Reply to What exactly is Potomac looking for for 9th grade admissions?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Sports. At our K-8 THE common denominator was sports.  Some of the children accepted were significantly less stellar academically.  It’s hard to say that but it’s an honest opinion.  Potomac waitlisted A students will 90% plus percentile SSAT for white girls who play softball from our school who didn’t test well. Maybe daddy also donated big time.  It totally trashed the schools reputation for a large number of families at our K8.  Everyone was comfortable with the idea that the school gets many applicants and will have to turn away amazing kids based purely on numbers. Where they lost us is by accepting an UMC white girl who plays mediocre ball. Mediocre grads. Low test scores.  Unknown family connections,  chosen over very high scores and grads with lesser sports.  The phrase don’t crap where you eat comes to mind because we all livid in the area because now it’s just viewed as a sports school.  With no APs.  Buyer beware.  It’s a sports school. Muscles a requirement, intelligence not essential. [/quote]

Sounds like sour grapes. Imagine the admissions process not conforming to your personal spreadsheet of the grades and test scores of every kid in your K-8. Maybe your spreadsheet is wrong and that kid actually does have straight As and good test scores. Maybe admission decisions are more holistic and actually consider things like leadership, teamwork, and [i]gasp[/i] personality. Either way, calling a middle schooler "mediocre" to justify your bitterness is not a good look.  [/quote]

It isn’t really sour grapes.  It’s a reality that about 5-6 from our K-8 will get in each year. So with 20-30 applying, the majority of families expect disappointment but we pay very close attention to who gets in.  And sorry to tell you but it was not the academic all-stars.  Some were great students and great athletes.  Some were decent athletes with decent grades.  At least one was a low end athlete with low end grades.  The parents and kids had self identified the leading contenders based on grades and academics.  Some were admitted and others were waitlisted.  But some who were accepted were, to put it kindly, shocking.  Clearly sports or money or connections but certainly not academics.  Sour grapes is too strong of an emotion.  Of course disappointing for kids who had great credentials but also has shifted my impression of the school.  School won’t care but I now understand why some families are a hard no on even applying.  [/quote]

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