How are things going at Walls this year?

[Anonymous]

Decent human beings? What's the critera? What's the metric? Where's the transparent evaluation system measuring decency?

The Walls interview is highly subjective, discretionary BS. Ditch it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Walls would be better off admitting by lottery for 8th graders with a halfway decent GPA. Firing a respected head and dropping most admissions requirements isn't sending the right message to prospective families.

This is by design -
DC thinks that if they send a message that it is not committed, more who MAY be able to afford private will go in that direction.

Why do you think St. John's is in such high demand? At 22K it is a bargain.

wow ... Catholic AND Junior ROTC. What a bargain!

If you're not OK with Walls letting in more poorly prepared kids are OK with Catholic and co-ed, St. John's offers bang for your buck. Most parochial options in this area are at least 5K more. St. John's student body is only thought to be around half practicing Catholic. Come on, Junior ROTC is optional. Plenty of public schools in VA offer it.

It’s absurd to me that you think St Johns is better. Laughable. Catholic school student are aggressively mediocre, which is why we left. But good luck.

I'm reserving judgment for my MS students on this one, with Walls becoming more "aggressively mediocre" with each passing year.

Aggressively mediocre? Walls college admissions for early decision/action that I know of: Northwestern (full ride), U Chicago (full ride), NYU, Princeton. I wouldn’t describe that as mediocre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Walls would be better off admitting by lottery for 8th graders with a halfway decent GPA. Firing a respected head and dropping most admissions requirements isn't sending the right message to prospective families.

This is by design -
DC thinks that if they send a message that it is not committed, more who MAY be able to afford private will go in that direction.

Why do you think St. John's is in such high demand? At 22K it is a bargain.

wow ... Catholic AND Junior ROTC. What a bargain!

If you're not OK with Walls letting in more poorly prepared kids are OK with Catholic and co-ed, St. John's offers bang for your buck. Most parochial options in this area are at least 5K more. St. John's student body is only thought to be around half practicing Catholic. Come on, Junior ROTC is optional. Plenty of public schools in VA offer it.

It’s absurd to me that you think St Johns is better. Laughable. Catholic school student are aggressively mediocre, which is why we left. But good luck.

I'm reserving judgment for my MS students on this one, with Walls becoming more "aggressively mediocre" with each passing year.

Aggressively mediocre? Walls college admissions for early decision/action that I know of: Northwestern (full ride), U Chicago (full ride), NYU, Princeton. I wouldn’t describe that as mediocre.

What percentage of those examples involve "equity" preferences?

[Anonymous]

This year’s college admissions don’t speak to the effect of the change in Walls’s application process. All current seniors were admitted to Walls under the old exam system, which favored students taking advanced math.

The new application system gives no points for advanced math and arguably discourages it, because it prefers a kid getting an A in math 7 over one getting an A- in Algebra I. It’s hard to see how the school will maintain the same number of students taking AP Calculus, AP Stats, AP Chemistry, and AP Physics, and thus hard to see how they will maintain the same rate of elite college admissions.

But who knows? It’s an experiment, and our children are the test subjects.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Decent human beings? What's the critera? What's the metric? Where's the transparent evaluation system measuring decency?

The Walls interview is highly subjective, discretionary BS. Ditch it.

The interview is the hardest thing for parents to influence, all the measurements which you might prefer like written tests and other written tests will just be co-opted by those that have the most resources to do so. So if you kid tests well but is a bit of an a-hole you better start working on that in early elementary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This year’s college admissions don’t speak to the effect of the change in Walls’s application process. All current seniors were admitted to Walls under the old exam system, which favored students taking advanced math.

The new application system gives no points for advanced math and arguably discourages it, because it prefers a kid getting an A in math 7 over one getting an A- in Algebra I. It’s hard to see how the school will maintain the same number of students taking AP Calculus, AP Stats, AP Chemistry, and AP Physics, and thus hard to see how they will maintain the same rate of elite college admissions.

But who knows? It’s an experiment, and our children are the test subjects.

I always thought that was a flaw, that advanced math is somehow better than amazing writing skills or music performance skills. So I am glad that is being sorted out - to some extent, I am wondering if they don't have the numbers (is the minimum 15) to run some of those AP classes will they happen?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Walls would be better off admitting by lottery for 8th graders with a halfway decent GPA. Firing a respected head and dropping most admissions requirements isn't sending the right message to prospective families.

This is by design -
DC thinks that if they send a message that it is not committed, more who MAY be able to afford private will go in that direction.

Why do you think St. John's is in such high demand? At 22K it is a bargain.

wow ... Catholic AND Junior ROTC. What a bargain!

If you're not OK with Walls letting in more poorly prepared kids are OK with Catholic and co-ed, St. John's offers bang for your buck. Most parochial options in this area are at least 5K more. St. John's student body is only thought to be around half practicing Catholic. Come on, Junior ROTC is optional. Plenty of public schools in VA offer it.

It’s absurd to me that you think St Johns is better. Laughable. Catholic school student are aggressively mediocre, which is why we left. But good luck.

I'm reserving judgment for my MS students on this one, with Walls becoming more "aggressively mediocre" with each passing year.

Aggressively mediocre? Walls college admissions for early decision/action that I know of: Northwestern (full ride), U Chicago (full ride), NYU, Princeton. I wouldn’t describe that as mediocre.

What percentage of those examples involve "equity" preferences?

This is a nasty comment and speaks volumes about you as a person. Shame on you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This year’s college admissions don’t speak to the effect of the change in Walls’s application process. All current seniors were admitted to Walls under the old exam system, which favored students taking advanced math.

The new application system gives no points for advanced math and arguably discourages it, because it prefers a kid getting an A in math 7 over one getting an A- in Algebra I. It’s hard to see how the school will maintain the same number of students taking AP Calculus, AP Stats, AP Chemistry, and AP Physics, and thus hard to see how they will maintain the same rate of elite college admissions.

But who knows? It’s an experiment, and our children are the test subjects.

I always thought that was a flaw, that advanced math is somehow better than amazing writing skills or music performance skills. So I am glad that is being sorted out - to some extent, I am wondering if they don't have the numbers (is the minimum 15) to run some of those AP classes will they happen?

That’s a secret but I’ll give you a hint: no, they won’t be able to have as many APs but SWW has never been known for STEM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Walls would be better off admitting by lottery for 8th graders with a halfway decent GPA. Firing a respected head and dropping most admissions requirements isn't sending the right message to prospective families.

This is by design -
DC thinks that if they send a message that it is not committed, more who MAY be able to afford private will go in that direction.

Why do you think St. John's is in such high demand? At 22K it is a bargain.

wow ... Catholic AND Junior ROTC. What a bargain!

If you're not OK with Walls letting in more poorly prepared kids are OK with Catholic and co-ed, St. John's offers bang for your buck. Most parochial options in this area are at least 5K more. St. John's student body is only thought to be around half practicing Catholic. Come on, Junior ROTC is optional. Plenty of public schools in VA offer it.

It’s absurd to me that you think St Johns is better. Laughable. Catholic school student are aggressively mediocre, which is why we left. But good luck.

I'm reserving judgment for my MS students on this one, with Walls becoming more "aggressively mediocre" with each passing year.

Aggressively mediocre? Walls college admissions for early decision/action that I know of: Northwestern (full ride), U Chicago (full ride), NYU, Princeton. I wouldn’t describe that as mediocre.

What percentage of those examples involve "equity" preferences?

This is a nasty comment and speaks volumes about you as a person. Shame on you.

Early decision, which effectively ties candidates hands to compare financial aid packages has nothing to do with equity and everything to do with securing students that pay the sticker price. It is about money and privilege. While equity may guide some parts of the process, privilege and wealth is what dominates. The myth of a minority student stealing your child's spot is divisive and not grounded in reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This year’s college admissions don’t speak to the effect of the change in Walls’s application process. All current seniors were admitted to Walls under the old exam system, which favored students taking advanced math.

The new application system gives no points for advanced math and arguably discourages it, because it prefers a kid getting an A in math 7 over one getting an A- in Algebra I. It’s hard to see how the school will maintain the same number of students taking AP Calculus, AP Stats, AP Chemistry, and AP Physics, and thus hard to see how they will maintain the same rate of elite college admissions.

But who knows? It’s an experiment, and our children are the test subjects.

I always thought that was a flaw, that advanced math is somehow better than amazing writing skills or music performance skills. So I am glad that is being sorted out - to some extent, I am wondering if they don't have the numbers (is the minimum 15) to run some of those AP classes will they happen?

That’s a secret but I’ll give you a hint: no, they won’t be able to have as many APs but SWW has never been known for STEM.

They’ve run AP calculus for years, long before it was common for lots of sophomores and juniors to take AP Calc. And AP Chem and AP Physics 1 has nothing to do with taking advanced math.

[Anonymous]

Oh they also don’t offer AP Chem very often/ maybe once every other year? So clearly it’s not about taking Algebra I as an 8th grader.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Walls would be better off admitting by lottery for 8th graders with a halfway decent GPA. Firing a respected head and dropping most admissions requirements isn't sending the right message to prospective families.

This is by design -
DC thinks that if they send a message that it is not committed, more who MAY be able to afford private will go in that direction.

Why do you think St. John's is in such high demand? At 22K it is a bargain.

wow ... Catholic AND Junior ROTC. What a bargain!

If you're not OK with Walls letting in more poorly prepared kids are OK with Catholic and co-ed, St. John's offers bang for your buck. Most parochial options in this area are at least 5K more. St. John's student body is only thought to be around half practicing Catholic. Come on, Junior ROTC is optional. Plenty of public schools in VA offer it.

It’s absurd to me that you think St Johns is better. Laughable. Catholic school student are aggressively mediocre, which is why we left. But good luck.

I'm reserving judgment for my MS students on this one, with Walls becoming more "aggressively mediocre" with each passing year.

Aggressively mediocre? Walls college admissions for early decision/action that I know of: Northwestern (full ride), U Chicago (full ride), NYU, Princeton. I wouldn’t describe that as mediocre.

I think the prior poster was calling Catholic schools (not Walls) aggressively mediocre. Which was rude and a stupidly broad categorization.

But re: Walls college admissions, those are very good schools BUT they represent a tiny proportion of the total number of Walls seniors. We know that ED/EA favors UMC kids. I'm guessing that most wealthier public schools in the area have similar ED acceptances. I know for sure that Wilson has Yale, MIT, Northwestern, Brown, Penn, Cornell, Barnard, NYU, and Emory among its ED acceptances (and I only know a tiny fraction of ED results for that one school). My point being that such results are more likely a reflection of the socioeconomic status of the kids' families than any metric of school quality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Walls would be better off admitting by lottery for 8th graders with a halfway decent GPA. Firing a respected head and dropping most admissions requirements isn't sending the right message to prospective families.

This is by design -
DC thinks that if they send a message that it is not committed, more who MAY be able to afford private will go in that direction.

Why do you think St. John's is in such high demand? At 22K it is a bargain.

wow ... Catholic AND Junior ROTC. What a bargain!

If you're not OK with Walls letting in more poorly prepared kids are OK with Catholic and co-ed, St. John's offers bang for your buck. Most parochial options in this area are at least 5K more. St. John's student body is only thought to be around half practicing Catholic. Come on, Junior ROTC is optional. Plenty of public schools in VA offer it.

It’s absurd to me that you think St Johns is better. Laughable. Catholic school student are aggressively mediocre, which is why we left. But good luck.

I'm reserving judgment for my MS students on this one, with Walls becoming more "aggressively mediocre" with each passing year.

Aggressively mediocre? Walls college admissions for early decision/action that I know of: Northwestern (full ride), U Chicago (full ride), NYU, Princeton. I wouldn’t describe that as mediocre.

What percentage of those examples involve "equity" preferences?

This is a nasty comment and speaks volumes about you as a person. Shame on you.

Early decision, which effectively ties candidates hands to compare financial aid packages has nothing to do with equity and everything to do with securing students that pay the sticker price. It is about money and privilege. While equity may guide some parts of the process, privilege and wealth is what dominates. The myth of a minority student stealing your child's spot is divisive and not grounded in reality.

ED is a con. In fact, nobody's hands are tied if they can't afford to attend. The argument doesn't hold up legally, which savvy parents figure out. It's actually easy to wiggle out of an ED acceptance if you're not filthy rich. Plenty of applicants apply ED, are admitted, apply elsewhere as well in January, and ultimately don't attend the ED school.

[Anonymous]

Just want to point out that there are many very smart, high-achieving kids who are ALSO "decent human beings." More than enough to fill a 9th grade at Walls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Walls would be better off admitting by lottery for 8th graders with a halfway decent GPA. Firing a respected head and dropping most admissions requirements isn't sending the right message to prospective families.

This is by design -
DC thinks that if they send a message that it is not committed, more who MAY be able to afford private will go in that direction.

Why do you think St. John's is in such high demand? At 22K it is a bargain.

wow ... Catholic AND Junior ROTC. What a bargain!

If you're not OK with Walls letting in more poorly prepared kids are OK with Catholic and co-ed, St. John's offers bang for your buck. Most parochial options in this area are at least 5K more. St. John's student body is only thought to be around half practicing Catholic. Come on, Junior ROTC is optional. Plenty of public schools in VA offer it.

It’s absurd to me that you think St Johns is better. Laughable. Catholic school student are aggressively mediocre, which is why we left. But good luck.

I'm reserving judgment for my MS students on this one, with Walls becoming more "aggressively mediocre" with each passing year.

Aggressively mediocre? Walls college admissions for early decision/action that I know of: Northwestern (full ride), U Chicago (full ride), NYU, Princeton. I wouldn’t describe that as mediocre.

I think the prior poster was calling Catholic schools (not Walls) aggressively mediocre. Which was rude and a stupidly broad categorization.

But re: Walls college admissions, those are very good schools BUT they represent a tiny proportion of the total number of Walls seniors. We know that ED/EA favors UMC kids. I'm guessing that most wealthier public schools in the area have similar ED acceptances. I know for sure that Wilson has Yale, MIT, Northwestern, Brown, Penn, Cornell, Barnard, NYU, and Emory among its ED acceptances (and I only know a tiny fraction of ED results for that one school). My point being that such results are more likely a reflection of the socioeconomic status of the kids' families than any metric of school quality.

The Walls "full rides" at Chicago and Northwestern are actually the opposite. Those schools do not offer full rides for merit; those are financial aid kids.