How competitive is Duke Ellington to get into?

[Anonymous]

Doesnt DUke have the most out of state kids attending? its BS, if they can't fill the space with ONLY dc kids then that means the demand isn't there and school should focus on academics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not true that they only take maryland residents if there are no DC residents who have applied. They routinely reject qualified DC residents and then let out-of-state residents into the program.

Not true

I find this hard to believe. Everyone at the school that I’ve talked to say they only take MD/VA students if there’s space. So I assume in those cases, there aren’t enough qualified DC applicants. So I guess my question is, how high is the threshold for “qualified”?

I know a qualified DC kid who was rejected, and Maryland residents were admitted after that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know one- she got in for musical theater but didn't stay long.

Part of the issue is Ellington does not have a musical theatre program. They have theatre and vocal music. Every 2-3 years they do a school-wide musical. If your passion is musical theatre it's probably best not to apply or attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a couple VA kids there. One in dance which sounds like it was very competitive. The other is museum studies, which her mom thought was less competitive. I don't know how interested she really was in that field vs really wanting to go to school with her friend the dancer.

We also know someone (DC resident) who is trying to get in for museum studies, exactly because it's less competitive. The kid just really wants to go to Ellington, even though they live on the Hill and the commute will be horrific.

The commute IS horrific. Even worse with all the Metro bs and Covid disruptions to bus service. Yet a fair number of Hill kids make the trek

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know one- she got in for musical theater but didn't stay long.

Part of the issue is Ellington does not have a musical theatre program. They have theatre and vocal music. Every 2-3 years they do a school-wide musical. If your passion is musical theatre it's probably best not to apply or attend.

It's not a program but an elective and totally discretionary. Some theater and vocal students take it but it's in addition to other specialization.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a couple VA kids there. One in dance which sounds like it was very competitive. The other is museum studies, which her mom thought was less competitive. I don't know how interested she really was in that field vs really wanting to go to school with her friend the dancer.

We also know someone (DC resident) who is trying to get in for museum studies, exactly because it's less competitive. The kid just really wants to go to Ellington, even though they live on the Hill and the commute will be horrific.

It seems that unless you lived in Georgetown, the commute will be horrific for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not true that they only take maryland residents if there are no DC residents who have applied. They routinely reject qualified DC residents and then let out-of-state residents into the program.

Not true

I find this hard to believe. Everyone at the school that I’ve talked to say they only take MD/VA students if there’s space. So I assume in those cases, there aren’t enough qualified DC applicants. So I guess my question is, how high is the threshold for “qualified”?

I know a qualified DC kid who was rejected, and Maryland residents were admitted after that.

How do you know they were qualified? Who determines qualification? We’re going through the audition round now and it seems pretty clear that you can be disqualified for a number of reasons, including doing poorly on the audition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not true that they only take maryland residents if there are no DC residents who have applied. They routinely reject qualified DC residents and then let out-of-state residents into the program.

Not true

I find this hard to believe. Everyone at the school that I’ve talked to say they only take MD/VA students if there’s space. So I assume in those cases, there aren’t enough qualified DC applicants. So I guess my question is, how high is the threshold for “qualified”?

I know a qualified DC kid who was rejected, and Maryland residents were admitted after that.

How do you know they were qualified? Who determines qualification? We’re going through the audition round now and it seems pretty clear that you can be disqualified for a number of reasons, including doing poorly on the audition.

Honestly as a tax paying DC resident, I think a less qualified DC kid should get in over a rockstar MD/VA. We should be first and foremost educating DC kids. Anything else is nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not true that they only take maryland residents if there are no DC residents who have applied. They routinely reject qualified DC residents and then let out-of-state residents into the program.

Not true

I find this hard to believe. Everyone at the school that I’ve talked to say they only take MD/VA students if there’s space. So I assume in those cases, there aren’t enough qualified DC applicants. So I guess my question is, how high is the threshold for “qualified”?

I know a qualified DC kid who was rejected, and Maryland residents were admitted after that.

How do you know they were qualified? Who determines qualification? We’re going through the audition round now and it seems pretty clear that you can be disqualified for a number of reasons, including doing poorly on the audition.

Honestly as a tax paying DC resident, I think a less qualified DC kid should get in over a rockstar MD/VA. We should be first and foremost educating DC kids. Anything else is nonsense.

Maybe so, but those non-resident kids pay tuition (or are supposed to…). If they don’t stick to their high quality standards, the overall quality and reputation of the school would go down. I’m not saying they should consider resident and non resident applicants equally, but I don’t agree that they should accept less than stellar DC residents just to fill spots. If that kid struggles to keep up, or doesn’t take the program seriously, it brings everyone else down.

[Anonymous]

I clicked on this link because my child is an enthusiastic musician and I was hoping to learn more about how competitive it is to get into the District’s arts magnet school. Instead it’s another thread about how it accepts students from outside the District. There are so many of these threads this has become tiresome to those of us who actually want to find out more about the school. I’m sympathetic to your position but enough already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I clicked on this link because my child is an enthusiastic musician and I was hoping to learn more about how competitive it is to get into the District’s arts magnet school. Instead it’s another thread about how it accepts students from outside the District. There are so many of these threads this has become tiresome to those of us who actually want to find out more about the school. I’m sympathetic to your position but enough already.

It really depends on the department, the instrument, and number of competitive applicants. In general, advanced music reading is important but there are varying degrees of proficiency for new students. The expectation is that music applicants have formal foundation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a couple VA kids there. One in dance which sounds like it was very competitive. The other is museum studies, which her mom thought was less competitive. I don't know how interested she really was in that field vs really wanting to go to school with her friend the dancer.

We also know someone (DC resident) who is trying to get in for museum studies, exactly because it's less competitive. The kid just really wants to go to Ellington, even though they live on the Hill and the commute will be horrific.

We commute from the Hill and it’s not bad at all. It’s actually really easy if you take Whitehurst!

[Anonymous]

How much do out of state students pay? If it’s less than 40kper year then the district is getting robbed.

[Anonymous]

Difficult for acting, fairly easy for technical theatre, but requires a ton of time (weekends evenings) for the kids. A great program though.

[Anonymous]

I know two MD students who got in for visual arts-one of them was accepted as a 10th grader. So maybe that department isn’t as competitive, or have fewer DC applicants.