Capitol Hill - middle school and beyond?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have lived on the hill a decade now with no plans to leave - DH is obsessed with being in the city and we can't afford upper NW so for the foreseeable future we plan to stay in our townhouse. Both kids are in a DCI feeder school so we are putting all our eggs in the DCI basket. Will try for one of the Latin campuses in 6th if we don't get into DCI.

You should try for Latin campuses in 5th. You will have even less of a chance in 6th.

[Anonymous]

You are correct in that we will have preference but still no guarantee as oldest DC is part of an expansion class (mundo and stokes both have 2 campuses) and there won't be enough seats for everyone in a couple of years - at least that is my understanding.

[Anonymous]

Correct in that we will have less of a chance at Latin but our first choice is DCI and I don't want to forgo that chance for 6th. I guess the question is - is it harder to get into DCI or Latin in 6th? Latin is our #2 choice if we don't get into DCI in 6th from a feeder.
. I guess I need to look at the odds of getting into each for 6th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Correct in that we will have less of a chance at Latin but our first choice is DCI and I don't want to forgo that chance for 6th. I guess the question is - is it harder to get into DCI or Latin in 6th? Latin is our #2 choice if we don't get into DCI in 6th from a feeder.
. I guess I need to look at the odds of getting into each for 6th.

Latin is close to impossible after 5th. It really won't be an option in 6th.

[Anonymous]

Its reasonably hard to get into Latin even for 5th. If you dont get DCI for 6th, you wont have a good enough lottery number for Latin that year either. But I think the vast majority of feeder students get into DCI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Its reasonably hard to get into Latin even for 5th. If you dont get DCI for 6th, you wont have a good enough lottery number for Latin that year either. But I think the vast majority of feeder students get into DCI.

Forget Latin at 5th. Shoot for DCI for 6th. We also far prefer DCI over Latin and are in a feeder and this is what we are doing when the time comes.

Not all feeder kids will track to DCI although the majority will. Some families will move, go private, etc…. Plus if some LAMB and DCB kids don’t all track to DCI, I’m guessing those open spots will go to the other 2 schools that expanded.

[Anonymous]

We were also in the “SH is a viable middle school” camp. Ended up going private. There’s a fair number of Hill families who do. Most that stay go to a charter and/or application high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are moving. We waffled the first few years of elementary because we like the neighborhood and our ES. And we've done the dance with "well SH seems okay, maybe we can put it off."

But then one morning I woke up and decided: I don't want to do this anymore. We are moving after this year ends. Our primary goal in where we end up is solid ES-MS-HS situation, no surprises. I think we have lower standards for what that means than many in this area, but higher than Eastern. We want honors tracking, foreign language, good IB or AP offerings, and a solid extracurricular program. I don't need my kids to go to "the best" high school. I didn't. But I want them to have options, whether they are high achievers or just middle of the road.

We are also excited about more space (a yard!), better in state college options, and hopefully a slightly slower paced neighborhood with less crime and general angst. We'll miss the walkability and great transit options, and some of our neighbors

I’m excited for you. I wish we had moved years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are moving. We waffled the first few years of elementary because we like the neighborhood and our ES. And we've done the dance with "well SH seems okay, maybe we can put it off."

But then one morning I woke up and decided: I don't want to do this anymore. We are moving after this year ends. Our primary goal in where we end up is solid ES-MS-HS situation, no surprises. I think we have lower standards for what that means than many in this area, but higher than Eastern. We want honors tracking, foreign language, good IB or AP offerings, and a solid extracurricular program. I don't need my kids to go to "the best" high school. I didn't. But I want them to have options, whether they are high achievers or just middle of the road.

We are also excited about more space (a yard!), better in state college options, and hopefully a slightly slower paced neighborhood with less crime and general angst. We'll miss the walkability and great transit options, and some of our neighbors

I’m excited for you. I wish we had moved years ago.

Thank you, we are excited too. That's how I knew it was the right choice. The thought if just putting this whole conversation in our rear view just filled me when the joy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are moving. We waffled the first few years of elementary because we like the neighborhood and our ES. And we've done the dance with "well SH seems okay, maybe we can put it off."

But then one morning I woke up and decided: I don't want to do this anymore. We are moving after this year ends. Our primary goal in where we end up is solid ES-MS-HS situation, no surprises. I think we have lower standards for what that means than many in this area, but higher than Eastern. We want honors tracking, foreign language, good IB or AP offerings, and a solid extracurricular program. I don't need my kids to go to "the best" high school. I didn't. But I want them to have options, whether they are high achievers or just middle of the road.

We are also excited about more space (a yard!), better in state college options, and hopefully a slightly slower paced neighborhood with less crime and general angst. We'll miss the walkability and great transit options, and some of our neighbors

I’m excited for you. I wish we had moved years ago.

+100. We are in the final years of HS with our son and the lottery ended up working out for us. But ultimately a lot of wasted time worrying about schools. We should have moved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Correct in that we will have less of a chance at Latin but our first choice is DCI and I don't want to forgo that chance for 6th. I guess the question is - is it harder to get into DCI or Latin in 6th? Latin is our #2 choice if we don't get into DCI in 6th from a feeder.
. I guess I need to look at the odds of getting into each for 6th.

The math isn't hard. Latin is a much harder nut to crack.

[Anonymous]

Your chances of getting into DCI non-feeder aren't that great. I wouldn't pass up a seat at Latin on the hopes of DCI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have lived on the hill a decade now with no plans to leave - DH is obsessed with being in the city and we can't afford upper NW so for the foreseeable future we plan to stay in our townhouse. Both kids are in a DCI feeder school so we are putting all our eggs in the DCI basket. Will try for one of the Latin campuses in 6th if we don't get into DCI.

You should prod DH on whether he really believes that people really he cool because he lives near the federal government.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Correct in that we will have less of a chance at Latin but our first choice is DCI and I don't want to forgo that chance for 6th. I guess the question is - is it harder to get into DCI or Latin in 6th? Latin is our #2 choice if we don't get into DCI in 6th from a feeder.
. I guess I need to look at the odds of getting into each for 6th.

The math isn't hard. Latin is a much harder nut to crack.

Disagree. Everybody has an equal chance at Latin at 5th. All seats in 5th are open.

The feeder kids get all the seats in 6th at DCI. So if you are a non-feeder family, you are competing for a handful of seats among hundreds on the waitlist.

DCI is much, much harder to crack as non-feeder and much easier to crack as feeder no matter what grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your chances of getting into DCI non-feeder aren't that great. I wouldn't pass up a seat at Latin on the hopes of DCI.

Poster said she was in a feeder