SWW Interviews

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because Walls was not able to administer their exam this year, the interview carries much more weight. Having some sense of if/when interviews will happen won’t change the process but it would help people feel less anxious.

Going for a long walk and staying off DCUM does wonders for your anxiety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because Walls was not able to administer their exam this year, the interview carries much more weight. Having some sense of if/when interviews will happen won’t change the process but it would help people feel less anxious.

Um interviews will happen. How does knowing that obvious fact help with your anxiety? There is no preparation for the interview other than reading up about the school and any materials they send to interviewees.

DP but for us it will primarily be helpful to know if our child will not be interviewed, ie will not be admitted.

I think this is the issue at hand. People are curious if their kid will make the cut for an interview.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because Walls was not able to administer their exam this year, the interview carries much more weight. Having some sense of if/when interviews will happen won’t change the process but it would help people feel less anxious.

Um interviews will happen. How does knowing that obvious fact help with your anxiety? There is no preparation for the interview other than reading up about the school and any materials they send to interviewees.

DP but for us it will primarily be helpful to know if our child will not be interviewed, ie will not be admitted.

I think this is the issue at hand. People are curious if their kid will make the cut for an interview.

In the past students find out if they will get an interview about one business week before the interview day. So if they are training the students who will interview on the 27th, I think students will be contacted March 1 or 2, and the interviews will happen on the weekend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because Walls was not able to administer their exam this year, the interview carries much more weight. Having some sense of if/when interviews will happen won’t change the process but it would help people feel less anxious.

Um interviews will happen. How does knowing that obvious fact help with your anxiety? There is no preparation for the interview other than reading up about the school and any materials they send to interviewees.

It would be great to know if my kid gets an interview. She has other schools to consider (DCPS) and is getting nervous. She’s 13.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because Walls was not able to administer their exam this year, the interview carries much more weight. Having some sense of if/when interviews will happen won’t change the process but it would help people feel less anxious.

Um interviews will happen. How does knowing that obvious fact help with your anxiety? There is no preparation for the interview other than reading up about the school and any materials they send to interviewees.

It would be great to know if my kid gets an interview. She has other schools to consider (DCPS) and is getting nervous. She’s 13.

There is a full month until the lottery apps are closed - she can make changes up until then. It is stressful, but good practice fro college which will be here before you know it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because Walls was not able to administer their exam this year, the interview carries much more weight. Having some sense of if/when interviews will happen won’t change the process but it would help people feel less anxious.

Um interviews will happen. How does knowing that obvious fact help with your anxiety? There is no preparation for the interview other than reading up about the school and any materials they send to interviewees.

It would be great to know if my kid gets an interview. She has other schools to consider (DCPS) and is getting nervous. She’s 13.

There is a full month until the lottery apps are closed - she can make changes up until then. It is stressful, but good practice fro college which will be here before you know it.

I know this and you know this but she is 13 and has had a full year of DL and she is discouraged and burnt out. She would like to know if she even got an interview at Walls so she might qualify to have her name pulled out of the lottery hat. She realizes all her hard work will only get her so far in DCPS and then it’s just a crap shoot. So yes, she has an idea of what it’s like.

[Anonymous]

The application deadline was February 1st. Walls has to work through 1200 or so applications, which includes recalculating any GPAs that are not aligned with DCPS and any GPAs that include a grade bump for honors or AP classes. It is not a private school so there is not a full time admissions person working at the school. Therefore it will take some time. It's a public school. Please just take a few breaths.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because Walls was not able to administer their exam this year, the interview carries much more weight. Having some sense of if/when interviews will happen won’t change the process but it would help people feel less anxious.

Um interviews will happen. How does knowing that obvious fact help with your anxiety? There is no preparation for the interview other than reading up about the school and any materials they send to interviewees.

It would be great to know if my kid gets an interview. She has other schools to consider (DCPS) and is getting nervous. She’s 13.

There is a full month until the lottery apps are closed - she can make changes up until then. It is stressful, but good practice fro college which will be here before you know it.

I know this and you know this but she is 13 and has had a full year of DL and she is discouraged and burnt out. She would like to know if she even got an interview at Walls so she might qualify to have her name pulled out of the lottery hat. She realizes all her hard work will only get her so far in DCPS and then it’s just a crap shoot. So yes, she has an idea of what it’s like.

You think you’re the only parent here with kids who have been in DL?

Your job is to help her manage the stress. They aren’t going to change the process because you think they should. And if she knew she was interviewing, she would be stressed about that, then while waiting for results.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand the smug condescension -- other than, I suppose, it is DCUM.

Plenty of us live in neighborhoods with inbound high schools we have determined are under-performing or in some other way a poor fit for our kid. And right now we are waiting for a) application high schools; b) lottery results; and c) private school admissions and financial aid. With the final choice of moving should none of those options work out.

I have no idea how to gauge whether my student's very strong grades from 7th are good enough for them to land in the interview pool -- kids apply from a range of middle schools, charters and privates and I bet they all have different approaches to grading. Knowing if they are on the interview list is helpful information and I think it is natural for parents and students to be anxious and stressed.

Many thanks to the poster who noted the interview training dates for current Walls students. It is helpful to have a rough time frame in mind. "February-March" on the school website is too broad to be informative.

[Anonymous]

Yes sone anxiety is normal. The timeline and decisions are out of your control and the entire process - for the application schools and any privates - is opaque and subjective.

It is the nature of the beast and you won’t know until 4/2 or later if your kid winds up on wait lists.

[Anonymous]

A little more info from the Walls request for student interviewers: all 500 interviews will take place via Microsoft Teams on the following dates/times:

Wednesday, February 24 - 12:00 pm-6:00 pm
Saturday, February 27 - 10:00 am-4:00 pm
Monday, March 1 - 4:00 pm-6:45 pm
Saturday, March 6 - 10:00 am-4:00 pm
Monday, March 8 - 4:00 pm-6:45 pm
Wednesday, March 10 - 12:00 pm-6:00 pm

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A little more info from the Walls request for student interviewers: all 500 interviews will take place via Microsoft Teams on the following dates/times:

Wednesday, February 24 - 12:00 pm-6:00 pm
Saturday, February 27 - 10:00 am-4:00 pm
Monday, March 1 - 4:00 pm-6:45 pm
Saturday, March 6 - 10:00 am-4:00 pm
Monday, March 8 - 4:00 pm-6:45 pm
Wednesday, March 10 - 12:00 pm-6:00 pm

Is this from a notification from SWW to particular students or is this from somewhere public?

[Anonymous]

It was from the Walls weekly newsletter "Penguin Nation" that went out on Sunday. The sign up form has the interview days/times. Full blurb is below:

SWW Admissions Interview - Student Panelist Sign-Up
Now is the time when students are able to sign-up to serve on interview panels. This year, we are planning to interview over 500 students via Microsoft Teams. Please use the below link to sign up and to share your availability to serve on an interview panel. (Unfortunately, transfer students for the current school year are not able to serve on interview panels this year.)

In order to serve on a panel, all students MUST attend panelist training, which will be held Saturday, February 20, 2021 via Microsoft Teams. Attendance will be taken.

Interviewers will received community service hours from the HSA. Thank you and we look forward to your response and participation!

forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=7kagKk6zM0qSt5md8rwKMkygG4C38qZEimBrIfLeWM5UOUlGQktSNTdFT1JGTERFQlNYRUZRWVNFQi4u

[Anonymous]

Thanks. If the first interviews are on 24th, I would expect the emails to go out to the 500 prospective students this Thursday. From my past experience, SWW always seemed to interview in order of test scores (probably how they ranked them prior to interviews). I wonder if they will follow a similar approach based on GPA ranks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks. If the first interviews are on 24th, I would expect the emails to go out to the 500 prospective students this Thursday. From my past experience, SWW always seemed to interview in order of test scores (probably how they ranked them prior to interviews). I wonder if they will follow a similar approach based on GPA ranks?

They stopped interview in order of test scores years ago.