Washington International School's college matriculation rivals STA/NCS... why no attention?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think wis is an excellent program but they can only afford 1 teacher per class in 2nd and up and I found that unacceptable for the price. It’s not like the classes are tiny either

Their support teachers just look different then what you are used to. They pull kids who struggle for 1:1 support to catch them up to their peers as quickly as possible. Just because there is only 1 teacher in the room, doesn't mean there is 1 teacher supporting the class and I'm not sure why another human body would need to stand there when students who need additional support are being given it in a private and direct setting.

They have lots of staff at the primary school with the job of providing push in & pull out interventions to students that need them. It's done on a student-by-student basis, rather than per class. That allows them to allocate special education resources where they would be most useful. Also keep in mind their SAL/FAL program effectively adds an extra teacher to the Spanish & French days for grades 2 and up, it's just a lot less visible because children who need the support receive it outside the classroom until they catch up. The net result averages more than 2 teachers per class, but done in a highly targeted way.

PS school at WIS was a NIAGHTMARE- 50% of students leave before 5 grade

They have the same retention rate as the Big 3 so sounds like you just woke up from a fever dream...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure why or how you have any idea about STA because they don’t post outplacement on instagram or otherwise so your comparison is based on nothing unless you have direct information from STA college office.

I don’t believe WIS and STA/NCS, Sidwell and GDS are generally in the same grouping as WIS. This doesn’t mean that WIS is not just as good academically, it just means I don’t think the people looking at one set of schools would also be looking at WIS. I feel this way about GDS and STA I don’t think many consider these schools comparable GDS and Sidwell are more similar.

A lot of people look at WIS, Sidwell, Cathedral schools and GDS as their primary set. We did and we were excited to get into our top choice of WIS starting at age 3 so will never know if dc would have gotten into the other 3. We are the generic American family. My grandmother even went to NCS. We just felt like WIS opens the most doors for what our child could potentially want to do in their life.

[Anonymous]

We aren't from DC + didn't know anyone when we moved to DC. So, we went with NCS/Holton.

Re: WIS, I thought I heard at the time of looking that at least 1 parent had to speak a foreign language at home. Is that not the case? Since that time, I have a friend whose 2 kids went to WIS
,(dad is European) + both kids went on to Ivies. They seemed very happy with WIS except they would have liked more spotts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We aren't from DC + didn't know anyone when we moved to DC. So, we went with NCS/Holton.

Re: WIS, I thought I heard at the time of looking that at least 1 parent had to speak a foreign language at home. Is that not the case? Since that time, I have a friend whose 2 kids went to WIS
,(dad is European) + both kids went on to Ivies. They seemed very happy with WIS except they would have liked more spotts.

US parent of several WIS kids here. Neither DH nor I speaks the target language, that's simply not a requirement. Our kids have been at WIS for years, and love the school!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We aren't from DC + didn't know anyone when we moved to DC. So, we went with NCS/Holton.

Re: WIS, I thought I heard at the time of looking that at least 1 parent had to speak a foreign language at home. Is that not the case? Since that time, I have a friend whose 2 kids went to WIS
,(dad is European) + both kids went on to Ivies. They seemed very happy with WIS except they would have liked more spotts.

US parent of several WIS kids here. Neither DH nor I speaks the target language, that's simply not a requirement. Our kids have been at WIS for years, and love the school!

Thanks for the information. I wonder then if it was just a "suggestion" then that a parent speak another language in addition to English in the home?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We aren't from DC + didn't know anyone when we moved to DC. So, we went with NCS/Holton.

Re: WIS, I thought I heard at the time of looking that at least 1 parent had to speak a foreign language at home. Is that not the case? Since that time, I have a friend whose 2 kids went to WIS
,(dad is European) + both kids went on to Ivies. They seemed very happy with WIS except they would have liked more spotts.

US parent of several WIS kids here. Neither DH nor I speaks the target language, that's simply not a requirement. Our kids have been at WIS for years, and love the school!

Thanks for the information. I wonder then if it was just a "suggestion" then that a parent speak another language in addition to English in the home?

I can't imagine why! Unless someone in the home speaks the same language that the child designates as his or her target language, having one parent speak a non-English language in the home wouldn't do any good at all. And I know WIS families that speak either French or Spanish in the home, but designate the other as their child's target language, because why not. I can't help my DCs with their target language homework, but so far so good!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We aren't from DC + didn't know anyone when we moved to DC. So, we went with NCS/Holton.

Re: WIS, I thought I heard at the time of looking that at least 1 parent had to speak a foreign language at home. Is that not the case? Since that time, I have a friend whose 2 kids went to WIS
,(dad is European) + both kids went on to Ivies. They seemed very happy with WIS except they would have liked more spotts.

US parent of several WIS kids here. Neither DH nor I speaks the target language, that's simply not a requirement. Our kids have been at WIS for years, and love the school!

Thanks for the information. I wonder then if it was just a "suggestion" then that a parent speak another language in addition to English in the home?

So, WIS likes to balance their class to have kids where 1/3rd of the class has 2 American parents, 1/3rd have 1 american and 1 international parent, and 1/3rd have 2 international parents. So maybe it was a suggestion to "game" the system, but in my friend group's experience the 1 American and 1 international grouping is the most competitive set.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We aren't from DC + didn't know anyone when we moved to DC. So, we went with NCS/Holton.

Re: WIS, I thought I heard at the time of looking that at least 1 parent had to speak a foreign language at home. Is that not the case? Since that time, I have a friend whose 2 kids went to WIS
,(dad is European) + both kids went on to Ivies. They seemed very happy with WIS except they would have liked more spotts.

US parent of several WIS kids here. Neither DH nor I speaks the target language, that's simply not a requirement. Our kids have been at WIS for years, and love the school!

Thanks for the information. I wonder then if it was just a "suggestion" then that a parent speak another language in addition to English in the home?

I can't imagine why! Unless someone in the home speaks the same language that the child designates as his or her target language, having one parent speak a non-English language in the home wouldn't do any good at all. And I know WIS families that speak either French or Spanish in the home, but designate the other as their child's target language, because why not. I can't help my DCs with their target language homework, but so far so good!

Imagine wanting your child wanting to have more opportunities than what you had! /s I can hear the pearls clutching together!

[Anonymous]

I think WIS is great! I have immense respect for kids in immersion and IB programs.

We never applied to WIS because those things aren't the top priorities for us/our kids and some other things are. But I have nothing but respect for WIS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We aren't from DC + didn't know anyone when we moved to DC. So, we went with NCS/Holton.

Re: WIS, I thought I heard at the time of looking that at least 1 parent had to speak a foreign language at home. Is that not the case? Since that time, I have a friend whose 2 kids went to WIS
,(dad is European) + both kids went on to Ivies. They seemed very happy with WIS except they would have liked more spotts.

US parent of several WIS kids here. Neither DH nor I speaks the target language, that's simply not a requirement. Our kids have been at WIS for years, and love the school!

Thanks for the information. I wonder then if it was just a "suggestion" then that a parent speak another language in addition to English in the home?

So, WIS likes to balance their class to have kids where 1/3rd of the class has 2 American parents, 1/3rd have 1 american and 1 international parent, and 1/3rd have 2 international parents. So maybe it was a suggestion to "game" the system, but in my friend group's experience the 1 American and 1 international grouping is the most competitive set.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid graduated from WIS a few years ago. DC got into several top LACs and desirable public universities like UCLA, Michigan and UNC with a ACT score of 31 and grades of 6's and 5's in most of the WIS classes (that would be the equivalent of B+ and Bs at other private high schools). We think the rigor of the IB program/reputation of WIS/and personal interaction with admissions officers visiting the school (graduating class only has about 60 students) definitely helped DC with admissions. Friends at comparable Big 3 schools needed a higher testing score and probably a better GPA to get into the same schools. I should add that DC is not a minority or an athlete but did have some unique volunteering extracurriculars that could have helped with admissions.

Too much identifying information here.

If PP feels comfortable sharing that much info, what's it to you? It's helpful for the rest of us!

It has to be said that admissions information for the student in that post (which is from 2020, so he graduated WIS in 2018 or earlier) is not at all helpful to you because that kid went to college pre-COVID. Everything is different now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the average class size at WIS? From 2016 to 2019, 38 WIS students went to Ivy or equivalents.

On average, 25 STA students each year go to Ivies or equivalents.

Yes, WIS is a great school but, even with its smaller size, college admissions don't really compare to Sidwell/GDS/NCS/STA.

Last year, WIS kids went to Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Chicago, and Penn. No one went to Dartmouth, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, or Yale.

As mentioned, though, a lot of WIS kids go to schools overseas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the average class size at WIS? From 2016 to 2019, 38 WIS students went to Ivy or equivalents.

On average, 25 STA students each year go to Ivies or equivalents.

Yes, WIS is a great school but, even with its smaller size, college admissions don't really compare to Sidwell/GDS/NCS/STA.

Last year, WIS kids went to Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Chicago, and Penn. No one went to Dartmouth, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, or Yale.

As mentioned, though, a lot of WIS kids go to schools overseas.

Uh they have sent kids to literally all those schools except Dartmouth (notoriously the most hooked based Ivy) specifically sent kids this year and last year to the "no one went" list so I'm not sure where you got your info, but just because they skew a wider range of elite schools looking on a global level instead of isolating down to the US isn't a bad thing. Personally, I see the way WIS's college counseling really works with the kids to find the top schools that match their interests rather than having them only shoot for a small select list like the Ivies with a few supporting schools on repeat.