You're not allowed to tour the building as a prospective parent or student. The open houses are completely chaotic, overcrowded, and nonsubstantive. The principal's attitude is that the students are lucky to be taken -- there is no effort at all to explain the strengths of the program and why the student should choose it. You can't do a shadow day until you're accepted, so you have to rank without having really seen anything of the school. When our child took the admission tests, the information flow was absolutely lousy, and got even worse after the tests were cancelled at the last possible moment because of weather and then not rescheduled until very late, making the application process even harder. Once the students are accepted, there are only a limited number of shadow days available, so not all the kids can shadow.

How's that for a start in explaining what's strange about the application process? We and many of our friends found it to be a huge turn-off.

What is strange to you about the application process?

I can't figure out how the wait list is determined. For example last year 100+ kids were put on the wait list. Are they ranked 1-240 by the school and the first 140 are offered slots? Or does your lottery number play a role if there are more qualified applicants than slots (And yes I realize that at least another couple hundred didn't make it to the interview stage and aren't reflected on the wait list).

My kid plans to apply to SWW this year but keeps hearing negative things about it from other kids, esp HS kids.
Almost all the HS kids we know who went to Deal keep saying that the kids they know at SWW mostly hate it - HW is often just busy work, very few extracurriculars, not much going on besides academics which are decent but not stellar. It is on the GW campus but not much connection with GW except you can maybe take some classes there. Any DC HS gives you the option of taking college classes your senior year so I'm not sure that is such a unique benefit. One or two kids we know at SWW love it but others are more meh. Apparently, lots of kids say their parents forced them to choose SWW over Wilson or Duke Ellington. The application process is also a bit strange. Not sure what to think.

(One other tip is that the male/female ratio is pretty skewed at SWW -- towards girls. Depending on your son, that may be an advantage.)

DD got in to SWW but turned it down for a local private. Her friends who enrolled at SWW tended to be on the serious and quiet side. They were specifically looking for a smaller environment with fewer behavioral distractions. I don't get the sense that either the academic offerings or the teachers are any better at Walls than they are at Wilson. The big difference is that the kids are generally well-behaved and serious about their studies. As pp mentioned, there are fewer clubs and sports at SWW due to it size. If she hadn't gone to private school, my DD would have gone to Wilson because she loves theater and SWW lacks a theater department.

For a motivated strong student, both SWW and WIlson are good options. I've had kids at both and like all schools. there are pros and cons to each. Wilson has many clubs and offerings that SWW does not because it's a smaller school. I think so much depends on your son's interests. There are good and bad teachers at both. SWW is not private and I don't really think it's fair to compare it to a place like Sidwell.

The kids are great - nice, smart, hard-working. We found that, for our DC's freshman year, the quality of teaching was VERY inconsistent, although things seem better this year. We've been told that the principal has chased away some of the stronger teachers over the past few years. The principal is MIA, as he spends all of his time working on Francis-Stevens. There seems to be constant turnover of assistant principals. All in all, it's been a mixed bag.

Anonymous wrote:Hi,
Our son is looking forward to applying to SWoW. We are relatively new to DC and have heard mostly great things about the school. Based on what folks have told us, it also seems a great fit (he's self-motivated, strong study skills, etc - not the same for our younger son). We know only a few families with firsthand knowledge, and would love any feedback folks could provide.

Another question ---- we are also considering private high school (but struggling with the cost). What are people's thoughts on comparing the education/experience at SWoW with local private schools? It seems from what we have read together with high school ratings, the the two may be quite similar. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Of course, none of this matters if he is not accepted. ?
Thanks.

My son is absolutely loves SWW. Prior to SWW, he was in a MS that went through HS. I thought he would stay there through graduation, but he had other ideas. I loved that they have 4-7 international trip opportunities each year, a partnership with GWU, many extracurricular activities and a nice graduating class size of 140.

Anonymous wrote:No comparative advantages in private school for a self-motivated student with strong study skills (as long as such skills are kept for the full 4 HS yrs) .

Save the money for your younger son, who might instead receive benefits from the extra attention/tutoring provided by most private schools.

Good luck.

Both SWW and Wilson would be great options for your kid. I agree with PP that for students who lack self-motivation or independent study skills some private schools might provide the extra-support needed to do well in academics and to build up the extra-curricular resume needed for good colleges.

Anonymous wrote:Culture is one of hard work, kids seem serious about academics. Students seem to like to brag about how much homework they do. Small class sizes - 140 students. Emphasis on AP classes.

My child graduated from Walls and I disagree with the bold. I will add that we found that an A at Walls was really an A.

Culture is one of hard work, kids seem serious about academics. Students seem to like to brag about how much homework they do. Small class sizes - 140 students. Emphasis on AP classes.

No comparative advantages in private school for a self-motivated student with strong study skills (as long as such skills are kept for the full 4 HS yrs) .

Save the money for your younger son, who might instead receive benefits from the extra attention/tutoring provided by most private schools.

Good luck.

Anonymous wrote:Hi,
Our son is looking forward to applying to SWoW. We are relatively new to DC and have heard mostly great things about the school. Based on what folks have told us, it also seems a great fit (he's self-motivated, strong study skills, etc - not the same for our younger son). We know only a few families with firsthand knowledge, and would love any feedback folks could provide.

Another question ---- we are also considering private high school (but struggling with the cost). What are people's thoughts on comparing the education/experience at SWoW with local private schools? It seems from what we have read together with high school ratings, the the two may be quite similar. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Of course, none of this matters if he is not accepted. ?
Thanks.

What do you mean, "struggling with the costs"? This is DCUM, where people use the phrase "go private" without regard to the prohibitive costs. Please don't crowd source here for info about trade-offs for private if you are serious about that decision. DCUM is even more useless on that topic than most education topics. And that's a bold statement, if I do say so myself.

Pretty sure people refer to it as SWW.

Hi,
Our son is looking forward to applying to SWoW. We are relatively new to DC and have heard mostly great things about the school. Based on what folks have told us, it also seems a great fit (he's self-motivated, strong study skills, etc - not the same for our younger son). We know only a few families with firsthand knowledge, and would love any feedback folks could provide.

Another question ---- we are also considering private high school (but struggling with the cost). What are people's thoughts on comparing the education/experience at SWoW with local private schools? It seems from what we have read together with high school ratings, the the two may be quite similar. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Of course, none of this matters if he is not accepted. ?
Thanks.