Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure I'm buying the above, not here in the Information Age. These days, a really determined, super hard-working, bright kid from a middle-class family can learn a great deal from the Internet, on-line libraries, and enrichment camps during school breaks. I've done a lot of volunteer interviewing for my Ivy in the DC area in the last 20 years, interviewed many applicants from DC's most expensive private schools, WIS, Sidwell, Maret, NCS, St. Albans, GDS etc. Few of these applicants blew me away, or got stellar write-ups from me, but some of the applicants I've interviewed from Walls, BASIS, Wilson/JR and Latin did. When a kid is spoon fed excellent academics at a tony private from a young age, chances are good that said applicant is only so thoughtful, interesting and resourceful by senior year in HS. Hint: colleges admitting in the single digits in this country are seeking the intellectually entrepreneurial.

What about a kid who was in DCPS until 9th? Will you also write them off on principal?

I don't write private school kids off. I've recommended a number strongly over the years. But many come off as gratingly arrogant and entitled despite not being terribly impressive. I don't want most of them at my Ivy.

NP. Wow. You have serious, serious issues. I went to Stanford and I would never, ever talk about kids this way. You are doing your Ivy a disservice.

.

NP. Bully for you. You sound like a sanctimonious pain. At least the Ivy interviewer is being honest about refusing to recommend applicants s/he doesn’t want to be a admitted reasons that sound reasonable to me. Why don’t you exercise your prerogative to interview for Stanford and leave things at that? It’s up to the Ivy to evaluate the quality of the input alum interviewers provide, not judgmental outsiders.

Wrong. Hidden biases and prejudices are a real problem.

If you are so oblivious to that, you should NOT be interviewing. Please review the rules and guidelines for interviews, and go away.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a daughter at Walls and wouldn't consider sending her to privates. The bullying is likely worse at the privates and the education is likely similar considering that walls has excellent teachers. Walls (like any DCPS school) also offers the opportunity to register for college classes (for a select few full time and for others on a course by course basis). I have trouble matching our personal experience to all of the walls bashing. On the side of the elite privates i will say that the resources are better and appear to some parents as feeling more like college campuses in terms of resources with multimillion dollar donations. If you are looking for more resources privates will have those. Walls and DCPS cannot match privates in terms of sports either. To us high teacher quality and advanced classes is enough, and we do not like high pressure with sports - even walls is a little higher pressure than we would like. As mentioned with the college classes there are also some advantages that you will not have at privates. For anyone interested in debate the Washington Urban Debate League is only for public school kids and their kids I believe do better than the private school kids. The peer group is also important. There is no question that the walls kids are top notch academically. In college admissions your child is at a disadvantage at private school because the kids, many of whom are legacies, compete against each other for early decision to elite privates. Walls kids often attend public universities so they can get DC TAG. Walls has many longtime teachers and retaining teachers is one of the most portant roles of a principal.

You make some good points. That said, posters are hardly "Walls bashing" to note that new head is a cipher and that watering down admissions standards at Bowser's behest was a terrible idea. All the Walls kids are hardly top notch academically. Just not the case, not anymore. I wish things were different.

The kids were initially selected based on grades, which studies show are a better predictor of academic success than tests scores. According to my child most of the kids earned straight As or nearly straight As in Middle School. They took the highest achieving kids. The only part that was subjective was the interview, which arguably led to many deserving kids being waitlisted. My experience is that my child has always been number one at school, and now my child needs to provide more effort and is not always number one. It is hard for me to imagine a school providing a more high achieving peer group. Elite privates also have many kids who get in in elementary school, and those kids are not necessarily as high achieving as the ones who enter in high school and went through a rigorous selection process. I'm just not convinced you are getting a higher achieving peer group at an elite private, though the group may be equivalent and the resources certainly greater.

Pretty much it...DC went to a private K-8. IMO, Private school parents care much more about the "environment" than actual academics. So far the cohort at SWW has been great. Some typical teenage complaining. If you are a private school advocate, just go private.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure I'm buying the above, not here in the Information Age. These days, a really determined, super hard-working, bright kid from a middle-class family can learn a great deal from the Internet, on-line libraries, and enrichment camps during school breaks. I've done a lot of volunteer interviewing for my Ivy in the DC area in the last 20 years, interviewed many applicants from DC's most expensive private schools, WIS, Sidwell, Maret, NCS, St. Albans, GDS etc. Few of these applicants blew me away, or got stellar write-ups from me, but some of the applicants I've interviewed from Walls, BASIS, Wilson/JR and Latin did. When a kid is spoon fed excellent academics at a tony private from a young age, chances are good that said applicant is only so thoughtful, interesting and resourceful by senior year in HS. Hint: colleges admitting in the single digits in this country are seeking the intellectually entrepreneurial.

What about a kid who was in DCPS until 9th? Will you also write them off on principal?

I don't write private school kids off. I've recommended a number strongly over the years. But many come off as gratingly arrogant and entitled despite not being terribly impressive. I don't want most of them at my Ivy.

NP. Wow. You have serious, serious issues. I went to Stanford and I would never, ever talk about kids this way. You are doing your Ivy a disservice.

. NP. Bully for you. You sound like a sanctimonious pain. At least the Ivy interviewer is being honest about refusing to recommend applicants s/he doesn’t want to be a admitted reasons that sound reasonable to me. Why don’t you exercise your prerogative to interview for Stanford and leave things at that? It’s up to the Ivy to evaluate the quality of the input alum interviewers provide, not judgmental outsiders.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure I'm buying the above, not here in the Information Age. These days, a really determined, super hard-working, bright kid from a middle-class family can learn a great deal from the Internet, on-line libraries, and enrichment camps during school breaks. I've done a lot of volunteer interviewing for my Ivy in the DC area in the last 20 years, interviewed many applicants from DC's most expensive private schools, WIS, Sidwell, Maret, NCS, St. Albans, GDS etc. Few of these applicants blew me away, or got stellar write-ups from me, but some of the applicants I've interviewed from Walls, BASIS, Wilson/JR and Latin did. When a kid is spoon fed excellent academics at a tony private from a young age, chances are good that said applicant is only so thoughtful, interesting and resourceful by senior year in HS. Hint: colleges admitting in the single digits in this country are seeking the intellectually entrepreneurial.

What about a kid who was in DCPS until 9th? Will you also write them off on principal?

I don't write private school kids off. I've recommended a number strongly over the years. But many come off as gratingly arrogant and entitled despite not being terribly impressive. I don't want most of them at my Ivy.

NP. Wow. You have serious, serious issues. I went to Stanford and I would never, ever talk about kids this way. You are doing your Ivy a disservice.

.

NP. Bully for you. You sound like a sanctimonious pain. At least the Ivy interviewer is being honest about refusing to recommend applicants s/he doesn’t want to be a admitted reasons that sound reasonable to me. Why don’t you exercise your prerogative to interview for Stanford and leave things at that? It’s up to the Ivy to evaluate the quality of the input alum interviewers provide, not judgmental outsiders.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a daughter at Walls and wouldn't consider sending her to privates. The bullying is likely worse at the privates and the education is likely similar considering that walls has excellent teachers. Walls (like any DCPS school) also offers the opportunity to register for college classes (for a select few full time and for others on a course by course basis). I have trouble matching our personal experience to all of the walls bashing. On the side of the elite privates i will say that the resources are better and appear to some parents as feeling more like college campuses in terms of resources with multimillion dollar donations. If you are looking for more resources privates will have those. Walls and DCPS cannot match privates in terms of sports either. To us high teacher quality and advanced classes is enough, and we do not like high pressure with sports - even walls is a little higher pressure than we would like. As mentioned with the college classes there are also some advantages that you will not have at privates. For anyone interested in debate the Washington Urban Debate League is only for public school kids and their kids I believe do better than the private school kids. The peer group is also important. There is no question that the walls kids are top notch academically. In college admissions your child is at a disadvantage at private school because the kids, many of whom are legacies, compete against each other for early decision to elite privates. Walls kids often attend public universities so they can get DC TAG. Walls has many longtime teachers and retaining teachers is one of the most portant roles of a principal.

You make some good points. That said, posters are hardly "Walls bashing" to note that new head is a cipher and that watering down admissions standards at Bowser's behest was a terrible idea. All the Walls kids are hardly top notch academically. Just not the case, not anymore. I wish things were different.

So a test equals academic excellence? That is hardly the case. With all the grade inflation in schools systems, making the GPA cut off should not be too challenging. Just don't apply if your genius kid is too advanced for Walls.

You're missing the forest for the trees with this statement. The Walls admissions process has never been transparent but seems to become less so with each passing admissions season. The arrangement is ripe for a lawsuit, like the one Boston Latin failed to fend off in the late 90s. BL was forced to ditch its admissions interview and a one-third admissions quota for racial minorities in an embarrassing out of court settlement. Ditching the Walls admissions test and the standardized test requirement (PARCC scores or PSAT or SAT scores) has made the admissions process more discretionary than ever, and, thus, more likely to invite litigation. This is not about genius kids applying, it's about accountability and fairness on DCPS' part. Let me guess, you're not a lawyer.

Nope....I'm sure you're not a school administrator. The process certainly leaves a lot to be desired. But GPA calculations and the interview as well as the percentages are documented. Just file a lawsuit against DCPS if you're so dern sure it's discriminatory. I'm pretty sure you'd have to name all the DCPS application high schools' and not just Walls. Are you prepared to do that? Let us know when this happens...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure I'm buying the above, not here in the Information Age. These days, a really determined, super hard-working, bright kid from a middle-class family can learn a great deal from the Internet, on-line libraries, and enrichment camps during school breaks. I've done a lot of volunteer interviewing for my Ivy in the DC area in the last 20 years, interviewed many applicants from DC's most expensive private schools, WIS, Sidwell, Maret, NCS, St. Albans, GDS etc. Few of these applicants blew me away, or got stellar write-ups from me, but some of the applicants I've interviewed from Walls, BASIS, Wilson/JR and Latin did. When a kid is spoon fed excellent academics at a tony private from a young age, chances are good that said applicant is only so thoughtful, interesting and resourceful by senior year in HS. Hint: colleges admitting in the single digits in this country are seeking the intellectually entrepreneurial.

What about a kid who was in DCPS until 9th? Will you also write them off on principal?

I don't write private school kids off. I've recommended a number strongly over the years. But many come off as gratingly arrogant and entitled despite not being terribly impressive. I don't want most of them at my Ivy.

NP. Wow. You have serious, serious issues. I went to Stanford and I would never, ever talk about kids this way. You are doing your Ivy a disservice.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a daughter at Walls and wouldn't consider sending her to privates. The bullying is likely worse at the privates and the education is likely similar considering that walls has excellent teachers. Walls (like any DCPS school) also offers the opportunity to register for college classes (for a select few full time and for others on a course by course basis). I have trouble matching our personal experience to all of the walls bashing. On the side of the elite privates i will say that the resources are better and appear to some parents as feeling more like college campuses in terms of resources with multimillion dollar donations. If you are looking for more resources privates will have those. Walls and DCPS cannot match privates in terms of sports either. To us high teacher quality and advanced classes is enough, and we do not like high pressure with sports - even walls is a little higher pressure than we would like. As mentioned with the college classes there are also some advantages that you will not have at privates. For anyone interested in debate the Washington Urban Debate League is only for public school kids and their kids I believe do better than the private school kids. The peer group is also important. There is no question that the walls kids are top notch academically. In college admissions your child is at a disadvantage at private school because the kids, many of whom are legacies, compete against each other for early decision to elite privates. Walls kids often attend public universities so they can get DC TAG. Walls has many longtime teachers and retaining teachers is one of the most portant roles of a principal.

You make some good points. That said, posters are hardly "Walls bashing" to note that new head is a cipher and that watering down admissions standards at Bowser's behest was a terrible idea. All the Walls kids are hardly top notch academically. Just not the case, not anymore. I wish things were different.

The kids were initially selected based on grades, which studies show are a better predictor of academic success than tests scores. According to my child most of the kids earned straight As or nearly straight As in Middle School. They took the highest achieving kids. The only part that was subjective was the interview, which arguably led to many deserving kids being waitlisted. My experience is that my child has always been number one at school, and now my child needs to provide more effort and is not always number one. It is hard for me to imagine a school providing a more high achieving peer group. Elite privates also have many kids who get in in elementary school, and those kids are not necessarily as high achieving as the ones who enter in high school and went through a rigorous selection process. I'm just not convinced you are getting a higher achieving peer group at an elite private, though the group may be equivalent and the resources certainly greater.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a daughter at Walls and wouldn't consider sending her to privates. The bullying is likely worse at the privates and the education is likely similar considering that walls has excellent teachers. Walls (like any DCPS school) also offers the opportunity to register for college classes (for a select few full time and for others on a course by course basis). I have trouble matching our personal experience to all of the walls bashing. On the side of the elite privates i will say that the resources are better and appear to some parents as feeling more like college campuses in terms of resources with multimillion dollar donations. If you are looking for more resources privates will have those. Walls and DCPS cannot match privates in terms of sports either. To us high teacher quality and advanced classes is enough, and we do not like high pressure with sports - even walls is a little higher pressure than we would like. As mentioned with the college classes there are also some advantages that you will not have at privates. For anyone interested in debate the Washington Urban Debate League is only for public school kids and their kids I believe do better than the private school kids. The peer group is also important. There is no question that the walls kids are top notch academically. In college admissions your child is at a disadvantage at private school because the kids, many of whom are legacies, compete against each other for early decision to elite privates. Walls kids often attend public universities so they can get DC TAG. Walls has many longtime teachers and retaining teachers is one of the most portant roles of a principal.

You make some good points. That said, posters are hardly "Walls bashing" to note that new head is a cipher and that watering down admissions standards at Bowser's behest was a terrible idea. All the Walls kids are hardly top notch academically. Just not the case, not anymore. I wish things were different.

So a test equals academic excellence? That is hardly the case. With all the grade inflation in schools systems, making the GPA cut off should not be too challenging. Just don't apply if your genius kid is too advanced for Walls.

You're missing the forest for the trees with this statement. The Walls admissions process has never been transparent but seems to become less so with each passing admissions season. The arrangement is ripe for a lawsuit, like the one Boston Latin failed to fend off in the late 90s. BL was forced to ditch its admissions interview and a one-third admissions quota for racial minorities in an embarrassing out of court settlement. Ditching the Walls admissions test and the standardized test requirement (PARCC scores or PSAT or SAT scores) has made the admissions process more discretionary than ever, and, thus, more likely to invite litigation. This is not about genius kids applying, it's about accountability and fairness on DCPS' part. Let me guess, you're not a lawyer.

Anonymous wrote:Universities track the reviews that interviewers give. If you are only recommending public school kids (or only recommending private school kids) then your reviews are disregarded. Nothing is done in a vacuum at these schools.
Plus at baseline these basically mean nothing for admissions. They are done as a service to alumni.

--former admissions staffer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure I'm buying the above, not here in the Information Age. These days, a really determined, super hard-working, bright kid from a middle-class family can learn a great deal from the Internet, on-line libraries, and enrichment camps during school breaks. I've done a lot of volunteer interviewing for my Ivy in the DC area in the last 20 years, interviewed many applicants from DC's most expensive private schools, WIS, Sidwell, Maret, NCS, St. Albans, GDS etc. Few of these applicants blew me away, or got stellar write-ups from me, but some of the applicants I've interviewed from Walls, BASIS, Wilson/JR and Latin did. When a kid is spoon fed excellent academics at a tony private from a young age, chances are good that said applicant is only so thoughtful, interesting and resourceful by senior year in HS. Hint: colleges admitting in the single digits in this country are seeking the intellectually entrepreneurial.

What about a kid who was in DCPS until 9th? Will you also write them off on principal?

I don't write private school kids off. I've recommended a number strongly over the years. But many come off as gratingly arrogant and entitled despite not being terribly impressive. I don't want most of them at my Ivy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a daughter at Walls and wouldn't consider sending her to privates. The bullying is likely worse at the privates and the education is likely similar considering that walls has excellent teachers. Walls (like any DCPS school) also offers the opportunity to register for college classes (for a select few full time and for others on a course by course basis). I have trouble matching our personal experience to all of the walls bashing. On the side of the elite privates i will say that the resources are better and appear to some parents as feeling more like college campuses in terms of resources with multimillion dollar donations. If you are looking for more resources privates will have those. Walls and DCPS cannot match privates in terms of sports either. To us high teacher quality and advanced classes is enough, and we do not like high pressure with sports - even walls is a little higher pressure than we would like. As mentioned with the college classes there are also some advantages that you will not have at privates. For anyone interested in debate the Washington Urban Debate League is only for public school kids and their kids I believe do better than the private school kids. The peer group is also important. There is no question that the walls kids are top notch academically. In college admissions your child is at a disadvantage at private school because the kids, many of whom are legacies, compete against each other for early decision to elite privates. Walls kids often attend public universities so they can get DC TAG. Walls has many longtime teachers and retaining teachers is one of the most portant roles of a principal.

You make some good points. That said, posters are hardly "Walls bashing" to note that new head is a cipher and that watering down admissions standards at Bowser's behest was a terrible idea. All the Walls kids are hardly top notch academically. Just not the case, not anymore. I wish things were different.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a daughter at Walls and wouldn't consider sending her to privates. The bullying is likely worse at the privates and the education is likely similar considering that walls has excellent teachers. Walls (like any DCPS school) also offers the opportunity to register for college classes (for a select few full time and for others on a course by course basis). I have trouble matching our personal experience to all of the walls bashing. On the side of the elite privates i will say that the resources are better and appear to some parents as feeling more like college campuses in terms of resources with multimillion dollar donations. If you are looking for more resources privates will have those. Walls and DCPS cannot match privates in terms of sports either. To us high teacher quality and advanced classes is enough, and we do not like high pressure with sports - even walls is a little higher pressure than we would like. As mentioned with the college classes there are also some advantages that you will not have at privates. For anyone interested in debate the Washington Urban Debate League is only for public school kids and their kids I believe do better than the private school kids. The peer group is also important. There is no question that the walls kids are top notch academically. In college admissions your child is at a disadvantage at private school because the kids, many of whom are legacies, compete against each other for early decision to elite privates. Walls kids often attend public universities so they can get DC TAG. Walls has many longtime teachers and retaining teachers is one of the most portant roles of a principal.

You make some good points. That said, posters are hardly "Walls bashing" to note that new head is a cipher and that watering down admissions standards at Bowser's behest was a terrible idea. All the Walls kids are hardly top notch academically. Just not the case, not anymore. I wish things were different.

So a test equals academic excellence? That is hardly the case. With all the grade inflation in schools systems, making the GPA cut off should not be too challenging. Just don't apply if your genius kid is too advanced for Walls.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a daughter at Walls and wouldn't consider sending her to privates. The bullying is likely worse at the privates and the education is likely similar considering that walls has excellent teachers. Walls (like any DCPS school) also offers the opportunity to register for college classes (for a select few full time and for others on a course by course basis). I have trouble matching our personal experience to all of the walls bashing. On the side of the elite privates i will say that the resources are better and appear to some parents as feeling more like college campuses in terms of resources with multimillion dollar donations. If you are looking for more resources privates will have those. Walls and DCPS cannot match privates in terms of sports either. To us high teacher quality and advanced classes is enough, and we do not like high pressure with sports - even walls is a little higher pressure than we would like. As mentioned with the college classes there are also some advantages that you will not have at privates. For anyone interested in debate the Washington Urban Debate League is only for public school kids and their kids I believe do better than the private school kids. The peer group is also important. There is no question that the walls kids are top notch academically. In college admissions your child is at a disadvantage at private school because the kids, many of whom are legacies, compete against each other for early decision to elite privates. Walls kids often attend public universities so they can get DC TAG. Walls has many longtime teachers and retaining teachers is one of the most portant roles of a principal.

You make some good points. That said, posters are hardly "Walls bashing" to note that new head is a cipher and that watering down admissions standards at Bowser's behest was a terrible idea. All the Walls kids are hardly top notch academically. Just not the case, not anymore. I wish things were different.