SWW - Letters of Recommendation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, there was a due date.

2025: February 10th
2024: February 9th
2023: February 8th
2016: February 9th
2014: February 10th

These were all the dates I could find in my email, but obviously around the same time each year and after the applications are due for students.

Makes sense, but when you (00:13) say you found those dates in your emails, do you recall who those emails were from or when they came?? DCPS? SWW? Banneker?

Basically I'm trying to understand which applicants were sent information about the Feb 9 deadline and by whom. DCPS has acknowledged that it sent an alert email with the recommendation deadline to some applicants but accidentally forgot to send it to others (!). So some families were told Feb 9 was a deadline, but others weren't. And even when DCPS realized they had made this mistake, instead of quickly contacting schools to let them know what had happened and contacting applicants to see if they might need extra days (I think it was after Feb 9 already), they just stayed quiet, said oops, and still penalized applicants for missing a deadline that had never been communicated to them.

In our case, we were never told about the Feb 9 deadline. We submitted Jan 29 and I was checking the application portal regularly and eventually realized one of the recommendations hadn’t come through because of an incomplete email address. Once I caught the issue, I corrected the email and notified everyone. Although this was still over a week before any interviews, it turned out that the recommender portal had already closed.

Meanwhile, a friend's child had also been missing a recommendation - just like us - , but in their case they had received an email from [e-mail] titled “Action Requested by Feb 9,” so she knew when it had to be in and made sure it was addressed by that date.

BTW, SWW's principal told us - incorrectly - that "regular reminders were sent to applicants." I don't know if she thought SWW was doing that or DCPS, but regardless, neither is true.

Anyway, at this point I'm just trying to spread the word about that DCPS email to all the other families they forgot to send it to. Those students were denied equal access to key information and can/should file a complaint with DCPS Office of Integrity.

It's probably too late for any of our kids this year, but for all the families next year and beyond, DCPS needs to be held accountable.


So...Any details you can share about where your Feb 9 deadline communication came from - and how previous years's deadline were communicated - would be really helpful.

On behalf of all applicants, thank you!

The bolded part seems to be an important piece of why you perhaps missed communications, no?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, there was a due date.

2025: February 10th
2024: February 9th
2023: February 8th
2016: February 9th
2014: February 10th

These were all the dates I could find in my email, but obviously around the same time each year and after the applications are due for students.

Makes sense, but when you (00:13) say you found those dates in your emails, do you recall who those emails were from or when they came?? DCPS? SWW? Banneker?

Basically I'm trying to understand which applicants were sent information about the Feb 9 deadline and by whom. DCPS has acknowledged that it sent an alert email with the recommendation deadline to some applicants but accidentally forgot to send it to others (!). So some families were told Feb 9 was a deadline, but others weren't. And even when DCPS realized they had made this mistake, instead of quickly contacting schools to let them know what had happened and contacting applicants to see if they might need extra days (I think it was after Feb 9 already), they just stayed quiet, said oops, and still penalized applicants for missing a deadline that had never been communicated to them.

In our case, we were never told about the Feb 9 deadline. We submitted Jan 29 and I was checking the application portal regularly and eventually realized one of the recommendations hadn’t come through because of an incomplete email address. Once I caught the issue, I corrected the email and notified everyone. Although this was still over a week before any interviews, it turned out that the recommender portal had already closed.

Meanwhile, a friend's child had also been missing a recommendation - just like us - , but in their case they had received an email from [e-mail] titled “Action Requested by Feb 9,” so she knew when it had to be in and made sure it was addressed by that date.

BTW, SWW's principal told us - incorrectly - that "regular reminders were sent to applicants." I don't know if she thought SWW was doing that or DCPS, but regardless, neither is true.

Anyway, at this point I'm just trying to spread the word about that DCPS email to all the other families they forgot to send it to. Those students were denied equal access to key information and can/should file a complaint with DCPS Office of Integrity.

It's probably too late for any of our kids this year, but for all the families next year and beyond, DCPS needs to be held accountable.


So...Any details you can share about where your Feb 9 deadline communication came from - and how previous years's deadline were communicated - would be really helpful.

On behalf of all applicants, thank you!

Sorry, this is from a DCPS email. When my child applied to high schools (2023) I only see the emails that we got for a teacher completing it. (Both of those were done on February 6th.) I recommended my students to go in and check their portal. I try to make sure all my coworkers know how truly important getting the recommendations in can be for applications.

We got automated emails on January 22nd and January 29th that our application was incomplete as it was missing one or more teacher recs. You could also log into myschooldc and view the status of your application to see whether the letters were submitted, who the emails went to, and when they were due.

This is a copy/paste of one of the emails:

Greetings DCPS Selective HS/Program lottery applicant families,
We hope that this message finds you well. You are receiving this email because you have applied to one or more of the DCPS Selective High Schools or Programs.
As a reminder, the high school lottery application deadline is Monday, February 2, 2026. We are writing to follow up regarding recommendation letters, which are required as part of the application process and are due by Monday, February 9, 2026.
As of January 21, 2026, our records indicate that your student may have one or more missing recommendations. Please note that applications with missing recommendations will receive zero points for that component.
To ensure your application can be fully reviewed by your school(s) of interest, please complete the following steps in your My School DC (MSDC) account. Log into your MSDC account and follow steps below:
Under Submitted Applications, select the fourth image for View/Edit Recommendations.
a. Hover over options to confirm, if unsure which to select.
Once in View Status of Recommendations, you will see the status of your recommendation as shown in the screenshot below: image
Review and confirm that the recommender’s email address is captured accurately.
Check the recommender’s name spelling and the spelling of the email domain.
If your application was submitted more than 24 hours ago, you may send an email reminder to your recommender by selecting Send an Email Reminder.
Please note that you may not send more than one (1) reminder in any given 24-hour period.
Feel free to also graciously remind your recommender about the outstanding request.
Be mindful that your recommender(s) may have a high volume of recommendation letters in their queue at this time, so your understanding and patience is highly appreciated and encouraged.

If you have questions or need assistance, please contact us directly at [e-mail] as soon as possible. Thank you for your continued interest in DC Public Schools.

Best,
The DCPS Enrollment Team 

We received exactly those same two emails.

[Anonymous]

I feel for the kids/families who didn’t get an interview. I also feel for them to sit here and read the replies from those who DID get an interview and act like it’s because of something they did (versus something others didn’t do) and not luck of the draw in the motivation level of their kid’s teacher (I’m looking at you, Pentagon poster). It’s easy to think the system isn’t broken when it’s worked on your favor. Have some empathy for those for whom the system didn’t work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel for the kids/families who didn’t get an interview. I also feel for them to sit here and read the replies from those who DID get an interview and act like it’s because of something they did (versus something others didn’t do) and not luck of the draw in the motivation level of their kid’s teacher (I’m looking at you, Pentagon poster). It’s easy to think the system isn’t broken when it’s worked on your favor. Have some empathy for those for whom the system didn’t work.

Kids shouldn’t take it personally. Even if you got everything in, it’s not based on the best and brightest. It’s basically a lottery.

Lots of kids who should have gotten an interview didn’t. Move on, it’s Walls lost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel for the kids/families who didn’t get an interview. I also feel for them to sit here and read the replies from those who DID get an interview and act like it’s because of something they did (versus something others didn’t do) and not luck of the draw in the motivation level of their kid’s teacher (I’m looking at you, Pentagon poster). It’s easy to think the system isn’t broken when it’s worked on your favor. Have some empathy for those for whom the system didn’t work.

Everyone knows Walls is a lottery based on ridiculous criteria, thresholds, and weighting.

Maybe one day they will return to a test where they actually admit kids on demonstrated merit.

[Anonymous]

I doubt it. How else will the children of Ward Representatives and other VIPs sneak in when better qualified students are around?

[Anonymous]

Hopping on this late. But I was reviewing my emails from last year when we did this, and we received an email from Myschooldc each time a recommendation was submitted. All of ours were submitted well before the deadline, but if they weren't, we could follow up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I doubt it. How else will the children of Ward Representatives and other VIPs sneak in when better qualified students are around?

This doesn't happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel for the kids/families who didn’t get an interview. I also feel for them to sit here and read the replies from those who DID get an interview and act like it’s because of something they did (versus something others didn’t do) and not luck of the draw in the motivation level of their kid’s teacher (I’m looking at you, Pentagon poster). It’s easy to think the system isn’t broken when it’s worked on your favor. Have some empathy for those for whom the system didn’t work.

Kids shouldn’t take it personally. Even if you got everything in, it’s not based on the best and brightest. It’s basically a lottery.

Lots of kids who should have gotten an interview didn’t. Move on, it’s Walls lost.

My kid has moved on (and is thriving at a different application HS). I'm still mad though. Kid absolutely busted their 🍑 to get that 4.0 in 7th grade, and then the people who were supposed to value that couldn't be bothered to notice. And now there's a younger sibling in the picture who is about to run this same gauntlet.

It's easy for each of us to atomize, to say my kid deserves better, and then solve for that kid. Harder for all to say with one voice that all our kids deserve better when Walls, which knows damn well how to fix this, DGAF.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel for the kids/families who didn’t get an interview. I also feel for them to sit here and read the replies from those who DID get an interview and act like it’s because of something they did (versus something others didn’t do) and not luck of the draw in the motivation level of their kid’s teacher (I’m looking at you, Pentagon poster). It’s easy to think the system isn’t broken when it’s worked on your favor. Have some empathy for those for whom the system didn’t work.

Kids shouldn’t take it personally. Even if you got everything in, it’s not based on the best and brightest. It’s basically a lottery.

Lots of kids who should have gotten an interview didn’t. Move on, it’s Walls lost.

My kid has moved on (and is thriving at a different application HS). I'm still mad though. Kid absolutely busted their 🍑 to get that 4.0 in 7th grade, and then the people who were supposed to value that couldn't be bothered to notice. And now there's a younger sibling in the picture who is about to run this same gauntlet.

It's easy for each of us to atomize, to say my kid deserves better, and then solve for that kid. Harder for all to say with one voice that all our kids deserve better when Walls, which knows damn well how to fix this, DGAF.

We have also moved on but I have a very different outlook- I feel like it was such a blessing that we didn’t get in. Knowing what I know now, I would not have any of my younger children apply to Walls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel for the kids/families who didn’t get an interview. I also feel for them to sit here and read the replies from those who DID get an interview and act like it’s because of something they did (versus something others didn’t do) and not luck of the draw in the motivation level of their kid’s teacher (I’m looking at you, Pentagon poster). It’s easy to think the system isn’t broken when it’s worked on your favor. Have some empathy for those for whom the system didn’t work.

Kids shouldn’t take it personally. Even if you got everything in, it’s not based on the best and brightest. It’s basically a lottery.

Lots of kids who should have gotten an interview didn’t. Move on, it’s Walls lost.

My kid has moved on (and is thriving at a different application HS). I'm still mad though. Kid absolutely busted their 🍑 to get that 4.0 in 7th grade, and then the people who were supposed to value that couldn't be bothered to notice. And now there's a younger sibling in the picture who is about to run this same gauntlet.

It's easy for each of us to atomize, to say my kid deserves better, and then solve for that kid. Harder for all to say with one voice that all our kids deserve better when Walls, which knows damn well how to fix this, DGAF.

We have also moved on but I have a very different outlook- I feel like it was such a blessing that we didn’t get in. Knowing what I know now, I would not have any of my younger children apply to Walls.

Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel for the kids/families who didn’t get an interview. I also feel for them to sit here and read the replies from those who DID get an interview and act like it’s because of something they did (versus something others didn’t do) and not luck of the draw in the motivation level of their kid’s teacher (I’m looking at you, Pentagon poster). It’s easy to think the system isn’t broken when it’s worked on your favor. Have some empathy for those for whom the system didn’t work.

Kids shouldn’t take it personally. Even if you got everything in, it’s not based on the best and brightest. It’s basically a lottery.

Lots of kids who should have gotten an interview didn’t. Move on, it’s Walls lost.

My kid has moved on (and is thriving at a different application HS). I'm still mad though. Kid absolutely busted their 🍑 to get that 4.0 in 7th grade, and then the people who were supposed to value that couldn't be bothered to notice. And now there's a younger sibling in the picture who is about to run this same gauntlet.

It's easy for each of us to atomize, to say my kid deserves better, and then solve for that kid. Harder for all to say with one voice that all our kids deserve better when Walls, which knows damn well how to fix this, DGAF.

We have also moved on but I have a very different outlook- I feel like it was such a blessing that we didn’t get in. Knowing what I know now, I would not have any of my younger children apply to Walls.

Why?

Different poster- way stronger academics at other schools. Good grades and leadership not prioritized. Gaming the system seems to work in the short term which allows school in general to decline.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel for the kids/families who didn’t get an interview. I also feel for them to sit here and read the replies from those who DID get an interview and act like it’s because of something they did (versus something others didn’t do) and not luck of the draw in the motivation level of their kid’s teacher (I’m looking at you, Pentagon poster). It’s easy to think the system isn’t broken when it’s worked on your favor. Have some empathy for those for whom the system didn’t work.

Kids shouldn’t take it personally. Even if you got everything in, it’s not based on the best and brightest. It’s basically a lottery.

Lots of kids who should have gotten an interview didn’t. Move on, it’s Walls lost.

My kid has moved on (and is thriving at a different application HS). I'm still mad though. Kid absolutely busted their 🍑 to get that 4.0 in 7th grade, and then the people who were supposed to value that couldn't be bothered to notice. And now there's a younger sibling in the picture who is about to run this same gauntlet.

It's easy for each of us to atomize, to say my kid deserves better, and then solve for that kid. Harder for all to say with one voice that all our kids deserve better when Walls, which knows damn well how to fix this, DGAF.

We have also moved on but I have a very different outlook- I feel like it was such a blessing that we didn’t get in. Knowing what I know now, I would not have any of my younger children apply to Walls.

Why?

Different poster- way stronger academics at other schools. Good grades and leadership not prioritized. Gaming the system seems to work in the short term which allows school in general to decline.

How do you assess that academics are stronger at other schools if your kid is only at one of them?

(For what it's worth, my DC was lucky enough to win the Walls semi-lottery and is having a good experience.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel for the kids/families who didn’t get an interview. I also feel for them to sit here and read the replies from those who DID get an interview and act like it’s because of something they did (versus something others didn’t do) and not luck of the draw in the motivation level of their kid’s teacher (I’m looking at you, Pentagon poster). It’s easy to think the system isn’t broken when it’s worked on your favor. Have some empathy for those for whom the system didn’t work.

Kids shouldn’t take it personally. Even if you got everything in, it’s not based on the best and brightest. It’s basically a lottery.

Lots of kids who should have gotten an interview didn’t. Move on, it’s Walls lost.

My kid has moved on (and is thriving at a different application HS). I'm still mad though. Kid absolutely busted their 🍑 to get that 4.0 in 7th grade, and then the people who were supposed to value that couldn't be bothered to notice. And now there's a younger sibling in the picture who is about to run this same gauntlet.

It's easy for each of us to atomize, to say my kid deserves better, and then solve for that kid. Harder for all to say with one voice that all our kids deserve better when Walls, which knows damn well how to fix this, DGAF.

We have also moved on but I have a very different outlook- I feel like it was such a blessing that we didn’t get in. Knowing what I know now, I would not have any of my younger children apply to Walls.

Why?

Different poster- way stronger academics at other schools. Good grades and leadership not prioritized. Gaming the system seems to work in the short term which allows school in general to decline.

How do you assess that academics are stronger at other schools if your kid is only at one of them?

(For what it's worth, my DC was lucky enough to win the Walls semi-lottery and is having a good experience.)

DP one area you can look at is tracking and advance course offerings. Also for the higher level classes is there objective criteria for entrance or can anyone take it.

As to experiences, how do you k ow your kid could have had a better overall experience at other schools? One area is EC and sports. Another is facilities

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel for the kids/families who didn’t get an interview. I also feel for them to sit here and read the replies from those who DID get an interview and act like it’s because of something they did (versus something others didn’t do) and not luck of the draw in the motivation level of their kid’s teacher (I’m looking at you, Pentagon poster). It’s easy to think the system isn’t broken when it’s worked on your favor. Have some empathy for those for whom the system didn’t work.

Kids shouldn’t take it personally. Even if you got everything in, it’s not based on the best and brightest. It’s basically a lottery.

Lots of kids who should have gotten an interview didn’t. Move on, it’s Walls lost.

My kid has moved on (and is thriving at a different application HS). I'm still mad though. Kid absolutely busted their 🍑 to get that 4.0 in 7th grade, and then the people who were supposed to value that couldn't be bothered to notice. And now there's a younger sibling in the picture who is about to run this same gauntlet.

It's easy for each of us to atomize, to say my kid deserves better, and then solve for that kid. Harder for all to say with one voice that all our kids deserve better when Walls, which knows damn well how to fix this, DGAF.

We have also moved on but I have a very different outlook- I feel like it was such a blessing that we didn’t get in. Knowing what I know now, I would not have any of my younger children apply to Walls.

Why?

Different poster- way stronger academics at other schools. Good grades and leadership not prioritized. Gaming the system seems to work in the short term which allows school in general to decline.

How do you assess that academics are stronger at other schools if your kid is only at one of them?

(For what it's worth, my DC was lucky enough to win the Walls semi-lottery and is having a good experience.)

DP one area you can look at is tracking and advance course offerings. Also for the higher level classes is there objective criteria for entrance or can anyone take it.

As to experiences, how do you k ow your kid could have had a better overall experience at other schools? One area is EC and sports. Another is facilities

My question is specific, not general. The PP said other schools "have way stronger academics" than Walls. I'm skeptical of that claim but would be interested to hear her basis for it.

The poster before her said she wouldn't have her kids after the 1st one apply to Walls "knowing what she knows now," which is kind of a mysterious statement. Someone asked "why?" I'd be interested in hearing that answer too; I haven't observed anything to be ominous at Walls as that PP implied.

Walls has weaknesses -- randomness of admissions being one of them -- but overall it's great, imo.