What exactly is Potomac looking for for 9th grade admissions?

[Anonymous]

Live in DC or MD. They desperately want to be seen as a DMV wide school and know there are way too many families from the VA burbs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sports. At our K-8 THE common denominator was sports. Some of the children accepted were significantly less stellar academically. It’s hard to say that but it’s an honest opinion. Potomac waitlisted A students will 90% plus percentile SSAT for white girls who play softball from our school who didn’t test well. Maybe daddy also donated big time. It totally trashed the schools reputation for a large number of families at our K8. Everyone was comfortable with the idea that the school gets many applicants and will have to turn away amazing kids based purely on numbers. Where they lost us is by accepting an UMC white girl who plays mediocre ball. Mediocre grads. Low test scores. Unknown family connections, chosen over very high scores and grads with lesser sports. The phrase don’t crap where you eat comes to mind because we all livid in the area because now it’s just viewed as a sports school. With no APs. Buyer beware. It’s a sports school. Muscles a requirement, intelligence not essential.

Agree with this completely in regards to Potomac accepting top athletes over top academic students from our Virginia K-8. Top students (who also played individual sports but might not be a top high school team sport) accepted at GDS, Sidwell, etc. and waitlisted by Potomac last year. However mediocre students who were academically less qualified but played a team sport were accepted by Potomac instead. Sports take a priority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the student interview is important for Potomac.

OP here. I am sure it is, but again, wondering what exactly are they looking for or what should the student allude to during the interview. It's not just our friend's son who seemed to have it all but was rejected. We keep hearing stories of similarly great kids who got rejected or waitlisted.

I think it’s just really competitive. More applicants who have it all than they have room for. So then it comes down to admissions picking the “have it all” kids they feel best complete the existing rising 9th grade- and that’s not something you can predict and also will vary from year to year based on the attributes, gender-balance, etc of the current 8th grade.

+1
Our kids are there and absolutely love it. I think it’s truly just a numbers game. K is the only entry point with a substantial number of slots. Even 9th with ~30 new kids is statistically hard bc they get a few hundred applicants, most of whom are well qualified. My sense is they like kids who do well in the interview and are well rounded. They seem to like multi-sport athletes who have something else going for them, such as playing an instrument or an interest in speech & debate. The last few years they’ve only lost 1 or 2 8th graders a year to attrition, so there just aren’t a ton of openings.

7th seems to be an easier entry point as still quite a few additional spots but way fewer applicants.

[Anonymous]

Parents with money $$$$$

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to know someone. If you don’t, try to impress an athletic coach maybe.

This is not true.

OP, I wonder if the individual sport was a negative for your friend. They are a small school and so they don’t want to give waivers for the sports requirements. They need students to participate in the athletics and extracurricular programs at the school, not be a fencing superstar on their own.

A recent Potomac grad was a fencer in last summer’s Olympics, actually.

[Anonymous]

All-around strong students from wealthy families who are committed to private education and who are active Ivy alumni.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to know someone. If you don’t, try to impress an athletic coach maybe.

This is not true.

OP, I wonder if the individual sport was a negative for your friend. They are a small school and so they don’t want to give waivers for the sports requirements. They need students to participate in the athletics and extracurricular programs at the school, not be a fencing superstar on their own.

A recent Potomac grad was a fencer in last summer’s Olympics, actually.

She was not a 9th grade admit. Neither were the two elite fencers currently in the US.

[Anonymous]

From our K-8 it has been siblings, sports, and very big donors. If you aren’t in those categories you should try 4th and 7th. Lots of profiles can work for those years.

[Anonymous]

My experience having gone through private school 9th admissions a couple of times with two different but well qualified students was that being a top student and a very good athlete may work if the school could use that athlete, but it’s a crapshoot. After that, it’s not really about the minor differences between top students but filling a broad class and then people they (the school) are comfortable are going to be a good fit and really are excited about the school. This is code for where telling all your friends and family how much kiddo allants Potomac and asking all the families that go there — assuming your kid has a real shot acamdically —- makes a difference. Yoy have to be working this side gig. If you are just another nova smart kid with meh athletics, you aren’t getting in unless you are in the club. There’s just too few spots.

[Anonymous]

of the few 9th graders I know who got in one is solid at their sport and will play for Potomac and basically a genius but also a nice outgoing kid. Another is possibly future olympic level at their sport and will play at Potomac. The other is not from a wealthy family and no siblings. Maybe super smart, I don't know. They don't have a lot of spots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sports. At our K-8 THE common denominator was sports. Some of the children accepted were significantly less stellar academically. It’s hard to say that but it’s an honest opinion. Potomac waitlisted A students will 90% plus percentile SSAT for white girls who play softball from our school who didn’t test well. Maybe daddy also donated big time. It totally trashed the schools reputation for a large number of families at our K8. Everyone was comfortable with the idea that the school gets many applicants and will have to turn away amazing kids based purely on numbers. Where they lost us is by accepting an UMC white girl who plays mediocre ball. Mediocre grads. Low test scores. Unknown family connections, chosen over very high scores and grads with lesser sports. The phrase don’t crap where you eat comes to mind because we all livid in the area because now it’s just viewed as a sports school. With no APs. Buyer beware. It’s a sports school. Muscles a requirement, intelligence not essential.

Sounds like sour grapes. Imagine the admissions process not conforming to your personal spreadsheet of the grades and test scores of every kid in your K-8. Maybe your spreadsheet is wrong and that kid actually does have straight As and good test scores. Maybe admission decisions are more holistic and actually consider things like leadership, teamwork, and gasp personality. Either way, calling a middle schooler "mediocre" to justify your bitterness is not a good look.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sports. At our K-8 THE common denominator was sports. Some of the children accepted were significantly less stellar academically. It’s hard to say that but it’s an honest opinion. Potomac waitlisted A students will 90% plus percentile SSAT for white girls who play softball from our school who didn’t test well. Maybe daddy also donated big time. It totally trashed the schools reputation for a large number of families at our K8. Everyone was comfortable with the idea that the school gets many applicants and will have to turn away amazing kids based purely on numbers. Where they lost us is by accepting an UMC white girl who plays mediocre ball. Mediocre grads. Low test scores. Unknown family connections, chosen over very high scores and grads with lesser sports. The phrase don’t crap where you eat comes to mind because we all livid in the area because now it’s just viewed as a sports school. With no APs. Buyer beware. It’s a sports school. Muscles a requirement, intelligence not essential.

Sounds like sour grapes. Imagine the admissions process not conforming to your personal spreadsheet of the grades and test scores of every kid in your K-8. Maybe your spreadsheet is wrong and that kid actually does have straight As and good test scores. Maybe admission decisions are more holistic and actually consider things like leadership, teamwork, and gasp personality. Either way, calling a middle schooler "mediocre" to justify your bitterness is not a good look.

It isn’t really sour grapes. It’s a reality that about 5-6 from our K-8 will get in each year. So with 20-30 applying, the majority of families expect disappointment but we pay very close attention to who gets in. And sorry to tell you but it was not the academic all-stars. Some were great students and great athletes. Some were decent athletes with decent grades. At least one was a low end athlete with low end grades. The parents and kids had self identified the leading contenders based on grades and academics. Some were admitted and others were waitlisted. But some who were accepted were, to put it kindly, shocking. Clearly sports or money or connections but certainly not academics. Sour grapes is too strong of an emotion. Of course disappointing for kids who had great credentials but also has shifted my impression of the school. School won’t care but I now understand why some families are a hard no on even applying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sports. At our K-8 THE common denominator was sports. Some of the children accepted were significantly less stellar academically. It’s hard to say that but it’s an honest opinion. Potomac waitlisted A students will 90% plus percentile SSAT for white girls who play softball from our school who didn’t test well. Maybe daddy also donated big time. It totally trashed the schools reputation for a large number of families at our K8. Everyone was comfortable with the idea that the school gets many applicants and will have to turn away amazing kids based purely on numbers. Where they lost us is by accepting an UMC white girl who plays mediocre ball. Mediocre grads. Low test scores. Unknown family connections, chosen over very high scores and grads with lesser sports. The phrase don’t crap where you eat comes to mind because we all livid in the area because now it’s just viewed as a sports school. With no APs. Buyer beware. It’s a sports school. Muscles a requirement, intelligence not essential.

This is ABSOLUTELY not true. Basically what you've said is that a bunch of adults upset that their children were not accepted decided the acceptance of a single child those adults deemed "less than" translated into the school only wanting sports-minded kids. Wow.

The interview would have been very important. Perhaps those other students didn't do well during the interview. There are amazingly smart kids admitted for 9th, as well as athletes and kids others might not see as either academically or athletically superior. Only the admissions people know why one is chosen over another. And just to be clear - there are big donors at the school whose kids have been waitlisted, so let's stop the "it must be because someone donated" excuse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sports. At our K-8 THE common denominator was sports. Some of the children accepted were significantly less stellar academically. It’s hard to say that but it’s an honest opinion. Potomac waitlisted A students will 90% plus percentile SSAT for white girls who play softball from our school who didn’t test well. Maybe daddy also donated big time. It totally trashed the schools reputation for a large number of families at our K8. Everyone was comfortable with the idea that the school gets many applicants and will have to turn away amazing kids based purely on numbers. Where they lost us is by accepting an UMC white girl who plays mediocre ball. Mediocre grads. Low test scores. Unknown family connections, chosen over very high scores and grads with lesser sports. The phrase don’t crap where you eat comes to mind because we all livid in the area because now it’s just viewed as a sports school. With no APs. Buyer beware. It’s a sports school. Muscles a requirement, intelligence not essential.

This is ABSOLUTELY not true. Basically what you've said is that a bunch of adults upset that their children were not accepted decided the acceptance of a single child those adults deemed "less than" translated into the school only wanting sports-minded kids. Wow.

The interview would have been very important. Perhaps those other students didn't do well during the interview. There are amazingly smart kids admitted for 9th, as well as athletes and kids others might not see as either academically or athletically superior. Only the admissions people know why one is chosen over another. And just to be clear - there are big donors at the school whose kids have been waitlisted, so let's stop the "it must be because someone donated" excuse.

Our school had 30 kids apply. The accepted kids were all athletes with varying academics. Some stellar. Some not. To get to the students with less than stellar academics and less than stellar sports, they literally had to skip over many better qualified students. So I dunno, maybe it was a stellar interview. Or maybe it was connections. Or maybe it was money. But it was NOT academics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sports. At our K-8 THE common denominator was sports. Some of the children accepted were significantly less stellar academically. It’s hard to say that but it’s an honest opinion. Potomac waitlisted A students will 90% plus percentile SSAT for white girls who play softball from our school who didn’t test well. Maybe daddy also donated big time. It totally trashed the schools reputation for a large number of families at our K8. Everyone was comfortable with the idea that the school gets many applicants and will have to turn away amazing kids based purely on numbers. Where they lost us is by accepting an UMC white girl who plays mediocre ball. Mediocre grads. Low test scores. Unknown family connections, chosen over very high scores and grads with lesser sports. The phrase don’t crap where you eat comes to mind because we all livid in the area because now it’s just viewed as a sports school. With no APs. Buyer beware. It’s a sports school. Muscles a requirement, intelligence not essential.

Sounds like sour grapes. Imagine the admissions process not conforming to your personal spreadsheet of the grades and test scores of every kid in your K-8. Maybe your spreadsheet is wrong and that kid actually does have straight As and good test scores. Maybe admission decisions are more holistic and actually consider things like leadership, teamwork, and gasp personality. Either way, calling a middle schooler "mediocre" to justify your bitterness is not a good look.

It isn’t really sour grapes. It’s a reality that about 5-6 from our K-8 will get in each year. So with 20-30 applying, the majority of families expect disappointment but we pay very close attention to who gets in. And sorry to tell you but it was not the academic all-stars. Some were great students and great athletes. Some were decent athletes with decent grades. At least one was a low end athlete with low end grades. The parents and kids had self identified the leading contenders based on grades and academics. Some were admitted and others were waitlisted. But some who were accepted were, to put it kindly, shocking. Clearly sports or money or connections but certainly not academics. Sour grapes is too strong of an emotion. Of course disappointing for kids who had great credentials but also has shifted my impression of the school. School won’t care but I now understand why some families are a hard no on even applying.

Probably has a lot to do with the fact that Potomac can help with study habits and turn a 90th percentile kid into a 99th better than they can turn a 99th percentile kid into a contributor in some sort of other aspect of the community like varsity sports. I really think it's luck of the draw. Sons were at Potomac US from 2015-2022 and basically all of the 9th grade entrants were very high achievers. Even those with siblings/donors in the family did quite well, but the vast majority of those kids are lifers and do not enter that late if they are really shelling out huge donations. I also doubt money is really a big factor beyond financial aid. Potomac already has tons of it and the applicant pool is by and large quite wealthy. It wouldn't make much sense for them to compromise academics in the way you allege.