Walls admissions requirements for 2021 Applicants

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Banneker is a good school. Tech isn't in the same league

Wow....really...you just said that? Personally, I was not impressed at all with Banneker and Tech really impressed me. If you are a techie or into biomed - it looks really interesting. Great teachers too and the Principal is a dynamo.

Mi have a coworker who graduated from McKinley Tech. I can’t remember where she went to college. She loved McKinley and she is super sharp.

Must be a great school then.

[Anonymous]

Bringing this thread back.. the other (later formed thread) lacks some of the context around interviews found in this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is what I understood but I am still confused. Does this sound right?

1. Complete the application through myschooldc by Feb 1
- include seventh grade transcript
- must show 7th grade GPA 3.0 or above
- if from DCPS, it will be sent from MS
- if outside DCPS must be official school transcript (school letterhead)
- no essays, no teacher recs, no test scores

2. Of those who applied, the students with the top 500 GPAs will be invited for an interview

3. Interviews will be conducted after Feb 1 - mid-March
- virtual, not in-person
- student interview first, then parents join (parent interview will not be held against the student ; )
- interview will be scored - 31 possible points

4. Walls will assign each student a score - interview can be scored up to 31, GPA can be scored up to 5 for a total possible score of 36.

5. Students with the top 250 scores (GPA + interview) will be eligible and be placed in a lottery

6. Approx 140 students of the 250 eligible will be matched to Walls through a lottery and the rest will be waitlisted.

6. Students will be notified of a match and have to indicate acceptance

7. Students will be pulled from the WL when a matched student declines the offered spot.

Hi- this is the first time I'm seeing this weighting scheme. Our child had their Walls interview this week. The whole interview took about 7 minutes total (fewer than 5 minutes with our child and about 2 minutes with us)...I cannot understand how they would get enough valuable information from this amount of time to weight the interview 6 times more than GPA...anyone else have any insight into this? Do folks think it will actually be just a lottery in the end (which may be the fairest thing to do given the state of the world)?

[Anonymous]

How likely is it that SWW waitlist will have any more movement this year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:that is unfortunate

my SWW was at Deal and never made Principal's Honor Role. Friends who were on Principal's Honor Role took the test and did not make the cut-off.

We are close enough to some of this to know how much work parent's did for assignments significantly impacted grades at Deal.

I am being 100% sincere in asking this: what would be a better way to do this knowing that entrance exam can’t be given securely?

I agree with you about the interviews.
Top 300 students by GPA and then go by lottery. The interviews are BS and no one should be meeting up inside regardless.

I’m sure the interviews will be virtual. But I don’t disagree with the fact that they are totally subjective.

+1. And completely arbitrary.

[Anonymous]

How far has the waitlist moved?

[Anonymous]

I believe it's moved 49 spots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I believe it's moved 49 spots.

That's not far behind a typical year, iirc, at this time of year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I believe it's moved 49 spots.

That's not far behind a typical year, iirc, at this time of year.

When does it move again and how far?
What has been the pattern in years past?

Thx for any thoughts!

[Anonymous]

Here is the MSDC Seats and Waitlist Data. I got the link from another thread a while ago.

https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/aaron2446/viz/MSDCSeatsandWaitlistOfferData/MSDCPublicDisplay

[Anonymous]

PP who thinks this is close to typical. What is unclear is whether the number of offers to get to 49 on the list is at the same pace as the total number of waitlist seats in prior years.

[Anonymous]

Based on prior years, it will continue to move quite a bit during the summer. If your kid is in the top 25 on the waiting list, I think there's a reasonable chance you'll get a call over the summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Based on prior years, it will continue to move quite a bit during the summer. If your kid is in the top 25 on the waiting list, I think there's a reasonable chance you'll get a call over the summer.

It's actually never moved that much between June and the start of school. 20 spots last summer, 11 the year before and less than 10 in each of the prior 5 years.

[Anonymous]

Anyone know when we can expect MSDC to update this year's waitlist data for the "by June" results?

[Anonymous]

The new data is out and it looks like 54 seats by June, which is consistent with prior years.

Anyone have any intel on whether they will be bringing the test back this coming year? I have a current Walls student and a rising 8th grader and am following closely.