Walls GPA cut off

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They do not try to balance the freshman class. There is just no way to do that. The ratios of which middle schools, gender, race, etc. do not match this assertion.

I don't think they actually try to balance it, they just try to make sure it's not completely out of whack and then hope for the best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They do not try to balance the freshman class. There is just no way to do that. The ratios of which middle schools, gender, race, etc. do not match this assertion.

I don't think they actually try to balance it, they just try to make sure it's not completely out of whack and then hope for the best.

Well it hasn’t worked at all so I really can’t imagine anyone spends their time doing this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do they try to ensure they have representation from all the zip codes?

If they try, they fail. The school is something like 60% from Deal and Hardy. But no one knows what they’re aiming for.

Yes, and? You forget that Deal and Hardy are the largest middle schools in the system.

There are about 2800 eighth graders in DCPS. Let's say 1/2 of those -- or 1400 -- are in commonly acceptable commuting range to Walls. Deal and Hardy (which are in commuting range) have 700 eighth graders bwtween them. So 60% is not far off from proportionate.

[Anonymous]

my kid is from one of the smaller schools. I think that they don't necessarily get any students in each year. So I'm mildly doubtful about a diversity oriented "somebody from everywhere gets in" admissions process.

There are also a pretty good number of private admits to SWW and Banneker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:my kid is from one of the smaller schools. I think that they don't necessarily get any students in each year. So I'm mildly doubtful about a diversity oriented "somebody from everywhere gets in" admissions process.

There are also a pretty good number of private admits to SWW and Banneker.

It doesn't mean that literally there's someone from every school. It just means that they try to spread it around. And unless you know how everyone at your school ranked their application, you don't know if your school would have gotten someone in every year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do they try to ensure they have representation from all the zip codes?

If they try, they fail. The school is something like 60% from Deal and Hardy. But no one knows what they’re aiming for.

Yes, and? You forget that Deal and Hardy are the largest middle schools in the system.

There are about 2800 eighth graders in DCPS. Let's say 1/2 of those -- or 1400 -- are in commonly acceptable commuting range to Walls. Deal and Hardy (which are in commuting range) have 700 eighth graders bwtween them. So 60% is not far off from proportionate.

NP. I don’t think commuting range explains it. People travel from all over the city to go to Duke Ellington and that’s harder to get to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do they try to ensure they have representation from all the zip codes?

If they try, they fail. The school is something like 60% from Deal and Hardy. But no one knows what they’re aiming for.

Yes, and? You forget that Deal and Hardy are the largest middle schools in the system.

There are about 2800 eighth graders in DCPS. Let's say 1/2 of those -- or 1400 -- are in commonly acceptable commuting range to Walls. Deal and Hardy (which are in commuting range) have 700 eighth graders bwtween them. So 60% is not far off from proportionate.

Yes and? It’s not about commuting distance and there are many middle schools that aren’t DCPS. Are you trying to claim 60% of middle schoolers in dc go to Hardy and Deal? The school clearly doesn’t try to balance classes by race, gender, middle school, ward, whatever else people come up with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And last year, lots of kids with 4.0s were not invited to interview. So don’t count on a high gpa as getting you through the first hurdle

This. GPA had very little to do with who was interviewed.

Let’s not be too dramatic - GPA had a lot to do with it, but not everything. Teacher recommendations mattered too. My kid personally knows smart kids who were jerks to teachers who didn’t get in.

We don’t need to rehash all the imperfections of the admissions when demand is greater than supply, but saying GPA didn’t matter much isn’t accurate.

Ok, my kid had a 4.0 and won the Deal "student of the month" 2 months of 6th grade and about 10 different end-of-quarter awards in 7th (top student in math and team VIP or several quarters as two examples) and she didn't get an interview with a 4.0. She is an extremely well behaved girl.

That is crazy!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And last year, lots of kids with 4.0s were not invited to interview. So don’t count on a high gpa as getting you through the first hurdle

This. GPA had very little to do with who was interviewed.

Let’s not be too dramatic - GPA had a lot to do with it, but not everything. Teacher recommendations mattered too. My kid personally knows smart kids who were jerks to teachers who didn’t get in.

We don’t need to rehash all the imperfections of the admissions when demand is greater than supply, but saying GPA didn’t matter much isn’t accurate.

Ok, my kid had a 4.0 and won the Deal "student of the month" 2 months of 6th grade and about 10 different end-of-quarter awards in 7th (top student in math and team VIP or several quarters as two examples) and she didn't get an interview with a 4.0. She is an extremely well behaved girl.

That is crazy!!

+1

That really is the kind of kid who should get an interview

[Anonymous]

While it might seem unfair to high-preforming kids who didn't get in or even get an interview, the process isn't exactly arbitrary or opaque. The process last year, as I understand it, had 4 criteria: 1. GPA (10%), 2. Two teacher recs (15% each), 3. Interviews (separately for student and family), and 4. Essay.

1 and 2 are submitted through MySchoolDC, and the resulting score from those 40 possible points (10% GPA + 30% for two teacher recs) determines whether the kid goes on to 3 and 4. So yes, a student with a 4.0 GPA could, in fact, not get an interview while another student with lower grades but better teacher recs might. While that outcome might not seem intuitive, it's certainly not random.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While it might seem unfair to high-preforming kids who didn't get in or even get an interview, the process isn't exactly arbitrary or opaque. The process last year, as I understand it, had 4 criteria: 1. GPA (10%), 2. Two teacher recs (15% each), 3. Interviews (separately for student and family), and 4. Essay.

1 and 2 are submitted through MySchoolDC, and the resulting score from those 40 possible points (10% GPA + 30% for two teacher recs) determines whether the kid goes on to 3 and 4. So yes, a student with a 4.0 GPA could, in fact, not get an interview while another student with lower grades but better teacher recs might. While that outcome might not seem intuitive, it's certainly not random.

OK—if you don’t like random how about arbitrary, capricious, subjective, unreasonable, and unfair?

[Anonymous]

The last couple posts make me wonder: what should schools (and colleges) do about those mousy students with 4.0s? Always get that A but hardly exist, can't talk out loud unless called on, teachers can hardly remember they are there and a recommendation is just a regurgitation of their grades....

Do they deserve the same treatment as the leader-types, the ones who speak in class or win prizes, but don't get the tippity top grades? I kind of see it both ways, myself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The last couple posts make me wonder: what should schools (and colleges) do about those mousy students with 4.0s? Always get that A but hardly exist, can't talk out loud unless called on, teachers can hardly remember they are there and a recommendation is just a regurgitation of their grades....

Do they deserve the same treatment as the leader-types, the ones who speak in class or win prizes, but don't get the tippity top grades? I kind of see it both ways, myself.

“Hardly exist”? Come on.

[Anonymous]

Come on, what? Go ahead and quibble with the wording but not engage with the point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Come on, what? Go ahead and quibble with the wording but not engage with the point.

You can make your point without being obnoxious, as you know.