Washington International School Decisions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what the admissions people get to see if prob not the same as what the teachers see. And admissions people don't maek the decisions.

You clearly don’t know the AO at this school.

What do you mean? We were rejected and had applied for FA.

Actually, this proves the point. All I meant is that, in this particular case, it is hard to see how their process can be truly need-blind if the application (which ALL members of the admissions committee get to see) specifically asks if you are applying for financial aid. It would be hard to "unsee" this information during their deliberations. And when you add to this that the school is not known to be particularly generous when it comes to FA and many FA applicants often get rejected... one could conclude that applying for FA at this school puts you at a disadvantage. Not saying it is impossible of course, just a disadvantage. But maybe the same is true for all the schools!

And regarding the point about the AO at this specific school (who also is the director of financial aid): there is no way this particular person was not deeply involved in the deliberations and final decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what the admissions people get to see if prob not the same as what the teachers see. And admissions people don't maek the decisions.

You clearly don’t know the AO at this school.

AO absolutely makes the decisions

100%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what the admissions people get to see if prob not the same as what the teachers see. And admissions people don't maek the decisions.

You clearly don’t know the AO at this school.

What do you mean? We were rejected and had applied for FA.

Actually, this proves the point. All I meant is that, in this particular case, it is hard to see how their process can be truly need-blind if the application (which ALL members of the admissions committee get to see) specifically asks if you are applying for financial aid. It would be hard to "unsee" this information during their deliberations. And when you add to this that the school is not known to be particularly generous when it comes to FA and many FA applicants often get rejected... one could conclude that applying for FA at this school puts you at a disadvantage. Not saying it is impossible of course, just a disadvantage. But maybe the same is true for all the schools!

And regarding the point about the AO at this specific school (who also is the director of financial aid): there is no way this particular person was not deeply involved in the deliberations and final decisions.

The concept of “needs blind” doesn’t mean that they make it affordable for most families, it means that that admissions team theoretically does not use financial need in the evaluation of the candidate for admission. Many, many people might get in with zero financial aid offered, rending it impossible or some.

That said, WIS struggles because of its small endowment. Culturally, international folks do not have any tradition of school-based philanthropy as this simply doesn’t exist outside of the US. It’s a great school and it’s not a criticism, but it’s a reality of WIS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:is WIS as desirable compared to the usual Big3/5?

it was more desirable for us as we are an international, but not a rich family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine didn't get an offer. And - ouch - not even waitlisted.

same. super bummed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what the admissions people get to see if prob not the same as what the teachers see. And admissions people don't maek the decisions.

You clearly don’t know the AO at this school.

What do you mean? We were rejected and had applied for FA.

Actually, this proves the point. All I meant is that, in this particular case, it is hard to see how their process can be truly need-blind if the application (which ALL members of the admissions committee get to see) specifically asks if you are applying for financial aid. It would be hard to "unsee" this information during their deliberations. And when you add to this that the school is not known to be particularly generous when it comes to FA and many FA applicants often get rejected... one could conclude that applying for FA at this school puts you at a disadvantage. Not saying it is impossible of course, just a disadvantage. But maybe the same is true for all the schools!

And regarding the point about the AO at this specific school (who also is the director of financial aid): there is no way this particular person was not deeply involved in the deliberations and final decisions.

Exactly. No one else does this.

[Anonymous]

Don’t many schools (Sheridan and nps come to mind) also have the AO and financial aid as the same person?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely NOT! Admissions are need blind at all schools.

Wrong. From the WIS website: "When determining whether an applicant is qualified to attend WIS . . . Admissions Committees operate need blind . . . However . . . the Director of Admissions . . . must be need sensitive when making the final admissions decisions."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t many schools (Sheridan and nps come to mind) also have the AO and financial aid as the same person?

Yes. Same with Burke.

[Anonymous]

I think WIS needs to do a lot more in primary school. They are weak in Math and other subject areas. Their students do not do well on the state test because they are always behind. Some of their teachers at the PS are not the most qualified to teach and some staff are RUDE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think WIS needs to do a lot more in primary school. They are weak in Math and other subject areas. Their students do not do well on the state test because they are always behind. Some of their teachers at the PS are not the most qualified to teach and some staff are RUDE.

Don't forget there are trade offs in any school which offers immersion. You need teachers who can teach subject areas and are bilingual in the language being taught. That considerably reduces the pool of candidates. In addition, the fact it is immersion means that they may be slower in teaching some of the subject areas but they definitely catch up. My child went to WIS in 9th grade and the standard was good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what the admissions people get to see if prob not the same as what the teachers see. And admissions people don't maek the decisions.

You clearly don’t know the AO at this school.

What do you mean? We were rejected and had applied for FA.

Actually, this proves the point. All I meant is that, in this particular case, it is hard to see how their process can be truly need-blind if the application (which ALL members of the admissions committee get to see) specifically asks if you are applying for financial aid. It would be hard to "unsee" this information during their deliberations. And when you add to this that the school is not known to be particularly generous when it comes to FA and many FA applicants often get rejected... one could conclude that applying for FA at this school puts you at a disadvantage. Not saying it is impossible of course, just a disadvantage. But maybe the same is true for all the schools!

And regarding the point about the AO at this specific school (who also is the director of financial aid): there is no way this particular person was not deeply involved in the deliberations and final decisions.

The concept of “needs blind” doesn’t mean that they make it affordable for most families, it means that that admissions team theoretically does not use financial need in the evaluation of the candidate for admission. Many, many people might get in with zero financial aid offered, rending it impossible or some.

That said, WIS struggles because of its small endowment. Culturally, international folks do not have any tradition of school-based philanthropy as this simply doesn’t exist outside of the US. It’s a great school and it’s not a criticism, but it’s a reality of WIS.

Also, many of the international folk either really stretch to send their kids there (eg if they work at NIH or an NGO) or can only afford it because the tuition fees are either heavily subsidized or fully paid by their employer (eg IMF, embassies).

[Anonymous]

Did anyone get admitted to WIS with financial aid this cycle?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think WIS needs to do a lot more in primary school. They are weak in Math and other subject areas. Their students do not do well on the state test because they are always behind. Some of their teachers at the PS are not the most qualified to teach and some staff are RUDE.

What state test? I didn't think WIS had to do any state testing because they are a private school and follow an international curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think WIS needs to do a lot more in primary school. They are weak in Math and other subject areas. Their students do not do well on the state test because they are always behind. Some of their teachers at the PS are not the most qualified to teach and some staff are RUDE.

What state test? I didn't think WIS had to do any state testing because they are a private school and follow an international curriculum.

Maybe the poster means the ERBs? WIS does administer that test.