Sidwell College Admissions This Year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a Sidwell senior parent.

Looking at 12 pages so far, and stepping back, I think I see the global problem between some parents and the CCO: you rely on others to do the work for you. You probably always have, from the 'I need a night nurse' stage to present day. So it comes as no surprise that so many posts on this thread decry the "failings" of the CCO to do basic things that **you can and should've figured out on your own.**

You're smart. You're a double Yale grad. You were tapped for a political role in the ____ White House and now you're a Covington partner / lecturer at Penn / trade advisor. So is your spouse, fwiw.

Your background strongly suggests that you have the intelligence to synthesize the CDS data, those limited limited Naviance screenshots, your kid's scores, a couple recent books from Politics/Prose on higher ed, & several NYT or WSJ articles on the current trends.

Why is this process so confounding for you?

What I suspect is happening when you blame CCO for everything is that you subconsciously feel entitled to Princeton or Yale. So there's no need for you to personally contemplate an alternative strategy. And if you wouldn't even consider, say, JHU as an ED, then you're not going to spend your own time researching JHU-like options using readily available resources, both objective and subjective.

I get it; VIPs don't like to aim lower. Your ways have clearly paid off to get you to the top of the DC food chain. But stop claiming that this process is impossible and opaque and can't be demystified by mere mortals like yourself.

Well said.

[Anonymous]

College admissions are fantastic from Wilson--there is a massive "diverse urban school" bump.

This is the trope but it's demonstrably untrue, as shown by the 2021 and 2020 Wilson youtube video and instragrams. Speaking apples:apples here, ie, neighbors on the same block in CCDC or AU Park.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been following this (as a public school parent). I have so many thoughts but will limit them to a few that will be (hopefully) viewed as constructive:

1) I have full access to Naviance and it is not very helpful--if anything, it is quite misleading as the scattergrams combine 10 years of data (we all know how the admissions world has changed over 10 years) and it does not indicate hooks. As a result, it is incredibly easy for students (and parents) to think the odds are much greater to get into specific colleges than it actually is.

2) The basic patterns play out in schools all over this area as they do in "the Big 3" (side note, barf) with regards to college admissions--it is an incredibly unpredictable and stressful process for these kids. However, there is a HUGE difference between kids at schools like Sidwell and those at large public schools: expectations. For all of the short-comings of our large public--and there are a lot--I think my (high stats, NMSF) DC really benefits from being at a public school because they see other high stats students who can't apply ED because they need merit money or because public universities are the only viable option. This REALLY helps contextualize the whole process and give the much-needed perspective that there are outstanding students so many colleges, not just the "top 50".

1) Suggestion: Only look at the last two, pandemic-influenced years. I would think Naviance for public high schools would be more helpful because there are more data points.
2) No parent who sends their kid to Sidwell or a similar private school is okay with their DC going to a college outside the top 50 -- especially parents who start their kid in upper school.

I'm always perplexed by trolls or interested bystanders who enter these chats. You act so surprised by Sidwell and private school parents. I am always surprised that you are surprised.

As a parent who joined at 9th (from public) I would argue that the opposite is true. We switched our kid because he/she was learning very little in DCPS and (for example) could barely write an essay. I know about 5 other kids who joined other Big3 schools in 9th and they moved for the same reason. College admissions are fantastic from Wilson--there is a massive "diverse urban school" bump. If I wanted the best college placement I would have have sent him there. We are very aware that my kid's peers who stayed at Wilson will probably attend better colleges than he/she will coming from a Big3.

This is a really good point and one that I keep reminding myself as a private school (not SFS) senior parent who also has a younger child with a few more years to go at the school. It's really tempting to look at this year's college process for senior DC and think - what the hell - let's just pull younger DC, send to Wilson and virtually guarantee a 4.0+ GPA and that hardscrabble, urban admissions hook. But then I remember - I do want younger DC to be literate.

Yep, everyone at Wilson has a 4.0. No hard working students there at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a Sidwell senior parent.

Looking at 12 pages so far, and stepping back, I think I see the global problem between some parents and the CCO: you rely on others to do the work for you. You probably always have, from the 'I need a night nurse' stage to present day. So it comes as no surprise that so many posts on this thread decry the "failings" of the CCO to do basic things that **you can and should've figured out on your own.**

You're smart. You're a double Yale grad. You were tapped for a political role in the ____ White House and now you're a Covington partner / lecturer at Penn / trade advisor. So is your spouse, fwiw.

Your background strongly suggests that you have the intelligence to synthesize the CDS data, those limited limited Naviance screenshots, your kid's scores, a couple recent books from Politics/Prose on higher ed, & several NYT or WSJ articles on the current trends.

Why is this process so confounding for you?

What I suspect is happening when you blame CCO for everything is that you subconsciously feel entitled to Princeton or Yale. So there's no need for you to personally contemplate an alternative strategy. And if you wouldn't even consider, say, JHU as an ED, then you're not going to spend your own time researching JHU-like options using readily available resources, both objective and subjective.

I get it; VIPs don't like to aim lower. Your ways have clearly paid off to get you to the top of the DC food chain. But stop claiming that this process is impossible and opaque and can't be demystified by mere mortals like yourself.

I'm one of the PP's who has made the case for more transparency and sharing of information, and also a senior parent.

Sorry to disappoint you and upset your armchair analysis, but your suspicions are not correct. Our kid got in ED at a school they and we are thrilled about, and these are not sour grapes about a result. We just know that the process of working with the CCO and getting meaningful information and counseling from them could and should have been so much better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been following this (as a public school parent). I have so many thoughts but will limit them to a few that will be (hopefully) viewed as constructive:

1) I have full access to Naviance and it is not very helpful--if anything, it is quite misleading as the scattergrams combine 10 years of data (we all know how the admissions world has changed over 10 years) and it does not indicate hooks. As a result, it is incredibly easy for students (and parents) to think the odds are much greater to get into specific colleges than it actually is.

2) The basic patterns play out in schools all over this area as they do in "the Big 3" (side note, barf) with regards to college admissions--it is an incredibly unpredictable and stressful process for these kids. However, there is a HUGE difference between kids at schools like Sidwell and those at large public schools: expectations. For all of the short-comings of our large public--and there are a lot--I think my (high stats, NMSF) DC really benefits from being at a public school because they see other high stats students who can't apply ED because they need merit money or because public universities are the only viable option. This REALLY helps contextualize the whole process and give the much-needed perspective that there are outstanding students so many colleges, not just the "top 50".

1) Suggestion: Only look at the last two, pandemic-influenced years. I would think Naviance for public high schools would be more helpful because there are more data points.
2) No parent who sends their kid to Sidwell or a similar private school is okay with their DC going to a college outside the top 50 -- especially parents who start their kid in upper school.

I'm always perplexed by trolls or interested bystanders who enter these chats. You act so surprised by Sidwell and private school parents. I am always surprised that you are surprised.

As a parent who joined at 9th (from public) I would argue that the opposite is true. We switched our kid because he/she was learning very little in DCPS and (for example) could barely write an essay. I know about 5 other kids who joined other Big3 schools in 9th and they moved for the same reason. College admissions are fantastic from Wilson--there is a massive "diverse urban school" bump. If I wanted the best college placement I would have have sent him there. We are very aware that my kid's peers who stayed at Wilson will probably attend better colleges than he/she will coming from a Big3.

This is a really good point and one that I keep reminding myself as a private school (not SFS) senior parent who also has a younger child with a few more years to go at the school. It's really tempting to look at this year's college process for senior DC and think - what the hell - let's just pull younger DC, send to Wilson and virtually guarantee a 4.0+ GPA and that hardscrabble, urban admissions hook. But then I remember - I do want younger DC to be literate.

Give me a f***ing break. Wilson has ONE college counselor for 500 kids. Colleges understand the differences in the grading systems between private and public. There are some amazing kids at Wilson and to suggest that they are only getting in because of a "hardscrabble, urban admissions hook" is beyond insulting (and I'm speaking as a private school parent who struggled with the decision to leave DCPS and recognizes the privilege I have).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been following this (as a public school parent). I have so many thoughts but will limit them to a few that will be (hopefully) viewed as constructive:

1) I have full access to Naviance and it is not very helpful--if anything, it is quite misleading as the scattergrams combine 10 years of data (we all know how the admissions world has changed over 10 years) and it does not indicate hooks. As a result, it is incredibly easy for students (and parents) to think the odds are much greater to get into specific colleges than it actually is.

2) The basic patterns play out in schools all over this area as they do in "the Big 3" (side note, barf) with regards to college admissions--it is an incredibly unpredictable and stressful process for these kids. However, there is a HUGE difference between kids at schools like Sidwell and those at large public schools: expectations. For all of the short-comings of our large public--and there are a lot--I think my (high stats, NMSF) DC really benefits from being at a public school because they see other high stats students who can't apply ED because they need merit money or because public universities are the only viable option. This REALLY helps contextualize the whole process and give the much-needed perspective that there are outstanding students so many colleges, not just the "top 50".

I would say that some information is better than none, which is effectively what parents at Sidwell get. And while of course the scattergrams don't indicate hooks, the rejection dots alone can give you a sense of the landscape when you see how many high grade/high test kids with dots up in the top right corner get rejected at a particular school that you might have thought was a target or even a sure thing. And in looking at Sidwell's scattergrams in the CCO office you would see that they cover 4 years and not 10.

Parents and students have access to the scattergrams under the supervision of the CCO. A student can look at any school at any time, that is not "none" - similarly, there is a whole host of alumni who are current students at great colleges all over the country who are more than happy to talk to your kid about their college and what they hear from friends and classmates about other colleges. Let's not make the false assertion that SFS students and families have nothing at their disposal to help inform the creation of a college application list or a matriculation choice down the road.

That was not our experience this year, at all. The counselor rejected our/DC's requests to look at them until the process was very far along.

Then I would really complain about this, specifically. Our SFS counselor was great about it and allowed - even suggested - that we check Naviance together at multiple points. There should at least be consistency on this policy.

Lack of consistency is one of their big problems. And this is also evidence of how they don't fully articulate what their role is and is not, and what they do and don't do. But Mamadou said they aren't looking for feedback...

Also, are you 16:15?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been following this (as a public school parent). I have so many thoughts but will limit them to a few that will be (hopefully) viewed as constructive:

1) I have full access to Naviance and it is not very helpful--if anything, it is quite misleading as the scattergrams combine 10 years of data (we all know how the admissions world has changed over 10 years) and it does not indicate hooks. As a result, it is incredibly easy for students (and parents) to think the odds are much greater to get into specific colleges than it actually is.

2) The basic patterns play out in schools all over this area as they do in "the Big 3" (side note, barf) with regards to college admissions--it is an incredibly unpredictable and stressful process for these kids. However, there is a HUGE difference between kids at schools like Sidwell and those at large public schools: expectations. For all of the short-comings of our large public--and there are a lot--I think my (high stats, NMSF) DC really benefits from being at a public school because they see other high stats students who can't apply ED because they need merit money or because public universities are the only viable option. This REALLY helps contextualize the whole process and give the much-needed perspective that there are outstanding students so many colleges, not just the "top 50".

1) Suggestion: Only look at the last two, pandemic-influenced years. I would think Naviance for public high schools would be more helpful because there are more data points.
2) No parent who sends their kid to Sidwell or a similar private school is okay with their DC going to a college outside the top 50 -- especially parents who start their kid in upper school.

I'm always perplexed by trolls or interested bystanders who enter these chats. You act so surprised by Sidwell and private school parents. I am always surprised that you are surprised.

As a parent who joined at 9th (from public) I would argue that the opposite is true. We switched our kid because he/she was learning very little in DCPS and (for example) could barely write an essay. I know about 5 other kids who joined other Big3 schools in 9th and they moved for the same reason. College admissions are fantastic from Wilson--there is a massive "diverse urban school" bump. If I wanted the best college placement I would have have sent him there. We are very aware that my kid's peers who stayed at Wilson will probably attend better colleges than he/she will coming from a Big3.

This is a really good point and one that I keep reminding myself as a private school (not SFS) senior parent who also has a younger child with a few more years to go at the school. It's really tempting to look at this year's college process for senior DC and think - what the hell - let's just pull younger DC, send to Wilson and virtually guarantee a 4.0+ GPA and that hardscrabble, urban admissions hook. But then I remember - I do want younger DC to be literate.

And this is why people hate private school parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been following this (as a public school parent). I have so many thoughts but will limit them to a few that will be (hopefully) viewed as constructive:

1) I have full access to Naviance and it is not very helpful--if anything, it is quite misleading as the scattergrams combine 10 years of data (we all know how the admissions world has changed over 10 years) and it does not indicate hooks. As a result, it is incredibly easy for students (and parents) to think the odds are much greater to get into specific colleges than it actually is.

2) The basic patterns play out in schools all over this area as they do in "the Big 3" (side note, barf) with regards to college admissions--it is an incredibly unpredictable and stressful process for these kids. However, there is a HUGE difference between kids at schools like Sidwell and those at large public schools: expectations. For all of the short-comings of our large public--and there are a lot--I think my (high stats, NMSF) DC really benefits from being at a public school because they see other high stats students who can't apply ED because they need merit money or because public universities are the only viable option. This REALLY helps contextualize the whole process and give the much-needed perspective that there are outstanding students so many colleges, not just the "top 50".

1) Suggestion: Only look at the last two, pandemic-influenced years. I would think Naviance for public high schools would be more helpful because there are more data points.
2) No parent who sends their kid to Sidwell or a similar private school is okay with their DC going to a college outside the top 50 -- especially parents who start their kid in upper school.

I'm always perplexed by trolls or interested bystanders who enter these chats. You act so surprised by Sidwell and private school parents. I am always surprised that you are surprised.

As a parent who joined at 9th (from public) I would argue that the opposite is true. We switched our kid because he/she was learning very little in DCPS and (for example) could barely write an essay. I know about 5 other kids who joined other Big3 schools in 9th and they moved for the same reason. College admissions are fantastic from Wilson--there is a massive "diverse urban school" bump. If I wanted the best college placement I would have have sent him there. We are very aware that my kid's peers who stayed at Wilson will probably attend better colleges than he/she will coming from a Big3.

This is a really good point and one that I keep reminding myself as a private school (not SFS) senior parent who also has a younger child with a few more years to go at the school. It's really tempting to look at this year's college process for senior DC and think - what the hell - let's just pull younger DC, send to Wilson and virtually guarantee a 4.0+ GPA and that hardscrabble, urban admissions hook. But then I remember - I do want younger DC to be literate.

Give me a f***ing break. Wilson has ONE college counselor for 500 kids. Colleges understand the differences in the grading systems between private and public. There are some amazing kids at Wilson and to suggest that they are only getting in because of a "hardscrabble, urban admissions hook" is beyond insulting (and I'm speaking as a private school parent who struggled with the decision to leave DCPS and recognizes the privilege I have).

Uh, I have a kid at Wilson 9th grade. She has straight A's and has not had ANY homework this year. Not a single day of homework. She's in Algebra 2 (or was--Wilson kids only have math for half the year under the new schedule). I have heard the school gets more challenging in 11th grade when kids start taking APs but 9th has been a joke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been following this (as a public school parent). I have so many thoughts but will limit them to a few that will be (hopefully) viewed as constructive:

1) I have full access to Naviance and it is not very helpful--if anything, it is quite misleading as the scattergrams combine 10 years of data (we all know how the admissions world has changed over 10 years) and it does not indicate hooks. As a result, it is incredibly easy for students (and parents) to think the odds are much greater to get into specific colleges than it actually is.

2) The basic patterns play out in schools all over this area as they do in "the Big 3" (side note, barf) with regards to college admissions--it is an incredibly unpredictable and stressful process for these kids. However, there is a HUGE difference between kids at schools like Sidwell and those at large public schools: expectations. For all of the short-comings of our large public--and there are a lot--I think my (high stats, NMSF) DC really benefits from being at a public school because they see other high stats students who can't apply ED because they need merit money or because public universities are the only viable option. This REALLY helps contextualize the whole process and give the much-needed perspective that there are outstanding students so many colleges, not just the "top 50".

I would say that some information is better than none, which is effectively what parents at Sidwell get. And while of course the scattergrams don't indicate hooks, the rejection dots alone can give you a sense of the landscape when you see how many high grade/high test kids with dots up in the top right corner get rejected at a particular school that you might have thought was a target or even a sure thing. And in looking at Sidwell's scattergrams in the CCO office you would see that they cover 4 years and not 10.

Parents and students have access to the scattergrams under the supervision of the CCO. A student can look at any school at any time, that is not "none" - similarly, there is a whole host of alumni who are current students at great colleges all over the country who are more than happy to talk to your kid about their college and what they hear from friends and classmates about other colleges. Let's not make the false assertion that SFS students and families have nothing at their disposal to help inform the creation of a college application list or a matriculation choice down the road.

That was not our experience this year, at all. The counselor rejected our/DC's requests to look at them until the process was very far along.

Then I would really complain about this, specifically. Our SFS counselor was great about it and allowed - even suggested - that we check Naviance together at multiple points. There should at least be consistency on this policy.

Lack of consistency is one of their big problems. And this is also evidence of how they don't fully articulate what their role is and is not, and what they do and don't do. But Mamadou said they aren't looking for feedback...

Also, are you 16:15?

No, I'm not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a Sidwell senior parent.

Looking at 12 pages so far, and stepping back, I think I see the global problem between some parents and the CCO: you rely on others to do the work for you. You probably always have, from the 'I need a night nurse' stage to present day. So it comes as no surprise that so many posts on this thread decry the "failings" of the CCO to do basic things that **you can and should've figured out on your own.**

You're smart. You're a double Yale grad. You were tapped for a political role in the ____ White House and now you're a Covington partner / lecturer at Penn / trade advisor. So is your spouse, fwiw.

Your background strongly suggests that you have the intelligence to synthesize the CDS data, those limited limited Naviance screenshots, your kid's scores, a couple recent books from Politics/Prose on higher ed, & several NYT or WSJ articles on the current trends.

Why is this process so confounding for you?

What I suspect is happening when you blame CCO for everything is that you subconsciously feel entitled to Princeton or Yale. So there's no need for you to personally contemplate an alternative strategy. And if you wouldn't even consider, say, JHU as an ED, then you're not going to spend your own time researching JHU-like options using readily available resources, both objective and subjective.

I get it; VIPs don't like to aim lower. Your ways have clearly paid off to get you to the top of the DC food chain. But stop claiming that this process is impossible and opaque and can't be demystified by mere mortals like yourself.

Another perspective to throw into your theory. SFS encourages independence and for students to self advocate. They also tell students that their parents are overbearing (especially with regards to colleges). So, imagine a case where a high achieving student has parents who step back, kid is independent and does very well academically. The student thinks that just relying on CCO will be perfectly fine (as they are also told this) and doesn't want parent involved.....but the student doesn't really understand the landscape of college applications and CCO doesn't really consider it their job to counsel such a student in ways that would be really useful. The assumption that the overbearing parents will do it and that the kid will listen to the parents....after all the messaging from the school to parents not to be overbearing and to the kids to tune our their parents (on everything, but on colleges in particular).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been following this (as a public school parent). I have so many thoughts but will limit them to a few that will be (hopefully) viewed as constructive:

1) I have full access to Naviance and it is not very helpful--if anything, it is quite misleading as the scattergrams combine 10 years of data (we all know how the admissions world has changed over 10 years) and it does not indicate hooks. As a result, it is incredibly easy for students (and parents) to think the odds are much greater to get into specific colleges than it actually is.

2) The basic patterns play out in schools all over this area as they do in "the Big 3" (side note, barf) with regards to college admissions--it is an incredibly unpredictable and stressful process for these kids. However, there is a HUGE difference between kids at schools like Sidwell and those at large public schools: expectations. For all of the short-comings of our large public--and there are a lot--I think my (high stats, NMSF) DC really benefits from being at a public school because they see other high stats students who can't apply ED because they need merit money or because public universities are the only viable option. This REALLY helps contextualize the whole process and give the much-needed perspective that there are outstanding students so many colleges, not just the "top 50".

1) Suggestion: Only look at the last two, pandemic-influenced years. I would think Naviance for public high schools would be more helpful because there are more data points.
2) No parent who sends their kid to Sidwell or a similar private school is okay with their DC going to a college outside the top 50 -- especially parents who start their kid in upper school.

I'm always perplexed by trolls or interested bystanders who enter these chats. You act so surprised by Sidwell and private school parents. I am always surprised that you are surprised.

As a parent who joined at 9th (from public) I would argue that the opposite is true. We switched our kid because he/she was learning very little in DCPS and (for example) could barely write an essay. I know about 5 other kids who joined other Big3 schools in 9th and they moved for the same reason. College admissions are fantastic from Wilson--there is a massive "diverse urban school" bump. If I wanted the best college placement I would have have sent him there. We are very aware that my kid's peers who stayed at Wilson will probably attend better colleges than he/she will coming from a Big3.

This is a really good point and one that I keep reminding myself as a private school (not SFS) senior parent who also has a younger child with a few more years to go at the school. It's really tempting to look at this year's college process for senior DC and think - what the hell - let's just pull younger DC, send to Wilson and virtually guarantee a 4.0+ GPA and that hardscrabble, urban admissions hook. But then I remember - I do want younger DC to be literate.

Give me a f***ing break. Wilson has ONE college counselor for 500 kids. Colleges understand the differences in the grading systems between private and public. There are some amazing kids at Wilson and to suggest that they are only getting in because of a "hardscrabble, urban admissions hook" is beyond insulting (and I'm speaking as a private school parent who struggled with the decision to leave DCPS and recognizes the privilege I have).

Uh, I have a kid at Wilson 9th grade. She has straight A's and has not had ANY homework this year. Not a single day of homework. She's in Algebra 2 (or was--Wilson kids only have math for half the year under the new schedule). I have heard the school gets more challenging in 11th grade when kids start taking APs but 9th has been a joke.

Thank you; I'm just stating the facts as most people know them. The PP that I was responding to also noted that her child could barely write an essay.

16:28, who "struggled with the decision to leave DCPS" (most people run from it if they can) and "recognizes the privilege I have," is overcome today with her AU Park Guilt.

[Anonymous]

My DC graduated from Sidwell a few years back. I remember one parent complaining about the CCO at a sporting event and when I probed, she said she and her husband were “insulted” that the CCO suggested their DC look at schools they considered “beneath” their child. On multiple occasions, the CCO expressed concerns with the list of schools their DC was focusing on. The parents explicitly said they felt the CCO should “do more” to help their child get into a “better” school. They rejected the CCO’s advice at every turn, pushed their DC to only apply to top tier schools (which their DC did.) Unbeknownst to the parents, their DC threw in an app last minute to one of the schools the CCO recommended and guess what? That was this child’s ONLY acceptance. My experience is that the CCO is doing their job and doing it well. One advisor left the CCO office to go to another DC private due to a small handful of crazy parents. It’s some of the parents you can’t solve for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been following this (as a public school parent). I have so many thoughts but will limit them to a few that will be (hopefully) viewed as constructive:

1) I have full access to Naviance and it is not very helpful--if anything, it is quite misleading as the scattergrams combine 10 years of data (we all know how the admissions world has changed over 10 years) and it does not indicate hooks. As a result, it is incredibly easy for students (and parents) to think the odds are much greater to get into specific colleges than it actually is.

2) The basic patterns play out in schools all over this area as they do in "the Big 3" (side note, barf) with regards to college admissions--it is an incredibly unpredictable and stressful process for these kids. However, there is a HUGE difference between kids at schools like Sidwell and those at large public schools: expectations. For all of the short-comings of our large public--and there are a lot--I think my (high stats, NMSF) DC really benefits from being at a public school because they see other high stats students who can't apply ED because they need merit money or because public universities are the only viable option. This REALLY helps contextualize the whole process and give the much-needed perspective that there are outstanding students so many colleges, not just the "top 50".

1) Suggestion: Only look at the last two, pandemic-influenced years. I would think Naviance for public high schools would be more helpful because there are more data points.
2) No parent who sends their kid to Sidwell or a similar private school is okay with their DC going to a college outside the top 50 -- especially parents who start their kid in upper school.

I'm always perplexed by trolls or interested bystanders who enter these chats. You act so surprised by Sidwell and private school parents. I am always surprised that you are surprised.

As a parent who joined at 9th (from public) I would argue that the opposite is true. We switched our kid because he/she was learning very little in DCPS and (for example) could barely write an essay. I know about 5 other kids who joined other Big3 schools in 9th and they moved for the same reason. College admissions are fantastic from Wilson--there is a massive "diverse urban school" bump. If I wanted the best college placement I would have have sent him there. We are very aware that my kid's peers who stayed at Wilson will probably attend better colleges than he/she will coming from a Big3.

This is a really good point and one that I keep reminding myself as a private school (not SFS) senior parent who also has a younger child with a few more years to go at the school. It's really tempting to look at this year's college process for senior DC and think - what the hell - let's just pull younger DC, send to Wilson and virtually guarantee a 4.0+ GPA and that hardscrabble, urban admissions hook. But then I remember - I do want younger DC to be literate.

Give me a f***ing break. Wilson has ONE college counselor for 500 kids. Colleges understand the differences in the grading systems between private and public. There are some amazing kids at Wilson and to suggest that they are only getting in because of a "hardscrabble, urban admissions hook" is beyond insulting (and I'm speaking as a private school parent who struggled with the decision to leave DCPS and recognizes the privilege I have).

Uh, I have a kid at Wilson 9th grade. She has straight A's and has not had ANY homework this year. Not a single day of homework. She's in Algebra 2 (or was--Wilson kids only have math for half the year under the new schedule). I have heard the school gets more challenging in 11th grade when kids start taking APs but 9th has been a joke.

Thank you; I'm just stating the facts as most people know them. The PP that I was responding to also noted that her child could barely write an essay.

16:28, who "struggled with the decision to leave DCPS" (most people run from it if they can) and "recognizes the privilege I have," is overcome today with her AU Park Guilt.

What I was responding to was not about grade inflation--clearly there is grade inflation at many public schools and the workload is much larger at privates (particularly in earlier grades). But to suggest that the good college admissions results of a small subset of Wilson students --many of whom I know and who are incredibly smart and talented--is because of a "hardscrapple urban bump" is BS and makes you look pathetic. These are not "the facts as most people know them."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC graduated from Sidwell a few years back. I remember one parent complaining about the CCO at a sporting event and when I probed, she said she and her husband were “insulted” that the CCO suggested their DC look at schools they considered “beneath” their child. On multiple occasions, the CCO expressed concerns with the list of schools their DC was focusing on. The parents explicitly said they felt the CCO should “do more” to help their child get into a “better” school. They rejected the CCO’s advice at every turn, pushed their DC to only apply to top tier schools (which their DC did.) Unbeknownst to the parents, their DC threw in an app last minute to one of the schools the CCO recommended and guess what? That was this child’s ONLY acceptance. My experience is that the CCO is doing their job and doing it well. One advisor left the CCO office to go to another DC private due to a small handful of crazy parents. It’s some of the parents you can’t solve for.

The entire office is gone from the time you are referring to. And without excusing any terrible behavior by parents, there are plenty of stories about rank incompetence in the CCO from those times.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I've been following this (as a public school parent). I have so many thoughts but will limit them to a few that will be (hopefully) viewed as constructive:

1) I have full access to Naviance and it is not very helpful--if anything, it is quite misleading as the scattergrams combine 10 years of data (we all know how the admissions world has changed over 10 years) and it does not indicate hooks. As a result, it is incredibly easy for students (and parents) to think the odds are much greater to get into specific colleges than it actually is.

2) The basic patterns play out in schools all over this area as they do in "the Big 3" (side note, barf) with regards to college admissions--it is an incredibly unpredictable and stressful process for these kids. However, there is a HUGE difference between kids at schools like Sidwell and those at large public schools: expectations. For all of the short-comings of our large public--and there are a lot--I think my (high stats, NMSF) DC really benefits from being at a public school because they see other high stats students who can't apply ED because they need merit money or because public universities are the only viable option. This REALLY helps contextualize the whole process and give the much-needed perspective that there are outstanding students so many colleges, not just the "top 50".

1) Suggestion: Only look at the last two, pandemic-influenced years. I would think Naviance for public high schools would be more helpful because there are more data points.
2) No parent who sends their kid to Sidwell or a similar private school is okay with their DC going to a college outside the top 50 -- especially parents who start their kid in upper school.

I'm always perplexed by trolls or interested bystanders who enter these chats. You act so surprised by Sidwell and private school parents. I am always surprised that you are surprised.

As a parent who joined at 9th (from public) I would argue that the opposite is true. We switched our kid because he/she was learning very little in DCPS and (for example) could barely write an essay. I know about 5 other kids who joined other Big3 schools in 9th and they moved for the same reason. College admissions are fantastic from Wilson--there is a massive "diverse urban school" bump. If I wanted the best college placement I would have have sent him there. We are very aware that my kid's peers who stayed at Wilson will probably attend better colleges than he/she will coming from a Big3.

This is a really good point and one that I keep reminding myself as a private school (not SFS) senior parent who also has a younger child with a few more years to go at the school. It's really tempting to look at this year's college process for senior DC and think - what the hell - let's just pull younger DC, send to Wilson and virtually guarantee a 4.0+ GPA and that hardscrabble, urban admissions hook. But then I remember - I do want younger DC to be literate.

Give me a f***ing break. Wilson has ONE college counselor for 500 kids. Colleges understand the differences in the grading systems between private and public. There are some amazing kids at Wilson and to suggest that they are only getting in because of a "hardscrabble, urban admissions hook" is beyond insulting (and I'm speaking as a private school parent who struggled with the decision to leave DCPS and recognizes the privilege I have).

Uh, I have a kid at Wilson 9th grade. She has straight A's and has not had ANY homework this year. Not a single day of homework. She's in Algebra 2 (or was--Wilson kids only have math for half the year under the new schedule). I have heard the school gets more challenging in 11th grade when kids start taking APs but 9th has been a joke.

Thank you; I'm just stating the facts as most people know them. The PP that I was responding to also noted that her child could barely write an essay.

16:28, who "struggled with the decision to leave DCPS" (most people run from it if they can) and "recognizes the privilege I have," is overcome today with her AU Park Guilt.

Nope...my struggle was not about guilt. It was about not wanting to deal with people like you. Fortunately, we are at a different private where people can recognize that private schools may be the right option for their kids without suggesting that Wilson kids are illiterate.