Walls admissions requirements for 2021 Applicants

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interviews are a really crappy way to determine admissions to a HS program. So subjective and open to prejudice on many levels. Just do a lottery of the top GPAs, and them adjust for demographics. Done.

Wow, yes. This really sucks.
My kid has a 4.0 and is a really personable kid but we just went through 4 private school interviews.
Some were great; some not so much. It was so incredibly random based on who the interviewer was and what they asked and we're exceedingly grateful that the interviews are just one small piece of those applications.
Some asked questions that really drew out who my kid is; some asked questions that never let him address any of his strengths at all.
If you took these 4 interviewers and asked them to rank my kid 1-10, I bet you would get 3s and 10s simply based on the what was asked and how well the questions matched my kid and his strengths.

It's horrible to basically choose kids based on a 15 minute Zoom interview.
Like this is really, really bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP - Walls should take your summary and post it to their website!

I took away the same major themes. Still have questions about their ranking system, allocation of points in the interview and the exact match process (not sure if we will get any clarification on these aspects), but in a nutshell I think you have captured it!

It's always been really opaque so in that sense this year is no different.

[Anonymous]

FYI, Walls confirmed they will not weight GPAs. So if your kid got anything less than a 4.0 even if they were in advanced classes, they may not make that 500-student cut-off to get an interview. My bet is that with all the As handed out last spring during DL, they can fill 500 spots with kids with straight As.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FYI, Walls confirmed they will not weight GPAs. So if your kid got anything less than a 4.0 even if they were in advanced classes, they may not make that 500-student cut-off to get an interview. My bet is that with all the As handed out last spring during DL, they can fill 500 spots with kids with straight As.

I would guess this as well based on the kids I know.

[Anonymous]

Do you think they will have to weight grades to get to 500?
I wonder if there will be more than 500 applicants with straight As?

[Anonymous]

I think 500+ with straight As is likelier than <500, so no interviews for kids with anything less, I guess.

The new Walls motto: take the easiest class load possible in middle school so you can ensure you have straight As.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think 500+ with straight As is likelier than <500, so no interviews for kids with anything less, I guess.

The new Walls motto: take the easiest class load possible in middle school so you can ensure you have straight As.

Look I get that this is unfair but this is not the new policy. It’s for one year during a pandemic! Apply next year as a freshman if you don’t qualify this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI, Walls confirmed they will not weight GPAs. So if your kid got anything less than a 4.0 even if they were in advanced classes, they may not make that 500-student cut-off to get an interview. My bet is that with all the As handed out last spring during DL, they can fill 500 spots with kids with straight As.

I would guess this as well based on the kids I know.

And now I'm wishing my kid was at one of the schools handing out all As so they would at least have had a chance to get into Walls. Was counting on the test to help DC shine and get invited to an interview.
This is a tough twist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think 500+ with straight As is likelier than <500, so no interviews for kids with anything less, I guess.

The new Walls motto: take the easiest class load possible in middle school so you can ensure you have straight As.

Does your middle school offer you a course catalog?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:that is unfortunate

my SWW was at Deal and never made Principal's Honor Role. Friends who were on Principal's Honor Role took the test and did not make the cut-off.

We are close enough to some of this to know how much work parent's did for assignments significantly impacted grades at Deal.

I am being 100% sincere in asking this: what would be a better way to do this knowing that entrance exam can’t be given securely?

Top 300 students by GPA and then go by lottery. The interviews are BS and no one should be meeting up inside regardless.

I’m sure the interviews will be virtual. But I don’t disagree with the fact that they are totally subjective.

It says at the school, not virtual. And yes the subjectivity is a problem. Teacher refs or even writing an essay covering the interview questions would be better.

The same people who graded the essay portion of the old exam. Do it like AP - give question simultaneously AMD students have an hour to complete it. Their 8th grade school can assist with the tech. For APs last spring students could write in longhand and submit it. Y taking a picture they emailed.

The interviews will be virtual. And even having students write an essay has issues- how can you verify it was the student who wrote the essay? Who so going to read and grade 500 essays in two months?

1100 kids test for Walls in a normal year. You really think the teaching staff is grading that many essays in a month? That was not happening. And even if a students hand wrote their essays it doesn’t mean an adult isn’t dictating what to write or someone other than the student was writing. The AP exams have way more resources to alleviate cheating and they still admit their was probably cheating that occurred they couldn’t prevent. They also made submission time really strict in a way DCPS could not do.

[Anonymous]

It's going to be a bummer of a year.
I know kids who were in dual Algebra and Geometry last year who had A minuses who will get bumped by kids who got As in 8th grade math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's going to be a bummer of a year.
I know kids who were in dual Algebra and Geometry last year who had A minuses who will get bumped by kids who got As in 8th grade math.

It was never a guarantee they'd get in anyway. The cut score they use gives them a lot of room to shape the class via interviews even in a normal year, unlike school systems which are serious about exam schools and serving the needs of bright kids. And even those school systems are moving away from that, so it's probably not going to get better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think 500+ with straight As is likelier than <500, so no interviews for kids with anything less, I guess.

The new Walls motto: take the easiest class load possible in middle school so you can ensure you have straight As.

Does your middle school offer you a course catalog?

At least 3 different math options per grade, electives, etc., so yes? Those in the hardest math being cut from interviews for not getting perfect scores seems unfair. They would have killed it on the test in past years so this is a VERY different admissions paradigm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think 500+ with straight As is likelier than <500, so no interviews for kids with anything less, I guess.

The new Walls motto: take the easiest class load possible in middle school so you can ensure you have straight As.

Does your middle school offer you a course catalog?

At least 3 different math options per grade, electives, etc., so yes? Those in the hardest math being cut from interviews for not getting perfect scores seems unfair. They would have killed it on the test in past years so this is a VERY different admissions paradigm.

yes, 7th graders at Deal take:

7th grade math
8th grade math
Algebra 1
Geometry

Those who took Algebra 1 concurrently with geometry (the top 10-12 math students in the grade) will be far more likely to not have straight As for 7th grade. The two Algebra 1 teachers who were teaching last year (7th grade) were outstanding but they did not give easy As at all.

[Anonymous]

I don't think 500 students across ~1100 applicants will have straight As