Potomac School - internal assessment for high school admissions

[Anonymous]

I see Potomac is allowing applicants to submit SSAT/ISEE scores or opting to take an internal assessment at Potomac. Trying to asses what is the better choice. What was Potomac’s internal assessment like last year? Math and reading comprehension? How long did it last? Harder or easier than the SSAT?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I see Potomac is allowing applicants to submit SSAT/ISEE scores or opting to take an internal assessment at Potomac. Trying to asses what is the better choice. What was Potomac’s internal assessment like last year? Math and reading comprehension? How long did it last? Harder or easier than the SSAT?

That’s good. Before, they were requiring both.

[Anonymous]

My son took it last year--it was about 90 minutes long and was math and reading passages. He didn't give me details but it was definitely shorter than the ISEE. He was admitted to 9th grade.

[Anonymous]

How about now for 6th grade?

[Anonymous]

Take the SSAT.

[Anonymous]

I the the internal assessment is much easier. I had kids who took both.

[Anonymous]

My child scored very high on the SSAT, so we elected to submit that. Think that’s what a lot do; see how the SSAT goes if applying to other schools that also take it and then decide whether to do internal at Potomac. He was waitlisted at Potomac. Worked out fine for my child in the end with a better fit school downtown.

[Anonymous]

For those whose child took the internal assessment, were you given a score and breakdown of results?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those whose child took the internal assessment, were you given a score and breakdown of results?

Nope. No breakdown. Test is much easier than standardized test though. Child admitted at 9th. I think the school uses it as a rough screening tool to ensure students can handle basic curriculum but don’t think it plays a major role beyond that threshold function. I had heard some families whose children were not admitted asked and received feedback on child’s assessment performance and the parents believed the lower performance was a factor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those whose child took the internal assessment, were you given a score and breakdown of results?

Nope. No breakdown. Test is much easier than standardized test though. Child admitted at 9th. I think the school uses it as a rough screening tool to ensure students can handle basic curriculum but don’t think it plays a major role beyond that threshold function. I had heard some families whose children were not admitted asked and received feedback on child’s assessment performance and the parents believed the lower performance was a factor.

Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child scored very high on the SSAT, so we elected to submit that. Think that’s what a lot do; see how the SSAT goes if applying to other schools that also take it and then decide whether to do internal at Potomac. He was waitlisted at Potomac. Worked out fine for my child in the end with a better fit school downtown.

Interesting. We had the same experience. Our child scored extremely High on the SSAT as well but still got waitlisted at Potomac. We never pursued the waitlist as he was accepted at another school where we felt he’d be a better fit.

I honestly think that with Potomac ( as with most privates) , school fit is extremely important as long as you are able to handle the curriculum.

So between a kid who scores in the 90th percentile on the SSAT who they feel is a good fit for the school and another kid who scores in the 98th percentile on the SSAT but may not be as great fit, they’ll choose the former.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child scored very high on the SSAT, so we elected to submit that. Think that’s what a lot do; see how the SSAT goes if applying to other schools that also take it and then decide whether to do internal at Potomac. He was waitlisted at Potomac. Worked out fine for my child in the end with a better fit school downtown.

Interesting. We had the same experience. Our child scored extremely High on the SSAT as well but still got waitlisted at Potomac. We never pursued the waitlist as he was accepted at another school where we felt he’d be a better fit.

I honestly think that with Potomac ( as with most privates) , school fit is extremely important as long as you are able to handle the curriculum.

So between a kid who scores in the 90th percentile on the SSAT who they feel is a good fit for the school and another kid who scores in the 98th percentile on the SSAT but may not be as great fit, they’ll choose the former.

We understand admissions aren’t a meritocracy and they have more applicants who can do the work than space. While I acknowledge “fit” may be a part of it, I think it’s really more numbers/hooks. Our child who scored very high is also a high level athlete in a sport. Potomac never expressed any interest in our child for that sport. They could have had, for example, sibling applicants who played that same sport who were already preferred or a kid who is much better at the sport than my child or they already had too many kids playing the sport in the existing class. I just think it’s a numbers game at all the schools. And we never really pushed at Potomac too because we never got any response from the coach during the process. No hard feelings at all and seemed like a fine place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

We understand admissions aren’t a meritocracy and they have more applicants who can do the work than space. While I acknowledge “fit” may be a part of it, I think it’s really more numbers/hooks. Our child who scored very high is also a high level athlete in a sport. Potomac never expressed any interest in our child for that sport. They could have had, for example, sibling applicants who played that same sport who were already preferred or a kid who is much better at the sport than my child or they already had too many kids playing the sport in the existing class. I just think it’s a numbers game at all the schools. And we never really pushed at Potomac too because we never got any response from the coach during the process. No hard feelings at all and seemed like a fine place.

Don’t feel bad about not having gotten a response from the coach. Our DC is a good athlete and got a letter of recommendation from the Varsity Potomac coach to submit with his application, A+ student, extremely high SSAT scores, interviewed very well ( interviewer came out telling us how well the interview went), very active in student government at his former private and was still waitlisted.

Perhaps there were more siblings or big donor kids applying that year but the more I hear about the school, the more I believe that there is some particular type of kid/ fit that they are looking for.

[Anonymous]

Yield is important to every HS and college so if your child is a stand out in every metric as some posters suggest and if you haven’t made it clear in some plausible way that the school is your top choice, the committee may think you will have lots of options and will likely go elsewhere. Similarly, although this is an inference, electing to take the internal assessment (even if you have taken the ISEE) signals you want to go that particular school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yield is important to every HS and college so if your child is a stand out in every metric as some posters suggest and if you haven’t made it clear in some plausible way that the school is your top choice, the committee may think you will have lots of options and will likely go elsewhere. Similarly, although this is an inference, electing to take the internal assessment (even if you have taken the ISEE) signals you want to go that particular school.

Why is yield so important to high schools? I don’t see the yield stats anywhere so who are they trying to keep their numbers high for?