I should have kept my kid at Wilson; college admits are much better than the Big3

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But then your kid will have an easier time in college as they know how to write and study. Many kids have a horrible first year as they realize they have major gaps in knowledge and study skills.

+1. So true. And when you literally can't have one bad quarter or semester, let alone several, if you have dreams of attending medical school or a top law school. You are quickly weeded out.

My 2020 Wilson grad is doing very well at a highly ranked SLAC. His freshman year, he repeatedly told us that he expected to be challenged in college and felt it was not worth the money to be coasting through classes. DS has not taken a ton of STEM classes, so I’m really only responding to the idea that public school kids can’t write.

At (pre-pandemic) Wilson, DS wrote at least 6-10 pages of essays per day for 5 AP classes junior and senior year, and he got voluminous and sometimes pretty brutal feedback (contrary to what you hear now about easy As for no effort). He learned a lot from it, and one of the teachers who provided the most negative feedback ended up writing him a great college recommendation. After that experience, DS has so far been underwhelmed by the writing requirements at college.

I assume that post-pandemic, things will go back to more closely reflecting my son’s experience at Wilson.

Also, with respect to the discussion about which kids to compare —- DS was not in the top 20% of his class at Wilson by GPA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't Wilson approx. 2,000 students? Focusing on the top 10 or so seniors out of 500 i.e. top 1% is misleading -- and also, quite presumptuous to assume your kid would be a top 1% senior. And obsessing over which college they end up at misses the mark. Look up the top graduates from five to eight years ago and see what they majored in, if they graduated college on time, with or without honors, and where they're working or if they ended up at medical or law school.

But lots of students from Wilson aren’t planning on college at all. And even fewer are aiming for the ivies which don’t give merit scholarships—I know kids who turned down ivies for full rides at other great SLACs or HBCs, or just applied to those exclusively. You can’t claim the comparison should be all-of-Wilson vs. all-of-GDS because that’s really apples to oranges.

Also the info on what they’re doing now isn’t collected anywhere as far as I know. Maybe somebody at NCS or Sidwell keeps track of the recent alumnae who bother to check in, but even that’s going to be incomplete. The only reason our K-6 knew where DC got into college was because we answered an email, but not everybody does.

Some real bizarre reasoning here about comparisons. So what is a reasonable comparison to you? The whole 125 member GDS senior class with the top 125 students at Wilson? Or all of the college bound Wilson seniors?

What about the kids who start Wilson with their hearts set on Ivies but fall short? How should they be identified or compared?

Easy, and you’d see it too if you knew anything about public schools. Compare to the Wilson kids taking honors and AP classes. This would include the kids who enter Wilson with their hearts set on ivies, as well as other kids who are on the college track.

This would also include the public school kids who won’t apply to ivies for financial or other reasons, but given the high share of private school kids who are gunning for ivies, that should bias it properly from your POV, no?

But by all means keep insulting other posters, we get a really good handle on your insecurities that way.

So you want to compare the top 60 kids at Wilson with all 125 members of a GDS graduating class?

I’ll tell you what, if you take the top 60 from GDS and compare with the top 60 from Wilson it still would not be a close comparison. The differences will be significant, like 3-5 Ivy admits vs 15-18.

Not that there is anything wrong with it, but that Wilson top 60 is probably 3-5 Ivies, 5-10 top 25 ranked SLACs and only 15-20 to top ranked public state universities. It’s undeniable good, but GDS just wouldn’t compare. The 60th ranked kid at Wilson is probably at Penn State. The 60th ranked kid at GDS is probably at WUSTL.

[Anonymous]

Which team is winning? Does anyone know the current score?

[Anonymous]

Yes but will act like went to GDS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everybody at these top colleges gets the same degree whether you purportedly struggled through or breezed through with all A’s. Seems to me the kids at Wilson get the best deal and the Big 3 parents resent it.

Is there a metric somewhere that tracks the long term success of Big 3 vs. Wilson or similar public high school? Not really interested in who is better at writing term papers but post college real world stats.

You know what happens to be the bottom of the senior class at Ivies if you're not loaded and connected? Unemployment or underemployment. It's not like getting into an Ivy makes you a shoo-in for a six-figure job or medical school. If you crash and burn at at a prestige college it is deeply embarrassing when you go onto work a regular job. Everyone knows you crashed and burned.

I know tons of Ivy grads working as middling GS13s the same as people with degrees from University of Phoenix.

There’s even an Ivy grad in my neighborhood who moved back home and walks dogs for a living.

I agree that it’s funny that people think it’s like a golden ticket from Willy Wonka.

+1. Deluded strivers.

I'm old $ European and this is disgusting. They are 18 year old kids! Social mobility is great for them, we don't really need any more opportunities.
they do. Why are you so bitter?

An old $ European?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everybody at these top colleges gets the same degree whether you purportedly struggled through or breezed through with all A’s. Seems to me the kids at Wilson get the best deal and the Big 3 parents resent it.

Is there a metric somewhere that tracks the long term success of Big 3 vs. Wilson or similar public high school? Not really interested in who is better at writing term papers but post college real world stats.

You know what happens to be the bottom of the senior class at Ivies if you're not loaded and connected? Unemployment or underemployment. It's not like getting into an Ivy makes you a shoo-in for a six-figure job or medical school. If you crash and burn at at a prestige college it is deeply embarrassing when you go onto work a regular job. Everyone knows you crashed and burned.

I know tons of Ivy grads working as middling GS13s the same as people with degrees from University of Phoenix.

There’s even an Ivy grad in my neighborhood who moved back home and walks dogs for a living.

I agree that it’s funny that people think it’s like a golden ticket from Willy Wonka.

+1. Deluded strivers.

I'm old $ European and this is disgusting. They are 18 year old kids! Social mobility is great for them, we don't really need any more opportunities.
they do. Why are you so bitter?

An old $ European?

Beyond implying that making fun of parents is actually making fun of their kids, that part tickles me too. It’s the chefs kiss of ridiculousness and absolutely hilarious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't Wilson approx. 2,000 students? Focusing on the top 10 or so seniors out of 500 i.e. top 1% is misleading -- and also, quite presumptuous to assume your kid would be a top 1% senior. And obsessing over which college they end up at misses the mark. Look up the top graduates from five to eight years ago and see what they majored in, if they graduated college on time, with or without honors, and where they're working or if they ended up at medical or law school.

But lots of students from Wilson aren’t planning on college at all. And even fewer are aiming for the ivies which don’t give merit scholarships—I know kids who turned down ivies for full rides at other great SLACs or HBCs, or just applied to those exclusively. You can’t claim the comparison should be all-of-Wilson vs. all-of-GDS because that’s really apples to oranges.

Also the info on what they’re doing now isn’t collected anywhere as far as I know. Maybe somebody at NCS or Sidwell keeps track of the recent alumnae who bother to check in, but even that’s going to be incomplete. The only reason our K-6 knew where DC got into college was because we answered an email, but not everybody does.

Some real bizarre reasoning here about comparisons. So what is a reasonable comparison to you? The whole 125 member GDS senior class with the top 125 students at Wilson? Or all of the college bound Wilson seniors?

What about the kids who start Wilson with their hearts set on Ivies but fall short? How should they be identified or compared?

Easy, and you’d see it too if you knew anything about public schools. Compare to the Wilson kids taking honors and AP classes. This would include the kids who enter Wilson with their hearts set on ivies, as well as other kids who are on the college track.

This would also include the public school kids who won’t apply to ivies for financial or other reasons, but given the high share of private school kids who are gunning for ivies, that should bias it properly from your POV, no?

But by all means keep insulting other posters, we get a really good handle on your insecurities that way.

So you want to compare the top 60 kids at Wilson with all 125 members of a GDS graduating class?

I’ll tell you what, if you take the top 60 from GDS and compare with the top 60 from Wilson it still would not be a close comparison. The differences will be significant, like 3-5 Ivy admits vs 15-18.

Not that there is anything wrong with it, but that Wilson top 60 is probably 3-5 Ivies, 5-10 top 25 ranked SLACs and only 15-20 to top ranked public state universities. It’s undeniable good, but GDS just wouldn’t compare. The 60th ranked kid at Wilson is probably at Penn State. The 60th ranked kid at GDS is probably at WUSTL.

This is not remotely correct for my kid’s year. My kid was not in the top 80 of his class at Wilson. He’s at a highly regarded SLAC with an acceptance rate below 15% and average GPA and test scores very much higher than Penn State’s. There are a lot of high achieving kids at Wilson. BTW, we’re white, both parents have graduate degrees, we’re UMC, and no hooks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everybody at these top colleges gets the same degree whether you purportedly struggled through or breezed through with all A’s. Seems to me the kids at Wilson get the best deal and the Big 3 parents resent it.

Is there a metric somewhere that tracks the long term success of Big 3 vs. Wilson or similar public high school? Not really interested in who is better at writing term papers but post college real world stats.

You know what happens to be the bottom of the senior class at Ivies if you're not loaded and connected? Unemployment or underemployment. It's not like getting into an Ivy makes you a shoo-in for a six-figure job or medical school. If you crash and burn at at a prestige college it is deeply embarrassing when you go onto work a regular job. Everyone knows you crashed and burned.

I know tons of Ivy grads working as middling GS13s the same as people with degrees from University of Phoenix.

There’s even an Ivy grad in my neighborhood who moved back home and walks dogs for a living.

I agree that it’s funny that people think it’s like a golden ticket from Willy Wonka.

+1. Deluded strivers.

I'm old $ European and this is disgusting. They are 18 year old kids! Social mobility is great for them, we don't really need any more opportunities.
they do. Why are you so bitter?

An old $ European?

Beyond implying that making fun of parents is actually making fun of their kids, that part tickles me too. It’s the chefs kiss of ridiculousness and absolutely hilarious.

Wow, what a loser. In more ways than one, as their kids got in and yours didn't. I know, I truly care about someone like you, who grew up in Podunk Pennsylvania, doesn't know the difference between a salad and a dinner fork, has 3 chins and wear wide width new balance shoes everywhere, and laughs like a drunk hyena when he sees an Amedeo Modigliani nude for the first time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everybody at these top colleges gets the same degree whether you purportedly struggled through or breezed through with all A’s. Seems to me the kids at Wilson get the best deal and the Big 3 parents resent it.

Is there a metric somewhere that tracks the long term success of Big 3 vs. Wilson or similar public high school? Not really interested in who is better at writing term papers but post college real world stats.

You know what happens to be the bottom of the senior class at Ivies if you're not loaded and connected? Unemployment or underemployment. It's not like getting into an Ivy makes you a shoo-in for a six-figure job or medical school. If you crash and burn at at a prestige college it is deeply embarrassing when you go onto work a regular job. Everyone knows you crashed and burned.

I know tons of Ivy grads working as middling GS13s the same as people with degrees from University of Phoenix.

There’s even an Ivy grad in my neighborhood who moved back home and walks dogs for a living.

I agree that it’s funny that people think it’s like a golden ticket from Willy Wonka.

+1. Deluded strivers.

I'm old $ European and this is disgusting. They are 18 year old kids! Social mobility is great for them, we don't really need any more opportunities.
they do. Why are you so bitter?

An old $ European?

Beyond implying that making fun of parents is actually making fun of their kids, that part tickles me too. It’s the chefs kiss of ridiculousness and absolutely hilarious.

Wow, what a loser. In more ways than one, as their kids got in and yours didn't. I know, I truly care about someone like you, who grew up in Podunk Pennsylvania, doesn't know the difference between a salad and a dinner fork, has 3 chins and wear wide width new balance shoes everywhere, and laughs like a drunk hyena when he sees an Amedeo Modigliani nude for the first time.

Hmmm. Struck a nerve here, I see.

[Anonymous]

These comments are everything that’s wrong with parents in this area. Pitting kids against each other, talking about them like commodities, tearing other peoples’ children down, the pleasure you take in seeing children fail! Gross. Do right by your kids, raise kind, empathetic, smart kids who will hopefully be better than this crowd. Geez!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everybody at these top colleges gets the same degree whether you purportedly struggled through or breezed through with all A’s. Seems to me the kids at Wilson get the best deal and the Big 3 parents resent it.

Is there a metric somewhere that tracks the long term success of Big 3 vs. Wilson or similar public high school? Not really interested in who is better at writing term papers but post college real world stats.

You know what happens to be the bottom of the senior class at Ivies if you're not loaded and connected? Unemployment or underemployment. It's not like getting into an Ivy makes you a shoo-in for a six-figure job or medical school. If you crash and burn at at a prestige college it is deeply embarrassing when you go onto work a regular job. Everyone knows you crashed and burned.

I know tons of Ivy grads working as middling GS13s the same as people with degrees from University of Phoenix.

There’s even an Ivy grad in my neighborhood who moved back home and walks dogs for a living.

I agree that it’s funny that people think it’s like a golden ticket from Willy Wonka.

+1. Deluded strivers.

I'm old $ European and this is disgusting. They are 18 year old kids! Social mobility is great for them, we don't really need any more opportunities.
they do. Why are you so bitter?

An old $ European?

Beyond implying that making fun of parents is actually making fun of their kids, that part tickles me too. It’s the chefs kiss of ridiculousness and absolutely hilarious.

Wow, what a loser. In more ways than one, as their kids got in and yours didn't. I know, I truly care about someone like you, who grew up in Podunk Pennsylvania, doesn't know the difference between a salad and a dinner fork, has 3 chins and wear wide width new balance shoes everywhere, and laughs like a drunk hyena when he sees an Amedeo Modigliani nude for the first time.

Hmmm. Struck a nerve here, I see.

Agree. What a horribly vicious description. Who even spends time imagining such stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everybody at these top colleges gets the same degree whether you purportedly struggled through or breezed through with all A’s. Seems to me the kids at Wilson get the best deal and the Big 3 parents resent it.

Is there a metric somewhere that tracks the long term success of Big 3 vs. Wilson or similar public high school? Not really interested in who is better at writing term papers but post college real world stats.

You know what happens to be the bottom of the senior class at Ivies if you're not loaded and connected? Unemployment or underemployment. It's not like getting into an Ivy makes you a shoo-in for a six-figure job or medical school. If you crash and burn at at a prestige college it is deeply embarrassing when you go onto work a regular job. Everyone knows you crashed and burned.

I know tons of Ivy grads working as middling GS13s the same as people with degrees from University of Phoenix.

There’s even an Ivy grad in my neighborhood who moved back home and walks dogs for a living.



I agree that it’s funny that people think it’s like a golden ticket from Willy Wonka.

+1. Deluded strivers.

I'm old $ European and this is disgusting. They are 18 year old kids! Social mobility is great for them, we don't really need any more opportunities.
they do. Why are you so bitter?

An old $ European?

Beyond implying that making fun of parents is actually making fun of their kids, that part tickles me too. It’s the chefs kiss of ridiculousness and absolutely hilarious.

Wow, what a loser. In more ways than one, as their kids got in and yours didn't. I know, I truly care about someone like you, who grew up in Podunk Pennsylvania, doesn't know the difference between a salad and a dinner fork, has 3 chins and wear wide width new balance shoes everywhere, and laughs like a drunk hyena when he sees an Amedeo Modigliani nude for the first time.

I feel sorry for your child. Your toxicity must be awful for the people around you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here.

the point of my post was

1)My high school kid who left DCPS is now doing about 5 times the work in private. It's been a giant step up and a challenge. It's honestly surprised me how big the jump has been. We left DCPS for the challenge because my kid was excelling without every studying and we got it.
This is a good thing.

2)DCPS grading and expectations during the pandemic were even more of a complete joke than usual. My kids got close to (or above) 100% in each class. This current grade (2022) is applying to college with these joke grades. They were based on nothing.

The Wilson kids of which you speak still likely scored 1500+ SATs, probably did well on the AP Tests (i.e., the actual test plus the Class grade), were Presidents/founded ECs, etc.

On thing not mentioned is that there are number of Ivy League ED Wilson kids that row Crew and Wilson has one of the best Crew teams (public or private) in the DC area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which team is winning? Does anyone know the current score?

I think all we have figured out is that parents from both GDS and Wilson are annoying.

[Anonymous]

Every single one if you is missing the point - if you care AT ALL about your kid having an enjoyable hs experience in a safe environment then no college outcome is more important. If you can afford private, you send your kid to private. Period.