's highly regarded MoCo high school in the past 2-3 years. No college counseling junior year. No college prep classes in any year. If you don't think that's true, you're comparing it to your out-of-state high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another Sidwell parent here -- can I ask what you're basing this on? I know the kids claim to know what everyone else scored, but do you really think those reports are credible beyond your child's circle of very close friends? I sure don't.''

Like I said, I read it somewhere here on a spreadsheet. That said, my recent grad had a score in that range that was average for the school. Sidwell kids tend to do extremely well in verbal and reading- writing sections of the SAT which brings up averages. As to your snarky tone about whether or not the reports are credible, the scores and grades were consistent with the colleges kids got in to. You get to know the families pretty well and I don't think there was any misinformation about grades and scores. That hasn't been my experience at the school.

Sidwell kids do well on the SAT because the SAT is highly correlated with family income.

And with access to a good SAT tutor.

Family income is generally associated with smarts, and smart parents have smart kids.