West Potomac college acceptances

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because I'm deciding whether to send my kids to west Potomac. I want to know if it has students interested in applying to elite schools and whether the school helps them achieve their goal. My public high school did not and I have to believe it was because there was not any demand. I am on the lookout for this.

If this was true, then you would not even be considering West Potomac. The biggest number of students are likely to go to NOVA and then gmu and then other state schools. The school has a cohort of upper middle class students doing AP classes and you will have to encourage your child to take those classes if they can succeed in them or not to make sure they stay with the kids who are focused on academics. College acceptances mean very little to your decision. It's the demographics and your child's own academic work that matter. If your child is doing average work, a better choice is to move to a different area for high school or go private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because I'm deciding whether to send my kids to west Potomac. I want to know if it has students interested in applying to elite schools and whether the school helps them achieve their goal. My public high school did not and I have to believe it was because there was not any demand. I am on the lookout for this.

If this was true, then you would not even be considering West Potomac. The biggest number of students are likely to go to NOVA and then gmu and then other state schools. The school has a cohort of upper middle class students doing AP classes and you will have to encourage your child to take those classes if they can succeed in them or not to make sure they stay with the kids who are focused on academics. College acceptances mean very little to your decision. It's the demographics and your child's own academic work that matter. If your child is doing average work, a better choice is to move to a different area for high school or go private.

Op here: I'm trying to understand where you're coming from. Of course my statement is true. My oldest is in first grade and we are considering moving school districts. We like the area zoned for west Potomac and I want to know if there is a yearly small group of kids applying to elites and whether the school helps them. If there aren't any such kids in that district, we may choose another district.

[Anonymous]

Op here again: thank you so much for the earlier data. I didn't know that and it's nice to have something to compare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because I'm deciding whether to send my kids to west Potomac. I want to know if it has students interested in applying to elite schools and whether the school helps them achieve their goal. My public high school did not and I have to believe it was because there was not any demand. I am on the lookout for this.

If this was true, then you would not even be considering West Potomac. The biggest number of students are likely to go to NOVA and then gmu and then other state schools. The school has a cohort of upper middle class students doing AP classes and you will have to encourage your child to take those classes if they can succeed in them or not to make sure they stay with the kids who are focused on academics. College acceptances mean very little to your decision. It's the demographics and your child's own academic work that matter. If your child is doing average work, a better choice is to move to a different area for high school or go private.

Op here: I'm trying to understand where you're coming from. Of course my statement is true. My oldest is in first grade and we are considering moving school districts. We like the area zoned for west Potomac and I want to know if there is a yearly small group of kids applying to elites and whether the school helps them. If there aren't any such kids in that district, we may choose another district.

The HS in Fairfax County help students apply to ALL schools. It is up to the individual student to determine to which schools they apply. Plus, things change quite a bit in the next 10+ years. Unless, you go private, there are not that many as a % that apply (well less than 5%). UVA and William & Mary are the main attractions since the cost is so reasonable. People aim for the elite privates for graduate school.

[Anonymous]

While it is definitely true that highly motivated kids can do well anywhere, I think OP is right that it helps some students to have a cohort of smart, motivated kids around them. DC's best friend is a senior at West Potomac and while smart, is not very organized, and has definitely fallen through the cracks at West Po. College counseling has been particularly bad.

DC is similar in personality and intelligence but goes to a highly-regarded school and takes classes with high achieving kids, many of whom are headed to the ivies. It has made a big difference to have motivated students all around DC. Neither kid will be going to HYP but there are huge differences between their college possibilities and their potential majors (selective university vs. NOVA, engineering or math vs. communications).

[Anonymous]

Any west Potomac parent here have access to naviance? Can you post this info? Why isn't this info public anyway? Why doesn't fcps post it on the school's website?

[Anonymous]

Let me get this straight. You think that having lots of kids from a high school apply to the Ivy League is a good barometer for whether the school has smart, motivated, and achieving kids? That thinking simply does not apply in Northern Virginia. Here, the University of Virginia and the College of William and Mary are so good, so competitive in admissions and so cost effective that they are perceived as the golden tickets around here, not the Ivy League. And as many students from West Potomac aim for and apply there as any other Fairfax county public high school.

Plus, I have to say, it is worrisome that as a parent of a first grader this is on your mind. I worry about your first grader.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let me get this straight. You think that having lots of kids from a high school apply to the Ivy League is a good barometer for whether the school has smart, motivated, and achieving kids? That thinking simply does not apply in Northern Virginia. Here, the University of Virginia and the College of William and Mary are so good, so competitive in admissions and so cost effective that they are perceived as the golden tickets around here, not the Ivy League. And as many students from West Potomac aim for and apply there as any other Fairfax county public high school.

Plus, I have to say, it is worrisome that as a parent of a first grader this is on your mind. I worry about your first grader.

Op here: I guess I am a planner. I just want to buy a house in a school district that would be a good fit for my kids. Also, I am a product of a pwc public high school and went to one of these golden ticket state schools. I felt unprepared compared to my college classmates - I had become a smaller fish in a bigger pond and didn't know it until much later. I don't want that happening to my kids.

Thank you for all the replies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let me get this straight. You think that having lots of kids from a high school apply to the Ivy League is a good barometer for whether the school has smart, motivated, and achieving kids? That thinking simply does not apply in Northern Virginia. Here, the University of Virginia and the College of William and Mary are so good, so competitive in admissions and so cost effective that they are perceived as the golden tickets around here, not the Ivy League. And as many students from West Potomac aim for and apply there as any other Fairfax county public high school.

Plus, I have to say, it is worrisome that as a parent of a first grader this is on your mind. I worry about your first grader.

Op here: I guess I am a planner. I just want to buy a house in a school district that would be a good fit for my kids. Also, I am a product of a pwc public high school and went to one of these golden ticket state schools. I felt unprepared compared to my college classmates - I had become a smaller fish in a bigger pond and didn't know it until much later. I don't want that happening to my kids.

Thank you for all the replies.

Whatever "golden ticket" state school that you went to is almost certainly not in the same league as University of Virginia or William and Mary, both in terms of prestige and in terms of size. Both schools have reputations that rival top privates and both are relatively small for state universities. I think you're comparing apples and oranges. People move to Fairfax County precisely because these universities are available to them. I'm betting that's not the case with your high school and your state university. It's not like a typical flagship situation. And Fairfax County public school kids are well prepared to thrive in either institution.

The idea of selecting a high school ten years in advance based on the number of kids who apply to the Ivy League seems very silly to me.

[Anonymous]

I think it's smart. Purchasing a house is typically a long term decision and that decision impacts her children's education. I did the same...I left that same area (but zoned for Mt. Vernon HS) for precisely the same reason. I want my children to have access to a much better public education than where I used to live. ...they started first grade this year. I am not concerned about Ivies but would like my children to be able to get into a good school of their choice and be prepared.

[Anonymous]

Here is my thinking: if a school regularly must deal with a number of kids who reach for elite colleges, then that school is familiar and equipped to help not only those students but also students who reach for slightly less elite colleges - like Uva and w&m. Also, those students are probably all grouped together and help each other to achieve. They are probably better prepared to handle the rigors at these colleges too.

My prince William county high school experience did not prepare me as well for uva/w&m (one of which I went to but i don't want to say because I don't think it's relevant) than other schools prepared their students. Other students came with a whole group of classmates and I was the only one from my high school. I believe I would have been better prepared for college had I went to high school with a cohort of students who reached for the same or more than what I was reaching for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's smart. Purchasing a house is typically a long term decision and that decision impacts her children's education. I did the same...I left that same area (but zoned for Mt. Vernon HS) for precisely the same reason. I want my children to have access to a much better public education than where I used to live. ...they started first grade this year. I am not concerned about Ivies but would like my children to be able to get into a good school of their choice and be prepared.

Thank you, pp.

I'm only concerned about ivies to the extent that a high school is equipped to handle that kind of demand. I dont plan on pushing my kids, I just want them to have the best opportunity if they want it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let me get this straight. You think that having lots of kids from a high school apply to the Ivy League is a good barometer for whether the school has smart, motivated, and achieving kids? That thinking simply does not apply in Northern Virginia. Here, the University of Virginia and the College of William and Mary are so good, so competitive in admissions and so cost effective that they are perceived as the golden tickets around here, not the Ivy League. And as many students from West Potomac aim for and apply there as any other Fairfax county public high school.

Plus, I have to say, it is worrisome that as a parent of a first grader this is on your mind. I worry about your first grader.

The Ivy League, Stanford, MIT, Duke and Berkeley are viewed as the golden ticket among students and top high schools in this region. UVA and William and Mary are very good schools and only academically successful students will typically gain admission to either. I am personally aware of some cases where students have turned down Ivies like Brown and Cornell for Virginia schools, but students who are accepted, for example, to HYP or Stanford will generally find a way to go there. They simply offer undergraduates greater opportunities for learning and career development than any state school.

[Anonymous]

I have children similar in age to yours and was concerned about the changing demographics of the area. We moved out of the West Potomac area. This was more important to us than college admissions. My children are so young still and I want them surrounded by hard working students in a high achieving high school. I am sure these exist at West Potomac but we were not comfortable with the changes going on around the rt. 1 area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Probably a few, but not enough to make a cohort. McLean only has a few too. With the exception of TJ, this area really doesn't send many to Ivy or MIT or Stanford.

Last 5 years admitted and attended from McLean HS:

Harvard: 1 admitted and attended (2014)
Yale: 3 admitted 1 attended in 2014
Princeton: 3 admitted 3 attended (2011, 2012, 2015)
Brown: 7 admitted 4 attended 2in 2015 and 2 in 2013
Cornell: 23 admitted 9 attended 3 in 2014, 4 in 2013, 1 in 2012 and 1 in 2011
MIT: 6 admitted 2 attended in 2015, 1 in 2014, 1 in 2012 and 2 in 2011
Stanford: 3 admitted 1 attended in 2014

The number that apply to each of the above each year are in the teens out of class sizes near 500.

I didn't bother to look up the other Ivies.

The numbers are similar at Yorktown, just next door in Arlington:

Harvard: 1 admitted and attended
Yale : 2 admitted, 1 attended
Princeton: 4 admitted, 2 attended
Brown: 7 admitted, 3 attended
Cornell: 8 admitted, 4 attended
MIT: 1 admitted, 1 attended
Stanford: 4 admitted, 3 attended

Is this for one year or past five?

cumulative for the past 5 years