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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]They don't need much help to do what?  Get into a good college?

I interview a half a dozen to a dozen DCPS and DCPC applicants for my Ivy every January-February as an alum volunteer.

I used to interview several Wilson students each application season, but got burned out a several years ago and asked not to be given anymore Wilson names.  No Wilson student I interviewed got in, 10 or 11 years running (though other interviewers for my Ivy had better luck at Wilson). What caused me to burn out is that around half of the Wilson kids I interviewed would almost certainly have been in the running if they'd had better guidance counselors, much more face-to-face counseling, and tougher academics in DCPS all the way up. Nice, bright, hard-working kids, but generally not getting the help and advice they needed to reach for the stars.

Prefer to interview at Walls and BASIS (just one Feb of experience there), but not by much.[/quote]

So let me get this straight: because Wilson doesn't dedicate sufficient resources to preparing kids for Ivy college interviews (or yours, at least), you've decided to punish the "nice, bright, hard-working" kids by simply refusing to interview from Wilson anymore? Jesus.

I guess it's probably better for the kids, in the long run, not to waste their time with someone who would act so capriciously. [/quote]

Capriciously?  After 10 or 11 years of frustration.  Who wouldn't have quit as a volunteer?[/quote]

The PP didn't "quit as a volunteer"; s/he decided to blackball Wilson kids. Although the kids were "nice, bright, hardworking"--no implication that they were rude or unpleasant or otherwise taxing--the interviewer somehow got "burned out" and decided to simply cut them out. That's capricious. But if you don't like that word, I'll settle for "selfish" or "myopic."[/quote]

Why don't you volunteer to help DCPS students get into top colleges then? PP didn't have to interview them. Sounds like s/he was trying to help them in their college quests, but, apparently, was unable to convince his/her alma mater to admit those interviewed, year after year.  I'm not reading that s/he blackballed the kids, the opposite.  Apparently, the interviewer couldn't compensate for Wilson's weak guidance counseling and other deficiencies of DCPS in supporting top students by giving them good write-ups. These are real problems at Wilson.  [/quote]

First of all the alum interviews don't matter that much in the process and to suggest that [b]interviewers can make a difference is ridiculous[/b]. They do not make decisions about who gets in - so let's put it in context. If you have connections to alums that actually matter to the school and know your kid, have them write a letter about your kid. Second of all this is not the first Ivy alum interviewer with an admitted bias against Wilson students and that has nothing to do with the quality of counseling offered at Wilson.  If possible take your kid to the school to be interviewed. There is no need to expose kids to adults that will judge them unfairly because of the school they come from. [/quote]

Really depends on the Ivy, or elite liberal arts college. Some put a lot more emphasis on alum interviews than others (valuing the unvarnished truth/insight alums can provide in their reports when they're on the fence with an applicant).

An admitted bias against Wilson students? Totally ridiculous.

Take it from the Wilson parents, the quality of counseling at Wilson suffers mainly because good counselors have more than 200 kids to advise each.  [/quote]

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