Is there a list of college acceptances for Wilson?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok so anyone here switch from private to Wilson? Thoughts? Feeling like private is a bit over rated right now. I have three kids and its a hefty price tag. Would love to stay home but can t because of that private school tuition. Since I'm from Dc and know what DC public school were like in the 80's it's very hard for me to shake that idea. Thanks!

I actually met a white woman who moved her son from St. Alban's to Wilson b/c she thought he would have a better chance to attend Princeton. He transferred to Wilson and went to Princeton.

I know a number of IB families who sent their brilliant (but not above 90% percentile) students to Wilson (despite acceptances and resources for privates) as this will give them higher chances for top colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Yale part is more true than the jail part.

This is for the class of 2016: http://www.wilsonhs.org/ourpages/auto/2011/4/15/39942607/Wilsonprofile2016-17webreduced.pdf

Mind you, this is where they actually went. Kids get into schools hoping for financial aid packages that may not work out, or they get a full ride to a less prestigious school and take it (smart move).

Thanks for including this link (we are IB for Wilson, but with an early elementary kid). Anyone know the graduation rate at Wilson?

Sorry, hit submit too soon. Also the % who went to a 4-year college?

the link has the % to 4 year colleges (68%) but not graduation rate. Although if you look at the enrollment numbers by grade - 398 seniors, 447 juniors, 458 sophomores and 520 freshmen it does seem to indicate there is a large drop off in numbers from freshmen to senior.

Actually, that is the size of each class, which shows that enrollment has been increasing steadily each year, not that kids are dropping out. It's not like every class started at 520 and dropped to 398. More kids are staying in DCPS, so each class is increasing in size, which is why they have been adjusting boundaries. Same with Deal MS. Next year the 7th and 6th grades will have 5 teams instead of 4 due to increased enrollment. Same with the elementary feeders, which is why they are building the schools to higher capacities. Each class gets bigger.

Each incoming class does get bigger - but as each class progresses there is drop-off over the 4-years. So the incoming freshman class of 520 will definitely have less students when they graduate. The OSSE enrollment numbers bear this out but I don't think that is so unusual for public high schools.

Also important to point out that Wilson families can see where students apply, accept and enroll over the last few years by using Naviance. The list of colleges is just a small snapshot. So for example for the 2016 graduates applying to HYP - 9 students applied to Princeton, 1 was accepted and 0 enrolled. Harvard 12 applied, 2 were accepted and 2 enrolled. Yale 10 applied, 1 was accepted and 1 enrolled.

What is naviance?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Yale part is more true than the jail part.

This is for the class of 2016: http://www.wilsonhs.org/ourpages/auto/2011/4/15/39942607/Wilsonprofile2016-17webreduced.pdf

Mind you, this is where they actually went. Kids get into schools hoping for financial aid packages that may not work out, or they get a full ride to a less prestigious school and take it (smart move).

Thanks for including this link (we are IB for Wilson, but with an early elementary kid). Anyone know the graduation rate at Wilson?

Sorry, hit submit too soon. Also the % who went to a 4-year college?

the link has the % to 4 year colleges (68%) but not graduation rate. Although if you look at the enrollment numbers by grade - 398 seniors, 447 juniors, 458 sophomores and 520 freshmen it does seem to indicate there is a large drop off in numbers from freshmen to senior.

Actually, that is the size of each class, which shows that enrollment has been increasing steadily each year, not that kids are dropping out. It's not like every class started at 520 and dropped to 398. More kids are staying in DCPS, so each class is increasing in size, which is why they have been adjusting boundaries. Same with Deal MS. Next year the 7th and 6th grades will have 5 teams instead of 4 due to increased enrollment. Same with the elementary feeders, which is why they are building the schools to higher capacities. Each class gets bigger.

Each incoming class does get bigger - but as each class progresses there is drop-off over the 4-years. So the incoming freshman class of 520 will definitely have less students when they graduate. The OSSE enrollment numbers bear this out but I don't think that is so unusual for public high schools.

Also important to point out that Wilson families can see where students apply, accept and enroll over the last few years by using Naviance. The list of colleges is just a small snapshot. So for example for the 2016 graduates applying to HYP - 9 students applied to Princeton, 1 was accepted and 0 enrolled. Harvard 12 applied, 2 were accepted and 2 enrolled. Yale 10 applied, 1 was accepted and 1 enrolled.

What is naviance?

Naviance is a computer platform that high schools guidance counselors use to manage college applications. MOCO schools have been using it forever and Wilson started using it about 2 or 3 years ago. It provides a lot of useful data to parents showing how your child's grades and test scores align with different colleges. You can also see historical data on where students apply and have been accepted or rejected. One trend I've seen is that Wilson students get into Ivy's but some choose not to attend and I can only assume this is for financial reasons. Anwya its a great resource and a better source of college success at Wilson than what appears on these threads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok so anyone here switch from private to Wilson? Thoughts? Feeling like private is a bit over rated right now. I have three kids and its a hefty price tag. Would love to stay home but can t because of that private school tuition. Since I'm from Dc and know what DC public school were like in the 80's it's very hard for me to shake that idea. Thanks!

I actually met a white woman who moved her son from St. Alban's to Wilson b/c she thought he would have a better chance to attend Princeton. He transferred to Wilson and went to Princeton.

I know a number of IB families who sent their brilliant (but not above 90% percentile) students to Wilson (despite acceptances and resources for privates) as this will give them higher chances for top colleges.

I get what you're saying and we thought our child did exceptionally well coming out of a good charter (better, I'd guess, than from a private and our child declined a few)--but I hope the reason goes above and beyond this. Like their child enjoying the high school, making good friends, being an all around human...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok so anyone here switch from private to Wilson? Thoughts? Feeling like private is a bit over rated right now. I have three kids and its a hefty price tag. Would love to stay home but can t because of that private school tuition. Since I'm from Dc and know what DC public school were like in the 80's it's very hard for me to shake that idea. Thanks!

I actually met a white woman who moved her son from St. Alban's to Wilson b/c she thought he would have a better chance to attend Princeton. He transferred to Wilson and went to Princeton.

She was right. We have often spoken about this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Yale part is more true than the jail part.

This is for the class of 2016: http://www.wilsonhs.org/ourpages/auto/2011/4/15/39942607/Wilsonprofile2016-17webreduced.pdf

Mind you, this is where they actually went. Kids get into schools hoping for financial aid packages that may not work out, or they get a full ride to a less prestigious school and take it (smart move).

Thanks for including this link (we are IB for Wilson, but with an early elementary kid). Anyone know the graduation rate at Wilson?

Sorry, hit submit too soon. Also the % who went to a 4-year college?

the link has the % to 4 year colleges (68%) but not graduation rate. Although if you look at the enrollment numbers by grade - 398 seniors, 447 juniors, 458 sophomores and 520 freshmen it does seem to indicate there is a large drop off in numbers from freshmen to senior.

Actually, that is the size of each class, which shows that enrollment has been increasing steadily each year, not that kids are dropping out. It's not like every class started at 520 and dropped to 398. More kids are staying in DCPS, so each class is increasing in size, which is why they have been adjusting boundaries. Same with Deal MS. Next year the 7th and 6th grades will have 5 teams instead of 4 due to increased enrollment. Same with the elementary feeders, which is why they are building the schools to higher capacities. Each class gets bigger.

Each incoming class does get bigger - but as each class progresses there is drop-off over the 4-years. So the incoming freshman class of 520 will definitely have less students when they graduate. The OSSE enrollment numbers bear this out but I don't think that is so unusual for public high schools.

Also important to point out that Wilson families can see where students apply, accept and enroll over the last few years by using Naviance. The list of colleges is just a small snapshot. So for example for the 2016 graduates applying to HYP - 9 students applied to Princeton, 1 was accepted and 0 enrolled. Harvard 12 applied, 2 were accepted and 2 enrolled. Yale 10 applied, 1 was accepted and 1 enrolled.

What is naviance?

Naviance is a computer platform that high schools guidance counselors use to manage college applications. MOCO schools have been using it forever and Wilson started using it about 2 or 3 years ago. It provides a lot of useful data to parents showing how your child's grades and test scores align with different colleges. You can also see historical data on where students apply and have been accepted or rejected. One trend I've seen is that Wilson students get into Ivy's but some choose not to attend and I can only assume this is for financial reasons. Anwya its a great resource and a better source of college success at Wilson than what appears on these threads.

I'm an independent high school counselor (with Ivy degrees) who can't stand Naviance. MOCO has long used the software as justification to cut college counselor positions. Wilson started using it after years of parents complaining bitterly that upperclassmen were getting less and less face time with (dramatically overworked) counselors. This increasingly popular software program has a grim way of reducing kids to graded, GPAs and scores, leading a great many to sell themselves short in applying to colleges. Families of the brightest college bound kids often don't understand that elite colleges value intangibles like intellectual curiosity, passion, motivation, drive, talent, strong executive function skills, creativity etc. over grades and rank in class. I encourage my clients to take the data Naviance spits out with a grain of salt (or a bag of salt in many cases). High schools commonly manipulate Naviance data on where kids apply and are accepted or rejected, because self reporting is the rule (colleges and private schools seldom use Naviance, and for good reason). I've seen kids Naviance effectively advised not to apply to Ivies get into multiple Ivies.

PS. Few Wilson kids get into Ivies, few who get into Ivies chose not to attend, and many false application narratives are in the mix.

[Anonymous]

11:33: thanks for the info. I appreciate the analysis of Naviance and the caveats you offer.

How do you know how many Wilson students get into top schools? And how do you know that the few who do get in (according to your sources) rarely turn down the offers?

FWIW, I have a child at Wilson who may well be top-school material. I have no problem allowing my child to apply, but because most of these schools offer no merit aid and we make just enough to be disqualified from most if not all need-based aid, I'm pretty sure our child will need to accept down a tier at one of the schools that does offer merit aid. It's a common problem nationwide, and I doubt we're the only Wilson parents in this bind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I'm an independent high school counselor (with Ivy degrees) who can't stand Naviance. MOCO has long used the software as justification to cut college counselor positions. Wilson started using it after years of parents complaining bitterly that upperclassmen were getting less and less face time with (dramatically overworked) counselors. This increasingly popular software program has a grim way of reducing kids to graded, GPAs and scores, leading a great many to sell themselves short in applying to colleges. Families of the brightest college bound kids often don't understand that elite colleges value intangibles like intellectual curiosity, passion, motivation, drive, talent, strong executive function skills, creativity etc. over grades and rank in class. I encourage my clients to take the data Naviance spits out with a grain of salt (or a bag of salt in many cases). High schools commonly manipulate Naviance data on where kids apply and are accepted or rejected, because self reporting is the rule (colleges and private schools seldom use Naviance, and for good reason). I've seen kids Naviance effectively advised not to apply to Ivies get into multiple Ivies.

PS. Few Wilson kids get into Ivies, few who get into Ivies chose not to attend, and many false application narratives are in the mix.

What does this mean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm an independent high school counselor (with Ivy degrees) who can't stand Naviance. MOCO has long used the software as justification to cut college counselor positions. Wilson started using it after years of parents complaining bitterly that upperclassmen were getting less and less face time with (dramatically overworked) counselors. This increasingly popular software program has a grim way of reducing kids to graded, GPAs and scores, leading a great many to sell themselves short in applying to colleges. Families of the brightest college bound kids often don't understand that elite colleges value intangibles like intellectual curiosity, passion, motivation, drive, talent, strong executive function skills, creativity etc. over grades and rank in class. I encourage my clients to take the data Naviance spits out with a grain of salt (or a bag of salt in many cases). High schools commonly manipulate Naviance data on where kids apply and are accepted or rejected, because self reporting is the rule (colleges and private schools seldom use Naviance, and for good reason). I've seen kids Naviance effectively advised not to apply to Ivies get into multiple Ivies.

PS. Few Wilson kids get into Ivies, few who get into Ivies chose not to attend, and many false application narratives are in the mix.

What does this mean?

To me it means PP is a troll, who has a vested interest as an independent high school counselor, in making Wilson students look bad. Very unprofessional.

[Anonymous]

Part of the explanation for a substantially larger freshman class are the number of kids who do not get promoted after freshman year and then must repeat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm an independent high school counselor (with Ivy degrees) who can't stand Naviance. MOCO has long used the software as justification to cut college counselor positions. Wilson started using it after years of parents complaining bitterly that upperclassmen were getting less and less face time with (dramatically overworked) counselors. This increasingly popular software program has a grim way of reducing kids to graded, GPAs and scores, leading a great many to sell themselves short in applying to colleges. Families of the brightest college bound kids often don't understand that elite colleges value intangibles like intellectual curiosity, passion, motivation, drive, talent, strong executive function skills, creativity etc. over grades and rank in class. I encourage my clients to take the data Naviance spits out with a grain of salt (or a bag of salt in many cases). High schools commonly manipulate Naviance data on where kids apply and are accepted or rejected, because self reporting is the rule (colleges and private schools seldom use Naviance, and for good reason). I've seen kids Naviance effectively advised not to apply to Ivies get into multiple Ivies.

PS. Few Wilson kids get into Ivies, few who get into Ivies chose not to attend, and many false application narratives are in the mix.

What does this mean?

To me it means PP is a troll, who has a vested interest as an independent high school counselor, in making Wilson students look bad. Very unprofessional.

I was the parent who posted about Naviance. I find it odd that a private college counselor would post here. My only reason for posting information about Naviance was to keep people from spreading lies about where Wilson students get in and where they enroll. Of course there are other factors that should be taken into account around admission to top schools, but the overarching point is that I don't think parents event know about this resource. So college counselor you need to know your audience - Wilson parents aren't like MOCO parents.

As for counselors at Wilson manipulating data that's BS. Wilson counselors have so much to deal with and have nothing to gain by manipulating data. And they certainly don't have time to sit there like their private school counterparts and decide which students they are going to promote to the top schools. I'd wager that many parents with top students at Wilson hire outside counselors anyway.

Also as an aside - there are very few publics that send lots of kids to Ivies. For HYP at individual MOCO high schools, its in the single digits for each school - so nothing different there. And the only way to even know how Wilson does in this arena is to use Naviance.

[Anonymous]

Current Wilson parent here.
I know of at least two Wilson early action acceptances at Ivies this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm an independent high school counselor (with Ivy degrees) who can't stand Naviance. MOCO has long used the software as justification to cut college counselor positions. Wilson started using it after years of parents complaining bitterly that upperclassmen were getting less and less face time with (dramatically overworked) counselors. This increasingly popular software program has a grim way of reducing kids to graded, GPAs and scores, leading a great many to sell themselves short in applying to colleges. Families of the brightest college bound kids often don't understand that elite colleges value intangibles like intellectual curiosity, passion, motivation, drive, talent, strong executive function skills, creativity etc. over grades and rank in class. I encourage my clients to take the data Naviance spits out with a grain of salt (or a bag of salt in many cases). High schools commonly manipulate Naviance data on where kids apply and are accepted or rejected, because self reporting is the rule (colleges and private schools seldom use Naviance, and for good reason). I've seen kids Naviance effectively advised not to apply to Ivies get into multiple Ivies.

PS. Few Wilson kids get into Ivies, few who get into Ivies chose not to attend, and many false application narratives are in the mix.

What does this mean?

To me it means PP is a troll, who has a vested interest as an independent high school counselor, in making Wilson students look bad. Very unprofessional.

Independent counselor here, with children in DCPS. Wilson parents hire me, and some of their kids are terrific college applicants, elite college material without knowing it before working with me. Scant DCPS college counseling resources are the problem. MOCO families face different challenges, mainly terrible pressure to ensure that their kids test into super duper magnet programs for 4th, 6th and 9th grades. Suburban HS magnet programs commonly hire college counselors serving only their students.

Where Naviance data on applications goes, counselors often enter information about a student applying to a college without knowing that an applicant didn't complete the application (e.g. going through with an interview). In most cases, only the applicant learns the admissions result, and kids commonly don't follow up with counselors to report admissions outcomes, or don't report them accurately (to save face). Thus, it's impossible to verify the accuracy of Naviance data schools release, not just at Wilson. Right, a troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm an independent high school counselor (with Ivy degrees) who can't stand Naviance. MOCO has long used the software as justification to cut college counselor positions. Wilson started using it after years of parents complaining bitterly that upperclassmen were getting less and less face time with (dramatically overworked) counselors. This increasingly popular software program has a grim way of reducing kids to graded, GPAs and scores, leading a great many to sell themselves short in applying to colleges. Families of the brightest college bound kids often don't understand that elite colleges value intangibles like intellectual curiosity, passion, motivation, drive, talent, strong executive function skills, creativity etc. over grades and rank in class. I encourage my clients to take the data Naviance spits out with a grain of salt (or a bag of salt in many cases). High schools commonly manipulate Naviance data on where kids apply and are accepted or rejected, because self reporting is the rule (colleges and private schools seldom use Naviance, and for good reason). I've seen kids Naviance effectively advised not to apply to Ivies get into multiple Ivies.

PS. Few Wilson kids get into Ivies, few who get into Ivies chose not to attend, and many false application narratives are in the mix.

What does this mean?

To me it means PP is a troll, who has a vested interest as an independent high school counselor, in making Wilson students look bad. Very unprofessional.

Independent counselor here, with children in DCPS. Wilson parents hire me, and some of their kids are terrific college applicants, elite college material without knowing it before working with me. Scant DCPS college counseling resources are the problem. MOCO families face different challenges, mainly terrible pressure to ensure that their kids test into super duper magnet programs for 4th, 6th and 9th grades. Suburban HS magnet programs commonly hire college counselors serving only their students.

Where Naviance data on applications goes, counselors often enter information about a student applying to a college without knowing that an applicant didn't complete the application (e.g. going through with an interview). In most cases, only the applicant learns the admissions result, and kids commonly don't follow up with counselors to report admissions outcomes, or don't report them accurately (to save face). Thus, it's impossible to verify the accuracy of Naviance data schools release, not just at Wilson. Right, a troll.

Thanks for the clarification.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm an independent high school counselor (with Ivy degrees) who can't stand Naviance. MOCO has long used the software as justification to cut college counselor positions. Wilson started using it after years of parents complaining bitterly that upperclassmen were getting less and less face time with (dramatically overworked) counselors. This increasingly popular software program has a grim way of reducing kids to graded, GPAs and scores, leading a great many to sell themselves short in applying to colleges. Families of the brightest college bound kids often don't understand that elite colleges value intangibles like intellectual curiosity, passion, motivation, drive, talent, strong executive function skills, creativity etc. over grades and rank in class. I encourage my clients to take the data Naviance spits out with a grain of salt (or a bag of salt in many cases). High schools commonly manipulate Naviance data on where kids apply and are accepted or rejected, because self reporting is the rule (colleges and private schools seldom use Naviance, and for good reason). I've seen kids Naviance effectively advised not to apply to Ivies get into multiple Ivies.

PS. Few Wilson kids get into Ivies, few who get into Ivies chose not to attend, and many false application narratives are in the mix.

What does this mean?

To me it means PP is a troll, who has a vested interest as an independent high school counselor, in making Wilson students look bad. Very unprofessional.

So the big list of MOCO acceptances that gets posted in Bethesda Magazine each year, is false or are they getting their data from somewhere else?

Independent counselor here, with children in DCPS. Wilson parents hire me, and some of their kids are terrific college applicants, elite college material without knowing it before working with me. Scant DCPS college counseling resources are the problem. MOCO families face different challenges, mainly terrible pressure to ensure that their kids test into super duper magnet programs for 4th, 6th and 9th grades. Suburban HS magnet programs commonly hire college counselors serving only their students.

Where Naviance data on applications goes, counselors often enter information about a student applying to a college without knowing that an applicant didn't complete the application (e.g. going through with an interview). In most cases, only the applicant learns the admissions result, and kids commonly don't follow up with counselors to report admissions outcomes, or don't report them accurately (to save face). Thus, it's impossible to verify the accuracy of Naviance data schools release, not just at Wilson. Right, a troll.

Thanks for the clarification.