Why do people in the Real Estate forum rag on Washington Lee HS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The last Arlington magazine survey I read had more W-L (and Wakefield) kids going on to elite schools than Yorktown did. (HBW beat us too.)

Be careful about the Arlington Magazine survey. It was all self-reported data. You would need the Naviance numbers to really know application and acceptance rates.

Admissions bounce around from year to year, particularly if you define "elite" schools as Ivies and Ivy equivalents, where admissions is a crapshoot. Yorktown always has higher average SATs than W-L and this year had almost twice as many National Merit Semifinalists. Overall, more Yorktown students will be applying to and attending selective schools.

Do you think these differences have a meaningful impact on students? That's what OP was asking about, and it remains a good question. Yorktown had 11 NMSFs this year and W-L had 6. There were less than 400 in all of Virginia, so most high schools in the state didn't have ANY. Is 6 versus 11 a terrible thing? As someone else pointed out, 96% of kids at Yorktown go to college and 91% of kids at W-L do. Do you think that five percent means the kids at W-L are getting a materially less good education? If so, YOU ARE AN IDIOT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Washington-Lee is an awesome school. We tried to find a good SFH feeding into it and couldn't, so we ended up in Yorktown boundary, further from metro rail. I'd send my kid to W-L in a minute. The people I know who have kids set to go there are happy about it. Many of them deliberately chose it - they weren't priced out of Yorktown.

W-L is more diverse than Yorktown, which can scare some people. I really don't get that. The 2009 numbers I have handy say that 95.1% of yorktown students graduated and 91.2% of W-L students graduated. 96% of Yorktown kids went on to college vs. 91% of W-L kids. The last Arlington magazine survey I read had more W-L (and Wakefield) kids going on to elite schools than Yorktown did. (HBW beat us too.)

In my opinion, there is absolutely no reason to avoid Washington-Lee or any of its feeder schools.

+100

Langley grad that chose W-L for her own kids. Great school in an urban environment with diversity.

Lost 10 bids on a million+ home prior to getting one. Lots of people very happy with W-L.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who gives a fuck where other people send their kids to school?

Conversely, I don't give a fuck what other people think about where I choose to send my kids to school?

People that are so fixated on a school have zero going on.

I went to what people in McLean, Langley, etc would consider a 'lesser' Fairfax co HS solely based on demos.

95% went on to 4-year colleges and many top universities represented- even Harvard.

Better to swim with the smaller fishes then end up offing yourself do the toxic environment and crazies.

Good peers do make a better environment no matter how you fuck it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The last Arlington magazine survey I read had more W-L (and Wakefield) kids going on to elite schools than Yorktown did. (HBW beat us too.)

Be careful about the Arlington Magazine survey. It was all self-reported data. You would need the Naviance numbers to really know application and acceptance rates.

Admissions bounce around from year to year, particularly if you define "elite" schools as Ivies and Ivy equivalents, where admissions is a crapshoot. Yorktown always has higher average SATs than W-L and this year had almost twice as many National Merit Semifinalists. Overall, more Yorktown students will be applying to and attending selective schools.

Do you think these differences have a meaningful impact on students? That's what OP was asking about, and it remains a good question. Yorktown had 11 NMSFs this year and W-L had 6. There were less than 400 in all of Virginia, so most high schools in the state didn't have ANY. Is 6 versus 11 a terrible thing? As someone else pointed out, 96% of kids at Yorktown go to college and 91% of kids at W-L do. Do you think that five percent means the kids at W-L are getting a materially less good education? If so, YOU ARE AN IDIOT.

I was responding to the poster who suggested W-L and Wakefield have more kids going to "elite" schools than Yorktown, by putting it in context. People can reasonably differ as to which schools are "elite," but it's a statement of fact that Yorktown has a larger cohort of students scoring well on their SATs and heading off to selective universities.

I didn't say a thing about whether W-L students receive a "materially less good education." You sound like you need some professional help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think in general, white America is afraid of color.

So, you're saying brown kids are dumber and are the blame for poor test scores? Is that it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who gives a fuck where other people send their kids to school?

Conversely, I don't give a fuck what other people think about where I choose to send my kids to school?

People that are so fixated on a school have zero going on.

I went to what people in McLean, Langley, etc would consider a 'lesser' Fairfax co HS solely based on demos.

95% went on to 4-year colleges and many top universities represented- even Harvard.

Better to swim with the smaller fishes then end up offing yourself do the toxic environment and crazies.

Good peers do make a better environment no matter how you fuck it

I am 45 and I actually had some loser ragging on my HS this weekend. He went to an 'elite Fairfax County HS. He got drunker and trashed it more.

Dude still doesn't have enough $ to afford a house. He's standing in the kitchen of my 2nd home and he still talking about HS.

I see a lot of this in those school zones. People bragging about where they went to public school. WTF? Then, they attend a mediocre university and make crap $--but at least they can still brag about where they went to HS. Losers.

[Anonymous]

Parent of kid who'll go to Yorktown here:

I'd happily send kid to W-L. I don't know what the issue is. She'll go to Yorktown (or HB if she gets in) because it's closer geographically.

Also, all bets are off with overcrowding. That affects all of the high schools.

This "my school is better than yours" stuff is just silly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The last Arlington magazine survey I read had more W-L (and Wakefield) kids going on to elite schools than Yorktown did. (HBW beat us too.)

Be careful about the Arlington Magazine survey. It was all self-reported data. You would need the Naviance numbers to really know application and acceptance rates.

Admissions bounce around from year to year, particularly if you define "elite" schools as Ivies and Ivy equivalents, where admissions is a crapshoot. Yorktown always has higher average SATs than W-L and this year had almost twice as many National Merit Semifinalists. Overall, more Yorktown students will be applying to and attending selective schools.

Do you think these differences have a meaningful impact on students? That's what OP was asking about, and it remains a good question. Yorktown had 11 NMSFs this year and W-L had 6. There were less than 400 in all of Virginia, so most high schools in the state didn't have ANY. Is 6 versus 11 a terrible thing? As someone else pointed out, 96% of kids at Yorktown go to college and 91% of kids at W-L do. Do you think that five percent means the kids at W-L are getting a materially less good education? If so, YOU ARE AN IDIOT.

I was responding to the poster who suggested W-L and Wakefield have more kids going to "elite" schools than Yorktown, by putting it in context. People can reasonably differ as to which schools are "elite," but it's a statement of fact that Yorktown has a larger cohort of students scoring well on their SATs and heading off to selective universities.

I didn't say a thing about whether W-L students receive a "materially less good education." You sound like you need some professional help.

I don't need professional help, it's the people who a) spend hundreds of thousands of dollars more on a house to get in the Yorktown district because they couldn't bear to send their kids to W-L, two miles away and b) go on sites like DCUM to complain about W-L that do. There is no real difference between sending your kid to a school where 95% of kids go to college, 30% to elite schools, and a school where 90% of kids go to college, 25% to elite schools.

To put is another way, there is a difference between 200 NMSFs at TJ and 11 at Yorktown. There is no real difference between 11 at Yorktown and 6 at W-L. The more "evidence" people provide, the weaker the argument seems.

[Anonymous]

I'd be worried that at W-L most of the attention goes to the high performers and the large FARMS/ESL population, with the "average" kids lost in the crowd. We don't know yet if our kid will turn out to be "average" or not, but it's one reason why Yorktown seemed like a better bet to us.

And if you want to complain about getting "ragged on," how about all the W-L posters calling Yorktown "lily white" when that is NOT the case!

[Anonymous]

I think the real estate poster who goes off on WL lives in another district that also has an IB program. Just trying to knock the competition. Most people I know in Arlington don't have anything negative to say about WL. She may be somehow related to the poster who thinks Pimmit Hills is the only decent place worth living.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd be worried that at W-L most of the attention goes to the high performers and the large FARMS/ESL population, with the "average" kids lost in the crowd. We don't know yet if our kid will turn out to be "average" or not, but it's one reason why Yorktown seemed like a better bet to us.

And if you want to complain about getting "ragged on," how about all the W-L posters calling Yorktown "lily white" when that is NOT the case!

If 91% of kids at W-L are going on to college, it seems like a needless worry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the real estate poster who goes off on WL lives in another district that also has an IB program. Just trying to knock the competition. Most people I know in Arlington don't have anything negative to say about WL. She may be somehow related to the poster who thinks Pimmit Hills is the only decent place worth living.

You can't base what people say who live in Arlington because they are biased. There is definitely a majority negative perception of WL and it's many people not just one or two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who gives a fuck where other people send their kids to school?

Conversely, I don't give a fuck what other people think about where I choose to send my kids to school?

People that are so fixated on a school have zero going on.

I went to what people in McLean, Langley, etc would consider a 'lesser' Fairfax co HS solely based on demos.

95% went on to 4-year colleges and many top universities represented- even Harvard.

Better to swim with the smaller fishes then end up offing yourself do the toxic environment and crazies.

Good peers do make a better environment no matter how you fuck it

I am 45 and I actually had some loser ragging on my HS this weekend. He went to an 'elite Fairfax County HS. He got drunker and trashed it more.

Dude still doesn't have enough $ to afford a house. He's standing in the kitchen of my 2nd home and he still talking about HS.

I see a lot of this in those school zones. People bragging about where they went to public school. WTF? Then, they attend a mediocre university and make crap $--but at least they can still brag about where they went to HS. Losers.

Bragging about where you went to HS (why mention public - bragging about a private makes more sense?) and bragging about how much money you have or how many homes you own are both low class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The last Arlington magazine survey I read had more W-L (and Wakefield) kids going on to elite schools than Yorktown did. (HBW beat us too.)

Be careful about the Arlington Magazine survey. It was all self-reported data. You would need the Naviance numbers to really know application and acceptance rates.

Admissions bounce around from year to year, particularly if you define "elite" schools as Ivies and Ivy equivalents, where admissions is a crapshoot. Yorktown always has higher average SATs than W-L and this year had almost twice as many National Merit Semifinalists. Overall, more Yorktown students will be applying to and attending selective schools.

Do you think these differences have a meaningful impact on students? That's what OP was asking about, and it remains a good question. Yorktown had 11 NMSFs this year and W-L had 6. There were less than 400 in all of Virginia, so most high schools in the state didn't have ANY. Is 6 versus 11 a terrible thing? As someone else pointed out, 96% of kids at Yorktown go to college and 91% of kids at W-L do. Do you think that five percent means the kids at W-L are getting a materially less good education? If so, YOU ARE AN IDIOT.

I was responding to the poster who suggested W-L and Wakefield have more kids going to "elite" schools than Yorktown, by putting it in context. People can reasonably differ as to which schools are "elite," but it's a statement of fact that Yorktown has a larger cohort of students scoring well on their SATs and heading off to selective universities.

I didn't say a thing about whether W-L students receive a "materially less good education." You sound like you need some professional help.

I don't need professional help, it's the people who a) spend hundreds of thousands of dollars more on a house to get in the Yorktown district because they couldn't bear to send their kids to W-L, two miles away and b) go on sites like DCUM to complain about W-L that do. There is no real difference between sending your kid to a school where 95% of kids go to college, 30% to elite schools, and a school where 90% of kids go to college, 25% to elite schools.

To put is another way, there is a difference between 200 NMSFs at TJ and 11 at Yorktown. There is no real difference between 11 at Yorktown and 6 at W-L. The more "evidence" people provide, the weaker the argument seems.

Let's get one thing straight. My house in W-L district would be MUCH cheaper if located in YHS district. It costs much more per square footage in Lyon Village, Lyon Park, Ashton Heights, Maywood, etc. The $2 million houses over here would be $1.3-1.4 in YHS/22207. There is a 'location' premium over here. I could have more bedroom and much bigger lot for the price paid here.

Not complaining. Just pointing out the stupidity that it costs more for YHS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:http://www.apsva.us/cms/lib2/VA01000586/Centricity/Domain/11/APS%20TransferReport%202013%2014.pdf

Transfers into Yorktown last year:
--from W-L: 15

Transfers into W-L last year:
--from Yorktown: 138

Hmmmm.

W-L students and families too lazy to explore better alternatives, and a legacy of when W-L was under-enrolled and solicited transfers.

And so the corollary would be that Yorktown parents are very motivated to explore better alternatives?

The social scene can be somewhat intense at Yorktown from what I hear. Some kids can't deal with that.

OTOH the argument that rich but dumb kids need a higher SES school is fascinating.