Which K-8 has the best high school placement?
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Anonymous
Not the PP, but it's a wise move. It's no secret that admissions gets progressively harder the later the entry year. Not to mention, it's easier on families logistically to have two kids at the same school. You don't need to dislike your current K-8 to decide to apply out early. |
Anonymous
Would love to hear from current families on this. The schools constantly say that x% of kids go to their first or second choice. I suspect they also steer kids away from falling in love with certain schools (or being very discouraging) if they know there are say, 3 siblings/ VIPs in the class whose heart is set on that school. |
Anonymous
Can you still get recommendations if you apply out early? If you don’t get in, do you get a cold shoulder from the school? |
Anonymous
| It’s hard to give a good picture on outplacement right now because the last two years were a bit crazy. I believe Sheridan had 6 kids of about 24 attend a so-called big 3 last year. (4 to GDS, 1 to Sidwell, 1 to either NCS or STA.) In years prior, about 3-4 attend GDS, 2 to 3 attend Sidwell, 0-2 a year to NCS/STA and 2-3 a year to Maret. That’s for a class size of about 21-24. The rest go to schools like Burke, Field, St. Andrews, Madeira, Walls, BCC, Wilson, Sandy Springs, etc. Will be interesting to see what the landscape like this year and whether it will be tight as last year. As others noted, not every kid or family wants Big3. |
Anonymous
You are assuming it’s a lot more intense and competitive than it is between families at a school at least for us. The kids/families are looking for different things so there’s less overlap in first choices. It’s not like K admissions from Little Folks or NCRC where everyone wants Beauvoir, Sidwell, or GDS because you know basically nothing about your kid at that point. For 8th grade, you have like the sporty kids who probably aren’t going to want GDS or Maret or whatever. And then there will be the kids/families who aren’t looking for several hours of homework a night so they probably aren’t looking at Sidwell or NCS. And you’ll have the not super strong academically kids you are looking for something different. And people who don’t want single sex or who want a school close to there house, etc. etc. So the schools have to do some diplomacy with families that are unrealistic in their targeted schools. But it’s not like there are 15 families that all want Sidwell and the school has to decide who to support. There is naturally more diversity in first choices. |
Anonymous
More like, our current school ends before 8th grade so why wouldn't we apply to the sibling's school instead of looking for a new school? |
Anonymous
In K-8 schools teachers are paid at least $20/letter of recommendation by the school for HS apps. They are paid $0 for letters of recommendation written for kids applying out early. The k-8’s also heavily censor and edit the letters of recommendation for 8th graders apply to HS. |
Anonymous
| I would just like to dispel the myth posted several times in this thread that Sidwell or St. Albans upper school will select an 8th grade younger sibling over more qualified 8th grade applicants from a K-8. The sibling hook may tip the balance when two applicants are otherwise equal. But neither upper school admissions team is blithely accepting kids into UPPER school just because they're family. |
Anonymous
Yes, the reputable K8s will help you if you decide to apply out early and will help with recommendations, etc. They want good results for families and care about the kids. I mean, if you are a jerk or difficult about it, that probably isn’t going to help you. But the schools aren’t vindictive like some people think. These people are in education for a reason and are professionals. |
Anonymous
| No one has mentioned this yet, but at our k-8, the children of board members always get into the Big3 schools or whatever their first choice may be. It is is usually a big3 and they literally always get in. |
Anonymous
No, they absolutely will take a less qualified sibling, especially if the sibling is from a family that has a history of giving money (to the high school). They need to keep their donating families happy because they rely on donations to bridge the gap between tuition and operating expenses. I have kids at Sidwell/STA and it 1000% happens. It happened this past year and it happens every year. |
Anonymous
So you have to apply for either a k-8 or a k-12? If you aren’t in a k-8, of course you need to apply before 8th. How is this relevant to those in a k-8? |
Anonymous
Exactly this. The k8 schools never mention this and the parents of the siblings and VIP parents will not tell you this when they are sitting on the "happy parents" panel as part of the info sessions when they talk about how positive the ex-missions process was for their family. They won't say their child wasn't "top 10 percent of the class", which seems to be the myth of getting into a Big 3 from a k8, because let's face it, some siblings might fall in that category but nowhere near all siblings or VIP's kids are. Those are the kids that the VIP parents say have a great personality and that they just interview really well (which might very well be true, but the money they bring helps too). They won't say that they got lucky with the first kid and the rest just got admitted when their turns came because of that older sibling. They won't tell you the pattern I have noticed that most of the kids admitted to a Big 3 from the k8s I am familiar with have parents who are either on the k8 Board, donate over 10-15k per year, or have a big hook, or of course are legacy/siblings. Often a mixture of these. The myth of only or oldest children (who are applying to Big 3 schools)getting into their best fit is simply that at many k8s if you are talking about a kid with the unlucky situation of being in a grade with many sibling applicants and VIPs who want the same schools. 9th grade admissions is a numbers game as was said before. I know nothing of WES. Also true above is that there are likely not 15 applicants to X school per grade, but if hard to get in X school only takes roughly 2-3 applicants from each k8 and your kid has 3 siblings in their grade applying there you can guess what is likely to happen, so that sort of eliminates it as being your kids "first choice" even if you really felt it was. I know nothing about StA and Sidwell. As a PP said above, their sibling preference might not be as strong, but they only take around 1-2 kids per k8 per year, so again, you have to think your kid's chances are low if there is a sibling classmate or VIP/large donor family applying also. I think OP was originally asking about this in the context of GDS type schools so OP should know that the have a better shot of getting in at K. |
Anonymous
Yep. It’s a mystery why PP’s kid didn’t get into PP’s preferred school. |
Anonymous
I am not trying to argue which is better, I am just saying the argument that your 8th grader can decide which high school is a better fit is idiotic bc so can any 8th grader at a k-12 |