Thoughts on McKinley Tech

[Anonymous]

Did anyone match at McKinley Tech? Having struck out in our latest attempt to get DC (7th grade) on track for a good high school, how hard is it to get in? I'm confused by how they didn't match all of their seats, does that mean people who didn't get waitlisted get a second look? It seems a shame to let so many seats go empty.

[Anonymous]

Also, I didn't mean to imply that McKinley Tech isn't "good"-- quite the opposite I would very much like my child to get in. I just meant that once again we did not have a good lottery number so will definitely be applying for selective high schools next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone match at McKinley Tech? Having struck out in our latest attempt to get DC (7th grade) on track for a good high school, how hard is it to get in? I'm confused by how they didn't match all of their seats, does that mean people who didn't get waitlisted get a second look? It seems a shame to let so many seats go empty.

They have admissions criteria (PARCC 4 or 5 in 7th grade) and 3.0 GPA in 7th and first half of 8th grade.

They also have students do an interview.

780 applied.

220 were offered admission. But 61 students ranked another school higher and thus were not eligible to match at McKinley / in effect gave up their seat.

Had those 61 students ranked McKinley first, they would have gotten in.

[Anonymous]

I think McKinley Tech is a good school. Hope my kid applies.

Most important thing to do right now OP is to make sure your kid doesn't blow off or not take PARCC seriously this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think McKinley Tech is a good school. Hope my kid applies.

Most important thing to do right now OP is to make sure your kid doesn't blow off or not take PARCC seriously this year.

Thank you PPs! I'm more concerned that DC is not sufficiently enthusiastic about math and science, despite good enough test scores... Seems like everyone I know thinks their kid will get into Walls, and that's not mathematically possible so I'm considering what's actually realistic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think McKinley Tech is a good school. Hope my kid applies.

Most important thing to do right now OP is to make sure your kid doesn't blow off or not take PARCC seriously this year.

Thank you PPs! I'm more concerned that DC is not sufficiently enthusiastic about math and science, despite good enough test scores... Seems like everyone I know thinks their kid will get into Walls, and that's not mathematically possible so I'm considering what's actually realistic.

I htink you are smart to think about a plan B.

You should take them to an open house. The students are impressive.

Banneker, Bard and Coolidge Early College Academy are worth a look too, as is WLA (but that's even more tech-focused than McKinley Tech - e.g. a computer science or app dev class is required every year).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think McKinley Tech is a good school. Hope my kid applies.

Most important thing to do right now OP is to make sure your kid doesn't blow off or not take PARCC seriously this year.

Thank you PPs! I'm more concerned that DC is not sufficiently enthusiastic about math and science, despite good enough test scores... Seems like everyone I know thinks their kid will get into Walls, and that's not mathematically possible so I'm considering what's actually realistic.

I htink you are smart to think about a plan B.

You should take them to an open house. The students are impressive.

Banneker, Bard and Coolidge Early College Academy are worth a look too, as is WLA (but that's even more tech-focused than McKinley Tech - e.g. a computer science or app dev class is required every year).

My hope is that the expanded supply of seats will mean happy outcomes for many more kids. I'm always perplexed when people say McKinley Tech is too tech-focused. Surprise, that's what "Tech" means! It's not McKinley Poetry, right?

I also noticed that EC Coolidge did not fill the majority of its seats... so what happens, are they still going to open the program with just so few kids? I'm eager to see how it goes.

Does anyone know much about Museum Studies at Ellington? Is that terribly hard to get into?

[Anonymous]

Coolidge had 147 applications for 110 seats. But like McKinley many students who applied ranked another school higher and were offered a seat there.

In the case of Cooslidge, I do not blame them. Would you put your 9th grader in a brand new school?

At least Bard, for example, has a successful track record in other cities.

As for Ellington museum studies-- it is not an ovesubscribed program. The real question is whether your child has a passion for art, curation and an intention to pursue that as a career?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Coolidge had 147 applications for 110 seats. But like McKinley many students who applied ranked another school higher and were offered a seat there.

In the case of Cooslidge, I do not blame them. Would you put your 9th grader in a brand new school?

At least Bard, for example, has a successful track record in other cities.

As for Ellington museum studies-- it is not an ovesubscribed program. The real question is whether your child has a passion for art, curation and an intention to pursue that as a career?

I cannot say that DC has a passion for any particular thing, despite being a generally strong student... I am not ruling out Coolidge just unsure what happens from here for that program.

[Anonymous]

McKinley Tech graduate here, when I attended there wasn't PARCC testing, however, a student still needed to be in the top percentile of their class, have no lower than a 3.0, write an essay for the application, write an on-demand essay the day of the interview and do well on the in-person interview. This was back in 2006. Times have not changed and will likely not change for the future.

I "majored" in biotechnology at McKinley and completed several internships with NIH. They had a pretty strong relationship with NIH (when I was a student), I am sure they have several other partnerships.

With the addition of the lottery to specialized high program applications its entirely possible, you and your DC didn't rank McKinley high enough or the application pool talent was pretty strong and thus he was lower ranked by the McKinley Review Committee. DH and I are now in MoCo now with our children but sometimes we pop into this forum to see how the DC high schools compare to the MD and VA HS process and rankings.

Perhaps try calling the school?

[Anonymous]

OP's kid is only going into 7th next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP's kid is only going into 7th next year.

The OP is doing well to try to gather information beforehand as the lottery process is generally unclear, riddled with admission scandals or some other political drama.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP's kid is only going into 7th next year.

The OP is doing well to try to gather information beforehand as the lottery process is generally unclear, riddled with admission scandals or some other political drama.

You're making me blush. I am trying to figure out reasonable expectations for a good-not-great student given the lottery results, new schools, etc. Yes it is a year in advance but if we are going to apply to (and pay for) privates or potentially move, better to think about it early. My hope is that DC will make it into McKinley or Banneker or EC@Coolidge, but we will see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP's kid is only going into 7th next year.

The OP is doing well to try to gather information beforehand as the lottery process is generally unclear, riddled with admission scandals or some other political drama.

You're making me blush. I am trying to figure out reasonable expectations for a good-not-great student given the lottery results, new schools, etc. Yes, it is a year in advance but if we are going to apply to (and pay for) privates or potentially move, better to think about it early. My hope is that DC will make it into McKinley or Banneker or EC@Coolidge, but we will see.

Your kid will have an incredibly difficult time getting into Banneker, Wilson, SWW, and McKinley if he is not great. Which leaves you with choices: push him pretty hard and get a tutor to fill in gaps so that his GPA goes up, pay for private school or move. If I were you I wouldn't pay for private because it's likely you will end up paying for private and a tutor as DC schools tend to have larges gaps in the curriculum. So realistically, you are looking at a tutor now and hope the dividends pay off or move to suburbia. But be aware that half of everyone in suburbia has a tutor by 3rd/4th grade to make it to the gifted programs, magnet programs, specialized programs, etc.

-Banneker Grad, VCU (undergrad). Hopkins (med school)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP's kid is only going into 7th next year.

The OP is doing well to try to gather information beforehand as the lottery process is generally unclear, riddled with admission scandals or some other political drama.

You're making me blush. I am trying to figure out reasonable expectations for a good-not-great student given the lottery results, new schools, etc. Yes, it is a year in advance but if we are going to apply to (and pay for) privates or potentially move, better to think about it early. My hope is that DC will make it into McKinley or Banneker or EC@Coolidge, but we will see.

Your kid will have an incredibly difficult time getting into Banneker, Wilson, SWW, and McKinley if he is not great. Which leaves you with choices: push him pretty hard and get a tutor to fill in gaps so that his GPA goes up, pay for private school or move. If I were you I wouldn't pay for private because it's likely you will end up paying for private and a tutor as DC schools tend to have larges gaps in the curriculum. So realistically, you are looking at a tutor now and hope the dividends pay off or move to suburbia. But be aware that half of everyone in suburbia has a tutor by 3rd/4th grade to make it to the gifted programs, magnet programs, specialized programs, etc.

-Banneker Grad, VCU (undergrad). Hopkins (med school)

Thank you! I guess my question is, given this year's lottery result of many empty seats at McKinley and Coolidge, plus the new Bard and possibly an expansion of Latin, are things going to be as competitive next year?