How to position DCPS kids for private admission?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My nonathletic DCPS kids with As and Bs and high test scores got in everywhere we applied. I know that the school counselor noted how much the family showed up to school wide activities and how much the parents both volunteered. I have to think it was the last point that made them stand out? Who knows?

Did you apply to sidwell, STA, GDS?

[Anonymous]

A cheat code, if you can afford it, is hiring an admissions consultant. A good consultant will have connections with the school and will advocate for your kid on their behalf.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A cheat code, if you can afford it, is hiring an admissions consultant. A good consultant will have connections with the school and will advocate for your kid on their behalf.

Absolutely if you can afford another few thousand $ and don’t want to deal with all of the details the consultants can be well worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My nonathletic DCPS kids with As and Bs and high test scores got in everywhere we applied. I know that the school counselor noted how much the family showed up to school wide activities and how much the parents both volunteered. I have to think it was the last point that made them stand out? Who knows?

Did you apply to sidwell, STA, GDS?

The one we thought was a good fit. Those are very different schools.

[Anonymous]

If you are interested in single sex school, I’d apply in 1st or 2nd grade to Beauvoir. Sport does not matter at all. It’s more about how the kids (and you) present themselves. Those are non-entry years, but the school usually adds 1-2 kids because of attrition in each grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are interested in single sex school, I’d apply in 1st or 2nd grade to Beauvoir. Sport does not matter at all. It’s more about how the kids (and you) present themselves. Those are non-entry years, but the school usually adds 1-2 kids because of attrition in each grade.

I forgot, BVR is around 42k

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A few tips from a family that went from DCPS to a top private:

- Academics are the highest priority. In DCPS our kids got all As and the teachers told us they were exceptionally strong students. When we first applied to private in mid elementary school we got in nowhere and the feedback we got was that our kids were smart but far behind the private school kids academically. In DCPS we had nearly no homework, their private school peers were reading novels and doing more in depth math. Over the next year we hired a tutor and got our kids on par with their private school future classmates, with a huge focus on more challenging reading and writing.

- Sports are a plus. If your kid is an exceptional athlete in one sport that would probably help a lot, but generally being good enough to make a varsity team in the sport a school cares about also helps. One of my kids is an athlete and I think it helped when we talked to a middle school coach though.

- Connections and community matter. We had a few families from the school we really wanted to attend send us letters of recommendation and I’m guessing it helped. We’ve done the same for others, stressing what they would bring to the school community and have always gotten a positive response from admissions.

- It’s a numbers game. Same as applying to elite colleges, at the end there are not enough slots for all of the kids they could admit who would be successful. The older and later you wait to have your kids apply, as nice as that free public school is, the lower your chances seem to be. Also, once we arrived we saw the huge gap between DCPS and what they were getting in private and felt bad we hadn’t done it sooner, but that’s more of a values statement.

Best of luck, it’s a tough process.

Excellent advice. I second this. Ours was a standout FH player and we knew Board Members. Ask around to see who you know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Apply early and often!"

This pretty much sums it up. We and at least 2 other families we know from our WOTP DCPS applied several times to private, beginning in 6th grade. This is despite the kids having all As, travel sports, etc. it's just a numbers games. As a previous posted there are often only 2-3 spots in admissions years prior to 9th grade (once all the priority candidates-siblings, legacies, minorities, VIPs) are admitted.


What is cool (and something I would never share in real life) is that my DCPS kid (who we applied multiple times) is now in the top 10% of a Big3 class and is applying to Ivies (on the encouragement/advice of the college counseling office as supported by their data). meanwhile a number of kids the school took in instead of my kid are no longer at the school. Part of me is like "see! We knew this kid was a good fit!" 🤪

yuck

Yuck?

DP. Yuck because the parent is gleefully bragging about how well her kid did while some kids they took “instead of her kid” are no longer at the school.

Being at the top 10% says nothing about fit except that the kid can handle the workload. A kid who was in the top 2% of our Big 3 class left last year. Despite doing well academically he was a jerk that none of his classmates liked.

There are also kids I’ve known who graduated at the top of their class who were miserable. They had overbearing parents who tutored and bullied their kids to the top of the class but the kids flamed out in college. One dropped out of a HYP after their freshman year. The other didn’t drop out but was a C student as she partied her way through college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A few tips from a family that went from DCPS to a top private:

- Academics are the highest priority. In DCPS our kids got all As and the teachers told us they were exceptionally strong students. When we first applied to private in mid elementary school we got in nowhere and the feedback we got was that our kids were smart but far behind the private school kids academically. In DCPS we had nearly no homework, their private school peers were reading novels and doing more in depth math. Over the next year we hired a tutor and got our kids on par with their private school future classmates, with a huge focus on more challenging reading and writing.

- Sports are a plus. If your kid is an exceptional athlete in one sport that would probably help a lot, but generally being good enough to make a varsity team in the sport a school cares about also helps. One of my kids is an athlete and I think it helped when we talked to a middle school coach though.

- Connections and community matter. We had a few families from the school we really wanted to attend send us letters of recommendation and I’m guessing it helped. We’ve done the same for others, stressing what they would bring to the school community and have always gotten a positive response from admissions.

- It’s a numbers game. Same as applying to elite colleges, at the end there are not enough slots for all of the kids they could admit who would be successful. The older and later you wait to have your kids apply, as nice as that free public school is, the lower your chances seem to be. Also, once we arrived we saw the huge gap between DCPS and what they were getting in private and felt bad we hadn’t done it sooner, but that’s more of a values statement.

Best of luck, it’s a tough process.

Excellent advice. I second this. Ours was a standout FH player and we knew Board Members. Ask around to see who you know.

🤢

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Apply early and often!"

This pretty much sums it up. We and at least 2 other families we know from our WOTP DCPS applied several times to private, beginning in 6th grade. This is despite the kids having all As, travel sports, etc. it's just a numbers games. As a previous posted there are often only 2-3 spots in admissions years prior to 9th grade (once all the priority candidates-siblings, legacies, minorities, VIPs) are admitted.


What is cool (and something I would never share in real life) is that my DCPS kid (who we applied multiple times) is now in the top 10% of a Big3 class and is applying to Ivies (on the encouragement/advice of the college counseling office as supported by their data). meanwhile a number of kids the school took in instead of my kid are no longer at the school. Part of me is like "see! We knew this kid was a good fit!" 🤪

yuck

Yuck?

DP. Yuck because the parent is gleefully bragging about how well her kid did while some kids they took “instead of her kid” are no longer at the school.

Being at the top 10% says nothing about fit except that the kid can handle the workload. A kid who was in the top 2% of our Big 3 class left last year. Despite doing well academically he was a jerk that none of his classmates liked.

There are also kids I’ve known who graduated at the top of their class who were miserable. They had overbearing parents who tutored and bullied their kids to the top of the class but the kids flamed out in college. One dropped out of a HYP after their freshman year. The other didn’t drop out but was a C student as she partied her way through college.

I am cutting this parent some slack because it sucks to have your kid passed over. I was glad to hear their perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A few tips from a family that went from DCPS to a top private:

- Academics are the highest priority. In DCPS our kids got all As and the teachers told us they were exceptionally strong students. When we first applied to private in mid elementary school we got in nowhere and the feedback we got was that our kids were smart but far behind the private school kids academically. In DCPS we had nearly no homework, their private school peers were reading novels and doing more in depth math. Over the next year we hired a tutor and got our kids on par with their private school future classmates, with a huge focus on more challenging reading and writing.

- Sports are a plus. If your kid is an exceptional athlete in one sport that would probably help a lot, but generally being good enough to make a varsity team in the sport a school cares about also helps. One of my kids is an athlete and I think it helped when we talked to a middle school coach though.

- Connections and community matter. We had a few families from the school we really wanted to attend send us letters of recommendation and I’m guessing it helped. We’ve done the same for others, stressing what they would bring to the school community and have always gotten a positive response from admissions.

- It’s a numbers game. Same as applying to elite colleges, at the end there are not enough slots for all of the kids they could admit who would be successful. The older and later you wait to have your kids apply, as nice as that free public school is, the lower your chances seem to be. Also, once we arrived we saw the huge gap between DCPS and what they were getting in private and felt bad we hadn’t done it sooner, but that’s more of a values statement.

Best of luck, it’s a tough process.

Excellent advice. I second this. Ours was a standout FH player and we knew Board Members. Ask around to see who you know.

Very true but yuck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Apply early and often! I think you are overestimating your ability to control any given application cycle.

+1

[Anonymous]

Get excellent grades in hard classes, impress your teachers so you can get good recommendations, and do something interesting with your free time. That’s what worked for our kid coming from a suburban public.

[Anonymous]

If the score higher than the 85th percentile on SSAT/ISEE testing and get straight A’s, they will be in excellent position.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My nonathletic DCPS kids with As and Bs and high test scores got in everywhere we applied. I know that the school counselor noted how much the family showed up to school wide activities and how much the parents both volunteered. I have to think it was the last point that made them stand out? Who knows?

Did your kid who had As and Bs get into any of the BIG 3? Just curious about this since we're in the same situation. Thank you!