Parents of DCPS HS graduates - were your kids prepared for college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Six, eight, ten years ago, Walls routinely produced 4, 5 even half a dozen National Merit Scholarship semifinalists annually. Here in the 2020s, there are zero some years.

So, here is the list of schools in DC and number of 2023 NMSFs:

Maret - 1
JR - 1
NCS - 2
STA - 3
GDS - 4
Sidwell -5
Walls - 6 (I am not NMSF...but I think that is 1/2 a dozen)

Look at the Presidential Scholars as well which is based primarily on SAT Scores and Walls has the most in DC.

Why do people post demonstrably false information?

This is a terrible look for JR! That school has nearly 5 times the number of students as Walls and it only produced ONE (1) NMSF?!?

Sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Six, eight, ten years ago, Walls routinely produced 4, 5 even half a dozen National Merit Scholarship semifinalists annually. Here in the 2020s, there are zero some years.

So, here is the list of schools in DC and number of 2023 NMSFs:

Maret - 1
JR - 1
NCS - 2
STA - 3
GDS - 4
Sidwell -5
Walls - 6 (I am not NMSF...but I think that is 1/2 a dozen)

Look at the Presidential Scholars as well which is based primarily on SAT Scores and Walls has the most in DC.

Why do people post demonstrably false information?

This is a terrible look for JR! That school has nearly 5 times the number of students as Walls and it only produced ONE (1) NMSF?!?

Sad.

How is it a terrible look for JR but not Maret or NCS? Number of kids that attend is irrelevant when you have schools with cultivated student bodies. I am not saying it couldn’t be better…but terrible? Also, JR is about 3.3x larger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My very smart kid went to Walls and then to a selective SLAC and was NOT prepared at all. he didn't know how to organize his time and had bad study habits, and didn't really know how to write papers. It took him at least one semester to figure it out and it was very challenging. He ended up doing very well and has a great job now (2 years out) so it all worked out in the end but DCPS certainly didn't teach him the skills he needed to succeed

I mean...he must have been prepared somewhat. You don't go from struggling in the first semester to doing very well overall with no preparation. I don't know if the W schools can claim they prepare a student better for a selective SLAC...and I have no doubt your kid would have been better prepared if they went to Sidwell. The real question though is would it have made sense for you to pay $200k for Sidwell just to not struggle for one semester? I don't have an answer.

To answer your question, no, paying for Sidwell wasn't an option, and private schools, while excellent academically, come with their own host of issues. And ultimately it all comes out in the wash. I think kids who are poorly prepared by their high schools have to struggle a little more and work a little harder (if they want to succeed) the first couple of years of college, learning the skills others learn in HS. Also, asa college professor I can tell you that kids are generally less prepared now than they were 10-15 years ago and that's across the board. The amount of spoon-feeding we need to do ( we call is diplomatically "scaffolding") is staggering

This works out ok for most but there is very little room (or no) room for error for freshman grades for kids who want to go into medicine or probably competitive law schools or competitive finance jobs. I'm not familiar with the law or finance worlds but I do work closely in medical school admissions and many (most) pre-med students' dreams are broken by the first semester of freshman year. The reality is that probably 5% of kids who enter college being pre-med end up going to med school and much of this is not by choice but because of grades and there is no leeway for a poor first semester.
I recognize that this is not is not a post about medical school admissions but I wanted to point out that there are career choices that are not as forgiving about a kid needing to struggle for a semester or two in college.

This is a good point. DCPS kids are underrepresented in careers such as medicine and Wall Street

So how in the world would you know this.....................

I know this because I’m in one of these fields. I hardly ever come across new employees coming from DCPS. Plenty of local private school kids. You can also search on linked in for career professionals from JR or Walls, etc so you can network with alumni from your high school. If your kid tries that once they are in college, it can be frustrating because they will hardly find any DCPS graduates in these particular fields. This is partly where the private school advantage kicks in. Because powerful alumni can help recent graduates get internships, etc.

you’re not very quantitatively smart for someone who likely believes they are smart

Feel free to insult me if you want but I’m not wrong. You can do the analysis yourself using linked in. No need to shoot the messenger. It is possible JR kids are not interested in these particular jobs but that also raises the question - why not?

omg. what professional lists their high school on linked in??? come on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Six, eight, ten years ago, Walls routinely produced 4, 5 even half a dozen National Merit Scholarship semifinalists annually. Here in the 2020s, there are zero some years.

So, here is the list of schools in DC and number of 2023 NMSFs:

Maret - 1
JR - 1
NCS - 2
STA - 3
GDS - 4
Sidwell -5
Walls - 6 (I am not NMSF...but I think that is 1/2 a dozen)

Look at the Presidential Scholars as well which is based primarily on SAT Scores and Walls has the most in DC.

Why do people post demonstrably false information?

This is a terrible look for JR! That school has nearly 5 times the number of students as Walls and it only produced ONE (1) NMSF?!?

Sad.

How is it a terrible look for JR but not Maret or NCS? Number of kids that attend is irrelevant when you have schools with cultivated student bodies. I am not saying it couldn’t be better…but terrible? Also, JR is about 3.3x larger.

This is a public school forum and I’m ONLY commenting on public schools. Once again, this is a terrible look for JR. JR is not a school where your child will receive a strong education—this is just one example.

Btw, JR is about 4x larger than Walls (600 students/grade compared to 150).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Six, eight, ten years ago, Walls routinely produced 4, 5 even half a dozen National Merit Scholarship semifinalists annually. Here in the 2020s, there are zero some years.

So, here is the list of schools in DC and number of 2023 NMSFs:

Maret - 1
JR - 1
NCS - 2
STA - 3
GDS - 4
Sidwell -5
Walls - 6 (I am not NMSF...but I think that is 1/2 a dozen)

Look at the Presidential Scholars as well which is based primarily on SAT Scores and Walls has the most in DC.

Why do people post demonstrably false information?

This is a terrible look for JR! That school has nearly 5 times the number of students as Walls and it only produced ONE (1) NMSF?!?

Sad.

JR is a diverse, urban high school with a very different student population than a selective public like Walls or a private school. The real question should be how many academically comparable students there are at JR compared to Walls or the others. What's the number of NMSF per 100 of these students? It's also likely that Walls pulls some of the students that would otherwise be at JR because Walls offers a more academically focused peers, environment, etc. So the question should be whether those Walls students would still be NMSF if they were at JR instead. Maybe, maybe not, but it's also possible that Walls encourages students to take the PSAT junior year instead of sophomore year to qualify.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Six, eight, ten years ago, Walls routinely produced 4, 5 even half a dozen National Merit Scholarship semifinalists annually. Here in the 2020s, there are zero some years.

So, here is the list of schools in DC and number of 2023 NMSFs:

Maret - 1
JR - 1
NCS - 2
STA - 3
GDS - 4
Sidwell -5
Walls - 6 (I am not NMSF...but I think that is 1/2 a dozen)

Look at the Presidential Scholars as well which is based primarily on SAT Scores and Walls has the most in DC.

Why do people post demonstrably false information?

This is a terrible look for JR! That school has nearly 5 times the number of students as Walls and it only produced ONE (1) NMSF?!?

Sad.

How is it a terrible look for JR but not Maret or NCS? Number of kids that attend is irrelevant when you have schools with cultivated student bodies. I am not saying it couldn’t be better…but terrible? Also, JR is about 3.3x larger.

This is a public school forum and I’m ONLY commenting on public schools. Once again, this is a terrible look for JR. JR is not a school where your child will receive a strong education—this is just one example.

Btw, JR is about 4x larger than Walls (600 students/grade compared to 150).

JR has 2000 students…I get you aren’t a NMSF but 2000/600 is 3.33x.

JR has 21 kids going to Ivy league schools vs 10 for Walls. I guess that’s a terrible look for Walls since they have so many NMSFs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Six, eight, ten years ago, Walls routinely produced 4, 5 even half a dozen National Merit Scholarship semifinalists annually. Here in the 2020s, there are zero some years.

So, here is the list of schools in DC and number of 2023 NMSFs:

Maret - 1
JR - 1
NCS - 2
STA - 3
GDS - 4
Sidwell -5
Walls - 6 (I am not NMSF...but I think that is 1/2 a dozen)

Look at the Presidential Scholars as well which is based primarily on SAT Scores and Walls has the most in DC.

Why do people post demonstrably false information?

This is a terrible look for JR! That school has nearly 5 times the number of students as Walls and it only produced ONE (1) NMSF?!?

Sad.

How is it a terrible look for JR but not Maret or NCS? Number of kids that attend is irrelevant when you have schools with cultivated student bodies. I am not saying it couldn’t be better…but terrible? Also, JR is about 3.3x larger.

This is a public school forum and I’m ONLY commenting on public schools. Once again, this is a terrible look for JR. JR is not a school where your child will receive a strong education—this is just one example.

Btw, JR is about 4x larger than Walls (600 students/grade compared to 150).

This is a problem that has already been solved. None of these schools has some secret formula for building NMSFs. Walls used to attract and identify them using the exam. The exam is dead, so the number of high-scoring kids at JR (and Banneker and McKinley and maybe Maret and GDS and other privates, too) will go up.

[Anonymous]

Give us a break. The Federal govt hires a great many scientists, doctors, lawyers, economists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Six, eight, ten years ago, Walls routinely produced 4, 5 even half a dozen National Merit Scholarship semifinalists annually. Here in the 2020s, there are zero some years.

So, here is the list of schools in DC and number of 2023 NMSFs:

Maret - 1
JR - 1
NCS - 2
STA - 3
GDS - 4
Sidwell -5
Walls - 6 (I am not NMSF...but I think that is 1/2 a dozen)

Look at the Presidential Scholars as well which is based primarily on SAT Scores and Walls has the most in DC.

Why do people post demonstrably false information?

This is a terrible look for JR! That school has nearly 5 times the number of students as Walls and it only produced ONE (1) NMSF?!?

Sad.

How is it a terrible look for JR but not Maret or NCS? Number of kids that attend is irrelevant when you have schools with cultivated student bodies. I am not saying it couldn’t be better…but terrible? Also, JR is about 3.3x larger.

This is a public school forum and I’m ONLY commenting on public schools. Once again, this is a terrible look for JR. JR is not a school where your child will receive a strong education—this is just one example.

Btw, JR is about 4x larger than Walls (600 students/grade compared to 150).

JR has 2000 students…I get you aren’t a NMSF but 2000/600 is 3.33x.

JR has 21 kids going to Ivy league schools vs 10 for Walls. I guess that’s a terrible look for Walls since they have so many NMSFs.

I don’t believe you. Post the 2023-24 total student population.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My very smart kid went to Walls and then to a selective SLAC and was NOT prepared at all. he didn't know how to organize his time and had bad study habits, and didn't really know how to write papers. It took him at least one semester to figure it out and it was very challenging. He ended up doing very well and has a great job now (2 years out) so it all worked out in the end but DCPS certainly didn't teach him the skills he needed to succeed

I mean...he must have been prepared somewhat. You don't go from struggling in the first semester to doing very well overall with no preparation. I don't know if the W schools can claim they prepare a student better for a selective SLAC...and I have no doubt your kid would have been better prepared if they went to Sidwell. The real question though is would it have made sense for you to pay $200k for Sidwell just to not struggle for one semester? I don't have an answer.

To answer your question, no, paying for Sidwell wasn't an option, and private schools, while excellent academically, come with their own host of issues. And ultimately it all comes out in the wash. I think kids who are poorly prepared by their high schools have to struggle a little more and work a little harder (if they want to succeed) the first couple of years of college, learning the skills others learn in HS. Also, asa college professor I can tell you that kids are generally less prepared now than they were 10-15 years ago and that's across the board. The amount of spoon-feeding we need to do ( we call is diplomatically "scaffolding") is staggering

This works out ok for most but there is very little room (or no) room for error for freshman grades for kids who want to go into medicine or probably competitive law schools or competitive finance jobs. I'm not familiar with the law or finance worlds but I do work closely in medical school admissions and many (most) pre-med students' dreams are broken by the first semester of freshman year. The reality is that probably 5% of kids who enter college being pre-med end up going to med school and much of this is not by choice but because of grades and there is no leeway for a poor first semester.
I recognize that this is not is not a post about medical school admissions but I wanted to point out that there are career choices that are not as forgiving about a kid needing to struggle for a semester or two in college.

This is a good point. DCPS kids are underrepresented in careers such as medicine and Wall Street

So how in the world would you know this.....................

I know this because I’m in one of these fields. I hardly ever come across new employees coming from DCPS. Plenty of local private school kids. You can also search on linked in for career professionals from JR or Walls, etc so you can network with alumni from your high school. If your kid tries that once they are in college, it can be frustrating because they will hardly find any DCPS graduates in these particular fields. This is partly where the private school advantage kicks in. Because powerful alumni can help recent graduates get internships, etc.

This view may be dated. For example, it’s now impossible to get an NIH summer internship through connections. Individual labs aren’t allowed to bring in a friend’s kid or any other specific person. And everyone who applied from one of the big 3 private schools was shut out this year. Meanwhile, the information about the biomed track at JR notes that they place kids there - not sure if this actually happens or not, but have heard at least of them sending kids to Georgetown for internships.

[Transplant_1]

Is that the purpose of the various JR "academies" - to link interest with internships. I don't understand what they are. Except for the comp sci/programming one, none involve APs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My very smart kid went to Walls and then to a selective SLAC and was NOT prepared at all. he didn't know how to organize his time and had bad study habits, and didn't really know how to write papers. It took him at least one semester to figure it out and it was very challenging. He ended up doing very well and has a great job now (2 years out) so it all worked out in the end but DCPS certainly didn't teach him the skills he needed to succeed

Wait a minute, my kid is at Walls and I know a few other kids that have graduated from there. None of the previous graduates indicate any of the issues you describe. In particular, the time management piece and writing papers. You will drown at Walls without time management skills. They have senior projects and a lot of papers over the years. Walls certainly has issues but not the ones described. Sounds like the independence was just too much initially and he had to stop the partying. That's not on any high school.

True that some of the time management issues were on him. But writing college-level essays is something that a school like Walls ought to have do a better job with. And it just wasn't happening. Also the school did a terrible, terrible job with the senior project. It was a big joke. The "advisor" he was assigned had no idea what he was doing, they got no meaningful guidance whatsoever. It was a huge disappointment. All that said, the kid turned out just fine in the end so maybe it really doesn't matter all so much? One thing I can say about Walls is that other students that year were great-- smart, ambitious, and they all pushed each other intellectually.

my read on the story: kid got drunk a bunch away from home; doesn't tell their parents, blames study skills. parents take it at face value. kid isn't an idiot and shapes up in their second semester.

[Anonymous]

Transplant_1 wrote:Is that the purpose of the various JR "academies" - to link interest with internships. I don't understand what they are. Except for the comp sci/programming one, none involve APs.

Two words, window dressing (on the cheap, equitable, not controversial politically), no other purpose of the academies.

[Anonymous]

Yes, the academies are essentially a joke. They seem to exist to give false hope of academic excellence to middle school families considering leaving DCPS for good. But higher level AP math and science offer real rigor at J-R.

[Anonymous]

High level math and science seems to be the “easy” to give a veneer of rigor. It is is rigorous. But what about the rest? Critical reading, learning how to write well, etc.