DCI Feeder Lottery and Sibling Preference

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is the data from the waitlist of your chances of matching on result day if you are not in DCI feeder

Basis - 30%
Latin - 12%
DCI Chinese - 4%
DCI French - less then 1%
DCI Spanish - 1%

Waitlist movement after match day will increase those numbers, but I think it’s incremental and not anything significant.

Lastly there is 10 French feeder students on the DCI waitlist who are the top 10 numbers so if French waitlist is moving then these are the students getting in first.

Summary:

Of 3 schools, best chance to get into any of the 3 is from DCI feeder into DCI

Getting into DCI as a non-feeder is basically 0 starting next year due to multiple feeder school’s expansion. The feeder kids will get all the seats not filled by any of the feeder schools.

Lastly, every year those percentages will go down as more families need seats and play the lottery.

Historically, waitlist movement makes a huge difference to your chances at some of these schools.

Look at SY23-24:

BASIS - 67% offered (44% on match day)
Latin I - 21% offered (18% on match day)
Latin II - 42% offered (25% on match day)
DCI Chinese - 24% offered (0% on match day)
DCI French - 21% offered (19% on match day)
DCI Spanish - 5% offered (0% on match day)

These Latins and Basis numbers don't account for siblings. Latin I may be 21% overall, but half have preference so the real odds for non-siblings/staff is closer to 10%. I also agree that Latin II will be closer to Latin I's 10-20% overall within another year or two. And BASIS is a hard one - my older DC would not be a good BASIS student, but what happens if we pass on a BASIS seat for fifth then strike out for DCI in sixth??

Anyways, I think it really just comes down to individual families' risk tolerance. We are not an easily portable family (have an elderly parent in the house, pets, etc.) and would really have to stretch financially to buy and sell to move with current interest rates as they are. "More options" are cold comfort when you get a bad lottery draw and are left having to make really hard choices under tight time constraints. Maybe other families have more financial resources to move easily or are just more zen, but I'm just worried and wondering whether other families are starting to think about back up plans.

We are like you and can’t move easily for various reasons. If we completely bomb the lottery (DCI from a feeder, the Latins, Inspired, Stuart Hobson) we would consider St. Anselms or another Catholic. I am a teacher so our last resort would be for me to get a job at our preferred school, which is not ideal since I love my current job.

Interestingly, last year you actually had worse odds lotterying into SH (58% offered), SWW@FS (47% offered), or Hardy (43% offered) in 6th than into BASIS in 5th. I don't know that there's a good way to approximate where you might land in the general lottery if you struck out at DCI from a DCI feeder, but would be helpful in thinking through overall odds. Though for what it's worth, ITS was at 91% offered in 6th in SY23-24.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is the data from the waitlist of your chances of matching on result day if you are not in DCI feeder

Basis - 30%
Latin - 12%
DCI Chinese - 4%
DCI French - less then 1%
DCI Spanish - 1%

Waitlist movement after match day will increase those numbers, but I think it’s incremental and not anything significant.

Lastly there is 10 French feeder students on the DCI waitlist who are the top 10 numbers so if French waitlist is moving then these are the students getting in first.

Summary:

Of 3 schools, best chance to get into any of the 3 is from DCI feeder into DCI

Getting into DCI as a non-feeder is basically 0 starting next year due to multiple feeder school’s expansion. The feeder kids will get all the seats not filled by any of the feeder schools.

Lastly, every year those percentages will go down as more families need seats and play the lottery.

Historically, waitlist movement makes a huge difference to your chances at some of these schools.

Look at SY23-24:

BASIS - 67% offered (44% on match day)
Latin I - 21% offered (18% on match day)
Latin II - 42% offered (25% on match day)
DCI Chinese - 24% offered (0% on match day)
DCI French - 21% offered (19% on match day)
DCI Spanish - 5% offered (0% on match day)

These Latins and Basis numbers don't account for siblings. Latin I may be 21% overall, but half have preference so the real odds for non-siblings/staff is closer to 10%. I also agree that Latin II will be closer to Latin I's 10-20% overall within another year or two. And BASIS is a hard one - my older DC would not be a good BASIS student, but what happens if we pass on a BASIS seat for fifth then strike out for DCI in sixth??

Anyways, I think it really just comes down to individual families' risk tolerance. We are not an easily portable family (have an elderly parent in the house, pets, etc.) and would really have to stretch financially to buy and sell to move with current interest rates as they are. "More options" are cold comfort when you get a bad lottery draw and are left having to make really hard choices under tight time constraints. Maybe other families have more financial resources to move easily or are just more zen, but I'm just worried and wondering whether other families are starting to think about back up plans.

We are like you and can’t move easily for various reasons. If we completely bomb the lottery (DCI from a feeder, the Latins, Inspired, Stuart Hobson) we would consider St. Anselms or another Catholic. I am a teacher so our last resort would be for me to get a job at our preferred school, which is not ideal since I love my current job.

Interestingly, last year you actually had worse odds lotterying into SH (58% offered), SWW@FS (47% offered), or Hardy (43% offered) in 6th than into BASIS in 5th. I don't know that there's a good way to approximate where you might land in the general lottery if you struck out at DCI from a DCI feeder, but would be helpful in thinking through overall odds. Though for what it's worth, ITS was at 91% offered in 6th in SY23-24.

Are the lotteries completely separate? Our feeder is one independent lottery and out other choices another?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is the data from the waitlist of your chances of matching on result day if you are not in DCI feeder

Basis - 30%
Latin - 12%
DCI Chinese - 4%
DCI French - less then 1%
DCI Spanish - 1%

Waitlist movement after match day will increase those numbers, but I think it’s incremental and not anything significant.

Lastly there is 10 French feeder students on the DCI waitlist who are the top 10 numbers so if French waitlist is moving then these are the students getting in first.

Summary:

Of 3 schools, best chance to get into any of the 3 is from DCI feeder into DCI

Getting into DCI as a non-feeder is basically 0 starting next year due to multiple feeder school’s expansion. The feeder kids will get all the seats not filled by any of the feeder schools.

Lastly, every year those percentages will go down as more families need seats and play the lottery.

Historically, waitlist movement makes a huge difference to your chances at some of these schools.

Look at SY23-24:

BASIS - 67% offered (44% on match day)
Latin I - 21% offered (18% on match day)
Latin II - 42% offered (25% on match day)
DCI Chinese - 24% offered (0% on match day)
DCI French - 21% offered (19% on match day)
DCI Spanish - 5% offered (0% on match day)

These Latins and Basis numbers don't account for siblings. Latin I may be 21% overall, but half have preference so the real odds for non-siblings/staff is closer to 10%. I also agree that Latin II will be closer to Latin I's 10-20% overall within another year or two. And BASIS is a hard one - my older DC would not be a good BASIS student, but what happens if we pass on a BASIS seat for fifth then strike out for DCI in sixth??

Anyways, I think it really just comes down to individual families' risk tolerance. We are not an easily portable family (have an elderly parent in the house, pets, etc.) and would really have to stretch financially to buy and sell to move with current interest rates as they are. "More options" are cold comfort when you get a bad lottery draw and are left having to make really hard choices under tight time constraints. Maybe other families have more financial resources to move easily or are just more zen, but I'm just worried and wondering whether other families are starting to think about back up plans.

We are like you and can’t move easily for various reasons. If we completely bomb the lottery (DCI from a feeder, the Latins, Inspired, Stuart Hobson) we would consider St. Anselms or another Catholic. I am a teacher so our last resort would be for me to get a job at our preferred school, which is not ideal since I love my current job.

Interestingly, last year you actually had worse odds lotterying into SH (58% offered), SWW@FS (47% offered), or Hardy (43% offered) in 6th than into BASIS in 5th. I don't know that there's a good way to approximate where you might land in the general lottery if you struck out at DCI from a DCI feeder, but would be helpful in thinking through overall odds. Though for what it's worth, ITS was at 91% offered in 6th in SY23-24.

Are the lotteries completely separate? Our feeder is one independent lottery and out other choices another?

By general lottery I meant DCPS and DCPCS at large, e.g., if your master number is bad enough to not get into DCI from a DCI feeder, how likely is it to be good enough to get into SH or ITS?

I'm not sure how DCI manages their waitlists. Each feeder is allotted a set number of seats and each is listed independently in the data, but after match day it's unclear to me how they move through the various waitlists to fill the class. Though from this thread it sounds like unfilled feeder seats will be offered to students from other feeders first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is the data from the waitlist of your chances of matching on result day if you are not in DCI feeder

Basis - 30%
Latin - 12%
DCI Chinese - 4%
DCI French - less then 1%
DCI Spanish - 1%

Waitlist movement after match day will increase those numbers, but I think it’s incremental and not anything significant.

Lastly there is 10 French feeder students on the DCI waitlist who are the top 10 numbers so if French waitlist is moving then these are the students getting in first.

Summary:

Of 3 schools, best chance to get into any of the 3 is from DCI feeder into DCI

Getting into DCI as a non-feeder is basically 0 starting next year due to multiple feeder school’s expansion. The feeder kids will get all the seats not filled by any of the feeder schools.

Lastly, every year those percentages will go down as more families need seats and play the lottery.

Historically, waitlist movement makes a huge difference to your chances at some of these schools.

Look at SY23-24:

BASIS - 67% offered (44% on match day)
Latin I - 21% offered (18% on match day)
Latin II - 42% offered (25% on match day)
DCI Chinese - 24% offered (0% on match day)
DCI French - 21% offered (19% on match day)
DCI Spanish - 5% offered (0% on match day)

These Latins and Basis numbers don't account for siblings. Latin I may be 21% overall, but half have preference so the real odds for non-siblings/staff is closer to 10%. I also agree that Latin II will be closer to Latin I's 10-20% overall within another year or two. And BASIS is a hard one - my older DC would not be a good BASIS student, but what happens if we pass on a BASIS seat for fifth then strike out for DCI in sixth??

Anyways, I think it really just comes down to individual families' risk tolerance. We are not an easily portable family (have an elderly parent in the house, pets, etc.) and would really have to stretch financially to buy and sell to move with current interest rates as they are. "More options" are cold comfort when you get a bad lottery draw and are left having to make really hard choices under tight time constraints. Maybe other families have more financial resources to move easily or are just more zen, but I'm just worried and wondering whether other families are starting to think about back up plans.

We are like you and can’t move easily for various reasons. If we completely bomb the lottery (DCI from a feeder, the Latins, Inspired, Stuart Hobson) we would consider St. Anselms or another Catholic. I am a teacher so our last resort would be for me to get a job at our preferred school, which is not ideal since I love my current job.

Interestingly, last year you actually had worse odds lotterying into SH (58% offered), SWW@FS (47% offered), or Hardy (43% offered) in 6th than into BASIS in 5th. I don't know that there's a good way to approximate where you might land in the general lottery if you struck out at DCI from a DCI feeder, but would be helpful in thinking through overall odds. Though for what it's worth, ITS was at 91% offered in 6th in SY23-24.

Are the lotteries completely separate? Our feeder is one independent lottery and out other choices another?

I don't think so. I think "feeder" is simply a preference within the lottery. Much like "in-bounds" or "sibling" is a preference within the lottery. In other words, if you strike out at DCI, you're also going to strike out at SH, SWW@FS, and Hardy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is the data from the waitlist of your chances of matching on result day if you are not in DCI feeder

Basis - 30%
Latin - 12%
DCI Chinese - 4%
DCI French - less then 1%
DCI Spanish - 1%

Waitlist movement after match day will increase those numbers, but I think it’s incremental and not anything significant.

Lastly there is 10 French feeder students on the DCI waitlist who are the top 10 numbers so if French waitlist is moving then these are the students getting in first.

Summary:

Of 3 schools, best chance to get into any of the 3 is from DCI feeder into DCI

Getting into DCI as a non-feeder is basically 0 starting next year due to multiple feeder school’s expansion. The feeder kids will get all the seats not filled by any of the feeder schools.

Lastly, every year those percentages will go down as more families need seats and play the lottery.

Historically, waitlist movement makes a huge difference to your chances at some of these schools.

Look at SY23-24:

BASIS - 67% offered (44% on match day)
Latin I - 21% offered (18% on match day)
Latin II - 42% offered (25% on match day)
DCI Chinese - 24% offered (0% on match day)
DCI French - 21% offered (19% on match day)
DCI Spanish - 5% offered (0% on match day)

Waitlist movement will make a difference to DCI feeder kids only starting next year. It will shut out non-feeder kids on the waitlist

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is the data from the waitlist of your chances of matching on result day if you are not in DCI feeder

Basis - 30%
Latin - 12%
DCI Chinese - 4%
DCI French - less then 1%
DCI Spanish - 1%

Waitlist movement after match day will increase those numbers, but I think it’s incremental and not anything significant.

Lastly there is 10 French feeder students on the DCI waitlist who are the top 10 numbers so if French waitlist is moving then these are the students getting in first.

Summary:

Of 3 schools, best chance to get into any of the 3 is from DCI feeder into DCI

Getting into DCI as a non-feeder is basically 0 starting next year due to multiple feeder school’s expansion. The feeder kids will get all the seats not filled by any of the feeder schools.

Lastly, every year those percentages will go down as more families need seats and play the lottery.

Historically, waitlist movement makes a huge difference to your chances at some of these schools.

Look at SY23-24:

BASIS - 67% offered (44% on match day)
Latin I - 21% offered (18% on match day)
Latin II - 42% offered (25% on match day)
DCI Chinese - 24% offered (0% on match day)
DCI French - 21% offered (19% on match day)
DCI Spanish - 5% offered (0% on match day)

These Latins and Basis numbers don't account for siblings. Latin I may be 21% overall, but half have preference so the real odds for non-siblings/staff is closer to 10%. I also agree that Latin II will be closer to Latin I's 10-20% overall within another year or two. And BASIS is a hard one - my older DC would not be a good BASIS student, but what happens if we pass on a BASIS seat for fifth then strike out for DCI in sixth??

Anyways, I think it really just comes down to individual families' risk tolerance. We are not an easily portable family (have an elderly parent in the house, pets, etc.) and would really have to stretch financially to buy and sell to move with current interest rates as they are. "More options" are cold comfort when you get a bad lottery draw and are left having to make really hard choices under tight time constraints. Maybe other families have more financial resources to move easily or are just more zen, but I'm just worried and wondering whether other families are starting to think about back up plans.

We are like you and can’t move easily for various reasons. If we completely bomb the lottery (DCI from a feeder, the Latins, Inspired, Stuart Hobson) we would consider St. Anselms or another Catholic. I am a teacher so our last resort would be for me to get a job at our preferred school, which is not ideal since I love my current job.

Interestingly, last year you actually had worse odds lotterying into SH (58% offered), SWW@FS (47% offered), or Hardy (43% offered) in 6th than into BASIS in 5th. I don't know that there's a good way to approximate where you might land in the general lottery if you struck out at DCI from a DCI feeder, but would be helpful in thinking through overall odds. Though for what it's worth, ITS was at 91% offered in 6th in SY23-24.

Are the lotteries completely separate? Our feeder is one independent lottery and out other choices another?

By general lottery I meant DCPS and DCPCS at large, e.g., if your master number is bad enough to not get into DCI from a DCI feeder, how likely is it to be good enough to get into SH or ITS?

I'm not sure how DCI manages their waitlists. Each feeder is allotted a set number of seats and each is listed independently in the data, but after match day it's unclear to me how they move through the various waitlists to fill the class. Though from this thread it sounds like unfilled feeder seats will be offered to students from other feeders first.

Well, in past years those schools have cleared or nearly cleared their lists. But I'm not sure that will be true going forward.

There's some number of DCI feeder families who live IB for SH, attending MV, Stokes, or YY. So that would be an option for all of them.

[Anonymous]

The weak link at DCI is middle school. We debated leaving but are glad we stayed because the high school experience has really been fantastic - esp after freshman year.

[Anonymous]

DCI 6th grade has been excellent for my kid. Hopefully will be able to get sibling in from Spanish feeder in a few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The weak link at DCI is middle school. We debated leaving but are glad we stayed because the high school experience has really been fantastic - esp after freshman year.

In a feeder school - that’s great to hear. I’m sure there are things DCI could do better in middle, but isn’t part of their middle school challenges just how hard those years are universally?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The weak link at DCI is middle school. We debated leaving but are glad we stayed because the high school experience has really been fantastic - esp after freshman year.

In a feeder school - that’s great to hear. I’m sure there are things DCI could do better in middle, but isn’t part of their middle school challenges just how hard those years are universally?

Generally middle school is the weakest link in many school districts including those in the DMV. Lots of changes and challenges transitioning from holding kids hands to them having them juggle so many classes, tests, deadlines, etc….in a much bigger school with lots of kids. Add onto that hormonal changes happening and IMO, it’s probably the hardest years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The weak link at DCI is middle school. We debated leaving but are glad we stayed because the high school experience has really been fantastic - esp after freshman year.

In a feeder school - that’s great to hear. I’m sure there are things DCI could do better in middle, but isn’t part of their middle school challenges just how hard those years are universally?

Generally middle school is the weakest link in many school districts including those in the DMV. Lots of changes and challenges transitioning from holding kids hands to them having them juggle so many classes, tests, deadlines, etc….in a much bigger school with lots of kids. Add onto that hormonal changes happening and IMO, it’s probably the hardest years.

PP I will add that being in a bigger school like DCI with lots more kids, clubs, and sports helps in that your kid will find their niche of friends and interests which will help the transition.

[Anonymous]

Does DCI backfill in any of the tracks for later grades (so maybe after some kids leave for high school)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does DCI backfill in any of the tracks for later grades (so maybe after some kids leave for high school)?

Yes. You can see here:

https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/aaron2446/viz/MSDCSeatsandWaitlistOfferData_draft/MSDCPublicDisplay

Looking at last year's data will give you a fuller picture. For example, 21 offers for 9th grade Chinese.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does DCI backfill in any of the tracks for later grades (so maybe after some kids leave for high school)?

Yes. You can see here:

https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/aaron2446/viz/MSDCSeatsandWaitlistOfferData_draft/MSDCPublicDisplay

Looking at last year's data will give you a fuller picture. For example, 21 offers for 9th grade Chinese.

For 8th grade Spanish it shows for results day:
86 applications
0 matches
74 wait-list

Why aren't all 86 on the wait-list?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does DCI backfill in any of the tracks for later grades (so maybe after some kids leave for high school)?

Yes. You can see here:

https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/aaron2446/viz/MSDCSeatsandWaitlistOfferData_draft/MSDCPublicDisplay

Looking at last year's data will give you a fuller picture. For example, 21 offers for 9th grade Chinese.

For 8th grade Spanish it shows for results day:
86 applications
0 matches
74 wait-list

Why aren't all 86 on the wait-list?

Because they matched with a school they ranked higher.