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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don't mean to put a dampener on what sounds like a booster oriented thread, [b]but in interviewing one or two Latin students a year for my Ivy in the past several years, I haven't been blown away by the academics or extra-curriculars they've brought to the table. The top Latin HS students seem to take 3 or 4 AP classes/exams, earning mostly 3-4s.  Hardly anybody seems to take 6+ exams, earning mostly 5s (the minimum that would pass muster at my Ivy). [/b]

It's obviously a nice school community, and the kids clearly get a decent education, but they're not shooting for the stars in college admissions yet (although the odd kid still aims high).  They like to see graduates land at East Coast public universities and small liberal arts colleges around the country.  If that's yours scene, terrific. If not, Wilson, Walls and BASIS pretty clearly offer more rigor/college options for high fliers.

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I don't think you really interview for an Ivy League school. I do and my school would take into consideration how many APs the school actually offers. A small school like a Latin probably doesn't offer that many AP classes so taking 6+ would be impossible for any student.

Selective colleges look  for academic rigor in a student's curriculum.  More sophisticated admissions officers distinguish between rigor and "APs" which are often test-driven, regimented memorization courses.  Fact:  schools like Sidwell Friends have far fewer "AP" denominated courses than local public schools.

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That was the way it was when I was at GDS a long long time ago, STA was the same way.  [b]We actually had no "AP" classes except maybe in science or math (not my strong point), but we still took AP exams at the end of the courses if we were aiming high.  I took AP exams in US History, English, and Latin, 5s on all of them.  That was enough to be in the class of 1992 at HYP. [/b] But I left after 11th grade and went wandering so maybe others took more (I had gotten into Oberlin which did not require SAT scores at the time so I convinced my parents).  Back in the day when doing something adventurous and against the grain (and not getting a high school diploma) could still get you in to HYP.  And I was pretty set on one of them.  Now, with the perspective that comes with age, it matters more for "reach" kids.

Back in the day when one reasonable income could get you a reasonable house and private school for 3 kids.

However, FACT:
We have too many kids to afford private school tuition and I'm not sure I would want my kids in with the uber rich feeling poor - because we are not.  We are solidly middle class, and we would seriously qualify for financial aid if my kids got into the school where my husband and I met - I just ran the numbers through their FA calculator and our contribution would be somewhere around $15k.  Maybe we are poor.  Or maybe they are generous.

[b]I am an interviewer for my Ivy, and since the schools have the kids' transcripts and we don't see them EVER - we are told to try to dig deeper - so I have no clue how many AP classes they took.  Or what scores they got.  And I usually don't ask.  You are trying to get  sense of the candidate and who they are and to me that doesn't tell me anything, and might make me judge them prematurely.  I ask why they are interested in my school in particular, and just try to have  a conversation.  I want to know what they have to that would make them an asset to my school, and what they would get out of it.  I ask them to tell me something that is not on their college application.  In fact we are not supposed to interrogate them about their grades or how many AP classes or what their scores were.  That implies we have some decisionmaking power over that part, which we absolutely do not [/b]

But I agree that if the classes at Latin are sufficiently rigorous (like GDS was/is and apparently Sidwell is) you just take the AP exam after taking the course.  And my kids' experiences have been that even if it called an AP course sometimes the teachers don't teach to the test, or don't teach at all, so it doesn't necessarily mean you don't have to do a little bit of self help if you are in DCPS or DCPCS and probably a lot depending on which school.  NOT GDS.

But the geographic area does matter,  especially if you are in a public school.  My first question for a Latin kid would be how far they got in math and whether they took an AP exam in Latin and another language, but not all kids are zoned for Wilson and the oldest kids at BASIS are only in 11th grade, and Walls really did not impress us. [/b][b]I think given all the risks in my day and now that teens are exposed to, wherever they are happy is best for them.  But the financial aid at the Ivies is incredible.  My school has needs blind admission - meaning they admit first and then find out whether the candidate requires financial aid. [/b]

I think as the quality of the kids at the high school improves at Latin - their low DC CAS scores made the high school a Focus school - while the MS was #3 after Deal and BASIS that last year, maybe the kids will be able to take APs at the end of their courses. Or take more AP courses.  When we were considering Latin the parents we knew left after 8th and went private.  That was not an option for us. BASIS parents are doing that as well. And when the kids coming up at BASIS have been their longer (the kids graduating next year started in 8th not 5th) I think you will definitely see good college admissions. The 5th graders will be the 4th graduating class.

I also interview kids from I guess "flyover country" that others can't get to, in California.  In really rural areas and they are "reach kids" who usually would be the first generation to go to college in their family and whose parents are migrant workers etc.  But one "reach" kid, for example, who I did a long distance interview with, took all the APs at the high school (which were about 3) and was interested in a particular subject where they did not offer an AP course, so on their own initiative went and took a course at the local community college.  The "reach" long distance kids break my heart because so few of them get in, and some of them absolutely knock my socks off.  They have done incredible incredible things in their community and for their community - opportunities maybe that are only possible in a small segregated town where there are some very rich people and some very poor people - but I sometimes wonder.  Volunteering at Martha's Table just does not cut it with me.

I really try hard not to compare the two pools, but last year there was one "reach" who was a shining star..... who made another Ivy very happy because we were stupid enough not to admit them.  I rarely get so emotionally invested.  But over the years there  have been a few "reach" kids - and so few get in.  I'm just trying to give the other side here.  [b]I remember the alum interviewer from Brown last year who came on here and trashed the candidate from Latin who was accepted.  That person should be banned from interviewing and I have been meaning to write to Brown for some time if my facts are right.  Latin parents, please confirm[/b]

I still remember my alumnae interviewer and my husband remembers his.  So we may be the first human face of our university they see.  That to me is a tremendous honor and a tremendous responsibility - not to put a foot wrong, to know enough about the modern day school and the changes, but also the continuity.  And we also have a responsibility to our university - not to bootstrap, not to recommend anyone we think can't handle it, but also not to let our own prejudices and biases come into play.  That is why I am glad I don't know their grades.  We go in cold. In fact they do not even tell us if we are interviewing an athlete so we have to review all those rules as well.

[b]Some of us are human and are doing the interviews for the right reasons and are not as cold and analytical as this alumni interviewer sounds.  I am absolutely positive the alumni interviewer did not go to the same school I did!!!!!!!  Know why?  There are so many of us who want to participate in DC that we each are only going to get one DC interview this year.  It was the same last year, and the year before..... [/b]

Good luck to the seniors at all DCPS and DCPCS schools.  
May they find a safe and appropriate place to land, and be educated, because that is ultimately all that matters.[/quote]

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