Washington Liberty v Meridian HS

[Anonymous]

For starters, the kids have to take math harder than algebra (generally geometry), 9th grade world history, bio and English “intensified” plus a language at Level 3+ and 2 electives. Lots of homework but not a crushing load. Teachers seem good or great across the board. It’s all better than we expected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For starters, the kids have to take math harder than algebra (generally geometry), 9th grade world history, bio and English “intensified” plus a language at Level 3+ and 2 electives. Lots of homework but not a crushing load. Teachers seem good or great across the board. It’s all better than we expected.

This is pre-AP? Do they also take core classes with the same kids like IB?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WL pre IB essentially wants to see at least a B+ in each 8th grade intensified subject for a kid to qualify. Any less academically and the kid may struggle on the IB track at WL. You want to go the extra mile on language study if you’re serious about IB, e.g. summer immersion camps. Advanced language skills are common for pre IB students at WL. Good luck making your choice.

Seems like a lot of hoops to jump through in order to convince people W-L is on par with Yorktown.

I’m OP and not interested in Yorktown. Please keep up.

I just heard back they aren't interested in you either. So it's all good...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WL pre IB essentially wants to see at least a B+ in each 8th grade intensified subject for a kid to qualify. Any less academically and the kid may struggle on the IB track at WL. You want to go the extra mile on language study if you’re serious about IB, e.g. summer immersion camps. Advanced language skills are common for pre IB students at WL. Good luck making your choice.

Seems like a lot of hoops to jump through in order to convince people W-L is on par with Yorktown.

I’m OP and not interested in Yorktown. Please keep up.

I just heard back they aren't interested in you either. So it's all good...

I think it’s funny that this dog-in-the-manger thing exists everywhere. I thought it was just DC parents that were neurotic, but now I realize that some NOVA parents also need to put down other kids’ schools to alleviate their own anxiety about their own kids’ educations.

[Anonymous]

Sort of. If a kid doesn't meet all the IB Diploma studies prerequisites in 9th and 10th grades, they can't proceed to "full IB" studies in 11th and 12th. Many of the kids in the pre IB classes will get on the AP course/exam track by 10th or 11th grades. Of the roughly 700 students in a cohort at WL, only around 100 will pursue "full IB" to earn the Diploma. Meanwhile, at least 300 will pass at least 2 AP exams. If your kid wants to devote a great deal of time to an extracurricular or two, like marching band or a varsity sport, full IB Diploma studies probably won't be for them (unless they're brilliant and can breeze through tough course work with ample time to spare). My bright kid was iffy for pre IB in 8th grade, earning mostly Bs in intensified classes for lack of focus. But she agreed to give pre IB her best shot for 9th grade, starting with intensive prep over the summer (reading classics, immersion language camp, writing camp, pre AP bio prep course, some math drill). Now she's getting As on early assignments across the board in friendly classes with many nice kids. She says she likes WL much more than the middle school. The new peer group and better teachers have motivated her to work harder than before. Her classes are big, 30 kids, so she works with a math tutor, language tutor and English tutor on Zoom once a week for extra attention and support. The tutors aren't cheap and she isn't brimming with free time to socialize, but things are working out. Her main extra curricular is playing a wind instrument well; she made the county and District bands for that last year.

[Anonymous]

New poster. OP, this one's a no brainer. If your family/kid probably isn't willing or able to cut if for pre-IB/IBD at W-L as a school-within-a-school program, hands down Meridian academics.

The W-L IBD program isn't for every family even where a kid is bright and hard-working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WL pre IB essentially wants to see at least a B+ in each 8th grade intensified subject for a kid to qualify. Any less academically and the kid may struggle on the IB track at WL. You want to go the extra mile on language study if you’re serious about IB, e.g. summer immersion camps. Advanced language skills are common for pre IB students at WL. Good luck making your choice.

Seems like a lot of hoops to jump through in order to convince people W-L is on par with Yorktown.

I’m OP and not interested in Yorktown. Please keep up.

I just heard back they aren't interested in you either. So it's all good...

I think it’s funny that this dog-in-the-manger thing exists everywhere. I thought it was just DC parents that were neurotic, but now I realize that some NOVA parents also need to put down other kids’ schools to alleviate their own anxiety about their own kids’ educations.

Sadly it happens a lot in the entire DC area (city and suburbs). Usually it’s based on the relative wealth of the schools. Schools where the student lots are half empty are often put down. (I personally prefer schools where most students can walk or take public transit. And ART and Metrobus are free for all APS students.) Same with schools with weaker sports teams. Etc. It’s a puerile attitude. But as you can see here, there are plenty of genuinely down-to-earth families. DC is just a hyper-competitive city. And money and income are a huge part of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WL IB Diploma is as good as anything Yorktown offers. My 9th grader’s pre IB classes attract many Dorothy Hamm MS grads, zoned for Yorktown. 9th grade pre IB learners at WL are grouped in “small learning communities” where most of the students in English, Biology and World History classes are the same. The groupings have made a big difference for my kid. She’s making a group of pals and study buddies that should last. Don’t worry about the size of WL if your kid is a good fit for IB studies.

So if you can’t cut it in IB and end up GenEd, it’s misery?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WL pre IB essentially wants to see at least a B+ in each 8th grade intensified subject for a kid to qualify. Any less academically and the kid may struggle on the IB track at WL. You want to go the extra mile on language study if you’re serious about IB, e.g. summer immersion camps. Advanced language skills are common for pre IB students at WL. Good luck making your choice.

Seems like a lot of hoops to jump through in order to convince people W-L is on par with Yorktown.

I’m OP and not interested in Yorktown. Please keep up.

I’m not totally sure how my kid would do in pre-IB. I think he will have the grades but the current MS is not very rigorous. I do like the idea of ramping up language study though - I’m kind of at a loss about tween summers, and working on the language sounds like a good idea.

Are there any ways other than the pre-IB clusters that W-L mitigates the school size for freshmen?

Are you on the advanced math track, for Geo in 8th, and Alg II in 9th?

[Anonymous]

Be aware that full IB— at lease at WL, you need to have started a foreign language in middle school (by 7th grade, I think) and take at least algebra by 8th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WL pre IB essentially wants to see at least a B+ in each 8th grade intensified subject for a kid to qualify. Any less academically and the kid may struggle on the IB track at WL. You want to go the extra mile on language study if you’re serious about IB, e.g. summer immersion camps. Advanced language skills are common for pre IB students at WL. Good luck making your choice.

Seems like a lot of hoops to jump through in order to convince people W-L is on par with Yorktown.

I’m OP and not interested in Yorktown. Please keep up.

I’m not totally sure how my kid would do in pre-IB. I think he will have the grades but the current MS is not very rigorous. I do like the idea of ramping up language study though - I’m kind of at a loss about tween summers, and working on the language sounds like a good idea.

Are there any ways other than the pre-IB clusters that W-L mitigates the school size for freshmen?

Wow, for someone asking for honest advice, quite an attitude.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For starters, the kids have to take math harder than algebra (generally geometry), 9th grade world history, bio and English “intensified” plus a language at Level 3+ and 2 electives. Lots of homework but not a crushing load. Teachers seem good or great across the board. It’s all better than we expected.

This is pre-AP? Do they also take core classes with the same kids like IB?

This is the IB program of study. There is no actual IB until 11th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sort of. If a kid doesn't meet all the IB Diploma studies prerequisites in 9th and 10th grades, they can't proceed to "full IB" studies in 11th and 12th. Many of the kids in the pre IB classes will get on the AP course/exam track by 10th or 11th grades. Of the roughly 700 students in a cohort at WL, only around 100 will pursue "full IB" to earn the Diploma. Meanwhile, at least 300 will pass at least 2 AP exams. If your kid wants to devote a great deal of time to an extracurricular or two, like marching band or a varsity sport, full IB Diploma studies probably won't be for them (unless they're brilliant and can breeze through tough course work with ample time to spare). My bright kid was iffy for pre IB in 8th grade, earning mostly Bs in intensified classes for lack of focus. But she agreed to give pre IB her best shot for 9th grade, starting with intensive prep over the summer (reading classics, immersion language camp, writing camp, pre AP bio prep course, some math drill). Now she's getting As on early assignments across the board in friendly classes with many nice kids. She says she likes WL much more than the middle school. The new peer group and better teachers have motivated her to work harder than before. Her classes are big, 30 kids, so she works with a math tutor, language tutor and English tutor on Zoom once a week for extra attention and support. The tutors aren't cheap and she isn't brimming with free time to socialize, but things are working out. Her main extra curricular is playing a wind instrument well; she made the county and District bands for that last year.

What happens if you are zoned for YHS, go pre-IB and end up dropping to AP track — do they boot you back to YHS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WL pre IB essentially wants to see at least a B+ in each 8th grade intensified subject for a kid to qualify. Any less academically and the kid may struggle on the IB track at WL. You want to go the extra mile on language study if you’re serious about IB, e.g. summer immersion camps. Advanced language skills are common for pre IB students at WL. Good luck making your choice.

Seems like a lot of hoops to jump through in order to convince people W-L is on par with Yorktown.

I’m OP and not interested in Yorktown. Please keep up.

I’m not totally sure how my kid would do in pre-IB. I think he will have the grades but the current MS is not very rigorous. I do like the idea of ramping up language study though - I’m kind of at a loss about tween summers, and working on the language sounds like a good idea.

Are there any ways other than the pre-IB clusters that W-L mitigates the school size for freshmen?

Wow, for someone asking for honest advice, quite an attitude.

I believe her enquiry was for info on Meridian and W-L only.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sort of. If a kid doesn't meet all the IB Diploma studies prerequisites in 9th and 10th grades, they can't proceed to "full IB" studies in 11th and 12th. Many of the kids in the pre IB classes will get on the AP course/exam track by 10th or 11th grades. Of the roughly 700 students in a cohort at WL, only around 100 will pursue "full IB" to earn the Diploma. Meanwhile, at least 300 will pass at least 2 AP exams. If your kid wants to devote a great deal of time to an extracurricular or two, like marching band or a varsity sport, full IB Diploma studies probably won't be for them (unless they're brilliant and can breeze through tough course work with ample time to spare). My bright kid was iffy for pre IB in 8th grade, earning mostly Bs in intensified classes for lack of focus. But she agreed to give pre IB her best shot for 9th grade, starting with intensive prep over the summer (reading classics, immersion language camp, writing camp, pre AP bio prep course, some math drill). Now she's getting As on early assignments across the board in friendly classes with many nice kids. She says she likes WL much more than the middle school. The new peer group and better teachers have motivated her to work harder than before. Her classes are big, 30 kids, so she works with a math tutor, language tutor and English tutor on Zoom once a week for extra attention and support. The tutors aren't cheap and she isn't brimming with free time to socialize, but things are working out. Her main extra curricular is playing a wind instrument well; she made the county and District bands for that last year.

What happens if you are zoned for YHS, go pre-IB and end up dropping to AP track — do they boot you back to YHS?

Yes. That has talked about in the forum many times. Only students zoned for W-L can take an AP course of study. If that has changed, feel free to correct me.