New to DCI-Anything we should know?

[Anonymous]

IB exams do matter for students who are going overseas. Admissions for UK schools, for instance, can often be conditional, based on IB results. And students who want can take AP exams (for possible US college credit) and are well prepared by an IB curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Race baiting has begun again! High SES whites get all the hooks already (inherited wealth, social capital, and alumni preferences)! And no one gets preferences on race anymore anyway.

Oh, right, everything has changed, de facto and de jure, a few weeks after the pertinent SCOTUS ruling.

Total BS.

-Signed Mom of hookless DCI Asian kids, not staying for HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IB exams do matter for students who are going overseas. Admissions for UK schools, for instance, can often be conditional, based on IB results. And students who want can take AP exams (for possible US college credit) and are well prepared by an IB curriculum.

+1. DCI students can also take 2 SL exams in May/June of junior year per IBD Geneva's rules. Many DCI families don't seem to know this because teachers and guidance counselors don't tell them.

[Anonymous]

Well if your kid is still in middle school or high school, things have changed for them.

[Anonymous]

Maybe, I predict widespread, and far more creative, quasi legal new ways to beat back the Asian threat. We can't risk keeping our children at DCI for the IBD years. The school is OK, just not too serious about much of anything academically, other than maybe top scores on HL Spanish.

[Anonymous]

OP, DCI is OK, but it’s amateur hour where IB Diploma goes in high school. Few of the teachers have taught in other IB World Schools and admins aren’t too swift. I wouldn’t plan too far ahead. Take the program one year at a time and keep your options open.

[Anonymous]

Agree, I wouldn't go in with high hopes, OP. Teacher turnover is a real problem at DCI, and DC charters in general.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree, I wouldn't go in with high hopes, OP. Teacher turnover is a real problem at DCI, and DC charters in general.

+1

There are a few great teachers at DCI, but there’s no guarantee your child would be in their class, or even have a teacher in every class at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not buying it from DCI. Where did these kids go to college with the other IBD students who scored in the 40s, Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Yale, Princeton? I have a niece at Yale who tells me she scored 39.

DCI has a student headed to Yale this year. Just like your niece. So DCI must be graduating students who are just as qualified as your niece.

I am sure that this URM athlete (a talented dancer) would have done well anywhere.

The fact remains that, even after a few years at DCI, most kids there are below grade-level in math and English.

.
The fact also remains that high SES white and Asian DCI students can’t expect any breaks in college admissions anywhere they aren’t hooked. IBD points in the low 30s, the norm for academic high fliers at DCI, just aren’t going to wow admissions officers at the most highly competitive colleges for non hooked, non first gen, non URM applicants.

IB test scores aren’t available until colleges have already admitted students. So you’re absolutely right that admissions officers won’t be wowed because they won’t be sent them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not buying it from DCI. Where did these kids go to college with the other IBD students who scored in the 40s, Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Yale, Princeton? I have a niece at Yale who tells me she scored 39.

DCI has a student headed to Yale this year. Just like your niece. So DCI must be graduating students who are just as qualified as your niece.

I am sure that this URM athlete (a talented dancer) would have done well anywhere.

The fact remains that, even after a few years at DCI, most kids there are below grade-level in math and English.

.
The fact also remains that high SES white and Asian DCI students can’t expect any breaks in college admissions anywhere they aren’t hooked. IBD points in the low 30s, the norm for academic high fliers at DCI, just aren’t going to wow admissions officers at the most highly competitive colleges for non hooked, non first gen, non URM applicants.

IB test scores aren’t available until colleges have already admitted students. So you’re absolutely right that admissions officers won’t be wowed because they won’t be sent them.

I assume the previous poster meant that the scores reflect the school's overall reputation with admissions officers. On that front, it may be too early to tell, for many of us families still at feeder schools. There have not been many graduating classes yet since the school is still relatively new.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not buying it from DCI. Where did these kids go to college with the other IBD students who scored in the 40s, Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Yale, Princeton? I have a niece at Yale who tells me she scored 39.

DCI has a student headed to Yale this year. Just like your niece. So DCI must be graduating students who are just as qualified as your niece.

I am sure that this URM athlete (a talented dancer) would have done well anywhere.

The fact remains that, even after a few years at DCI, most kids there are below grade-level in math and English.

.
The fact also remains that high SES white and Asian DCI students can’t expect any breaks in college admissions anywhere they aren’t hooked. IBD points in the low 30s, the norm for academic high fliers at DCI, just aren’t going to wow admissions officers at the most highly competitive colleges for non hooked, non first gen, non URM applicants.

IB test scores aren’t available until colleges have already admitted students. So you’re absolutely right that admissions officers won’t be wowed because they won’t be sent them.

You're not presenting the full picture. I say this as a former college counselor at an IB World School and somebody who earned the Diploma in the 90s. As mentioned above, American IB Diploma students are free to take 1-2 Standard Level exams in the spring of junior year. I know that some DCI families take advantage of the early testing opportunity, more every year. In this country, it's not uncommon for IBD students in the highest-performing programs to double up on AP exams that roughly correspond with Diploma course work, particularly for AP World History, AP European History, languages and sciences, AP Chem, AP Bio, AP Physics etc. Moreover, some American IBD students look abroad for college, where admission generally isn't guaranteed until IBD exams are released in July, and a points bar is cleared. Also, some Americans apply to college in the fall of gap years or prep years (extra year of high school, which can be done at an IB World School), often to take advantage of better odds of admission in Early Decision and Early Applicant Oct-Dec pools than in general admission April pools. Gap year college applications are far more common than pre-Covid. Your view of the college process here in 2023 seems narrow/parochial/outdated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree, I wouldn't go in with high hopes, OP. Teacher turnover is a real problem at DCI, and DC charters in general.

+1

There are a few great teachers at DCI, but there’s no guarantee your child would be in their class, or even have a teacher in every class at all.

Or you get a great teacher, and they quit at some point during the school year. Case in point, the wonderful 7th grade English teacher vanished in April this past school year. The kids had a weak sub the rest of the school year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree, I wouldn't go in with high hopes, OP. Teacher turnover is a real problem at DCI, and DC charters in general.

+1

There are a few great teachers at DCI, but there’s no guarantee your child would be in their class, or even have a teacher in every class at all.

That's not remotely specific to DCI. Same could be said about every school in DC.

[Anonymous]

Every public school in DC doesn’t get the nutty teacher turnover you see at DCI in both the high school and middle school. No way. Whitewashing the problem can’t justify it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree, I wouldn't go in with high hopes, OP. Teacher turnover is a real problem at DCI, and DC charters in general.

+1

There are a few great teachers at DCI, but there’s no guarantee your child would be in their class, or even have a teacher in every class at all.

Or you get a great teacher, and they quit at some point during the school year. Case in point, the wonderful 7th grade English teacher vanished in April this past school year. The kids had a weak sub the rest of the school year.

OK but this is not unique to DCI. At least they got a sub. A number of Deal teachers left and some classes had no subs at all or none for months . A number of Basis teachers have left too.

And DCPS has the highest teacher turnover in the area.