How competitive is Duke Ellington to get into?

[Anonymous]

How good is the instrumental music program? DS is quite good at piano and loves to put in the work and devote time to it. But on the other hand, he is really good at math (qualified for USA Math Olympiad in 7th good). Wondering if Ellington is a path for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How good is the instrumental music program? DS is quite good at piano and loves to put in the work and devote time to it. But on the other hand, he is really good at math (qualified for USA Math Olympiad in 7th good). Wondering if Ellington is a path for him.

He is not going to have the classes he would have elsewhere. If you're willing to move, I'd look at Montgomery Blair or Thomas Jefferson. Plenty of talented musicians at those schools too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How good is the instrumental music program? DS is quite good at piano and loves to put in the work and devote time to it. But on the other hand, he is really good at math (qualified for USA Math Olympiad in 7th good). Wondering if Ellington is a path for him.

The academics at Ellington are considered an afterthought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How good is the instrumental music program? DS is quite good at piano and loves to put in the work and devote time to it. But on the other hand, he is really good at math (qualified for USA Math Olympiad in 7th good). Wondering if Ellington is a path for him.

The academics at Ellington are considered an afterthought.

That's really not true but like most DCPS schools it likely depends on teacher and cohort. They'll move kids to classes with upper class students if they can handle. The school doesn't offer BC Calc but there are opportunities for taking university classes for DCPS students who qualify.

[Anonymous]

Anyone commute from Brookland? How is it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I clicked on this link because my child is an enthusiastic musician and I was hoping to learn more about how competitive it is to get into the District’s arts magnet school. Instead it’s another thread about how it accepts students from outside the District. There are so many of these threads this has become tiresome to those of us who actually want to find out more about the school. I’m sympathetic to your position but enough already.

It really depends on the department, the instrument, and number of competitive applicants. In general, advanced music reading is important but there are varying degrees of proficiency for new students. The expectation is that music applicants have formal foundation.

I agree, enough already. The level of competitiveness changes across program and finding what the number of applicant v's places per programs is impossible.

In terms of artistic level for the instruments, the piano level is very high, see what is being played at ABRSM level 8 and above to get an idea. There are only about 4 or 5 places for piano admissions per year from what I can work out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I clicked on this link because my child is an enthusiastic musician and I was hoping to learn more about how competitive it is to get into the District’s arts magnet school. Instead it’s another thread about how it accepts students from outside the District. There are so many of these threads this has become tiresome to those of us who actually want to find out more about the school. I’m sympathetic to your position but enough already.

It really depends on the department, the instrument, and number of competitive applicants. In general, advanced music reading is important but there are varying degrees of proficiency for new students. The expectation is that music applicants have formal foundation.

I agree, enough already. The level of competitiveness changes across program and finding what the number of applicant v's places per programs is impossible.

In terms of artistic level for the instruments, the piano level is very high, see what is being played at ABRSM level 8 and above to get an idea. There are only about 4 or 5 places for piano admissions per year from what I can work out.

This. There are some advanced pianists focusing on other instruments, including voice. DC mistook a violinist classmate for pianist because student was that good on piano.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know two MD students who got in for visual arts-one of them was accepted as a 10th grader. So maybe that department isn’t as competitive, or have fewer DC applicants.

I believe visual arts has the most applicants. One the separate thread I think there were close to 120 visual arts applicants for 20-25 openings. My DC applied and did not make it and was actually more disappointment for a friend that did not make it that is quite talented so I do not know what they are doing taking non-DC students in that discipline.

[Anonymous]

I doubt the tuition out of students pay covers the entire cost so DC is subsidizing MD students. I think this has to stop. The school should be able to work with DC students to help them improve and get better, not subsidize a MD or VA student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know two MD students who got in for visual arts-one of them was accepted as a 10th grader. So maybe that department isn’t as competitive, or have fewer DC applicants.

I believe visual arts has the most applicants. One the separate thread I think there were close to 120 visual arts applicants for 20-25 openings. My DC applied and did not make it and was actually more disappointment for a friend that did not make it that is quite talented so I do not know what they are doing taking non-DC students in that discipline.

I think the reason VA has so many applicants is that most, if not all middle schools offer art classes. Maybe the student who you consider to be quiet talented just isn’t as good as the truly stellar ones. The MD student I know who got in as a 10th grader was the child of two artists/art professors. So if that’s the competition/standard, I’m not surprised that some DC students who are good, but not great are getting rejected.

[Anonymous]

They appear to be cutting DC students who ARE great but not exceptional, and opting instead to keep spots unfilled in some of the most competitive programs (dance, instrumental music, theatre, vocal), hoping those exceptional students somehow show up after the audition process. Anecdotally from past years, they recruit post-audition heavily from outside DC… Of course it depends how close they are to the 10% non-resident cap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They appear to be cutting DC students who ARE great but not exceptional, and opting instead to keep spots unfilled in some of the most competitive programs (dance, instrumental music, theatre, vocal), hoping those exceptional students somehow show up after the audition process. Anecdotally from past years, they recruit post-audition heavily from outside DC… Of course it depends how close they are to the 10% non-resident cap.

This is interesting. How are the recruiting outside DC?

Also, my understanding from reading the article about DCPS taking over Duke Ellington, is that it was always a separate entity that had a partnership with DCPS. What that means, I’m not sure, but it sounds like that alone gave them a lot of leeway in who they can accept or reject as far as residents or non residents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not true that they only take maryland residents if there are no DC residents who have applied. They routinely reject qualified DC residents and then let out-of-state residents into the program.

Not true

I find this hard to believe. Everyone at the school that I’ve talked to say they only take MD/VA students if there’s space. So I assume in those cases, there aren’t enough qualified DC applicants. So I guess my question is, how high is the threshold for “qualified”?

There is no designated "space"for out of town students. Students are auditioned without looking at residence or grades, only talent. Those who pass the auditions are those who pass, period, without regard to residence. So if a DC kid did not get in at that point, they didn't get in because of qualifications alone. If you make it beyond callbacks, then they look at recommendations, grades, residence, etc. and people from DC are the priority and there is an absolute cap on how many can come from outside. Like maybe 1 or 2 per department. So after they look at the list of proposed acceptances and see, say, 3 from out of town, then two have to be replaced by DC --but from the waitlist of people who passed auditions. The school is allowed to accept 10% (across all grades), but in a freshman year it is only going to be as many (or less) than the number that graduated. And while everyone defaults to thinking people are from MD or VA, you get a number of students who live in PA, NY or out of the country even, but whose parents are relocating and they will only decide to live in DC, or move to a certain neighborhood. if they get into the school. Those people are also a low priority opposed to people who already live in DC. Hope that helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How good is the instrumental music program? DS is quite good at piano and loves to put in the work and devote time to it. But on the other hand, he is really good at math (qualified for USA Math Olympiad in 7th good). Wondering if Ellington is a path for him.

The academics at Ellington are considered an afterthought.

That's not even close to true. Among the magnets in DC it is the only one that will accept students without regard to academics, that's why test scores tend to be soft in the first couple years. That doesn't mean academics is an afterthought, or the classes are not rigorous. It does mean about 10%-15% of a grade is playing catch up, however.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not true that they only take maryland residents if there are no DC residents who have applied. They routinely reject qualified DC residents and then let out-of-state residents into the program.

Not true

I find this hard to believe. Everyone at the school that I’ve talked to say they only take MD/VA students if there’s space. So I assume in those cases, there aren’t enough qualified DC applicants. So I guess my question is, how high is the threshold for “qualified”?

There is no designated "space"for out of town students. Students are auditioned without looking at residence or grades, only talent. Those who pass the auditions are those who pass, period, without regard to residence. So if a DC kid did not get in at that point, they didn't get in because of qualifications alone. If you make it beyond callbacks, then they look at recommendations, grades, residence, etc. and people from DC are the priority and there is an absolute cap on how many can come from outside. Like maybe 1 or 2 per department. So after they look at the list of proposed acceptances and see, say, 3 from out of town, then two have to be replaced by DC --but from the waitlist of people who passed auditions. The school is allowed to accept 10% (across all grades), but in a freshman year it is only going to be as many (or less) than the number that graduated. And while everyone defaults to thinking people are from MD or VA, you get a number of students who live in PA, NY or out of the country even, but whose parents are relocating and they will only decide to live in DC, or move to a certain neighborhood. if they get into the school. Those people are also a low priority opposed to people who already live in DC. Hope that helps.

This is very helpful, thank you. But still doesn’t answer why they are leaving spaces open after auditions. They have announced, “we still have spaces available in the following departments: Dance, Instrumental Music (oboe, flute, bassoon, tuba, strings), Theatre, and Vocal Music.”