Kenmore Middle School in Arlington

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


Where are the Mclean stats

I left them out because who cares about McLean?

Seriously, I thought we were talking about APS, so I didn't bother looking at them.

I am interested in the McLean stats because yorktown is often compared to McLean.

As a home buyer McLean and yorktown areas border each other.

That's fine, but this is (or it was) a thread about Kenmore Middle School, and the high school many of it's students go to, Wakefield. Most people looking at real estate in the Kenmore district are not also considering McLean.

[Anonymous]

People, get a grip. These types of college acceptance stats vary by year and won't stay static. Moreover, just because kids are getting accepted at somewhat higher rates at elite schools from, say, Yorktown, doesn't mean that your snowflake will get in. Signed, N Arlington parent, with DC at a S. Arlington elementary (by choice) and who'll be attending a S. Arlington middle school (also by choice) - DC will be attending Yorktown after that.

And re Kenmore, the original subject of this thread, we did look at it for middle school for DC and liked what we saw but decided to stick with our other non-Williamsburg option - Gunston.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People, get a grip. These types of college acceptance stats vary by year and won't stay static. Moreover, just because kids are getting accepted at somewhat higher rates at elite schools from, say, Yorktown, doesn't mean that your snowflake will get in. Signed, N Arlington parent, with DC at a S. Arlington elementary (by choice) and who'll be attending a S. Arlington middle school (also by choice) - DC will be attending Yorktown after that.

And re Kenmore, the original subject of this thread, we did look at it for middle school for DC and liked what we saw but decided to stick with our other non-Williamsburg option - Gunston.

PP, can you share your DC's experiences with Gunston? Is your DC in the regular, Montessori or Immersion program?

[Anonymous]

According to the data posted above:

1. More kids from W-L and Yorktown apply to selective colleges than kids from Wakefield do.

2. Of the kids who apply to moderately selective colleges, W-L and Yorktown had higher acceptance rates.

3. But of the kids who apply to highly selective colleges, Wakefield does as well (or better) than W-L or Yorktown.

What I take from this is that if I want my kid to attend a highly selective college, it doesn't matter where I send him to high school. If he's smart enough, he'll get in, and if not, he can go to JMU with all the Yorktown kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:According to the data posted above:

1. More kids from W-L and Yorktown apply to selective colleges than kids from Wakefield do.

2. Of the kids who apply to moderately selective colleges, W-L and Yorktown had higher acceptance rates.

3. But of the kids who apply to highly selective colleges, Wakefield does as well (or better) than W-L or Yorktown.

What I take from this is that if I want my kid to attend a highly selective college, it doesn't matter where I send him to high school. If he's smart enough, he'll get in, and if not, he can go to JMU with all the Yorktown kids.

+1!!!!

[Anonymous]

Do ivy league colleges accept students from Wakefield who perform lower than the top area schools but are top performers in Wakefield?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do ivy league colleges accept students from Wakefield who perform lower than the top area schools but are top performers in Wakefield?

I reject the implicit premise of this question, which appears to be that students who are top performers at Wakefield would not be top performers at W-L or Yorktown.

On what basis would you determine that a top performer at Wakefield "perform[s] lower than [at] the top area schools"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:According to the data posted above:

1. More kids from W-L and Yorktown apply to selective colleges than kids from Wakefield do.

2. Of the kids who apply to moderately selective colleges, W-L and Yorktown had higher acceptance rates.

3. But of the kids who apply to highly selective colleges, Wakefield does as well (or better) than W-L or Yorktown.

What I take from this is that if I want my kid to attend a highly selective college, it doesn't matter where I send him to high school. If he's smart enough, he'll get in, and if not, he can go to JMU with all the Yorktown kids.

My take would be that the small sample sizes at the "higher selective colleges" don't tell you very much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
My take would be that the small sample sizes at the "higher selective colleges" don't tell you very much.

You see what you want to see.

[Anonymous]

Yeah ivy leagues accept wakefield students because they need ses or racial diversity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do ivy league colleges accept students from Wakefield who perform lower than the top area schools but are top performers in Wakefield?

Admissions officers deal with this question every day. How does a top student from school A compare with a top student from school B? Is a top student from school A more comparable to a mid-level student at school B?

The answer is that admissions officers have a wealth of information about high schools across the country, at least the ones from which they receive a good number of applications. E.g., they have data on the relationship between test scores and GPA at different high schools, which tell them that some high schools have high grade inflation, so GPAs from those schools might be deflated or discounted. They have data on how enrolled students from different high schools perform at their own college/university, so they can see over time that a high GPA from school A doesn't translate to high performance at their college, while even solid B students from school B are well prepared for college and perform well there.

The answer is, given the number of applicants to Ivy League schools from Arlington and from the DC area generally, admissions officers have a very good idea whether or not top performers at Wakefield compare well with top performers at Yorktown and HB and W-L (and for that matter, with top performers at Wilson and McLean and Walter Johnson and Sidwell and on and on). I think it would be a mistake to view any Ivy League acceptance from any high school in this area as a "fluke" or as evidence of lowered standards due to affirmative action or whathaveyou. Admissions officers are not infallible. But they are also not stupid or naive, nor are they lacking information about schools and students in this area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do ivy league colleges accept students from Wakefield who perform lower than the top area schools but are top performers in Wakefield?

Wow! Have you all stopped to think that top schools take kids from all over, many from schools that are not like Yorktown or W-L, or even Wakefield? U-VA takes kids from all over Virginia, and out of state as well. Ivy League schools extend their net even farther because, yes, they want diversity. Haven't you all heard of kids with perfect SATs and an A average from a school like Yorktown and even a wealth of activities not getting into, say, Harvard?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wakefield pyramids are considered one of the worst in Virginia.

Do they teach subject-verb agreement in the Yorktown pyramid?

Hah! Nicely done.