private school decision day: Feb 27

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Super dramatic, but you do you!

Is it dramatic? My kid does not want to go there and it is not worth the long commute that would be required. We are also likely moving if admitted to one of the privates. If MacArthur works for your kid, send them there!

Well so the dramatic piece was saying you were going to move if faced with having to attend MacArthur. And it was apparently also untrue if you were planning to move regardless?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Well so the dramatic piece was saying you were going to move if faced with having to attend MacArthur. And it was apparently also untrue if you were planning to move regardless?

It’s not dramatic to opt out of DCPS based on personal circumstances. We don’t live in the Palisades and I’m not going out of my way to make MacArthur work for our family based on what I know about the school. Other options seem more appealing for a variety of reasons. You are free to make choices based on what works best for your kid/family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How are people feeling? What is your plan if your kid doesn't get in anywhere or doesn't get into an appealing or top choice? We only applied to 3 and our plan is the local public. I don't feel stressed about it bc I don't think public would be all that bad - though obviously a top private would be a more rigorous, well-resourced experience for my kid.

Applied for a few of schools which are all trashed by this site. So not worried. Maybe dodged a few bullets. Who knows?

DC is at a school routinely trashed on this site and loves it. It’s been phenomenal for them. Good luck for your results!

Thank you for saying this. Some parents think that if a school isn’t X, Y or Z, it is garbage. Different schools are good fits for different kids! If someone has to trash other schools to make their DC’s school seem superior, maybe it isn’t really superior after all.

My DC actually turned down a school that is often touted as better than the rest for another that was a better fit. DC is happy, thriving and is able to have experiences that they could not have had at the other school. Embrace the differences and good luck!

[Anonymous]

It’s gonna be a lot of disappointment on the 27th.

[Anonymous]

Do schools reject/accept on the same day? Do they hold anyone back for wait list or not really?

I figure the schools reach out by phone to people in advance of this to make sure they have a group who will accept the offer? or does it not work that way.

If we haven't heard yet i figured getting rejected. (non-high school admissions....we are new to this)

[Anonymous]

Read some of the waitlist posts from previous years. You will hear anecdotal stories of people getting off of waitlists but the are very few and far between. Many schools (GDS, Potomac, Maret) will waitlist the vast majority of non-admitted applicants. It spares them having to deny a student and they seem not to care about the deceptive message that the kid still has a good chance. The colleges publish their waitlist data and the more competitive schools are often 1-5% off a waitlist. I would guess that they are the same around DC independents.

But don't worry, soon you'll get lots of threads about people who think that every kid who is admitted and chooses a different school triggers a kid off the waitlist. It's an annual DCUM tradition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do schools reject/accept on the same day? Do they hold anyone back for wait list or not really?

I figure the schools reach out by phone to people in advance of this to make sure they have a group who will accept the offer? or does it not work that way.

If we haven't heard yet i figured getting rejected. (non-high school admissions....we are new to this)

No, not having heard in advance does not mean it’s a rejection. I’ve heard that some schools will give a courtesy advance heads-up to the family of a sibling that is being rejected, a couple days to a few hours before the official release of info. Not all schools even do that.

There are no advance notifications to “ensure a group who will accept the offer.” The schools have scads of data and have a good sense of their expected yield. They admit more students than they have spots for based on that data (some schools may be more conservative if the previous year was overenrolled, etc).

You’re overthinking it.

[Anonymous]

Why is Feb 27 the date? Why don't schools do it on different days?

If we were rejected last year, are we likely to be rejected again?

[Anonymous]

The AISGW school agree upon a single date. And to answer another PP question, most decisions will be done by the end of this week, but there will be some small tweaks next wk before final depending on the school.

[Anonymous]

We received a courtesy early yes from the school where are older child was then attending.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:our local public school is not great - still growing, only been open 2 years (macarthur HS in palisades) so am not thrilled with that option but also think DC would be fine there.

Also not thrilled with macarthur. I don’t think my DC would be fine there, so if the private options don’t work out, we will move.

Super dramatic, but you do you!

I’m not the PP you’re replying to but I don’t think it’s dramatic to move because one is unhappy with MacArthur. We were unhappy with this prospect and were not too keen about our experience with our DCPS elementary (one of the top ones) so we moved to a close in suburb and the immediate improvement was significant. The difference between the resources the our current school has vs our DCPS elementary was night and day. Of course there are lots of other trade-offs but I personally don’t think moving if you think you’re getting a better quality education for your child is an overreaction. I was very skeptical before we moved but even my kids admit it is so much better now, even though it was tough to move mid-elementary.

[Anonymous]

*our. Damn you autocorrect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t worry about my kid on 2/27, but I do worry about the noise coming from their class, where everyone has applied generally to the same set of schools.

Same here. We've applied to two and are comfortable with our backup public school, but a bit worried how things will go with the class. Also feeling a little sad because if everyone gets their first choice, looks like none of DS's close friend circle are going to end up with him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:our local public school is not great - still growing, only been open 2 years (macarthur HS in palisades) so am not thrilled with that option but also think DC would be fine there.

Also not thrilled with macarthur. I don’t think my DC would be fine there, so if the private options don’t work out, we will move.

Super dramatic, but you do you!

I’m not the PP you’re replying to but I don’t think it’s dramatic to move because one is unhappy with MacArthur. We were unhappy with this prospect and were not too keen about our experience with our DCPS elementary (one of the top ones) so we moved to a close in suburb and the immediate improvement was significant. The difference between the resources the our current school has vs our DCPS elementary was night and day. Of course there are lots of other trade-offs but I personally don’t think moving if you think you’re getting a better quality education for your child is an overreaction. I was very skeptical before we moved but even my kids admit it is so much better now, even though it was tough to move mid-elementary.

People are dying, Kim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:our local public school is not great - still growing, only been open 2 years (macarthur HS in palisades) so am not thrilled with that option but also think DC would be fine there.

Also not thrilled with macarthur. I don’t think my DC would be fine there, so if the private options don’t work out, we will move.

Super dramatic, but you do you!

I’m not the PP you’re replying to but I don’t think it’s dramatic to move because one is unhappy with MacArthur. We were unhappy with this prospect and were not too keen about our experience with our DCPS elementary (one of the top ones) so we moved to a close in suburb and the immediate improvement was significant. The difference between the resources the our current school has vs our DCPS elementary was night and day. Of course there are lots of other trade-offs but I personally don’t think moving if you think you’re getting a better quality education for your child is an overreaction. I was very skeptical before we moved but even my kids admit it is so much better now, even though it was tough to move mid-elementary.

People are dying, Kim.

That has always been happening and will never stop.