When will Walls interview notices come out??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our schools transcripts don't give the actual number percentages. Only the grade A, A-, etc. It does show the numerical grading scale though. In this case how would Walls even figure it out and would they bother? We didn't get an invite but I feel like we should have according to their metric. DC worked her tail off and it really don't seem right that there are so many unknowns here. And of course no mistake about the release date but really crappy of them to do it that way.

Walls calculates your kid’s GPA based on the letter grade. What is your kid’s GPA?

[Anonymous]

PP again, Walls doesn’t care about numerical grades for the transcript. Neither does DCPS. Email the school if your kid has a 4.0 to see if there was a mistake

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


Banneker is also not transparent and bases 60% of its decision on the interview. Thats HUGE.

According to the school, it's the essay, not interviews.



NP but how do they know the essay was written by that student? Both schools lack transparency.

Besides the essay submitted with application, I think Banneker requires applicants to write an essay during the interview.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


Banneker is also not transparent and bases 60% of its decision on the interview. Thats HUGE.

According to the school, it's the essay, not interviews.

NP but how do they know the essay was written by that student? Both schools lack transparency.

Besides the essay submitted with application, I think Banneker requires applicants to write an essay during the interview. . Is that new this year? I thought it was recommendations that made up the bulk of the Banneker score last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m now confused — they interview 500 kids, and those kids are either accepted or waitlisted? The lottery doesn’t actually matter for Walls? I thought I understood the lottery after all these years but I guess not for high school!

Walls scores applicants based on
- Interview: up to 31 points
- GPA: 5 pts for 3.8 or higher, 4 points for 3.5-3.79, 3 pts for 3.2-3.49...
Here's how Walls calculated GPA for SY 21-22 admissions: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ee0f425c4f3ed4b48c52995/t/61aa31022c738b75835366c2/1638543618374/SWW+GPA+Scale+Jan+2021.pdf

Highest score for an applicant is 36 points.
Applicants are ordered by score and (using last year as an example) the first 170 on the list match, rest are waitlisted in order based on score.
As mentioned before, applicants who match at a different school they've ranked higher will drop from the list.
As mentioned by a prior poster, applicants on waitlist will know how they scored compared to other applicants by where they fall on waitlist.

Unfortunately, whether a student gets matched is based on a 10-minute interview. All interviews scored using the same scoring rubric, but by different interview panels.

Is there anyone on DCUM who has sat on a Walls interview panel and can give some general perspective on the interview scoring rubric? What in general is being assessed during interview and how much does each component count for? Supposedly parent interviews are not scored but do they really not have any impact on the appliant's interview score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


Banneker is also not transparent and bases 60% of its decision on the interview. Thats HUGE.

According to the school, it's the essay, not interviews.

NP but how do they know the essay was written by that student? Both schools lack transparency.

Besides the essay submitted with application, I think Banneker requires applicants to write an essay during the interview. .
Is that new this year? I thought it was recommendations that made up the bulk of the Banneker score last year.

Students are required to respond to a writing prompt during the interview. Recommendations count for 60%, interviews for 30%, MSDC essay for 10%

[Anonymous]

Any more updates on this? I’ve written the admissions officer and called to ask if more emails will be sent out or if this is it. No answer yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any more updates on this? I’ve written the admissions officer and called to ask if more emails will be sent out or if this is it. No answer yet.

My kid, with a 4.0 did not hear back yet.

[Anonymous]

What was last year's Walls essay prompt?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any more updates on this? I’ve written the admissions officer and called to ask if more emails will be sent out or if this is it. No answer yet.

My kid, with a 4.0 did not hear back yet.

Same here. And my kid is an athlete and plays an instrument. Who knows how they figure these things out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any more updates on this? I’ve written the admissions officer and called to ask if more emails will be sent out or if this is it. No answer yet.

My kid, with a 4.0 did not hear back yet.

Same here. And my kid is an athlete and plays an instrument. Who knows how they figure these things out.

This is a thread from last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What was last year's Walls essay prompt?

This is the first year in a long time they’ve had an essay prompt so it’s probably quite different from the past.

[Anonymous]

My kid is an instrument who also plays varsity lacrosse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No dog in this fight but such a dumb system.

1) in DCPS, you can get B+, A-, A-, and A in each quarter and still get an A. If you do this for every class, you get a 4.0 for Walls admission. A student getting the identical grades at a school using a 100-point scale could get a 90 for every class, which counts as a 3.7 for Walls admission. In other words, students getting identical grades at two different schools receive different GPAs for Walls admissions.

2) Walls doesn’t weight the grades, so an A in PE at a failing school counts more than an A- in Algebra 2 at a rigorous school. With rampant grade inflation and social promotion at all DCPS schools, any average DCPS student can be a 4.0.

3) Anyone in the Walls pool of 500 still has to interview with a current student and teacher. That interview counts for 31/36 points. Last year, some interviews were just a few minutes and non-substantive. Reportedly, many average kids were admitted, and significant number were particularly attractive. No one really knows why this short interview counts as over 86% of your overall score.

4) The remaining possible 5 points come from GPA. Most kids in the pool of 500 will be 3.8 or higher, so they get the obligatory 5 points; those at 3.79 and below only get 4 points. This just reinforces the bias noted in point one above.

Overall, this is a ridiculous way to select a magnet school class. DC should follow the lead of NYC, which reinstituted an exam for magnet schools after the pandemic and schools’ ability to prioritize top-performing students using fairer, more objective criteria.

Not surprisingly, the average SAT score at NYC’s top magnet high school is 1510; the average SAT score at Walls is 1275.

Excellent post, PP. Signed - Stuyvesant grad who's glad the SSHAT admissions test in back in force in NY, along with free city-wide test prep for it at special centers open to all in all 5 boroughs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No dog in this fight but such a dumb system.

1) in DCPS, you can get B+, A-, A-, and A in each quarter and still get an A. If you do this for every class, you get a 4.0 for Walls admission. A student getting the identical grades at a school using a 100-point scale could get a 90 for every class, which counts as a 3.7 for Walls admission. In other words, students getting identical grades at two different schools receive different GPAs for Walls admissions.

2) Walls doesn’t weight the grades, so an A in PE at a failing school counts more than an A- in Algebra 2 at a rigorous school. With rampant grade inflation and social promotion at all DCPS schools, any average DCPS student can be a 4.0.

3) Anyone in the Walls pool of 500 still has to interview with a current student and teacher. That interview counts for 31/36 points. Last year, some interviews were just a few minutes and non-substantive. Reportedly, many average kids were admitted, and significant number were particularly attractive. No one really knows why this short interview counts as over 86% of your overall score.

4) The remaining possible 5 points come from GPA. Most kids in the pool of 500 will be 3.8 or higher, so they get the obligatory 5 points; those at 3.79 and below only get 4 points. This just reinforces the bias noted in point one above.

Overall, this is a ridiculous way to select a magnet school class. DC should follow the lead of NYC, which reinstituted an exam for magnet schools after the pandemic and schools’ ability to prioritize top-performing students using fairer, more objective criteria.

Not surprisingly, the average SAT score at NYC’s top magnet high school is 1510; the average SAT score at Walls is 1275.

Excellent post, PP. Signed - Stuyvesant grad who's glad the SSHAT admissions test in back in force in NY, along with free city-wide test prep for it at special centers open to all in all 5 boroughs

You’re responding to an old post on an old thread. If you want to debate Walls admissions, start a new thread and debate this year’s admissions rubric, not some out dated rubric from the past.