SWW Interviews

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did the interviewers ask the child any questions?

Sorry, I was unclear--when I said "child asked three questions, parents asked one" I meant that the child was asked three questions and we (the parents) were asked one question. That was it.

This was identical to our experience.

NP. Did they use the list of questions sent with the interview email? My student can’t make heads or tails of those!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We got our time slot too this morning for 3/1. They ask that parents and child be in different rooms for the interview - does anyone know if they are doing them one after the other or at the same time? When it was in-person, I recall the child went first and then the parents.

One after the other. Parents click the invite link and wait for the interviewers to finish with DC and join them.

TBH, our 3 interviewers looked pretty bored and gave little feedback. No, we weren't that boring

Us too...child asked three questions (took about 5 minutes), parents asked one question. Whole thing done in about 7-8 minutes. I read on another one of these DCUM threads that the interviews count for MUCH more than (like, 5-6 times as much as) GPA...hard to figure out what of value they could have gotten out of such a short amount of time. Have others heard the same?

I haven't heard that. I don't think it's been specified. It's insane to base anything off 5 minutes.

That's what they said at the open house in December: Each child will be scored out of 36 points. Five of those points are for GPA. The other 31 come from the interview.

It would probably be more fair (as another poster said)--and certainly a lot less stressful for the kids--if they just did a lottery of the top kids by GPA.

[Anonymous]

Sounds extremely subjective. They can build whatever class they want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds extremely subjective. They can build whatever class they want.

I would agree with that if there weren’t so many different people scoring the rubrics. It’s hard to build the class you want when 25 different adults and 60 different students (or whatever) are scoring. It is subjective though.

[Anonymous]

It's crazy. With 5 minutes and kids scoring they will literally build a class of the best looking kids.

[Anonymous]

My kid goes to Deal and is in Algebra 2. In this class there are many kids who are real scholars: they work very, very hard and have straight As and do all academic extracurriculars. They are participating in writing contests and math clubs and debate and all sorts of things. Most of these kids' DREAM is to attend Walls.
Then he has a bunch of friends whose motto is "do as little as I can to get by". They have As and some Bs and saw their grades bump up with Covid so they also qualified for Walls interviews. Most of these kids are interviewing because their parents thought it would be a good option to explore.

My kid is somewhere in between. He's a good student (all As but not passionate about academics like many of his classmates I referred above. i.e. he's not a scholar and he isn't writing essays in his spare time). His top choice for high school is not Walls. He'd prefer a Catholic high school.

It makes me sad that the kids who would really thrive at Walls and really, really want it probably have a 25% chance of getting a spot this year. It's a bummer. They would have received one if there was a test (because they would have scored in the top 250 and then that wait list generally clears).
This year is such a bummer all around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did the interviewers ask the child any questions?

Sorry, I was unclear--when I said "child asked three questions, parents asked one" I meant that the child was asked three questions and we (the parents) were asked one question. That was it.

This was identical to our experience.

NP. Did they use the list of questions sent with the interview email? My student can’t make heads or tails of those!

Sort of--they asked one that vaguely fell under the topic of "hobbies/interests" and one under "diversity" ... maybe something about friendships?...my child was so discouraged by how quickly she was done that she couldn't remember the exact questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid goes to Deal and is in Algebra 2. In this class there are many kids who are real scholars: they work very, very hard and have straight As and do all academic extracurriculars. They are participating in writing contests and math clubs and debate and all sorts of things. Most of these kids' DREAM is to attend Walls.
Then he has a bunch of friends whose motto is "do as little as I can to get by". They have As and some Bs and saw their grades bump up with Covid so they also qualified for Walls interviews. Most of these kids are interviewing because their parents thought it would be a good option to explore.

My kid is somewhere in between. He's a good student (all As but not passionate about academics like many of his classmates I referred above. i.e. he's not a scholar and he isn't writing essays in his spare time). His top choice for high school is not Walls. He'd prefer a Catholic high school.

It makes me sad that the kids who would really thrive at Walls and really, really want it probably have a 25% chance of getting a spot this year. It's a bummer. They would have received one if there was a test (because they would have scored in the top 250 and then that wait list generally clears).
This year is such a bummer all around.

Here's the silver lining--if your kid's friends end up at Wilson, they'll do great. Our older child is there and there are so many ROCK STAR students there. In fact, most of the highest performing students from Deal who got into Walls her year ended up going to Wilson. It's not at all clear to me that Walls is a better school--there are advantages for sure (mostly the self-selection of the students) but Wilson can be incredible rigorous (especially after Freshman year), has amazing clubs (academic and otherwise), and there are truly incredible students from all over. Don't sweat it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did the interviewers ask the child any questions?

Sorry, I was unclear--when I said "child asked three questions, parents asked one" I meant that the child was asked three questions and we (the parents) were asked one question. That was it.

This was identical to our experience.

NP. Did they use the list of questions sent with the interview email? My student can’t make heads or tails of those!

Sort of--they asked one that vaguely fell under the topic of "hobbies/interests" and one under "diversity" ... maybe something about friendships?...my child was so discouraged by how quickly she was done that she couldn't remember the exact questions.

Thx. I am sorry it was discouraging. I will try to adjust my child’s expectations. 😉

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid goes to Deal and is in Algebra 2. In this class there are many kids who are real scholars: they work very, very hard and have straight As and do all academic extracurriculars. They are participating in writing contests and math clubs and debate and all sorts of things. Most of these kids' DREAM is to attend Walls.
Then he has a bunch of friends whose motto is "do as little as I can to get by". They have As and some Bs and saw their grades bump up with Covid so they also qualified for Walls interviews. Most of these kids are interviewing because their parents thought it would be a good option to explore.

My kid is somewhere in between. He's a good student (all As but not passionate about academics like many of his classmates I referred above. i.e. he's not a scholar and he isn't writing essays in his spare time). His top choice for high school is not Walls. He'd prefer a Catholic high school.

It makes me sad that the kids who would really thrive at Walls and really, really want it probably have a 25% chance of getting a spot this year. It's a bummer. They would have received one if there was a test (because they would have scored in the top 250 and then that wait list generally clears).
This year is such a bummer all around.

Here's the silver lining--if your kid's friends end up at Wilson, they'll do great. Our older child is there and there are so many ROCK STAR students there. In fact, most of the highest performing students from Deal who got into Walls her year ended up going to Wilson. It's not at all clear to me that Walls is a better school--there are advantages for sure (mostly the self-selection of the students) but Wilson can be incredible rigorous (especially after Freshman year), has amazing clubs (academic and otherwise), and there are truly incredible students from all over. Don't sweat it.

Thank you so much for sharing! This is great to know and what I have heard as well. I don't know many kids at Wilson but the ones I know are awesome and incredibly smart/directed. I will also say that the college results last year (for kids who originated at our feeder elementary) were stronger fro Wilson than for Walls. I admit to tracking them all by comparing the 5th grade yearbook to the graduation videos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid goes to Deal and is in Algebra 2. In this class there are many kids who are real scholars: they work very, very hard and have straight As and do all academic extracurriculars. They are participating in writing contests and math clubs and debate and all sorts of things. Most of these kids' DREAM is to attend Walls.
Then he has a bunch of friends whose motto is "do as little as I can to get by". They have As and some Bs and saw their grades bump up with Covid so they also qualified for Walls interviews. Most of these kids are interviewing because their parents thought it would be a good option to explore.

My kid is somewhere in between. He's a good student (all As but not passionate about academics like many of his classmates I referred above. i.e. he's not a scholar and he isn't writing essays in his spare time). His top choice for high school is not Walls. He'd prefer a Catholic high school.

It makes me sad that the kids who would really thrive at Walls and really, really want it probably have a 25% chance of getting a spot this year. It's a bummer. They would have received one if there was a test (because they would have scored in the top 250 and then that wait list generally clears).
This year is such a bummer all around.

It makes me sad that you judge the kids in your kid’s math class. Gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid goes to Deal and is in Algebra 2. In this class there are many kids who are real scholars: they work very, very hard and have straight As and do all academic extracurriculars. They are participating in writing contests and math clubs and debate and all sorts of things. Most of these kids' DREAM is to attend Walls.
Then he has a bunch of friends whose motto is "do as little as I can to get by". They have As and some Bs and saw their grades bump up with Covid so they also qualified for Walls interviews. Most of these kids are interviewing because their parents thought it would be a good option to explore.

My kid is somewhere in between. He's a good student (all As but not passionate about academics like many of his classmates I referred above. i.e. he's not a scholar and he isn't writing essays in his spare time). His top choice for high school is not Walls. He'd prefer a Catholic high school.

It makes me sad that the kids who would really thrive at Walls and really, really want it probably have a 25% chance of getting a spot this year. It's a bummer. They would have received one if there was a test (because they would have scored in the top 250 and then that wait list generally clears).
This year is such a bummer all around.

It makes me sad that you judge the kids in your kid’s math class. Gross.

Huh? Not judging at all. If you read my post you will see that I think these kids are awesome. They are the movers and shakers and are headed somewhere great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid goes to Deal and is in Algebra 2. In this class there are many kids who are real scholars: they work very, very hard and have straight As and do all academic extracurriculars. They are participating in writing contests and math clubs and debate and all sorts of things. Most of these kids' DREAM is to attend Walls.
Then he has a bunch of friends whose motto is "do as little as I can to get by". They have As and some Bs and saw their grades bump up with Covid so they also qualified for Walls interviews. Most of these kids are interviewing because their parents thought it would be a good option to explore.

My kid is somewhere in between. He's a good student (all As but not passionate about academics like many of his classmates I referred above. i.e. he's not a scholar and he isn't writing essays in his spare time). His top choice for high school is not Walls. He'd prefer a Catholic high school.

It makes me sad that the kids who would really thrive at Walls and really, really want it probably have a 25% chance of getting a spot this year. It's a bummer. They would have received one if there was a test (because they would have scored in the top 250 and then that wait list generally clears).
This year is such a bummer all around.

It makes me sad that you judge the kids in your kid’s math class. Gross.

Huh? Not judging at all. If you read my post you will see that I think these kids are awesome. They are the movers and shakers and are headed somewhere great.

I assume PP meant judging the friends... On first read, I also thought though kids were in the math class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid goes to Deal and is in Algebra 2. In this class there are many kids who are real scholars: they work very, very hard and have straight As and do all academic extracurriculars. They are participating in writing contests and math clubs and debate and all sorts of things. Most of these kids' DREAM is to attend Walls.
Then he has a bunch of friends whose motto is "do as little as I can to get by". They have As and some Bs and saw their grades bump up with Covid so they also qualified for Walls interviews. Most of these kids are interviewing because their parents thought it would be a good option to explore.

My kid is somewhere in between. He's a good student (all As but not passionate about academics like many of his classmates I referred above. i.e. he's not a scholar and he isn't writing essays in his spare time). His top choice for high school is not Walls. He'd prefer a Catholic high school.

It makes me sad that the kids who would really thrive at Walls and really, really want it probably have a 25% chance of getting a spot this year. It's a bummer. They would have received one if there was a test (because they would have scored in the top 250 and then that wait list generally clears).
This year is such a bummer all around.

Here's the silver lining--if your kid's friends end up at Wilson, they'll do great. Our older child is there and there are so many ROCK STAR students there. In fact, most of the highest performing students from Deal who got into Walls her year ended up going to Wilson. It's not at all clear to me that Walls is a better school--there are advantages for sure (mostly the self-selection of the students) but Wilson can be incredible rigorous (especially after Freshman year), has amazing clubs (academic and otherwise), and there are truly incredible students from all over. Don't sweat it.

Thank you so much for sharing! This is great to know and what I have heard as well. I don't know many kids at Wilson but the ones I know are awesome and incredibly smart/directed. I will also say that the college results last year (for kids who originated at our feeder elementary) were stronger fro Wilson than for Walls. I admit to tracking them all by comparing the 5th grade yearbook to the graduation videos.

Wilson has really strong students. Walls has really strong students. Both schools also have students who struggle. I agree with that assessment. Comparing college admissions for one grade is kind of obnoxious. Did you count the number of Ivies and then just decide one school is stronger than the other?

[Anonymous]

DD just had her interview today - took the full 10 minutes for her, 5 minutes with parents. Link wasn't sent until this afternoon.

Questions they asked her:
- Favorite book and why (threw her for a bit of a loop because she wasn't expecting it)
- The other questions were about her extracurriculars, how she deals with stress, overcoming challenges
- Do you have any questions for us?

For us:
- How are you involved in your child's learning?
- Do you have any questions for us?