(matched at Key for PK4 last year, that is)

Anonymous wrote:Waitlisted #15 at both Mann and Janney (no preference) for PK4. Based on historic waitlist movement, looks like we might have a chance at Mann. I'm in no way optimistic about Janney. Guess we'll see how things progress over the summer.

That said, we matched at Key for PK4 (no preference). Pleasantly surprised and excited about the match. I think our kid would be happy at Key, so no complaints on our end either way.

We matched at Key for PK4 last year with no preference of any kind - and were surprised and thrilled too! we visited, it looks lovely! (if a bit noisy - it's directly in the DCA flight path and our playground time was LOUD, felt like a flight was buzzing us LOW every 10 min or so)

...until we realized that the commute would KILL us - unless you live in the Georgetown or Palisades area, Key isn't actually "on the way" to anywhere, it would be a long out of the way drive (no good public transportation option) every day. And the on-site PK aftercare isn't guaranteed (there's a waitlist), and the only other nearby aftercare options are PRICEY - pricey enough that in the end we realized Key was actually more expensive than the very good private school that also accepted us with financial aid. And even if you want to see about organizing a parent-funded bus...there are only a handful of OOB parents and the school won't tell you what areas they're in, let alone give you any of their contact info before enrollment (we asked).

So that was kind of a high...followed by a crash. It was heartbreaking, but we had to turn it down.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:My rising 9th grader also marked "ineligible" at Banneker (but decent waitlist at Walls, go figure!) even though she has stellar grades and had a good interview and has a sibling at the top of her class at Banneker. Must have been a really competitive year. Congrats to everyone who got what they hoped for! For those who didn't, hope your kids don't take it personally. The system is complete and total crapshoot even for the competitive schools.

Interesting. I have to say, I didn't think Banneker was all that tough of an admit. I honestly thought they accepted nearly all their applicants and weren't like Walls.

DCUM certainly pushes that narrative.

+1. Banneker has been a tough admit for years. The people posting about Banneker on DCUM tend to be 7-10 years out of date, imo.

Even all the way back to the SY14-15 lottery, Banneker had 754 students apply for 160 seats (21% matched). Walls had 1097 apply for 139 seats (13% matched).

Last year it was 1159 applicants for 254 seats (22% matched) at Banneker and 1361 applicants for 190 seats (14% matched) at Walls.

Banneker has been competitive for a long time.

I've never really been sure whether that data is how many of those kids actually completed the application process, or just how many listed it in total.

Any chance for 4th grade at Oyster, with number 35?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My rising 9th grader also marked "ineligible" at Banneker (but decent waitlist at Walls, go figure!) even though she has stellar grades and had a good interview and has a sibling at the top of her class at Banneker. Must have been a really competitive year. Congrats to everyone who got what they hoped for! For those who didn't, hope your kids don't take it personally. The system is complete and total crapshoot even for the competitive schools.

Interesting. I have to say, I didn't think Banneker was all that tough of an admit. I honestly thought they accepted nearly all their applicants and weren't like Walls.

DCUM certainly pushes that narrative.

+1. Banneker has been a tough admit for years. The people posting about Banneker on DCUM tend to be 7-10 years out of date, imo.

Even all the way back to the SY14-15 lottery, Banneker had 754 students apply for 160 seats (21% matched). Walls had 1097 apply for 139 seats (13% matched).

Last year it was 1159 applicants for 254 seats (22% matched) at Banneker and 1361 applicants for 190 seats (14% matched) at Walls.

Banneker has been competitive for a long time.

Congratulations!! feels good to win sometimes right?

Anonymous wrote:After years of getting our faces handed to us in the DCPS lottery, my kid finally got a spot at a school he wanted!

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I was hoping for slightly better numbers, but as expected I'll be watching waitlists all summer and fall, looks like. But we matched with John Lewis which we're excited about!

For K:
1 Ross Elementary School Waitlisted - #24
2 Garrison Elementary School Waitlisted - #10
3 Inspired Teaching Demonstration PCS Waitlisted - #17
4 E.L. Haynes PCS - Elementary School Waitlisted - #6
5 John Lewis Elementary School Match (enrollment pending)
6 Lee Montessori PCS - Brookland Sibling Offered Waitlisted - #1

For 1st Grade:
1 Ross Elementary School Waitlisted - #45
2 Garrison Elementary School Waitlisted - #20
3 Inspired Teaching Demonstration PCS Waitlisted - #35
4 E.L. Haynes PCS - Elementary School Waitlisted - #8
5 John Lewis Elementary School Sibling Offered Waitlisted - #1
6 Lee Montessori PCS - Brookland Match (enrollment pending)

We put Lee down without much thought and will be turning down that offer - but is it just me or is it crazy that we got an offer for 1st from them with what must be a pretty crappy lottery number? They must be really falling in popularity.

Ha! I was wondering about you! I think these numbers are actually pretty good. But honestly, Lewis is great (or so I hear).

Montessori schools tend to lose people in 1st because their model goes in 3-year cycles. And they need lots of 1st graders because it's harder to recruit older kids to Montessori so they never have as many 3rd grade applicants as they'd like to.

That makes theoretical sense, but doesn't really fit with the data. Lee Montessori Brookland has a waitlist of at least 25 kids (and no matches) for 1st grade every single year. Based on their other numbers (35 on ITDS, 20 on Garrison, etc) I'd say they're right that this kid has a not-great lottery number, not even in the top half. And yet, matched at Lee? Based on those other numbers, I'd expect a Lee waitlist number in the double digits.

Looking more closely at the data, the waitlist for 1st for Lee has been shrinking every year - 5 years ago it was in the 60s, 4 years ago in the 50s, 3 years ago in the 40s, 2 years ago in the 30s, last year it was 25. Steady decline. And based on the combo of numbers posted above, I'd put money on it being in the single digits this year. Demand for this school (or at least, for 1st grade at this school) is definitely dropping.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I was hoping for slightly better numbers, but as expected I'll be watching waitlists all summer and fall, looks like. But we matched with John Lewis which we're excited about!

For K:
1 Ross Elementary School Waitlisted - #24
2 Garrison Elementary School Waitlisted - #10
3 Inspired Teaching Demonstration PCS Waitlisted - #17
4 E.L. Haynes PCS - Elementary School Waitlisted - #6
5 John Lewis Elementary School Match (enrollment pending)
6 Lee Montessori PCS - Brookland Sibling Offered Waitlisted - #1

For 1st Grade:
1 Ross Elementary School Waitlisted - #45
2 Garrison Elementary School Waitlisted - #20
3 Inspired Teaching Demonstration PCS Waitlisted - #35
4 E.L. Haynes PCS - Elementary School Waitlisted - #8
5 John Lewis Elementary School Sibling Offered Waitlisted - #1
6 Lee Montessori PCS - Brookland Match (enrollment pending)

We put Lee down without much thought and will be turning down that offer - but is it just me or is it crazy that we got an offer for 1st from them with what must be a pretty crappy lottery number? They must be really falling in popularity.

Ha! I was wondering about you! I think these numbers are actually pretty good. But honestly, Lewis is great (or so I hear).

Montessori schools tend to lose people in 1st because their model goes in 3-year cycles. And they need lots of 1st graders because it's harder to recruit older kids to Montessori so they never have as many 3rd grade applicants as they'd like to.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the 50s at MVC8. Based on last years WL data, that would be fine for admission by August, but years prior not so much. I suspect that could be because last year, many folks who wanted MVC8 were placed for a year at JF Cook, and didn't want that, but I could be wrong. Any folks more in the know have insight on whether the WL this year will move?

+1 on this. We're right where they got to on last year's waitlist (70s) and wondering if the huge movement last year was a one off or likely to be replicated. Conscious that they've a new-building but not sure how that will factor in.

It was the swing space. Now that there is a beautiful new building and outdoor space, I doubt you will get in.

MV8 has typically been much more in demand than MVP. If you ranked MVP also, you will likely have better chance.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My rising 9th grader also marked "ineligible" at Banneker (but decent waitlist at Walls, go figure!) even though she has stellar grades and had a good interview and has a sibling at the top of her class at Banneker. Must have been a really competitive year. Congrats to everyone who got what they hoped for! For those who didn't, hope your kids don't take it personally. The system is complete and total crapshoot even for the competitive schools.

Interesting. I have to say, I didn't think Banneker was all that tough of an admit. I honestly thought they accepted nearly all their applicants and weren't like Walls.

DCUM certainly pushes that narrative.

+1. Banneker has been a tough admit for years. The people posting about Banneker on DCUM tend to be 7-10 years out of date, imo.

Does anyone have any info on how the stokes waitlist moves beyond what’s available re historical data? Ie I’ve already learned that there’s a lot of the French list that’s dependent on how the Spanish list moves, which was perhaps something I could have deduced but didn’t

Waitlisted #15 at both Mann and Janney (no preference) for PK4. Based on historic waitlist movement, looks like we might have a chance at Mann. I'm in no way optimistic about Janney. Guess we'll see how things progress over the summer.

That said, we matched at Key for PK4 (no preference). Pleasantly surprised and excited about the match. I think our kid would be happy at Key, so no complaints on our end either way.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone please explain to me what does “ineligible” mean? 9th grade #1 Banneker marked as ineligible but got into our #2

That means your child was not interviewed therefore could not be matched.

This is NOT TRUE. Kids who interview at Banneker but don't match are marked ineligible. It means "not selected". Banneker (usually) does not maintain a waitlist.

I didn't realize this about Banneker not doing a waitlist, that makes more sense.

I wonder why? And it seems odd to me that different application schools within the same system would have different approaches to this. Why would Walls, Banneker, McKinley and other applications schools all have consistent policies about waitlists? Do their application processes differ in other ways? If so, that should change. Standardizing the process is both more fair AND actually serves the goal of equity, which DCPS claims to care so much about.

They are different schools with different missions. Why should they have standardized processes?

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My rising 9th grader also marked "ineligible" at Banneker (but decent waitlist at Walls, go figure!) even though she has stellar grades and had a good interview and has a sibling at the top of her class at Banneker. Must have been a really competitive year. Congrats to everyone who got what they hoped for! For those who didn't, hope your kids don't take it personally. The system is complete and total crapshoot even for the competitive schools.

Interesting. I have to say, I didn't think Banneker was all that tough of an admit. I honestly thought they accepted nearly all their applicants and weren't like Walls.

DCUM certainly pushes that narrative.

I think it's harder than it used to be. My DD 7th is pining to go.

I actually think it's just that people used to say whatever they wanted about Banneker with zero first-hand information and it was mostly informed by racism. Now that the "DCUM" kind of people are priced out of privates and running out of spots at J-R and SWW, all of a sudden they're "taking a chance" on the school they considered themselves benevolent pioneers for even considering, only to find out . . . it's not a cakewalk just because it's full of black kids.

DCUM kind of people would never be priced out of privates. The problem is people who don't belong on DCUM are now on here.

omg what.

"people who don't belong" -- care to spell this out for us? race, class? Say what you mean (and take the consequences).

The people who are now priced out of privates.

Financial aid is so generous at DMV private schools I wonder who is actually priced out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I was hoping for slightly better numbers, but as expected I'll be watching waitlists all summer and fall, looks like. But we matched with John Lewis which we're excited about!

For K:
1 Ross Elementary School Waitlisted - #24
2 Garrison Elementary School Waitlisted - #10
3 Inspired Teaching Demonstration PCS Waitlisted - #17
4 E.L. Haynes PCS - Elementary School Waitlisted - #6
5 John Lewis Elementary School Match (enrollment pending)
6 Lee Montessori PCS - Brookland Sibling Offered Waitlisted - #1

For 1st Grade:
1 Ross Elementary School Waitlisted - #45
2 Garrison Elementary School Waitlisted - #20
3 Inspired Teaching Demonstration PCS Waitlisted - #35
4 E.L. Haynes PCS - Elementary School Waitlisted - #8
5 John Lewis Elementary School Sibling Offered Waitlisted - #1
6 Lee Montessori PCS - Brookland Match (enrollment pending)

We put Lee down without much thought and will be turning down that offer - but is it just me or is it crazy that we got an offer for 1st from them with what must be a pretty crappy lottery number? They must be really falling in popularity.

Ha! I was wondering about you! I think these numbers are actually pretty good. But honestly, Lewis is great (or so I hear).

+1 I was also invested in the outcome for this family. I've heard great things about Lewis (have good friends with two kids there who wound up turning down a spot at a JKLM last year to stay) and think the PP will discover that the joy of being at a neighborhood school with a lot of community buy in will trump whatever perceived advantages they currently see at some of these further flung options.

+1. Having a good neighborhood school makes life so much easier and better during the elementary years. I would much rather do this than commute to a far school.