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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I moved my kid from Deal to private for 9th. The workload is about 5 times that of DCPS. My kid is finally learning to write and study.
It's night and day over DCPS. I can't stress this enough. It's easily 5 times the workload and my kid is actually learning.. I have kids left in DCPS. This year is another shit-show.
English school english classes that don't read a single book or write a single paper. AP classes that DON'T HAVE A TEACHER so the school is giving every kid an A as a default.

College admits are out and the Wilson admits (of white, upper class kids) are better than those at the Big3. These kids are the siblings
of the my kid's friends. They are getting in (unconnected) to Brown, Yale, Northwestern, Penn, and on and on.
You know how a Big 3 was shut out of Brown? Well, not Wilson. They have several kids going and they're not URM. They're upper middle class white kids.
DCPS grossly inflated grades during the pandemic. 19-20 quarters 3 and 4 counted any assignment as extra-credit. So if you did anything (EVEN ONE ASSIGNMENT) quarters 3 and 4 you
got an A. They those quarters were added to 1 and 2 and rounded up. It was almost impossible to get a B. Like statistically impossible if you turned in a SINGLE assignment.
Then last year (20-21) they barely had school and the lowest grade anyone could get was a B. Anything lower than a B was a "P".
You could get As for breathing (and my kids did). I can't emphasize enough how easy it was and is. It was insanity. My kids (19-20 and 20-21) had 98%+ in all classes
with next to no work). It was really stressful for us (and a lot of parents) because we knew our kids weren't learning anything. As such, many of us pulled our kids out.
But now, the kids graduating with this DCPS education are getting the top acceptances out of DC. I'm happy for them but it just seems insane.

I'm sure I'll get crucified for this but it's wacky. These kids are in some giant loophole or elite college admissions. Colleges are not taking the suburban public kids either
(with their 1600 SATs and 15 APs). Urban is where it's out--whether or not anything was learned.

And how do those Wilson kids do at college if they are so unprepared?

If this post is true, by the time OPs kid graduates, Brown won’t be taking any Wilson kids because the track record of performance of the previous acceptances were poor. So nothing to worry about.

I'm a private school parent and am disgusted with how people in this thread think. If the kids from Wilson getting into Brown end up performing so poorly that the school stops taking them, IT IS, in fact, something to worry about because is is a problem for all of society.

We NEED public schools to be good and the kids coming out of there to be prepared for college. Shame on you for looking at everything as a zero sum game.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in DC going to a big three but with lots of friends at Wilson since I went to Deal. This has always been true, that it is easier to get into college from Wilson.

You don’t send your kids to a big three to get into a better college. You send them to get a great education rather than having to deal with what you called the sh*thow that is Wilson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in DC going to a big three but with lots of friends at Wilson since I went to Deal. This has always been true, that it is easier to get into college from Wilson.

You don’t send your kids to a big three to get into a better college. You send them to get a great education rather than having to deal with what you called the sh*thow that is Wilson.

Oh, and the valedictorian from my year at Wilson went to Duke and did really poorly freshman year despite being a diligent student and smart guy. He wasn’t prepared.

I went to college with someone from Wilson. I remember we were in a social sciences class together and had a paper to write. I was doing outside research, not just relying on syllabus readings. She recounted a convo she had with the prof about her paper. The prof recommended she read ahead in the syllabus a bit and use some of those readings in her paper. She said to me incredulously, “I can’t believe she suggested I read ahead! I’m not going to read ahead!” Night and day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go Tigers! #TigerPride

This parent of a sophomore loves everything you reported, OP! Hoping to keep the trend going.

has your kid read one book this year? Has he written one paper?
if you're honest, the answer to both is no. are you genuinely ok with this?

-Wilson parent who does not share your optimism

No, to both, but…My kid is not taking any English classes this half of the year. When I was in high school, I didn’t write any papers or read books for class when I was in the classes she’s currently enrolled in (foreign language, chemistry, history, music) as a 10th grader. She will have a lot more on her plate next semester.

And yes, I hate the 4x4 and have been vocal about it.

You didn’t write any history papers in tenth grade? Yikes. No wonder you think Wilson is fine....

[Anonymous]

Why don’t big3 parents who fall in this donut hole apply to Oxbridge?

Afaik Oxbridge won’t advantage Wilson kids vs private. It’s strictly about ability

If big 3 education is that strong, then Oxbridge Process should be smooth sailing no?

[Anonymous]

My "big 3" student is at a "top 20" school and knows a bunch of kids from Wilson. Yes, more kids from Wilson than DC's school are attending college with him, but they are all struggling with the workload and are not getting particularly great grades. My kid is continuing to get excellent grades and has far superior time management skills.

[Anonymous]

The glee with which you all talk about the poorly prepared Wilson students is abhorrent.

I, for one, have struggled mightily with my decision to send my kids to private, with all the privilege that comes with it and the inequity it exacerbates. I justified it because I knew my kids would get lost in our big public school (not Wilson)...I would NEVER take pleasure in the fact that many public schools are failing even the most gifted of their students.

[Anonymous]

This is a troll post. My daughter who went to Wilson is at Yale now. Not a legacy. She certainly works very hard but got all As her first and second semester at Yale. She was not even the valedictorian at Wilson. It was a difficult year for her. Maybe if she went to GDS it would have been easy but she stepped up and handled it just fine. Same for her friends who are at Columbia and Brown. AP exams are not graded by DCPS teachers. They are graded anonymously by AP graders. You have to know your stuff to do well on APs. Wilson is a mixed bag but the top 25% of kids there are very good.

[Anonymous]

So a Wilson parent came to the private school forum to crow about a handful of college results and the private school parents are the whiny ones?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So a Wilson parent came to the private school forum to crow about a handful of college results and the private school parents are the whiny ones?

The private school parents seem to be the whiny ones on this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a troll post. My daughter who went to Wilson is at Yale now. Not a legacy. She certainly works very hard but got all As her first and second semester at Yale. She was not even the valedictorian at Wilson. It was a difficult year for her. Maybe if she went to GDS it would have been easy but she stepped up and handled it just fine. Same for her friends who are at Columbia and Brown. AP exams are not graded by DCPS teachers. They are graded anonymously by AP graders. You have to know your stuff to do well on APs. Wilson is a mixed bag but the top 25% of kids there are very good.

Good point about the AP exams. I think OP doesn’t have a clue. Kids must be learning something if they are doing well on AP exams. I’m sure AP scores help top schools decide whether the student can handle college level material. It is also BS that Wilson has an advantage over private schools in getting into ivys, etc. Ivys tend to be 50% private school kids and 50% public. There are way more public school kids in the US compared with private so private school kids have a big advantage over public schools. Maybe your kid is not guaranteed a spot at Harvard or Princeton but many other private school kids are getting in. Stop being so whiny and pathetic. The game is rigged in your favor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I moved my kid from Deal to private for 9th. The workload is about 5 times that of DCPS. My kid is finally learning to write and study.
It's night and day over DCPS. I can't stress this enough. It's easily 5 times the workload and my kid is actually learning.. I have kids left in DCPS. This year is another shit-show.
English school english classes that don't read a single book or write a single paper. AP classes that DON'T HAVE A TEACHER so the school is giving every kid an A as a default.

College admits are out and the Wilson admits (of white, upper class kids) are better than those at the Big3. These kids are the siblings
of the my kid's friends. They are getting in (unconnected) to Brown, Yale, Northwestern, Penn, and on and on.
You know how a Big 3 was shut out of Brown? Well, not Wilson. They have several kids going and they're not URM. They're upper middle class white kids.
DCPS grossly inflated grades during the pandemic. 19-20 quarters 3 and 4 counted any assignment as extra-credit. So if you did anything (EVEN ONE ASSIGNMENT) quarters 3 and 4 you
got an A. They those quarters were added to 1 and 2 and rounded up. It was almost impossible to get a B. Like statistically impossible if you turned in a SINGLE assignment.
Then last year (20-21) they barely had school and the lowest grade anyone could get was a B. Anything lower than a B was a "P".
You could get As for breathing (and my kids did). I can't emphasize enough how easy it was and is. It was insanity. My kids (19-20 and 20-21) had 98%+ in all classes
with next to no work). It was really stressful for us (and a lot of parents) because we knew our kids weren't learning anything. As such, many of us pulled our kids out.
But now, the kids graduating with this DCPS education are getting the top acceptances out of DC. I'm happy for them but it just seems insane.

I'm sure I'll get crucified for this but it's wacky. These kids are in some giant loophole or elite college admissions. Colleges are not taking the suburban public kids either
(with their 1600 SATs and 15 APs). Urban is where it's out--whether or not anything was learned.

And how do those Wilson kids do at college if they are so unprepared?

If this post is true, by the time OPs kid graduates, Brown won’t be taking any Wilson kids because the track record of performance of the previous acceptances were poor. So nothing to worry about.

I'm a private school parent and am disgusted with how people in this thread think. If the kids from Wilson getting into Brown end up performing so poorly that the school stops taking them, IT IS, in fact, something to worry about because is is a problem for all of society.

We NEED public schools to be good and the kids coming out of there to be prepared for college. Shame on you for looking at everything as a zero sum game.

PP, the kids from Wilson are getting into Brown and other great colleges and are doing just fine. No need to worry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The glee with which you all talk about the poorly prepared Wilson students is abhorrent.

I, for one, have struggled mightily with my decision to send my kids to private, with all the privilege that comes with it and the inequity it exacerbates. I justified it because I knew my kids would get lost in our big public school (not Wilson)...I would NEVER take pleasure in the fact that many public schools are failing even the most gifted of their students.

PP, I can't speak for "many public schools," but I can speak for Wilson and it is not failing the most gifted students. What you are seeing is private school parents pretending that Wilson is somehow inferior when obviously it is not. It is a way for them to come to grips with the fact that their pampered and entitled children could not get into an Ivy League college despite the fact that they started with every possible advantage. They were foolish for spending half a million dollars on private school, and are taking it out by screaming into the ether about Wilson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go Tigers! #TigerPride

This parent of a sophomore loves everything you reported, OP! Hoping to keep the trend going.

has your kid read one book this year? Has he written one paper?
if you're honest, the answer to both is no. are you genuinely ok with this?

-Wilson parent who does not share your optimism

No, to both, but…My kid is not taking any English classes this half of the year. When I was in high school, I didn’t write any papers or read books for class when I was in the classes she’s currently enrolled in (foreign language, chemistry, history, music) as a 10th grader. She will have a lot more on her plate next semester.

And yes, I hate the 4x4 and have been vocal about it.

You didn’t write any history papers in tenth grade? Yikes. No wonder you think Wilson is fine....

No. Just a lot of essay exams. Somehow it was good enough for me to go to Amherst.

[Anonymous]

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.