How important is HSPT at Gonzaga?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think it is that hard. In Philly you have different families going to Malvern vs St Joe’s vs Ryan or Father Judge.

Yes, but the DC schools don't map to the Philadelphia ones. It's probably tempting to suggest that Prep is Malvern and Gonzaga is St Joes. But that's not true.

If your point is that these schools are different from one another as the ones in Philly are, I buy that. And they are vastly different from Maret, St Albans, GDS, Sidwell, etc.

(You'll notice that the Catholic ethnic groups are also different here from Philly.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We didn’t do well and this hspt score is our one hole in our application. Son has Great grades, Strong teacher recommendations, good essay, but low hspt. Do we have a chance or is it you must have every category to get in? Not coming from a Catholic school either.

This is going to be an interesting year. We’ve spoken to many MOCO parents who are uncomfortable with the crime situation in DC and in the Capitol Hill area specifically. At least in our circle it sounds like GC, Prep, and SJC may see a higher acceptance rate in part because of this.

This is giving me pause too. Are boys being robbed walking to metro?

I have kids at Gonzaga who used the metro almost daily and go off campus for lunch. They know of no crime walking to either.

[Anonymous]

Gonzaga houses and feeds the homeless. On campus. The boys serve breakfast every weekday. Boys pack and deliver boxed dinners to local residential homes nearby every weekday. Never heard about any crime.

[Anonymous]

You'll notice that the Catholic ethnic groups are also different here from Philly.)

I don’t think the Philly schools directly map to the DC Catholic schools but there are definitely different culture.

As to the above- my Irish Catholic family went to North Catholic in Philly and here in DC attend Gonzaga.

[Anonymous]

Gonzaga is sometimes called “ the Eye Street Irish”.

In the DC area, especially NWDC and MoCo there are lots of Irish and very few Italians. That’s not true in Philly.

[Anonymous]

Back to the hspt question…

Sounds like you may be waitlisted due to low hspt (hopefully not declined if grades and recommendations are strong) and if so, perhaps you can get lucky and offered a spot if others decide the neighborhood is not safe and those accept SJC or GP. Op, don’t worry. Things will work out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Back to the hspt question…

Sounds like you may be waitlisted due to low hspt (hopefully not declined if grades and recommendations are strong) and if so, perhaps you can get lucky and offered a spot if others decide the neighborhood is not safe and those accept SJC or GP. Op, don’t worry. Things will work out.

DS got into DeMatha (his first choice) with good grades but low HSPT (high 60s). We are coming from k-8 Catholic school so I think recommendations made a huge difference.

I will update with Gonzaga or SJC decisions. While his mind is made up, it would still be good to know whether his profile/application would get into those schools too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Back to the hspt question…

Sounds like you may be waitlisted due to low hspt (hopefully not declined if grades and recommendations are strong) and if so, perhaps you can get lucky and offered a spot if others decide the neighborhood is not safe and those accept SJC or GP. Op, don’t worry. Things will work out.

DS got into DeMatha (his first choice) with good grades but low HSPT (high 60s). We are coming from k-8 Catholic school so I think recommendations made a huge difference.

I will update with Gonzaga or SJC decisions. While his mind is made up, it would still be good to know whether his profile/application would get into those schools too.

We are a different family/pp but this was our experience and background so far as well. We also applied to SJC and GC and another (not Gonzaga).

[Anonymous]

My kid already graduated from Gonzaga. To be honest, I would think twice about sending him now. Violent crime in the DC area is up 35%. I saw recently there was a shooting three blocks from Gonzaga in broad daylight. This is no longer uncommon.

[Anonymous]

Regarding 'B's on applications, does anyone know if Gonzaga views 90+ as an 'A' or do they do the '93' for an A scale? Coming from Catholic K-8 and applying next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We didn’t do well and this hspt score is our one hole in our application. Son has Great grades, Strong teacher recommendations, good essay, but low hspt. Do we have a chance or is it you must have every category to get in? Not coming from a Catholic school either.

This is going to be an interesting year. We’ve spoken to many MOCO parents who are uncomfortable with the crime situation in DC and in the Capitol Hill area specifically. At least in our circle it sounds like GC, Prep, and SJC may see a higher acceptance rate in part because of this.

This is giving me pause too. Are boys being robbed walking to metro?

My son is a senior and I am not aware of any boys being robbed walking to Metro or Union Station (to get food). Sending him downtown on Metro or in traffic every day for last several years has been a tremendous growth experience for him. He'll go to Europe this summer with friends and no chaperones and I have no concerns; he knows how to navigate a city and the various different characters that may be encountered. My older daughter attended a school in a much less urban environment and did not have the same exposure. For various reasons, if I had to do it all over again I would choose Gonzaga with no hesitation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid already graduated from Gonzaga. To be honest, I would think twice about sending him now. Violent crime in the DC area is up 35%. I saw recently there was a shooting three blocks from Gonzaga in broad daylight. This is no longer uncommon.

The only gun involved in that incident was shot by a policeman.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We didn’t do well and this hspt score is our one hole in our application. Son has Great grades, Strong teacher recommendations, good essay, but low hspt. Do we have a chance or is it you must have every category to get in? Not coming from a Catholic school either.

This is going to be an interesting year. We’ve spoken to many MOCO parents who are uncomfortable with the crime situation in DC and in the Capitol Hill area specifically. At least in our circle it sounds like GC, Prep, and SJC may see a higher acceptance rate in part because of this.

This is giving me pause too. Are boys being robbed walking to metro?

My son is a senior and I am not aware of any boys being robbed walking to Metro or Union Station (to get food). Sending him downtown on Metro or in traffic every day for last several years has been a tremendous growth experience for him. He'll go to Europe this summer with friends and no chaperones and I have no concerns; he knows how to navigate a city and the various different characters that may be encountered. My older daughter attended a school in a much less urban environment and did not have the same exposure. For various reasons, if I had to do it all over again I would choose Gonzaga with no hesitation.

could have written this and agree 100%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We didn’t do well and this hspt score is our one hole in our application. Son has Great grades, Strong teacher recommendations, good essay, but low hspt. Do we have a chance or is it you must have every category to get in? Not coming from a Catholic school either.

This is going to be an interesting year. We’ve spoken to many MOCO parents who are uncomfortable with the crime situation in DC and in the Capitol Hill area specifically. At least in our circle it sounds like GC, Prep, and SJC may see a higher acceptance rate in part because of this.

This is giving me pause too. Are boys being robbed walking to metro?

I have kids at Gonzaga who used the metro almost daily and go off campus for lunch. They know of no crime walking to either.

BS.

[Anonymous]

well there was that insurrection a couple years ago - a mile away and in broad daylight