APS - HB Woodlawn Lottery

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not much hope, but mine is #15 for 10th grade.

Odds more than a dozen current kids move/ new kids withdraw their spot?

Last year we were over 100, so this seems low, but remind me to let this GO!

#Elsa

Dear Elsa: I hate the ES my kid goes to and that child is about 130 on the ATS waitlist for grade. I can't let it go. It's years later and I still wish there was some way to escape the ES that didn't delay my retirement.

[Anonymous]

I have a fifth grader and an eighth-grader, both applied to HB, neither have anything on school mint with the result.

[Anonymous]

What about the other middle school lotteries? Did kids applying to stay at Swanson get to stay?

[Anonymous]

What happened with Arlington Tech this year? It went from taking everyone last year to a huge surge in applications. I've seen waitlist numbers for that as high as #240.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're waitlist #6 for 6th grade.
Any shot?

5 people at your child’s school need to turn it down first before you would get in.

Does this happen? Does anyone on the waitlist get in at all?

How long do people have to make their decision?

I would say your odds are low personally. I would also look at how many slots your school have. If there are only 2 slots... then the 2 kids who were offered spots must both decline, the next two #1 and #2 on WL must decline, the next two after them #3 and #4 need to decline which will bring up slots 5 and eventually 6. not good odds.

It doesn't matter how many slots the school has. If you are 6th on the waitlist, 6 people have to turn down slots. One person who got in, and the 5 people on the waitlist in front of you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Use this link https://apsva.schoolmint.net

Why does my 6th grader show up twice?

One entry says “cancelled” and the other has a wait list #. Was his application drawn and then somebody cancelled it?

My 9th grader only has a waitlist #; 1 entry.

Same for my 6th grader. It's weird.

It make me think they were picked and then bumped by a sibling, Administrator's friend or parent claiming extenuating circumstances.

f*ck me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What happened with Arlington Tech this year? It went from taking everyone last year to a huge surge in applications. I've seen waitlist numbers for that as high as #240.

Crazy! Maybe people are nervous about the mega schools.

[Anonymous]

Can we talk about Arlington TechTech? We're in. I'd love to hear some useful feedback.

[Anonymous]

I have a kid at HB and my other kid has now been waitlisted twice. I'm also a very active school volunteer, friendly with Board members and APS senior staff, etc, etc. I find this wait-listing very surprising! (Or....maybe.....there is no conspiracy.....)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can we talk about Arlington TechTech? We're in. I'd love to hear some useful feedback.

You might get more input if you create a separate post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid at HB and my other kid has now been waitlisted twice. I'm also a very active school volunteer, friendly with Board members and APS senior staff, etc, etc. I find this wait-listing very surprising! (Or....maybe.....there is no conspiracy.....)

Can you talk about HB? We're on the fence - never thought we'd get in. My son is going into 9th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid at HB and my other kid has now been waitlisted twice. I'm also a very active school volunteer, friendly with Board members and APS senior staff, etc, etc. I find this wait-listing very surprising! (Or....maybe.....there is no conspiracy.....)

I don’t think anyone ever said every HB sibling gets in. I’m sure most current HB families follow the rules and just send their other kids to neighborhood schools if they are waitlisted for HB. I do think, however, there is the occasional family who doesn’t play by the rules and figures out a way to get their child (sibling or not) in if they are not selected by lottery. I have heard of at least one family with multiple children there (not twins). Odds are just too small that one family would have 3+ kids get in (maybe that rumor isn’t actually true, though?) ? Sadly, it just takes one family to do this to make people doubt the system... With less than a 10 percent chance of selection, statistically speaking, there should be very few siblings at HB (outside of twins)... I’m assuming that is actually the case?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid at HB and my other kid has now been waitlisted twice. I'm also a very active school volunteer, friendly with Board members and APS senior staff, etc, etc. I find this wait-listing very surprising! (Or....maybe.....there is no conspiracy.....)

I don’t think anyone ever said every HB sibling gets in. I’m sure most current HB families follow the rules and just send their other kids to neighborhood schools if they are waitlisted for HB. I do think, however, there is the occasional family who doesn’t play by the rules and figures out a way to get their child (sibling or not) in if they are not selected by lottery. I have heard of at least one family with multiple children there (not twins). Odds are just too small that one family would have 3+ kids get in (maybe that rumor isn’t actually true, though?) ? Sadly, it just takes one family to do this to make people doubt the system... With less than a 10 percent chance of selection, statistically speaking, there should be very few siblings at HB (outside of twins)... I’m assuming that is actually the case?

I know a set of siblings who go. But I also have a theory about our little neighborhood triangle. Almost everyone who applies gets in. Neighbor got in about 4 years ago. DD got in. Someone a few houses down got in. Siblings (not twins) got in, and just found out another neighbor got in for high school. Weird!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid at HB and my other kid has now been waitlisted twice. I'm also a very active school volunteer, friendly with Board members and APS senior staff, etc, etc. I find this wait-listing very surprising! (Or....maybe.....there is no conspiracy.....)

I don’t think anyone ever said every HB sibling gets in. I’m sure most current HB families follow the rules and just send their other kids to neighborhood schools if they are waitlisted for HB. I do think, however, there is the occasional family who doesn’t play by the rules and figures out a way to get their child (sibling or not) in if they are not selected by lottery. I have heard of at least one family with multiple children there (not twins). Odds are just too small that one family would have 3+ kids get in (maybe that rumor isn’t actually true, though?) ? Sadly, it just takes one family to do this to make people doubt the system... With less than a 10 percent chance of selection, statistically speaking, there should be very few siblings at HB (outside of twins)... I’m assuming that is actually the case?

There are waitlists, and now you can re-enter the lottery every year. You don't know that every kid in a family got in at 6th grade.

It doesn't really matter how small the odds are, anyhow. If the odds are small but not zero, that means something can happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid at HB and my other kid has now been waitlisted twice. I'm also a very active school volunteer, friendly with Board members and APS senior staff, etc, etc. I find this wait-listing very surprising! (Or....maybe.....there is no conspiracy.....)

I don’t think anyone ever said every HB sibling gets in. I’m sure most current HB families follow the rules and just send their other kids to neighborhood schools if they are waitlisted for HB. I do think, however, there is the occasional family who doesn’t play by the rules and figures out a way to get their child (sibling or not) in if they are not selected by lottery. I have heard of at least one family with multiple children there (not twins). Odds are just too small that one family would have 3+ kids get in (maybe that rumor isn’t actually true, though?) ? Sadly, it just takes one family to do this to make people doubt the system... With less than a 10 percent chance of selection, statistically speaking, there should be very few siblings at HB (outside of twins)... I’m assuming that is actually the case?

If you have one kid there already, you are more likely to apply for a younger one as compared to the average APS family, so I'm guessing that bumps up the numbers a bit.