College admissions from APS

[Anonymous]

Nothing could make me trade APS for FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nothing could make me trade APS for FCPS.

We left APS for FCPS. Very happy our kids avoided Yorktown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing could make me trade APS for FCPS.

We left APS for FCPS. Very happy our kids avoided Yorktown.

We left APS for Loudoun County. Similarly happy our kids avoided Yorktown. And while I don't place much value in Great Schools ratings, was rather amused that this year, DDs' high school surpassed Yorktown in the ratings.

Look, APS is great academically. It has wonderful teachers and a good student cohort. But, it has very real negatives including the residual effects of overcrowding, the hypercompetitiveness that leads to drug abuse and mental health problems, the latent (although sometimes explicit) racial tension and North/South resentment that tends to flare in ugly ways. Personally, I don't think the college matriculation numbers are one of the problems, but the other real and present dangers were obvious to us to get the hell out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing could make me trade APS for FCPS.

We left APS for FCPS. Very happy our kids avoided Yorktown.

We left APS for Loudoun County. Similarly happy our kids avoided Yorktown. And while I don't place much value in Great Schools ratings, was rather amused that this year, DDs' high school surpassed Yorktown in the ratings.

Look, APS is great academically. It has wonderful teachers and a good student cohort. But, it has very real negatives including the residual effects of overcrowding, the hypercompetitiveness that leads to drug abuse and mental health problems, the latent (although sometimes explicit) racial tension and North/South resentment that tends to flare in ugly ways. Personally, I don't think the college matriculation numbers are one of the problems, but the other real and present dangers were obvious to us to get the hell out.

We left APS (Washington-Lee and Swanson) for Washington, DC (Wilson and Deal) and are very happy. I don't understand the echo chamber within APS, but it is serious and debilitating in the long term.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Over the years I've seen posters comment on how college admissions for APS students are sub-part compared to their peer schools around here, and, to the extent it's true, I'm curious to know what people think the cause is (I'm not the person who asked in the other thread about what PTAs can do, but they did make me think to start this thread). Hopefully this can be a constructive, respectful conversation and not a bunch of trolling. Do you believe APS students aren't doing as well as kids at other schools (other than something like TJ, that's not a peer school to any standard public high school) in terms of college admissions, and if so, what's your perception of why? Are school offerings lacking? Different demographics leading to different results? Something else?

Speaking of this, has anyone heard how Arlington Public Schools' seniors are faring in the early decision (ED) process? Any Ivies? MIT? Stanford? Duke? Chicago?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Over the years I've seen posters comment on how college admissions for APS students are sub-part compared to their peer schools around here, and, to the extent it's true, I'm curious to know what people think the cause is (I'm not the person who asked in the other thread about what PTAs can do, but they did make me think to start this thread). Hopefully this can be a constructive, respectful conversation and not a bunch of trolling. Do you believe APS students aren't doing as well as kids at other schools (other than something like TJ, that's not a peer school to any standard public high school) in terms of college admissions, and if so, what's your perception of why? Are school offerings lacking? Different demographics leading to different results? Something else?

Speaking of this, has anyone heard how Arlington Public Schools' seniors are faring in the early decision (ED) process? Any Ivies? MIT? Stanford? Duke? Chicago?

Why do you care?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Over the years I've seen posters comment on how college admissions for APS students are sub-part compared to their peer schools around here, and, to the extent it's true, I'm curious to know what people think the cause is (I'm not the person who asked in the other thread about what PTAs can do, but they did make me think to start this thread). Hopefully this can be a constructive, respectful conversation and not a bunch of trolling. Do you believe APS students aren't doing as well as kids at other schools (other than something like TJ, that's not a peer school to any standard public high school) in terms of college admissions, and if so, what's your perception of why? Are school offerings lacking? Different demographics leading to different results? Something else?

Speaking of this, has anyone heard how Arlington Public Schools' seniors are faring in the early decision (ED) process? Any Ivies? MIT? Stanford? Duke? Chicago?

Why do you care?

We have kids in APS in 5th, 7th and 9th grade and just trying to get a feel for their prospects in a few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing could make me trade APS for FCPS.

We left APS for FCPS. Very happy our kids avoided Yorktown.

We left APS for Loudoun County. Similarly happy our kids avoided Yorktown. And while I don't place much value in Great Schools ratings, was rather amused that this year, DDs' high school surpassed Yorktown in the ratings.

Look, APS is great academically. It has wonderful teachers and a good student cohort. But, it has very real negatives including the residual effects of overcrowding, the hypercompetitiveness that leads to drug abuse and mental health problems, the latent (although sometimes explicit) racial tension and North/South resentment that tends to flare in ugly ways. Personally, I don't think the college matriculation numbers are one of the problems, but the other real and present dangers were obvious to us to get the hell out.

We left APS (Washington-Lee and Swanson) for Washington, DC (Wilson and Deal) and are very happy. I don't understand the echo chamber within APS, but it is serious and debilitating in the long term.

Wilson has lower scores across the board. SAT's, math, reading, right down the line. W-L has more than 90% of its students proficient in reading, Wilson barely half. I love the District can think of a lot of reasons to leave Arlington for DC: commute, culture, near friends. But schools certainly aren't one of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Over the years I've seen posters comment on how college admissions for APS students are sub-part compared to their peer schools around here, and, to the extent it's true, I'm curious to know what people think the cause is (I'm not the person who asked in the other thread about what PTAs can do, but they did make me think to start this thread). Hopefully this can be a constructive, respectful conversation and not a bunch of trolling. Do you believe APS students aren't doing as well as kids at other schools (other than something like TJ, that's not a peer school to any standard public high school) in terms of college admissions, and if so, what's your perception of why? Are school offerings lacking? Different demographics leading to different results? Something else?

Speaking of this, has anyone heard how Arlington Public Schools' seniors are faring in the early decision (ED) process? Any Ivies? MIT? Stanford? Duke? Chicago?

Why do you care?

We have kids in APS in 5th, 7th and 9th grade and just trying to get a feel for their prospects in a few years.

Depends on their grades and test scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Over the years I've seen posters comment on how college admissions for APS students are sub-part compared to their peer schools around here, and, to the extent it's true, I'm curious to know what people think the cause is (I'm not the person who asked in the other thread about what PTAs can do, but they did make me think to start this thread). Hopefully this can be a constructive, respectful conversation and not a bunch of trolling. Do you believe APS students aren't doing as well as kids at other schools (other than something like TJ, that's not a peer school to any standard public high school) in terms of college admissions, and if so, what's your perception of why? Are school offerings lacking? Different demographics leading to different results? Something else?

Speaking of this, has anyone heard how Arlington Public Schools' seniors are faring in the early decision (ED) process? Any Ivies? MIT? Stanford? Duke? Chicago?

Why do you care?

We have kids in APS in 5th, 7th and 9th grade and just trying to get a feel for their prospects in a few years.

Depends on their grades and test scores.

Can you explain this more? You mean that college admissions are based on HS academic performance? Fascinating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Over the years I've seen posters comment on how college admissions for APS students are sub-part compared to their peer schools around here, and, to the extent it's true, I'm curious to know what people think the cause is (I'm not the person who asked in the other thread about what PTAs can do, but they did make me think to start this thread). Hopefully this can be a constructive, respectful conversation and not a bunch of trolling. Do you believe APS students aren't doing as well as kids at other schools (other than something like TJ, that's not a peer school to any standard public high school) in terms of college admissions, and if so, what's your perception of why? Are school offerings lacking? Different demographics leading to different results? Something else?

Speaking of this, has anyone heard how Arlington Public Schools' seniors are faring in the early decision (ED) process? Any Ivies? MIT? Stanford? Duke? Chicago?

Why do you care?

We have kids in APS in 5th, 7th and 9th grade and just trying to get a feel for their prospects in a few years.

Since you have a 9th grader, you have access to Naviance for their HS. That will give you a lot more information about prospects given your particular child's grades/scores than random responses on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Over the years I've seen posters comment on how college admissions for APS students are sub-part compared to their peer schools around here, and, to the extent it's true, I'm curious to know what people think the cause is (I'm not the person who asked in the other thread about what PTAs can do, but they did make me think to start this thread). Hopefully this can be a constructive, respectful conversation and not a bunch of trolling. Do you believe APS students aren't doing as well as kids at other schools (other than something like TJ, that's not a peer school to any standard public high school) in terms of college admissions, and if so, what's your perception of why? Are school offerings lacking? Different demographics leading to different results? Something else?

Speaking of this, has anyone heard how Arlington Public Schools' seniors are faring in the early decision (ED) process? Any Ivies? MIT? Stanford? Duke? Chicago?

Why do you care?

We have kids in APS in 5th, 7th and 9th grade and just trying to get a feel for their prospects in a few years.

Depends on their grades and test scores.

Can you explain this more? You mean that college admissions are based on HS academic performance? Fascinating.

Not sure what you need me to explain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Over the years I've seen posters comment on how college admissions for APS students are sub-part compared to their peer schools around here, and, to the extent it's true, I'm curious to know what people think the cause is (I'm not the person who asked in the other thread about what PTAs can do, but they did make me think to start this thread). Hopefully this can be a constructive, respectful conversation and not a bunch of trolling. Do you believe APS students aren't doing as well as kids at other schools (other than something like TJ, that's not a peer school to any standard public high school) in terms of college admissions, and if so, what's your perception of why? Are school offerings lacking? Different demographics leading to different results? Something else?

Speaking of this, has anyone heard how Arlington Public Schools' seniors are faring in the early decision (ED) process? Any Ivies? MIT? Stanford? Duke? Chicago?

Why do you care?

We have kids in APS in 5th, 7th and 9th grade and just trying to get a feel for their prospects in a few years.

Depends on their grades and test scores.

Can you explain this more? You mean that college admissions are based on HS academic performance? Fascinating.

Not sure what you need me to explain.

Sarcasm. It would appear they need to explain sarcasm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Over the years I've seen posters comment on how college admissions for APS students are sub-part compared to their peer schools around here, and, to the extent it's true, I'm curious to know what people think the cause is (I'm not the person who asked in the other thread about what PTAs can do, but they did make me think to start this thread). Hopefully this can be a constructive, respectful conversation and not a bunch of trolling. Do you believe APS students aren't doing as well as kids at other schools (other than something like TJ, that's not a peer school to any standard public high school) in terms of college admissions, and if so, what's your perception of why? Are school offerings lacking? Different demographics leading to different results? Something else?

Speaking of this, has anyone heard how Arlington Public Schools' seniors are faring in the early decision (ED) process? Any Ivies? MIT? Stanford? Duke? Chicago?

Why do you care?

We have kids in APS in 5th, 7th and 9th grade and just trying to get a feel for their prospects in a few years.

Depends on their grades and test scores.

Can you explain this more? You mean that college admissions are based on HS academic performance? Fascinating.

Not sure what you need me to explain.

Sarcasm. It would appear they need to explain sarcasm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do folks buy very expansive houses in n Arlington with the hope that their kids can get into JMU, VA Tech, or George Mason?

No. We buy these homes so we can have short commutes. Not every decision is about where my kid will go to college. Turns out, he did better than your list.