Incoming PK3 Hill/NoMa families – share your tentative rankings

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you gotta ask yourself "Do I want a language school and if so which languages?" And "Do I want Montessori?" That will help you narrow down your list.

Steer away from Shining Stars Montessori, it's a hot mess and narrowly avoided closure. CHML is also a hot mess.

List your IB, SWS if you're into that, and then the less-competitive DCPS schools such as JOW, Miner, and Peabody. Chisholm if you're into Spanish. To fill out the end of your list with less competitive schools, consider Langley and Two Rivers (can't believe I'm saying that, used to be Langley was rock bottom and Two Rivers had 400+ kids on the waitlist).

You can use this dashboard to assess your chances as an OOB non-sibling and eliminate schools where you truly don't stand a chance. https://enrolldcps.dc.gov/node/61

Also consider schools that may be near your commute. Many people list Thomson for that reason.

The matches by preference section does not include waitlist offers. A school could be making "no preference" offers off the waitlist, but there's no way to see that directly in the data.

One decent way to approximate is to look at matches by preference for PK4. If more than a couple matches are going to IB students, it's likely that some IB students were left on the waitlist for PK3 and OOB chances for PK3 are nil.

Using this data set can also shed light on it. If the number of waitlist offers exceeds the number of waitlisted students with a preference, then you stand some chance. https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/aaron2446/viz/MSDCSeatsandWaitlistOfferData_draft/MSDCPublicDisplay

Clever.

I was actually thinking of the MySchoolDC dashboard when I made that comment. I had forgotten about the DCPS one. I've never totally understood why there are two separate dashboards with almost-but-not-quite the same data.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Once upon a time we had a lottery "swami" who made incredible predictions based on lists.

Come back Swami!!

[Anonymous]

In-bound for Maury and checking if people could share in brief what they like and any negatives for the schools that keep getting described as less “sought after.” There’s no way we’re getting a spot at Maury for PK3. Working remotely/from home so it doesn’t really matter which direction drop-off would be as long as it’s broadly in the neighborhood, like we could walk <30 min on days we don’t want to drive.

So that would be schools like Miner, Payne, JO Wilson, AppleTree, what else? How would you rank?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In-bound for Maury and checking if people could share in brief what they like and any negatives for the schools that keep getting described as less “sought after.” There’s no way we’re getting a spot at Maury for PK3. Working remotely/from home so it doesn’t really matter which direction drop-off would be as long as it’s broadly in the neighborhood, like we could walk <30 min on days we don’t want to drive.

So that would be schools like Miner, Payne, JO Wilson, AppleTree, what else? How would you rank?

In addition to that list, I'd add both Two Rivers campuses, SWS, CHML, and Wheatley. All would be fine-to-great for PK and are a reasonable commute from where you live.

As for how I'd rank, I'd look at two factors -- proximity from your house (which is easy to calculate) and the number of nearby neighborhood families at the school (which is harder to calculate but you can make educated guesses). In PK, it's just nice to have some nearby community. Here is some info to help with that second piece:

A lot of Maury families wind up going to Miner or AppleTree for PK, so if you go to either of those, your child will likely wind up with a cohort who then shifts to Maury at K. This can be really nice. I think Payne also used to work this way, but now Payne is getting more and more IB families and I actually think it's less likely you'll get a spot there as a result. I'd rank these fairly high for this reason.

JOW will have a new building next year, which is great, but will also likely be a bit more in demand as a result, which will make it harder to get a spot. Historically, JOW also tends to attract a lot of OOB lottery students due to it's convenient location on K making for easy drop off on the way in from Wards 5, 7, and 8 -- this can lead to a more dispersed student body and fewer neighborhood kids. However it's also increasing IB buy in. This is the hardest one to predict because I think it's most in flux at the moment, so I might rank it lower.

PK spots at TR4, SWS, and CHML will be in high demand (especially the latter two, TR4 is easier to get into) so I would rank these according to your actual preference for these programs -- if you like these schools, rank them high, if you are so-so but just need somewhere for your kid to go to PK, rank them lower.

I'd treat Wheatley similar to the way you treat Miner, but Wheatley's a more annoying commute for you so rank it lower.

TR Young is a good option but check out what the commute actually looks like -- drop off to that cluster of schools can be annoying by car. Easier on foot but not straightforward. Just go look at it and see how you feel about it before deciding the rank. Pick-up/Drop-off is a bigger deal in PK when kids may have more trepidation and there's often more interaction with teachers, so I would prioritize the ease of pick-up/drop-off for this situation. With older kids it doesn't matter really, but 3/4/5 yr olds need a bit more hand holding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In-bound for Maury and checking if people could share in brief what they like and any negatives for the schools that keep getting described as less “sought after.” There’s no way we’re getting a spot at Maury for PK3. Working remotely/from home so it doesn’t really matter which direction drop-off would be as long as it’s broadly in the neighborhood, like we could walk <30 min on days we don’t want to drive.

So that would be schools like Miner, Payne, JO Wilson, AppleTree, what else? How would you rank?

FWIW, Payne is now incredibly competitive for PK3. A family on our street had both sibling and proximity preferences and didn’t get in.

[Anonymous]

The above information is also out of date as to TR4. They basically cleared their PK3 waitlist last year, so that is an easy in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The above information is also out of date as to TR4. They basically cleared their PK3 waitlist last year, so that is an easy in.

Good point. Regardless of admission odds, I'd rank low because of distance and facilities -- I'd much rather send my kid to Miner which is super close to OP, or to JOW with a brand new building, than hike to 4th street for that old building and tiny playground sitting right next to traffic on Florida Ave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In-bound for Maury and checking if people could share in brief what they like and any negatives for the schools that keep getting described as less “sought after.” There’s no way we’re getting a spot at Maury for PK3. Working remotely/from home so it doesn’t really matter which direction drop-off would be as long as it’s broadly in the neighborhood, like we could walk <30 min on days we don’t want to drive.

So that would be schools like Miner, Payne, JO Wilson, AppleTree, what else? How would you rank?

You definitely have a shot at Maury! Last year there were 2 matches to IB with no sibling preference, and 10 waitlist offers. It looks like the first waitlist offer likely went to an IB student with sibling offered, but the other 9 went to IB students with no sibling preference. Of 44 IB students with no preference, 11 were ultimately offered seats. 25%.

AppleTree Lincoln Park and Miner seem like the most popular options for PK families who didn't get into Maury IB. 18-34 at AppleTree between 22-23 and 24-25 school years. 14 at Miner in 22-23 and 23-24, less than 10 in 24-25.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you gotta ask yourself "Do I want a language school and if so which languages?" And "Do I want Montessori?" That will help you narrow down your list.

Steer away from Shining Stars Montessori, it's a hot mess and narrowly avoided closure. CHML is also a hot mess.

List your IB, SWS if you're into that, and then the less-competitive DCPS schools such as JOW, Miner, and Peabody. Chisholm if you're into Spanish. To fill out the end of your list with less competitive schools, consider Langley and Two Rivers (can't believe I'm saying that, used to be Langley was rock bottom and Two Rivers had 400+ kids on the waitlist).

You can use this dashboard to assess your chances as an OOB non-sibling and eliminate schools where you truly don't stand a chance. https://enrolldcps.dc.gov/node/61

Also consider schools that may be near your commute. Many people list Thomson for that reason.

The matches by preference section does not include waitlist offers. A school could be making "no preference" offers off the waitlist, but there's no way to see that directly in the data.

One decent way to approximate is to look at matches by preference for PK4. If more than a couple matches are going to IB students, it's likely that some IB students were left on the waitlist for PK3 and OOB chances for PK3 are nil.

Using this data set can also shed light on it. If the number of waitlist offers exceeds the number of waitlisted students with a preference, then you stand some chance. https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/aaron2446/viz/MSDCSeatsandWaitlistOfferData_draft/MSDCPublicDisplay

Clever.

I was actually thinking of the MySchoolDC dashboard when I made that comment. I had forgotten about the DCPS one. I've never totally understood why there are two separate dashboards with almost-but-not-quite the same data.

agree, but I'm glad they publish both because the diff in data they give you is helpful in some instances. specifically, the dcps one shows you how many applications with preferences got waitlisted. if there's a WL for kids with preferences, then you know you have zero shot without any preferences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In-bound for Maury and checking if people could share in brief what they like and any negatives for the schools that keep getting described as less “sought after.” There’s no way we’re getting a spot at Maury for PK3. Working remotely/from home so it doesn’t really matter which direction drop-off would be as long as it’s broadly in the neighborhood, like we could walk <30 min on days we don’t want to drive.

So that would be schools like Miner, Payne, JO Wilson, AppleTree, what else? How would you rank?

We are in-bound for Maury, didn’t get in for PK-3 and barely got in to Miner (off the waitlist). We had a great year at Miner - new building / playgroundjust for pk , wonderful teachers. I believe it’s true what people say - ECE is solid anywhere on the hill and I’m glad we prioritized a location close to home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you gotta ask yourself "Do I want a language school and if so which languages?" And "Do I want Montessori?" That will help you narrow down your list.

Steer away from Shining Stars Montessori, it's a hot mess and narrowly avoided closure. CHML is also a hot mess.

List your IB, SWS if you're into that, and then the less-competitive DCPS schools such as JOW, Miner, and Peabody. Chisholm if you're into Spanish. To fill out the end of your list with less competitive schools, consider Langley and Two Rivers (can't believe I'm saying that, used to be Langley was rock bottom and Two Rivers had 400+ kids on the waitlist).

You can use this dashboard to assess your chances as an OOB non-sibling and eliminate schools where you truly don't stand a chance. https://enrolldcps.dc.gov/node/61

Also consider schools that may be near your commute. Many people list Thomson for that reason.

The matches by preference section does not include waitlist offers. A school could be making "no preference" offers off the waitlist, but there's no way to see that directly in the data.

One decent way to approximate is to look at matches by preference for PK4. If more than a couple matches are going to IB students, it's likely that some IB students were left on the waitlist for PK3 and OOB chances for PK3 are nil.

Using this data set can also shed light on it. If the number of waitlist offers exceeds the number of waitlisted students with a preference, then you stand some chance. https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/aaron2446/viz/MSDCSeatsandWaitlistOfferData_draft/MSDCPublicDisplay

Clever.

I was actually thinking of the MySchoolDC dashboard when I made that comment. I had forgotten about the DCPS one. I've never totally understood why there are two separate dashboards with almost-but-not-quite the same data.

agree, but I'm glad they publish both because the diff in data they give you is helpful in some instances. specifically, the dcps one shows you how many applications with preferences got waitlisted. if there's a WL for kids with preferences, then you know you have zero shot without any preferences.

No, that's when you use the waitlist data on the Tableau site. If the number of kids with preferences who were initially waitlisted is less than the number of waitlist offers made, then you're in a gray area. Because people can acquire a preference after the initial lottery by having a sibling enroll, or by moving into the boundary and filing change of address. So it's hard to say. But it certainly isn't zero shot, if enough waitlist offers were made to possibly get through the kids with preferences.