Data on Wilson graduates' admissions to university

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s amazing all the mental gymnastics on display here from the Wilson parents explaining away the Wilson college admissions.

And I'm still not clear on what the snarky crowd thinks is wrong with Wilson admissions that should have all Wilson parents freaking out. A year without any top Ivies isn't a shock for a public high school that loses most of its best students to the nearby public application high school. Is it your position that there are exceptional students at Wilson who aren't getting in to HYPS-MIT and that it's the school's fault? Or that there are very good students ending up at not-very-good schools because they're getting bad advice at Wilson?

And saying that most of the best upper NW students end up at Walls just further trashes Wilson students. You're an asshole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But as was mentioned earlier, I wonder how many kids apply to Yale from Wilson? You can't get in if you don't apply, and if you don't have a "hook" but have the stats, admission is basically a lottery. We live in Upper NW and even though some of us parents went to HYPS etc, I don't get the sense that a lot of our kids are applying. According to Bethesda Magazine, 31 kids from Whitman and 23 from BCC applied to Yale in the 2019-20 school year (4 from Whitman and 1 from BCC got in). I don't get the sense that nearly as many kids from Wilson are even trying to get in to HYP.

They're applying to the elite schools (including HYPS) from Wilson. I know many. They're just not getting in. I don't know why. Maybe it's the luck of the draw. Maybe it's "honors for all" (very little distinguishes the kids from each other anymore so the entire cohort is written off by a school). maybe the school has been burnt by past ill prepared Wilson students (quite possible given how little the kids learn to write). Who knows.
-Wilson parent of a junior

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s amazing all the mental gymnastics on display here from the Wilson parents explaining away the Wilson college admissions.

And I'm still not clear on what the snarky crowd thinks is wrong with Wilson admissions that should have all Wilson parents freaking out. A year without any top Ivies isn't a shock for a public high school that loses most of its best students to the nearby public application high school. Is it your position that there are exceptional students at Wilson who aren't getting in to HYPS-MIT and that it's the school's fault? Or that there are very good students ending up at not-very-good schools because they're getting bad advice at Wilson?

Someone upthread said that Wilson kids go to ivies, top publics and slacs. Someone else pointed out that that’s not true.

[Anonymous]

Look- Wilson kids were out of school for 18 months. It shows.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look- Wilson kids were out of school for 18 months. It shows.

So was everyone else!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s amazing all the mental gymnastics on display here from the Wilson parents explaining away the Wilson college admissions.

And I'm still not clear on what the snarky crowd thinks is wrong with Wilson admissions that should have all Wilson parents freaking out. A year without any top Ivies isn't a shock for a public high school that loses most of its best students to the nearby public application high school. Is it your position that there are exceptional students at Wilson who aren't getting in to HYPS-MIT and that it's the school's fault? Or that there are very good students ending up at not-very-good schools because they're getting bad advice at Wilson?

And saying that most of the best upper NW students end up at Walls just further trashes Wilson students. You're an asshole.

OK, switch "most" to "a portion of" if the former is offensive to you. I still think the list the PP put up is not cause for panic. And I noticed you didn't answer my question about what you think is wrong with that list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s amazing all the mental gymnastics on display here from the Wilson parents explaining away the Wilson college admissions.

And I'm still not clear on what the snarky crowd thinks is wrong with Wilson admissions that should have all Wilson parents freaking out. A year without any top Ivies isn't a shock for a public high school that loses most of its best students to the nearby public application high school. Is it your position that there are exceptional students at Wilson who aren't getting in to HYPS-MIT and that it's the school's fault? Or that there are very good students ending up at not-very-good schools because they're getting bad advice at Wilson?

Someone upthread said that Wilson kids go to ivies, top publics and slacs. Someone else pointed out that that’s not true.

Ivies last year: Cornell and Brown. Top SLACs: Bates, Amherst, Wesleyan. Top publics: UVA, Wisconsin, Michigan, Penn State. Plus Hopkins, Georgetown, Rice, the HBCUs and the international schools. You might think Wilson should have more in each category, but PP's claim was technically accurate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s amazing all the mental gymnastics on display here from the Wilson parents explaining away the Wilson college admissions.

And I'm still not clear on what the snarky crowd thinks is wrong with Wilson admissions that should have all Wilson parents freaking out. A year without any top Ivies isn't a shock for a public high school that loses most of its best students to the nearby public application high school. Is it your position that there are exceptional students at Wilson who aren't getting in to HYPS-MIT and that it's the school's fault? Or that there are very good students ending up at not-very-good schools because they're getting bad advice at Wilson?

And saying that most of the best upper NW students end up at Walls just further trashes Wilson students. You're an asshole.

OK, switch "most" to "a portion of" if the former is offensive to you. I still think the list the PP put up is not cause for panic. And I noticed you didn't answer my question about what you think is wrong with that list.

DP: As a parent with kids in a Wilson feeder elementary, I worry that Wilson kids of all academic levels are not able to access to best opportunities available to them.

It is very difficult to get any view as to how a HS does getting typical students into college. It is much easier to see if any kids are getting into the most competitive colleges. That statistic therefore serves as an imperfect proxy for assessing the overall performance of Wilson outplacement.

If Wilson lags MoCo schools or others, I don’t know what the cause is. Are there no highly competitive students at Wilson? (I doubt that’s the answer.) Does Wilson have a bad rep with colleges? Is the college counseling subpar? Is Honors for All an obstacle? Or is the overall education provided actually subpar?

I want my children to get a great education, and I want them to have great college opportunities that meet whatever their desires are at that time.

I don’t want to send my kids to Wilson if it will handicap them. So that’s why this discussion interests me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s amazing all the mental gymnastics on display here from the Wilson parents explaining away the Wilson college admissions.

And I'm still not clear on what the snarky crowd thinks is wrong with Wilson admissions that should have all Wilson parents freaking out. A year without any top Ivies isn't a shock for a public high school that loses most of its best students to the nearby public application high school. Is it your position that there are exceptional students at Wilson who aren't getting in to HYPS-MIT and that it's the school's fault? Or that there are very good students ending up at not-very-good schools because they're getting bad advice at Wilson?

And saying that most of the best upper NW students end up at Walls just further trashes Wilson students. You're an asshole.

OK, switch "most" to "a portion of" if the former is offensive to you. I still think the list the PP put up is not cause for panic. And I noticed you didn't answer my question about what you think is wrong with that list.

DP: As a parent with kids in a Wilson feeder elementary, I worry that Wilson kids of all academic levels are not able to access to best opportunities available to them.

It is very difficult to get any view as to how a HS does getting typical students into college. It is much easier to see if any kids are getting into the most competitive colleges. That statistic therefore serves as an imperfect proxy for assessing the overall performance of Wilson outplacement.

If Wilson lags MoCo schools or others, I don’t know what the cause is. Are there no highly competitive students at Wilson? (I doubt that’s the answer.) Does Wilson have a bad rep with colleges? Is the college counseling subpar? Is Honors for All an obstacle? Or is the overall education provided actually subpar?

I want my children to get a great education, and I want them to have great college opportunities that meet whatever their desires are at that time.

I don’t want to send my kids to Wilson if it will handicap them. So that’s why this discussion interests me.

I feel the same way. My oldest is in 8th grade (IB for Wilson) and I feel like I don't really have good information regarding Wilson. Right now we're trying to figure out whether to move or not for HS next year so more information would be very helpful.

[Anonymous]

Last year was particularly weak for Wilson. The Brown and Cornell admits (about 2 each) were all crew admits (one female Brown, one male Cornell) or legacy. no one else.
No HYPS. no duke or Chicago or northwestern, etc.
if you care about such things, it was not great

[Anonymous]

What information do you want?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s amazing all the mental gymnastics on display here from the Wilson parents explaining away the Wilson college admissions.

And I'm still not clear on what the snarky crowd thinks is wrong with Wilson admissions that should have all Wilson parents freaking out. A year without any top Ivies isn't a shock for a public high school that loses most of its best students to the nearby public application high school. Is it your position that there are exceptional students at Wilson who aren't getting in to HYPS-MIT and that it's the school's fault? Or that there are very good students ending up at not-very-good schools because they're getting bad advice at Wilson?

And saying that most of the best upper NW students end up at Walls just further trashes Wilson students. You're an asshole.

OK, switch "most" to "a portion of" if the former is offensive to you. I still think the list the PP put up is not cause for panic. And I noticed you didn't answer my question about what you think is wrong with that list.

DP: As a parent with kids in a Wilson feeder elementary, I worry that Wilson kids of all academic levels are not able to access to best opportunities available to them.

It is very difficult to get any view as to how a HS does getting typical students into college. It is much easier to see if any kids are getting into the most competitive colleges. That statistic therefore serves as an imperfect proxy for assessing the overall performance of Wilson outplacement.

If Wilson lags MoCo schools or others, I don’t know what the cause is. Are there no highly competitive students at Wilson? (I doubt that’s the answer.) Does Wilson have a bad rep with colleges? Is the college counseling subpar? Is Honors for All an obstacle? Or is the overall education provided actually subpar?

I want my children to get a great education, and I want them to have great college opportunities that meet whatever their desires are at that time.

I don’t want to send my kids to Wilson if it will handicap them. So that’s why this discussion interests me.

This makes a lot of sense to me--thanks for such a thoughtful post PP. I'd be really curious to hear from parents or students who went through the process at Wilson--it feels like there's a lot of speculation on this thread. Are the families happy with the support they got? Are the top students thrilled to be headed to UVA and Hopkins? Or are there a lot of great students going to their safety schools because Wilson let them down somehow?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Last year was particularly weak for Wilson. The Brown and Cornell admits (about 2 each) were all crew admits (one female Brown, one male Cornell) or legacy. no one else.
No HYPS. no duke or Chicago or northwestern, etc.
if you care about such things, it was not great

\

This not accurate. Not all the Brown admits were from crew.

[Anonymous]

If last year was an anomaly? What did the previous year look like? I can't find any data on that easily either. (Compared to the MoCo data that is widely published)

[Anonymous]

The truly exceptional outlier type students are going to get into the top colleges regardless of the high school they attend in the DC area. I get the sense, though, that average to above average students are better served in a school like Whitman, where there is a critical mass of motivated, supported students, and where the school doesn’t have to spend so much time trying to bring up a huge population of kids who aren’t equally motivated or supported at home.