MSDC Seats and Waitlist Offer Data - updated to include 2025-26 data

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hill parent of rising PK3 kiddo here. Some things I found interesting:

- SWS gave all their slots to kids with siblings attending. Not even 1 no preference got in
- Maury only had 2 regular inbounds accepted, rest had siblings
- AppleTree Lincoln Park supposedly had 80 PK3 spots! That's more than double any previous years (alternated between 25 and 40). Makes me wonder if that was a mistake. They also accepted 10 PK4 where past few years had been 0. Did they expand or something? I can't imagine where they'd have space to.
- Miner had a lot fewer "early action" slots taken and a shorter waitlist than usual. Maybe because they all went to ATLP??

On AppleTree, maybe just a new strategy for managing the waitlist and enrollment? Offer a bunch of seats up front so when students decline the seat you don't have to go so deep into the waitlist in the fall? Last year they had 25 matches on results day but made 55 waitlist offers by October = 80 offers.

Seems a little irresponsible, no? What if all 80 enroll? Even 25 kids could decide not to enroll and that would still be 13 more than AT LP has ever accepted at the PK3 level.

Maybe.

SY24-25 they made 80 offers (match + waitlist) and ended up with 31 enrolled.

SY23-24 they made 66 offers and ended up with 39 enrolled.

SY22-23 they made 71 offers and ended up with 24 enrolled.

SY21-22 they made 76 offers and ended up with 39 enrolled.

It's a backup option for a lot of Hill families. There's always a ton of waitlist movement.

Right, but those excess offers were made as spots opened up at the school? In those other years, there was never a possibility that 66, 71, or 76 people could actually enroll in the school. Here, 80 kids could enroll at the school tomorrow and they’d be screwed.

Yes, but they won't because Apple Tree is often a backup option. Some people will get into other schools, some parents will lose jobs and move back to their hometown, and some parents will just decide the kid isn't quite ready for school yet.

I wonder if their plan is that if they wind up overenrolled to encourage people to go to Oklahoma Ave, Waterfront, or Lenfant.

You gotta love the mentality if DCUM parents who think they understand offers and yields better than the actual schools. Priceless!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I look at Banneker, I see that there were 22 seats in 10th grade available, 80 applications and no matches.

I interpret that as "people who didn't get selected in the selective school application process (either by being negged or not applying at all) still put in Banneker and when their number hit, they didnt get matched because they weren't on the 'selectively admitted' pool.

Is that probably the right interpretation?

I would interpret that as Banneker considered making up to 22 seats available to 10th graders. But although they received 80 applications, after working through their selective process, they did not match any kids for those 22 seats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hill parent of rising PK3 kiddo here. Some things I found interesting:

- SWS gave all their slots to kids with siblings attending. Not even 1 no preference got in
- Maury only had 2 regular inbounds accepted, rest had siblings
- AppleTree Lincoln Park supposedly had 80 PK3 spots! That's more than double any previous years (alternated between 25 and 40). Makes me wonder if that was a mistake. They also accepted 10 PK4 where past few years had been 0. Did they expand or something? I can't imagine where they'd have space to.
- Miner had a lot fewer "early action" slots taken and a shorter waitlist than usual. Maybe because they all went to ATLP??

On AppleTree, maybe just a new strategy for managing the waitlist and enrollment? Offer a bunch of seats up front so when students decline the seat you don't have to go so deep into the waitlist in the fall? Last year they had 25 matches on results day but made 55 waitlist offers by October = 80 offers.

Seems a little irresponsible, no? What if all 80 enroll? Even 25 kids could decide not to enroll and that would still be 13 more than AT LP has ever accepted at the PK3 level.

Maybe.

SY24-25 they made 80 offers (match + waitlist) and ended up with 31 enrolled.

SY23-24 they made 66 offers and ended up with 39 enrolled.

SY22-23 they made 71 offers and ended up with 24 enrolled.

SY21-22 they made 76 offers and ended up with 39 enrolled.

It's a backup option for a lot of Hill families. There's always a ton of waitlist movement.

Right, but those excess offers were made as spots opened up at the school? In those other years, there was never a possibility that 66, 71, or 76 people could actually enroll in the school. Here, 80 kids could enroll at the school tomorrow and they’d be screwed.

Yes, but they won't because Apple Tree is often a backup option. Some people will get into other schools, some parents will lose jobs and move back to their hometown, and some parents will just decide the kid isn't quite ready for school yet.

I wonder if their plan is that if they wind up overenrolled to encourage people to go to Oklahoma Ave, Waterfront, or Lenfant.

AT OK Ave only matched 33 of the 100 slots they offered. Low or no waitlists at the two campuses in SW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:and the same for walls, basically - they have space for 5 10th graders, admitted 11 by their process, but there were 119 applicants anyway...108 of which either didn't do or didn't succeed in admissions process.

That's not how selective admissions work. It's entirely up to the school whether they fill available slots or not. They are under no obligation to do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you think Sela is suffering from association with Israel at the moment?

No. The biggest issue is no middle school feeder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you think Sela is suffering from association with Israel at the moment?

No. The biggest issue is no middle school feeder.

They have never had a MS feeder. Obviously, it must be something else causing the decline… 🤔

[Anonymous]

FWIW—We have many friends who go to Sela and love it. We decided not to include it on our list because of the poor outdoor space. Also, if you look into the funding stream coming from the Hebrew immersion charter school organization they are affiliated with there is money coming from the Israeli government. We are Jewish and also (in addition to poor outdoor space) decided not to send our kid there because of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FWIW—We have many friends who go to Sela and love it. We decided not to include it on our list because of the poor outdoor space. Also, if you look into the funding stream coming from the Hebrew immersion charter school organization they are affiliated with there is money coming from the Israeli government. We are Jewish and also (in addition to poor outdoor space) decided not to send our kid there because of that.

We are also Jewish and it's nearby where we live but we opted not to include it at all for our second child this time around the PK3 lottery due to to the specific institutional affiliation with Israel.

I don't know why people want to discount that as a very possibility.

I will also add that the DCPS schools around it in Ward 4 have gotten much more popular and Wells is turning into a more solid MS feeder which is naturally going to hurt it too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My heart breaks for schools like Sela. Really incredible community and to see such little interest..

There are really great teachers there. Wonderful parents.

I know why. To all the posts above. People more comfortable with DCPS schools, less schools on their application, etc.

Just hate to see it.

I live nearby and we’re in a tough spot to commute to. Plus we have four charter schools within a few blocks of each other and in the boundary of Whittier, whose reputation and enrollment just keep growing.

All the more reason we need better cross-sector planning for where schools are located and what grades they serve. The PCSB, unfortunately, has resisted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW—We have many friends who go to Sela and love it. We decided not to include it on our list because of the poor outdoor space. Also, if you look into the funding stream coming from the Hebrew immersion charter school organization they are affiliated with there is money coming from the Israeli government. We are Jewish and also (in addition to poor outdoor space) decided not to send our kid there because of that.

We are also Jewish and it's nearby where we live but we opted not to include it at all for our second child this time around the PK3 lottery due to to the specific institutional affiliation with Israel.

I don't know why people want to discount that as a very possibility.

I will also add that the DCPS schools around it in Ward 4 have gotten much more popular and Wells is turning into a more solid MS feeder which is naturally going to hurt it too.

Whittier family here. Same feeder into Wells as Sela so why even add it to our list?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you think Sela is suffering from association with Israel at the moment?

No. The biggest issue is no middle school feeder.

They have never had a MS feeder. Obviously, it must be something else causing the decline… 🤔

Except if you look at the historical data there is no real decline. It’s not a Creative Minds situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW—We have many friends who go to Sela and love it. We decided not to include it on our list because of the poor outdoor space. Also, if you look into the funding stream coming from the Hebrew immersion charter school organization they are affiliated with there is money coming from the Israeli government. We are Jewish and also (in addition to poor outdoor space) decided not to send our kid there because of that.

We are also Jewish and it's nearby where we live but we opted not to include it at all for our second child this time around the PK3 lottery due to to the specific institutional affiliation with Israel.

I don't know why people want to discount that as a very possibility.

I will also add that the DCPS schools around it in Ward 4 have gotten much more popular and Wells is turning into a more solid MS feeder which is naturally going to hurt it too.

It’s hard to know if you are just cos-playing Jewish online because I suspect most literate Jews know the school is not affiliated with Israel - unless you count affiliated in the way that Mundo Verde is affiliated with El Salvador or Yu Ying is affiliated with China. Or the way Wells and Coolidge are affiliated with Qatar. Remote work has been cancelled. People have lost their jobs and been forced to move out of the city. People are having fewer kids, period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW—We have many friends who go to Sela and love it. We decided not to include it on our list because of the poor outdoor space. Also, if you look into the funding stream coming from the Hebrew immersion charter school organization they are affiliated with there is money coming from the Israeli government. We are Jewish and also (in addition to poor outdoor space) decided not to send our kid there because of that.

We are also Jewish and it's nearby where we live but we opted not to include it at all for our second child this time around the PK3 lottery due to to the specific institutional affiliation with Israel.

I don't know why people want to discount that as a very possibility.

I will also add that the DCPS schools around it in Ward 4 have gotten much more popular and Wells is turning into a more solid MS feeder which is naturally going to hurt it too.

It’s hard to know if you are just cos-playing Jewish online because I suspect most literate Jews know the school is not affiliated with Israel - unless you count affiliated in the way that Mundo Verde is affiliated with El Salvador or Yu Ying is affiliated with China. Or the way Wells and Coolidge are affiliated with Qatar. Remote work has been cancelled. People have lost their jobs and been forced to move out of the city. People are having fewer kids, period.

I had the same thought. This is some serious BS online stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know how many students there are per grade at MacArthur? For 9th grade, the school had 220 lottery seats, which seems high, without knowing how many kids will go there from Hardy.

How many 9th graders are there this year? It looks like the school had 60 lottery seats for next year's 10th grade, and there's no wait list.

https://edscape.dc.gov/page/enrollment-trends-specific-public-schools

This year 188 in 9th, 147 in 10th, 55 in 11th. Last year 192 in 9th, 46 in 10th.

They offered 220 seats in the lottery (over projection since not all will enroll for 9th) and match 185 seats OOB in the lottery. That is a huge OOB ratio if there is 188 seats like this year.

Doesn’t sound like they think there will be alot of IB buy in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW—We have many friends who go to Sela and love it. We decided not to include it on our list because of the poor outdoor space. Also, if you look into the funding stream coming from the Hebrew immersion charter school organization they are affiliated with there is money coming from the Israeli government. We are Jewish and also (in addition to poor outdoor space) decided not to send our kid there because of that.

We are also Jewish and it's nearby where we live but we opted not to include it at all for our second child this time around the PK3 lottery due to to the specific institutional affiliation with Israel.

I don't know why people want to discount that as a very possibility.

I will also add that the DCPS schools around it in Ward 4 have gotten much more popular and Wells is turning into a more solid MS feeder which is naturally going to hurt it too.

It’s hard to know if you are just cos-playing Jewish online because I suspect most literate Jews know the school is not affiliated with Israel - unless you count affiliated in the way that Mundo Verde is affiliated with El Salvador or Yu Ying is affiliated with China. Or the way Wells and Coolidge are affiliated with Qatar. Remote work has been cancelled. People have lost their jobs and been forced to move out of the city. People are having fewer kids, period.

What? First, it's a secular school that teaches a language spoken only in Israel. So it's a weird to say there are no ties in the first place.

There are numerous articles (including from the Forward) about the fact that the school hangs Israeli flags and that they performed for the Israeli embassy. One of the Board members described it as an Israeli themed school. They released a statement about their sympathies with Israel and their Israeli community. According to their own social media they celebrate Israel Day every year.

Now maybe that has changed in the last few years since we looked but it absolutely prided itself on its connections to Israel.

The rest of your statement is just racist.

Honestly, your post is pretty racist and bot-like. If you go to any Spanish immersion program in DC - you will see flags of Spanish speaking countries - including El Salvador (which we see on the news has a horrible government or Venezuela (ditto) or Honduras. They have teachers from Spanish speaking countries. They visit embassies. Yu Ying has Chinese flags. They take a trip to China. They bring Chinese teachers to America. DC’s Arabic programs receive funding from Qatari foundations. The Chair of Sela’s board is a Muslim. They have Arab teachers. They have Muslim and Arab students. It sounds like you have a lot of ego or bias wrapped up in being right about a school you know zero about. Maybe you will get better in a few years - with some more adulting.

You said the school has no association with Israel. It very clear does. That makes some people uncomfortable. I don't know what else to tell you.