Lottery ranking for selective DCPS high schools - match with #3 or #4?

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have experience getting matched with a selective DCPS high school their child ranked 3rd or 4th? For example, if a student lists their preferences as #1 Banneker, #2 Walls, #3 McKinley Tech, #4 Duke Ellington and does not match with Banneker or Walls, have they successfully gotten a slot at McKinley Tech or Duke Ellington?

I am hearing different things about how the system works from people who should understand it-- some say you will be matched with #3 or #4 if you are not eligible for #1 and #2 and are eligible for a school you ranked lower, and others say if you don't list a school as your #1 you have very little/no chance of a slot. So I'm asking about actual experiences.

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have experience getting matched with a selective DCPS high school their child ranked 3rd or 4th? For example, if a student lists their preferences as #1 Banneker, #2 Walls, #3 McKinley Tech, #4 Duke Ellington and does not match with Banneker or Walls, have they successfully gotten a slot at McKinley Tech or Duke Ellington?

I am hearing different things about how the system works from people who should understand it-- some say you will be matched with #3 or #4 if you are not eligible for #1 and #2 and are eligible for a school you ranked lower, and others say if you don't list a school as your #1 you have very little/no chance of a slot. So I'm asking about actual experiences.

Thank you!

People who say rank it #1 don't understand how the lottery works. Plenty of people hope for Banneker and Walls but end up with McKinley. My kid is not that age yet, but she has friends who has that experience.

Each school has its own admissions process and separate essay and interview, so it's possible to do well on one application and badly on another.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: others say if you don't list a school as your #1 you have very little/no chance of a slot. So I'm asking about actual experiences.

This is wrong and a misunderstanding of how the lottery works. Lots of school personnel DO NOT understand the ranking process themselves and, over the years, have advised families to "rank our school #1 to give you the best chance at a match".

You should rank schools in order of your true preference. Also, myschooldc staff are really helpful and will answer any questions you may have about ranking. On their web site, the FAQs (https://www.myschooldc.org/faq/faqs) have a great section and video about how the lottery works.

[Anonymous]

I mean it's true that if you rank a school 3 you won't get in if you get in to 1 or 2. But that just means you should rank in order of preference.

[Anonymous]

I teach plenty of kids at an application HS who did not have us as first choice. Many/most of them wind up having a great experience even when they were disappointed at first. Rank by preference but in an interview make sure the kid can explain why they want to attend even if it is not their first choice. I’ve been in interviews where a kid explicitly says, “I’m applying to all application schools and you are not my first choice.” That honesty is not helpful in an interview unless the kid is trying not to get in. Be sure they know something about what differentiates the school they are interviewing at from the others and can speak toward why they want to come there beyond my parents think it is a good school or my counselor thinks I have the grades to get in.

[Anonymous]

Rank schools in order of your true preference.

That part is exactly the same for high school as for all other grades. And just like people routinely match with their #3 or #4 or #6 or #10 school for kindergarten or third grade, they also match with lower-ranked schools for high school.

[Anonymous]

My son matched at #3. It was actually his preferred school and has been a good fit.

[Anonymous]

The hard part is figuring out what your preference is, or with siblings, what's best for the family as a whole and how to leverage sibling preference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The hard part is figuring out what your preference is, or with siblings, what's best for the family as a whole and how to leverage sibling preference.

There is no sibling preference for application schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The hard part is figuring out what your preference is, or with siblings, what's best for the family as a whole and how to leverage sibling preference.

There is no sibling preference for application schools.

Right, but when doing the 9th grade lottery there may be a sibling at Latin or DCI or somewhere, or there may be younger siblings to consider. People who apply to application schools can also apply to lottery schools at the same time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son matched at #3. It was actually his preferred school and has been a good fit.

Thank you! Just to be clear- this was #3 among selective/application high schools, not just the general lottery?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The hard part is figuring out what your preference is, or with siblings, what's best for the family as a whole and how to leverage sibling preference.

Sibling preference does not apply to application high schools. Take your bad advice back to the PK3 thread.

[Anonymous]

OP, the schools don’t know how you ranked them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The hard part is figuring out what your preference is, or with siblings, what's best for the family as a whole and how to leverage sibling preference.

Sibling preference does not apply to application high schools. Take your bad advice back to the PK3 thread.

It’s not bad advice. Someone might prefer Latin over Walls for their DC1 because Latin has sibling preference and therefore it will open a high school pathway for younger siblings as well, whereas if DC1 goes to Walls, which does not have sibling preference, the younger siblings will have no pathway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The hard part is figuring out what your preference is, or with siblings, what's best for the family as a whole and how to leverage sibling preference.

There is no sibling preference for application schools.

Right, but when doing the 9th grade lottery there may be a sibling at Latin or DCI or somewhere, or there may be younger siblings to consider. People who apply to application schools can also apply to lottery schools at the same time.

It is extremely unlikely that a family would have a child in HS at Latin or DCI and not already have the younger sibling enrolled in the MS, negating the need to lottery into those programs. Those schools offer so few seats for 9th (only the French track offered any lottery spots for 9th last year, both Latin campuses combined offered only 16 seats for 9th) that this just isn't really a thing.

So while I'm sure plenty of families will rank a lottery charter like DCI or Latin alongside application schools for 9th, the number of these people for whom sibling preference would come into play is so small (if it even exists) as to not matter.