Yorktown HS (APS) compared to Wilson High School (DCPS)

[Anonymous]

Agree. Considering all of the resources and privileges available to Yorktown kids, their college admissions aren’t very impressive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree. Considering all of the resources and privileges available to Yorktown kids, their college admissions aren’t very impressive.

So much jealousy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree. Considering all of the resources and privileges available to Yorktown kids, their college admissions aren’t very impressive.

So much jealousy.

DP. It’s true though. Yorktown has a very similar demographic profile to schools like Langley and McLean high but doesn’t do as well in terms of college admissions. I’m zoned for Yorktown (kids aren’t in high school yet) and I would really be interested in why that is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think Wilson would be a 1 in Great Schools if it were in Virginia.

Not PP. maybe not a 1 but if you look at the underlying data the test scores are not great. However, it is easier to compare dc and MD because they both adopted common core while VA never did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree. Considering all of the resources and privileges available to Yorktown kids, their college admissions aren’t very impressive.

So much jealousy.

DP. It’s true though. Yorktown has a very similar demographic profile to schools like Langley and McLean high but doesn’t do as well in terms of college admissions. I’m zoned for Yorktown (kids aren’t in high school yet) and I would really be interested in why that is.

We chose APS specifically because it wasn’t as much as a pressure cooker versus McLean or Langley. Otherwise the neighborhoods and commutes are identical, so maybe others are like us?

We would have preferred W-L but it seems like the county is determined to make that campus the student warehouse to address overcrowding rather than build a new high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree. Considering all of the resources and privileges available to Yorktown kids, their college admissions aren’t very impressive.

So much jealousy.

DP. It’s true though. Yorktown has a very similar demographic profile to schools like Langley and McLean high but doesn’t do as well in terms of college admissions. I’m zoned for Yorktown (kids aren’t in high school yet) and I would really be interested in why that is.

Only ONE percent of Langley students qualify for free and reduced price lunch. 89 percent of the school is either white or Asian. There are only 20 black students in the entire friggin' school. It is in no way shape or form "very similar" to Yorktown demographically.

McLean High is closer to Langley demographically than it is to Yorktown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hello,

Have a question and would really appreciate any constructive perspectives from the DCUM experts. We are currently in-boundary for Wilson High School in DC. (Though DC may change the feeder pattern for Wilson and/or create another high school.) For commute and housing option reasons, we are considering a move from NW DC to north Arlington, and being in-boundary for Yorktown High School.

While I expect few people have direct experience with both schools, I would appreciate any perspectives on comparing Wilson High School (DCPS) to Yorktown High School (APS) in terms of academics, social environment, overcrowding, etc. I know both are schools that have many strengths, and some challenges. Ideally, we would like to be at a school with a welcoming community, strong academics but not pressure cooker, and a school that has the capacity to handle its enrolled students. (I recognize we may not meet all those goals outside of considering private school options.)

When you child is older and actually ready to enter High school you will find that you suddenly don't care how welcoming the community is unless it isn't going to welcome your own child, that your child can certainly handle multiple ap classes and sports and extra curriculars because they are brilliant and after all got straight A's in middle school, and capacity - out the window, you won't even care.

I am not saying this to be disparaging but just to say that your perspective on what your child's high school needs to be changes a lot once your child is actually going to go to said high school.

[Anonymous]

When I graduated from Yorktown many years ago (early 2000s), we always had a slew of Ivy League/Ivy equivalent (Stanford/MIT/Duke/Chicago) admissions. What has happened? I just moved back to North Arlington. Has Yorktown gone downhill?

[Anonymous]

I personally know this graduating class well, and even in this difficult admissions year several are going to ivies—U Penn & Dartmouth in addition to other T-20 & T-40 schools. The school is pretty large though so there is a broad range with a good percentage staying in state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I graduated from Yorktown many years ago (early 2000s), we always had a slew of Ivy League/Ivy equivalent (Stanford/MIT/Duke/Chicago) admissions. What has happened? I just moved back to North Arlington. Has Yorktown gone downhill?

No, admissions to those colleges has changed.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if part of what is going on is that as the cost of Ivies keeps going up if more kids who could have gone to an Ivy are going to UVA instead. Yes there are a lot of giant homes in bounds for Yorktown, but there are definitely a lot of ppl who would notice the difference between the cost of UVA and the cost of Penn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I graduated from Yorktown many years ago (early 2000s), we always had a slew of Ivy League/Ivy equivalent (Stanford/MIT/Duke/Chicago) admissions. What has happened? I just moved back to North Arlington. Has Yorktown gone downhill?

You're misremembering. It wasn't a "slew" back then, either -- it was more like a handful. It was always UVA or Bust.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if part of what is going on is that as the cost of Ivies keeps going up if more kids who could have gone to an Ivy are going to UVA instead. Yes there are a lot of giant homes in bounds for Yorktown, but there are definitely a lot of ppl who would notice the difference between the cost of UVA and the cost of Penn.

PP here. Again, it's always been this way. Nothing has changed. There are many Yorktown grads who went to UVA who had a good/decent shot at Ivies etc. who didn't even apply. They saw no need to. They still don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I graduated from Yorktown many years ago (early 2000s), we always had a slew of Ivy League/Ivy equivalent (Stanford/MIT/Duke/Chicago) admissions. What has happened? I just moved back to North Arlington. Has Yorktown gone downhill?

Yes, primarily for two reasons: (1) APS incentivizes kids to pupil place to W-L for IB, but allows W-L to offer both AP and IB so there aren't many reciprocal pupil placements from W-L to Yorktown; and (2) the AAP program in FCPS attracts more Asian families with high-achieving kids to FCPS than APS.

White parents in APS respond by calling the nearby schools in FCPS "pressure cookers," but the days when Walt Whitman, Langley and Yorktown were considered the top three public high schools in the DC area are gone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I graduated from Yorktown many years ago (early 2000s), we always had a slew of Ivy League/Ivy equivalent (Stanford/MIT/Duke/Chicago) admissions. What has happened? I just moved back to North Arlington. Has Yorktown gone downhill?

Yes, primarily for two reasons: (1) APS incentivizes kids to pupil place to W-L for IB, but allows W-L to offer both AP and IB so there aren't many reciprocal pupil placements from W-L to Yorktown; and (2) the AAP program in FCPS attracts more Asian families with high-achieving kids to FCPS than APS.

White parents in APS respond by calling the nearby schools in FCPS "pressure cookers," but the days when Walt Whitman, Langley and Yorktown were considered the top three public high schools in the DC area are gone.

Does this explain why W-L tends to do better than Yorktown in admissions for a lot of top colleges? Is that mainly the IB kids (and recruited athletes)?