High school shutouts-- what's the plan?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TAG is still around. It's a $10,000 per year award if your kid attends a public school OOS and $5,000 per year if kid attends a private school in the DC metro area or an HBCU. People at very high income levels (>$575k AGI) are not eligible.

It is indexed to CPI. For award year 24-25 it is $608,020. If CPI remains constant for year after it will rise to $627,477. By the time incoming freshman are entering college it will be back up to $700k.

[Anonymous]

Templeton Academy, downtown DC, has rolling admissions, with spots left in spring (now) for those who get really unlucky in the lottery. It’s $20,000 a year compared to about $50,000 for most private high schools.

https://www.templetonacademy.org/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Repeating the advice, because it bears repeating, that any family who isn't wealthy needs to establish residency before the end of high school, elsewhere than DC, to pay in-state tuition for college. Some states have a look-back period, so don't wake up in 12th grade.

In-state colleges are 30-40K/yr right now total cost of attendance. Out of state costs rise to 50K-60K.

Private colleges and universities are moving towards the 90K-100K/yr.

Financial aid comes mostly in the form of loans, and don't even cover half of the total costs. There is no such thing as a full ride anymore, except in very unusual circumstances.

Merit aid is a straight-up discount, but it's hard to get.

Is the DC TAG program still around? Is it expected to be in the future?

It is, 10k, so some help, but not that much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD was saying that she wants out from her middle/high school charter, but was shut out of application high schools. Right now it seems like she's resigned to stay where she is, but the other option is renting out our house and moving inbounds to JR. I am not convinced, however, that it would solve all of DD's problems. Reluctant to move outside DC for many reasons, including the fact that her sibling is in a good school situation.

(I'm sure all those zoned for JR go crazy reading about all of us moving there, but it's a free country. And that's only the backup backup plan. At least we would move and not be cheating on residency.)

Why move IB for J-R when you could move IB for a much better high school in NoVA or MoCo? Because the sibling is happy in a DC public school? You know that one parent could get residency in VA or MD while the other stays in DC. That's legal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Templeton Academy, downtown DC, has rolling admissions, with spots left in spring (now) for those who get really unlucky in the lottery. It’s $20,000 a year compared to about $50,000 for most private high schools.

https://www.templetonacademy.org/

Templeton might be OK as a place holder for a year, not more. Sorry, but far too many confused, depressed, academic stragglers there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our family is not shut out, but we may well could have been as we are zoned for Coolidge (not an option) and our son got a terrible lottery number.

He will be attending McKinley Tech. He is someone who does extremely well on standardized tests and, previous to the change in admissions requirements, would have had a great chance at getting into Walls which was our plan.

My takeaway is that I'm very grateful that we put ALL of the schools we would be willing for our son to attend on the application. All of them. It's a true lottery now as it always was.

I also wonder if we should have applied for private schools, but my son's strong preference was that the money that would go to Private school instead go to Graduate School or a down payment on a home. For us, this is an actual pot of money that is for our kids, so it's not conceptual and we left this choice up to our son. Because, ultimately it's his choice which school he attends.

Now, we did not have our son apply for the early college program at Coolidge, and in retrospect, I wish we had. Things turned out fine, but our safety schools were McArthur and Sojourner Truth and they had many, many applications this year so I doubt our son would have lotteried in.

Our son is interested in Engineering, we loved the open house and this truly is a happy ending for us, but if it had been a different year (or a different interview day where he had been in a bad mood and not gotten in?) then we could have been shut out. In that case, I would have called around to all the high schools we would consider to see if anyone happened to have any spaces open up.

My point is, please don't count on getting into anywhere other than your zoned school, because things change. Apply to all schools you would consider, and, probably, at least a couple of private schools even if paying the tuition would be a stretch.

McKinley Tech is an excellent school for engineering, and your son sounds like a wise kid! Congratulations!

Nonsense. McKinley Tech is where your white or Asian kid gets a 3 on AP Bio or Chem or Calc and teachers shout congratulations, you passed. Ridiculous. Problem is, 3s are useless in elite college admissions for high SES kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD was saying that she wants out from her middle/high school charter, but was shut out of application high schools. Right now it seems like she's resigned to stay where she is, but the other option is renting out our house and moving inbounds to JR. I am not convinced, however, that it would solve all of DD's problems. Reluctant to move outside DC for many reasons, including the fact that her sibling is in a good school situation.

(I'm sure all those zoned for JR go crazy reading about all of us moving there, but it's a free country. And that's only the backup backup plan. At least we would move and not be cheating on residency.)

Why move IB for J-R when you could move IB for a much better high school in NoVA or MoCo? Because the sibling is happy in a DC public school? You know that one parent could get residency in VA or MD while the other stays in DC. That's legal.

I keep seeing this comparison that VA and MD high schools are much better, but can someone actually share how are they better than JR?

[Anonymous]

The main problem is that JR lets all comers into its AP classes. Most suburban schools don't. The kids either meet a cut off in a prerequisite, generally at B+, or they don't qualify to take the AP class up the chain. Same with pre-IB work and IB Diploma. Also, suburban schools generally offer far more APs than JR, which only teaches around 20 subjects. Good suburban high schools teach more than 30 (there are 39 subjects). JR teaches 4 languages. Some suburban schools in the DMV teach a dozen. ECs tend to be far more serious in the burbs as well.

[Anonymous]

We're staying at DCI if our kid, who really wanted to move on to Walls, doesn't go off the rails in high school. That said, we're planning to pay for tougher STEM and better writing instruction to the tune of thousands a year in the next several years. Still better than moving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The main problem is that JR lets all comers into its AP classes. Most suburban schools don't. The kids either meet a cut off in a prerequisite, generally at B+, or they don't qualify to take the AP class up the chain. Same with pre-IB work and IB Diploma. Also, suburban schools generally offer far more APs than JR, which only teaches around 20 subjects. Good suburban high schools teach more than 30 (there are 39 subjects). JR teaches 4 languages. Some suburban schools in the DMV teach a dozen. ECs tend to be far more serious in the burbs as well.

Out of curiosity I went to JR High school website and to McLean High school website and counted. JR has 26 AP classes, and McLean 24 AP classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our family is not shut out, but we may well could have been as we are zoned for Coolidge (not an option) and our son got a terrible lottery number.

He will be attending McKinley Tech. He is someone who does extremely well on standardized tests and, previous to the change in admissions requirements, would have had a great chance at getting into Walls which was our plan.

My takeaway is that I'm very grateful that we put ALL of the schools we would be willing for our son to attend on the application. All of them. It's a true lottery now as it always was.

I also wonder if we should have applied for private schools, but my son's strong preference was that the money that would go to Private school instead go to Graduate School or a down payment on a home. For us, this is an actual pot of money that is for our kids, so it's not conceptual and we left this choice up to our son. Because, ultimately it's his choice which school he attends.

Now, we did not have our son apply for the early college program at Coolidge, and in retrospect, I wish we had. Things turned out fine, but our safety schools were McArthur and Sojourner Truth and they had many, many applications this year so I doubt our son would have lotteried in.

Our son is interested in Engineering, we loved the open house and this truly is a happy ending for us, but if it had been a different year (or a different interview day where he had been in a bad mood and not gotten in?) then we could have been shut out. In that case, I would have called around to all the high schools we would consider to see if anyone happened to have any spaces open up.

My point is, please don't count on getting into anywhere other than your zoned school, because things change. Apply to all schools you would consider, and, probably, at least a couple of private schools even if paying the tuition would be a stretch.

McKinley Tech is an excellent school for engineering, and your son sounds like a wise kid! Congratulations!

Nonsense. McKinley Tech is where your white or Asian kid gets a 3 on AP Bio or Chem or Calc and teachers shout congratulations, you passed. Ridiculous. Problem is, 3s are useless in elite college admissions for high SES kids.

There are plenty of Black and Brown parents on DCUM fyi.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Repeating the advice, because it bears repeating, that any family who isn't wealthy needs to establish residency before the end of high school, elsewhere than DC, to pay in-state tuition for college. Some states have a look-back period, so don't wake up in 12th grade.

In-state colleges are 30-40K/yr right now total cost of attendance. Out of state costs rise to 50K-60K.

Private colleges and universities are moving towards the 90K-100K/yr.

Financial aid comes mostly in the form of loans, and don't even cover half of the total costs. There is no such thing as a full ride anymore, except in very unusual circumstances.

Merit aid is a straight-up discount, but it's hard to get.

Is the DC TAG program still around? Is it expected to be in the future?

It is, 10k, so some help, but not that much.

Yep and I think every few years it needs approval in the budget so not sure thing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The main problem is that JR lets all comers into its AP classes. Most suburban schools don't. The kids either meet a cut off in a prerequisite, generally at B+, or they don't qualify to take the AP class up the chain. Same with pre-IB work and IB Diploma. Also, suburban schools generally offer far more APs than JR, which only teaches around 20 subjects. Good suburban high schools teach more than 30 (there are 39 subjects). JR teaches 4 languages. Some suburban schools in the DMV teach a dozen. ECs tend to be far more serious in the burbs as well.

This. I will also add that there are a ton less behavior issues in and out of the classroom which makes a huge difference in learning. Plus MCPS and FCPS are much better run school systems then DCPS and incompetent central office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our family is not shut out, but we may well could have been as we are zoned for Coolidge (not an option) and our son got a terrible lottery number.

He will be attending McKinley Tech. He is someone who does extremely well on standardized tests and, previous to the change in admissions requirements, would have had a great chance at getting into Walls which was our plan.

My takeaway is that I'm very grateful that we put ALL of the schools we would be willing for our son to attend on the application. All of them. It's a true lottery now as it always was.

I also wonder if we should have applied for private schools, but my son's strong preference was that the money that would go to Private school instead go to Graduate School or a down payment on a home. For us, this is an actual pot of money that is for our kids, so it's not conceptual and we left this choice up to our son. Because, ultimately it's his choice which school he attends.

Now, we did not have our son apply for the early college program at Coolidge, and in retrospect, I wish we had. Things turned out fine, but our safety schools were McArthur and Sojourner Truth and they had many, many applications this year so I doubt our son would have lotteried in.

Our son is interested in Engineering, we loved the open house and this truly is a happy ending for us, but if it had been a different year (or a different interview day where he had been in a bad mood and not gotten in?) then we could have been shut out. In that case, I would have called around to all the high schools we would consider to see if anyone happened to have any spaces open up.

My point is, please don't count on getting into anywhere other than your zoned school, because things change. Apply to all schools you would consider, and, probably, at least a couple of private schools even if paying the tuition would be a stretch.

McKinley Tech is an excellent school for engineering, and your son sounds like a wise kid! Congratulations!

Nonsense. McKinley Tech is where your white or Asian kid gets a 3 on AP Bio or Chem or Calc and teachers shout congratulations, you passed. Ridiculous. Problem is, 3s are useless in elite college admissions for high SES kids.

There are plenty of Black and Brown parents on DCUM fyi.

Untrue. There are plenty of white people who pretend that they are black or brown while posting on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The main problem is that JR lets all comers into its AP classes. Most suburban schools don't. The kids either meet a cut off in a prerequisite, generally at B+, or they don't qualify to take the AP class up the chain. Same with pre-IB work and IB Diploma. Also, suburban schools generally offer far more APs than JR, which only teaches around 20 subjects. Good suburban high schools teach more than 30 (there are 39 subjects). JR teaches 4 languages. Some suburban schools in the DMV teach a dozen. ECs tend to be far more serious in the burbs as well.

This. I will also add that there are a ton less behavior issues in and out of the classroom which makes a huge difference in learning. Plus MCPS and FCPS are much better run school systems then DCPS and incompetent central office.

Go on the MCPS forum. Plenty of similar parent complaints as here. They also switch teachers mid year in HS for full year classes which makes no sense. I know lots of teachers in McPS who are not impressed by the schools they teach at.