Wilson College Acceptances

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wilson does not teach writing well. I have two kids there. That alone is a huge disadvantage going into college.

In fairness to Wilson teachers, they just have too many students to spend any meaningful time critiquing and commenting on written work. And there’s also not enough written work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was told that in creating their "ideal" and well-rounded/diverse class, colleges like to have a public high school represented from every state, including the District. I have heard colleges like to take students from Wilson, where possible, because it allows them to check the "DC public" box. Who knows if this is true or not, but it's possible.

It’s true.
Diversity is valuable for kids in college- and given the large number of legacies and rich kids who get in without having the academic chops, the hardest diversity to add is socioeconomic diversity. So HYS do look to add kids from every state.

I went to a HYS and we used to joke about this. Also I probably learned more from a single kid who grew up lower middle class in SD than all the airhead rich kids put together. (But I also did learn a lot about how rich people think. Having a range of SES represented is really important for education. It would just have been a lot better if there were 10x fewer rich kids and 10x more lower-SES kids.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wilson does not teach writing well. I have two kids there. That alone is a huge disadvantage going into college.

In fairness to Wilson teachers, they just have too many students to spend any meaningful time critiquing and commenting on written work. And there’s also not enough written work.

Could you elaborate please, PP? Are students not required to write a lot? Or just not required to write lengthy pieces? We are considering Wilson and this issue is important to me. Thanks

[Anonymous]

Or even better to recognize that HYP or HYS is not required for success in life. That diversity of thought starts for our kids right there. Dream wider, dream bigger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wilson does not teach writing well. I have two kids there. That alone is a huge disadvantage going into college.

In fairness to Wilson teachers, they just have too many students to spend any meaningful time critiquing and commenting on written work. And there’s also not enough written work.

Could you elaborate please, PP? Are students not required to write a lot? Or just not required to write lengthy pieces? We are considering Wilson and this issue is important to me. Thanks

It is simply a function of teacher time. Teaching 5-6ish classes a day with 25-30 students each; spending 20-25 minutes grading every writing assignment ~= 125 students x 20 minutes per assignment = 40 hours of grading. Teachers get no more than 4-5 hours of planning time a week, minus faculty and 'coaching' meetings, not to mention 504 and IEP meetings for students with disabilities.

And one couldlegitimately question whether 20 minutes is enough to 'critique and comment" meaningfully.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The people who say top performing kids at Wilson struggle in college are just trying to feel better about having spent a lot to send their kids to private or moved out the city... just not true. Lots of kids at Wilson from families with parents who are just many of those at the privates and 'top' MD and VA public schools. So few kids are also really the elite level athletes talked about on DCUM - but another way to self justify why their kid didn't get into the school they thought they paid for through private school. Putting down Wilson seems like a fun sport for those folks...

Granted, this is from 2012, but I remember it when it ran and think of it reading this thread. I'm not all that certain how much DCPS curriculum has strengthened since then:

"I went to some of D.C.’s best schools. I was still unprepared for college."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/i-went-to-one-of-dcs-best-high-schools-i-was-still-unprepared-for-college/2012/04/13/gIQAqQQAFT_story.html?utm_term=.23cb6c9c9ac4

https://ggwash.org/view/12881/graduate-of-dc-schools-says-he-wasnt-prepared-for-college

Cesar Chavez is not SWW, Banneker, Latin or BASIS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wilson does not teach writing well. I have two kids there. That alone is a huge disadvantage going into college.

In fairness to Wilson teachers, they just have too many students to spend any meaningful time critiquing and commenting on written work. And there’s also not enough written work.

This has not been our kid's experience, particularly this year in AP classes. DS has written reams and reams of stuff for APUSH, AP English and AP Spanish Lit. He asks me to look at his Spanish lit stuff to give feedback, and I like helping him but hate the volume -- he gave me work that he was turning in for one class recently and it was more than 20 single spaced handwritten pages (5 separate essays, all about 4 pages). That was one week's writing for one class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Caltech acceptance rate for last year was about 7% so no surprise there.

Wilson is a good school. It's funny how much it's being vilified by charter school advocates. We are in boundary and did not consider it because of the terrible things we were told. And please do not believe those who say that anyone who does homework gets an "A" . Maybe in general music or health classes but believe me, there was a Physics class where the teacher only gave one "A", 2 "B+", a few "C"S and "D"s and failed the rest.

There are Wilson teachers who let kids repeat evaluations and written assignments until they get A’s.

The same thing happens at HRCS -- where the opportunity is given to certain people while others will get "D"s and even "F"s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wilson does not teach writing well. I have two kids there. That alone is a huge disadvantage going into college.

In fairness to Wilson teachers, they just have too many students to spend any meaningful time critiquing and commenting on written work. And there’s also not enough written work.

This has not been our kid's experience, particularly this year in AP classes. DS has written reams and reams of stuff for APUSH, AP English and AP Spanish Lit. He asks me to look at his Spanish lit stuff to give feedback, and I like helping him but hate the volume -- he gave me work that he was turning in for one class recently and it was more than 20 single spaced handwritten pages (5 separate essays, all about 4 pages). That was one week's writing for one class.

That is because Spanish Lit is probably a very small class at Wilson

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wilson does not teach writing well. I have two kids there. That alone is a huge disadvantage going into college.

In fairness to Wilson teachers, they just have too many students to spend any meaningful time critiquing and commenting on written work. And there’s also not enough written work.

This has not been our kid's experience, particularly this year in AP classes. DS has written reams and reams of stuff for APUSH, AP English and AP Spanish Lit. He asks me to look at his Spanish lit stuff to give feedback, and I like helping him but hate the volume -- he gave me work that he was turning in for one class recently and it was more than 20 single spaced handwritten pages (5 separate essays, all about 4 pages). That was one week's writing for one class.

That is because Spanish Lit is probably a very small class at Wilson

It's about 20 kids, which I wouldn't call a very small class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wilson does not teach writing well. I have two kids there. That alone is a huge disadvantage going into college.

In fairness to Wilson teachers, they just have too many students to spend any meaningful time critiquing and commenting on written work. And there’s also not enough written work.

This has not been our kid's experience, particularly this year in AP classes. DS has written reams and reams of stuff for APUSH, AP English and AP Spanish Lit. He asks me to look at his Spanish lit stuff to give feedback, and I like helping him but hate the volume -- he gave me work that he was turning in for one class recently and it was more than 20 single spaced handwritten pages (5 separate essays, all about 4 pages). That was one week's writing for one class.

That is because Spanish Lit is probably a very small class at Wilson

What makes you think that? And since you don't know, why would you post a comment about it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wilson does not teach writing well. I have two kids there. That alone is a huge disadvantage going into college.

I wholeheartedly disagree with you. Math is another matter entirely.

- Signed. Wilson parent with kid at an Ivy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our neighbor’s son, who is a senior at Wilson, applied to Dartmouth and got in. He is a good student and is active in various clubs at school. But I do feel like if he were the same student at Sidwell, STA etc, there’s no way he would have gotten in.

You can't be sure of this. There are parts of the application you cant judge - the essay and teacher recs. People forget that teachers can make or break an application. I believe that lots of kids that have the "stats" for an Ivy, don't get the ringing endorsement from their teachers.

Wilson students students do get a boost for coming from an urban high school with a majority minority population. This especially works in favor of white students.

But not for much longer as the demographics shift to whiter and even wealthier. It will take a couple years for admissions reps to catch up but Wilson will soon be seen as a N Arlington school in upper NW.

This is actually a very interesting point. I have a Deal 6th grader and have been surprised how white and similar it is to our JKLM feeder. Parents I know with kids in 8th and 6th at Deal have commented how noticeable the shift has been in even 2 years.
Wilson white kids have always received an "urban bump". The Dartmouth kid above is a good example: sounds like he has good grades and test scores and recs but is otherwise unremarkable. A kid like this from Fairfax or Bethesda would never get into an Ivy in this day and age.
It's going to be interesting when college reps catch on to how wealthy and white Wilson is becoming. I imagine we're probably 5-10 years away from this.

I work in college admissions, and worked as an admissions officer for an Ivy 15 years back. I'm not sold on the "urban bump" theory.

What happens at many elite colleges is that all applications coming in from the DC Metro area are thrown into the same "basket" (e-basket these days of course, literally a basket in the old days). If you want the kid get out of the basket, s/he needs to graduate from a high school outside the Metro area (colleges are more likely to sort applicants by high school location than by parents' address).

Any given Wilson student is likely to come across as more interesting, thoughtful and resourceful to admissions officers than your garden-variety Fairfax or Bethesda student who aspires to attend the same college, which certainly doesn't hurt. But Wilson students aren't getting the sort of breaks in admissions for attending Wilson (regardless of SES) vs. a private or suburban program in the way DCPS parents tend to assume. They're not in fact being cut slack on comparative scores, grades or extra-curriculars for attending Wilson, not from what I've seen.

Well I was told that they do by an admissions officer at a selective college so.....YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The people who say top performing kids at Wilson struggle in college are just trying to feel better about having spent a lot to send their kids to private or moved out the city... just not true. Lots of kids at Wilson from families with parents who are just many of those at the privates and 'top' MD and VA public schools. So few kids are also really the elite level athletes talked about on DCUM - but another way to self justify why their kid didn't get into the school they thought they paid for through private school. Putting down Wilson seems like a fun sport for those folks...

Granted, this is from 2012, but I remember it when it ran and think of it reading this thread. I'm not all that certain how much DCPS curriculum has strengthened since then:

"I went to some of D.C.’s best schools. I was still unprepared for college."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/i-went-to-one-of-dcs-best-high-schools-i-was-still-unprepared-for-college/2012/04/13/gIQAqQQAFT_story.html?utm_term=.23cb6c9c9ac4

https://ggwash.org/view/12881/graduate-of-dc-schools-says-he-wasnt-prepared-for-college

Cesar Chavez is not SWW, Banneker, Latin or BASIS.

+1. I have said for years that Cesar Chavez Parkside kids are some of the most well-behaved students I've encountered. But top DC school? Has it ever made Tier 1? I've never heard it mentioned as a top school.

I attended SWW and my SWW/Banneker friends found college to be more of the same. The few courses that I struggled in were due to poor scheduling not rigor. For example, I quickly learned that 730am classes were not a good fit for me. I attended a poor DCPS MS and the adjustment to SWW was where I struggled.

[Anonymous]

Wilson transitioning to mostly white will help these students for a bit considering its urban reputation. It will be a decade before the colleges realize that the DC of old is changing.