What helps with Catholic high school admissions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP if you are an active catholic I think your kid has a very good shot at getting in. If you are Christian and active in your church I would emphasize this and make sure that your kid includes this in his/her application. If you are not active in a church I would encourage your kid to discuss why he is interested in a catholic education. That is the first mission of these schools.

Oddly enough, I’m not sure Catholicism is all that important in admissions at St. Anselm’s. Certainly, both student and parents need to be open minded and receptive, but there are plenty of non-Catholic students. That being said, someone actively hostile to Catholic beliefs would never feel at home even if they were admitted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not OP but also a family looking Catholic diocesan for HS.

Active Catholic but public school

All A’s with exception of one B+ in math

Expect strong teacher recommendations

Very well rounded extracurriculars including at our parish

Taking the Pre HSPT this spring but we know DC isn’t super strong at standardized tests.

Everyone is telling us diocesan schools are easy to get into but this thread has me worried. DC will go public otherwise. Not looking at any Catholic independents.

It is much easier for a kid coming from a Catholic feeder school than a public school kid. Even with the public school applicant being a much stronger candidate, the Catholic feeder school kid will have advantages - will not have to score as well on the HSPT and can have lower grades. There is a trust factor between the Catholic HS and the catholic feeder schools. The Catholic HS schools know what they are getting from a kid that comes from X Catholic Feeder school. You will have less of that from a public school.

As a note, I think only O'Connell is a Diocesan school. Diocesan meaning it is overseen by the Diocese. All the other schools are private Catholic schools that are generally run by a specific order of the church e.g. St. Johns is "run" by the Christian Brothers. They still abide by Diocesan rules and the like but there is less oversight by the Diocese than at a school like O'Connell.

[Anonymous]

O’Connell should be an esasy admit from
K-8 Catholic school. They serve a wide range of academic abilities. They also take students not admitted to other diocesan high schools.

[Anonymous]

I worked in a k-8 diocesan school. Boys that got into Gonzaga were very smart, hard working, or both. Many were altar servers. Once a while though, some boys with low grades and questionable behavior were admitted. Till this day, many of us scratch our heads over those decisions. Some were legacy too.

[Anonymous]

Op, where do you live. As normally you don’t find O’Connell and Good Counsel on the same prospect list! They are far from one another.