Catholic HS Application Process — any insight?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid only applied to 2 Catholic HSs from Arlington public and got into both. One is notoriously hard to get into. He had straight As 6-8 grades, 98 HSPT score, good recs. We have zero connections- at church or school.

I knew nothing about the process prior.

What year was this?

it can be done. It’s just that you are going against longer odds.

Sometimes I think many of the posters on here never took a Statistics course or have any idea about mean averages and frequency distributions.

They post rumors about acceptance rates as if they were facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do most of the Catholic High Schools have waitlists this year?

Yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do most of the Catholic High Schools have waitlists this year?

Yes.

They pretty much always do since applications almost always exceed Admissions.

The length of the waitlist and the probability of being put on it and offered admission from it depend on the school.

Some Catholic schools are just harder to get accepted into.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do most of the Catholic High Schools have waitlists this year?

Yes.

They pretty much always do since applications almost always exceed Admissions.

The length of the waitlist and the probability of being put on it and offered admission from it depend on the school.

Some Catholic schools are just harder to get accepted into.

Which ones are the hardest to get into?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does being Catholic help when applying to Gonzaga from a non-Catholic k-8? How high do the HSPT scores need to be?

Yes, being Catholic helps. And Gonzaga is fairly competitive. I would guess at least 85th percentile with a strong all around application (grades, essay, recommendations, extracurriculars).

Brother/father legacy is huge at Gonzaga. From our Catholic k-8 this year, 4 legacies (who would not have been admitted otherwise) and 2 w/ no hooks were admitted (all 6 boys will likely play a high school sport, none college level). The 2 boys without hooks were both very strong all around candidates with HSPTs 95+.

It is important to note that Gonzaga does not simply select students based on a high HSPT score, they value a diverse student body. Meaning there are students with a wide range of HSPT scores and grades. Admission is not solely based on academic achievement (it is not the “smart Catholic boy school”, despite some posters insisting the contrary), and teacher recommendations, essay, and interest from shadow day are all huge factors. A well rounded student body who will make an impact is the goal.

I agree, with the exception of the kids coming from public school with zero hooks, non-legacy. Everyone of the public school boys I know like that had 98-99 HSPT and all As as it has gotten more competitive than ever. I love that there is diversity in the student body, all levels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do most of the Catholic High Schools have waitlists this year?

Yes.

They pretty much always do since applications almost always exceed Admissions.

The length of the waitlist and the probability of being put on it and offered admission from it depend on the school.

Some Catholic schools are just harder to get accepted into.

Which ones are the hardest to get into?

The smaller ones are harder

Prep
St Anselms
Visitation
Stone Ridge
Gonzaga (even though it is 1,000 students it's highly sought after)

Larger ones are generally easier

St John's (getting harder every year)
Paul VI (because of its new location and dearth of alternatives)
Good Counsel
O'Connell
Ireton

[Anonymous]

I am a Catholic school parent (bigger than average school) in the Diocese of Arlington. I would say 99% of students who applied to Oconnell or PVI were accepted. Our school sent over 35 students to these schools this year. Some years the school sends from zero students to Gonzaga, to up to about 10. School has 55-62 students per graduating class. Many parents of average to low students choose Catholic schools over public because they are afraid they will fall through the cracks, or befriend “the wrong crowd”. Many high achieving students end up going to public high schools and do extremely well. They all end up going to similar universities in the end. The strong students in k-8 end up going to higher ranked universities. Attending a public or Catholic high school does not seem to make a difference.

[Anonymous]

What about getting into SJC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about getting into SJC?

what about it?

[Anonymous]

SJC is a great school. It is easier than the small school list above but maybe harder than the Diocesan schools listed. It is about the same size as those schools though ~1,200 students. IMO it is becoming more sought after by many families. Great alternative to single sex schools. Great athletics. Also has some awesome niche programs- scholars, Benilde, cadets, entrepreneur, etc.

[Anonymous]

I don't think SJC is very difficult to get accepted to at all. My son and all his public school friends were admitted this past year and almost none of them are Catholic (we are not). There were about 20-25 kids admitted from our public school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SJC is a great school. It is easier than the small school list above but maybe harder than the Diocesan schools listed. It is about the same size as those schools though ~1,200 students. IMO it is becoming more sought after by many families. Great alternative to single sex schools. Great athletics. Also has some awesome niche programs- scholars, Benilde, cadets, entrepreneur, etc.

+1. I will also add the college counseling was excellent during the pandemic. My DD, who just graduated, was very prepared for the college application process. SJC held a essay writing course the summer between 11th and 12th grade. Her essay was complete by the fall. The college counselors walk the students through the common app so they are familiar with it in the summer before school starts. She had all her schools loaded into Naviance for the teacher recommendations to be sent. It all went so smoothly. SJC is a testing site for ACT and SAT and students get preferred spots. I felt like the college counseling was the icing on the cake. DD got into every school she applied to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SJC is a great school. It is easier than the small school list above but maybe harder than the Diocesan schools listed. It is about the same size as those schools though ~1,200 students. IMO it is becoming more sought after by many families. Great alternative to single sex schools. Great athletics. Also has some awesome niche programs- scholars, Benilde, cadets, entrepreneur, etc.

+1. I will also add the college counseling was excellent during the pandemic. My DD, who just graduated, was very prepared for the college application process. SJC held a essay writing course the summer between 11th and 12th grade. Her essay was complete by the fall. The college counselors walk the students through the common app so they are familiar with it in the summer before school starts. She had all her schools loaded into Naviance for the teacher recommendations to be sent. It all went so smoothly. SJC is a testing site for ACT and SAT and students get preferred spots. I felt like the college counseling was the icing on the cake. DD got into every school she applied to.

Where was she accepted?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SJC is a great school. It is easier than the small school list above but maybe harder than the Diocesan schools listed. It is about the same size as those schools though ~1,200 students. IMO it is becoming more sought after by many families. Great alternative to single sex schools. Great athletics. Also has some awesome niche programs- scholars, Benilde, cadets, entrepreneur, etc.

+1. I will also add the college counseling was excellent during the pandemic. My DD, who just graduated, was very prepared for the college application process. SJC held a essay writing course the summer between 11th and 12th grade. Her essay was complete by the fall. The college counselors walk the students through the common app so they are familiar with it in the summer before school starts. She had all her schools loaded into Naviance for the teacher recommendations to be sent. It all went so smoothly. SJC is a testing site for ACT and SAT and students get preferred spots. I felt like the college counseling was the icing on the cake. DD got into every school she applied to.

Where was she accepted?

PP here. Syracuse, Rutgers, Temple, Loyola MD and CHI, Tulane, Texas A&M, St. John's, and St. Joe's.

[Anonymous]

I graduated from SJC 20 years ago and the college counseling and support during the application process was great then. It just shows they are continuing to be excellent. I also was accepted to all schools I applied to and so were my friends. I was one of the first graduating class of girls.