Anyone else still waiting for scores?

Anonymous wrote:Here is a school that does things much differently than DC area Catholic Schools. 99 on the HSPT gets you a 80% 4-year scholarship at Mater Dei in San Diego.

I had a 99% kid a few years ago. DC area Catholic schools, (one of which we attended) didn't offer anything remotely close to this.


https://materdeicatholic.org/mdchs/admissions/scholarships/

Wow that is a huge scholarship! I noticed though it said to “the top 10 students who score within 99th percentile”, meaning some kids who score within 99th might still not get it. The next highest scholarship for 60% tuition is then for the next 10 highest scoring students. I really like that the criteria are clear.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a very weird system to give the test and then require applications to go in totally blind - you have NO idea where your kid stands in terms of the scores. I don't understand it. The SAT and ACT scores come back in like 13 days. How could HSPT take so many weeks to score?

I can't speak to admissions but I do know that very high HSPT scores led to merit scholarships for my DD a few years ago at two DC Catholic girls' schools.

I agree with the first paragraph - but I suppose admission isn't as dependent on HSPT score as college admission is dependent on SAT/ACT. Our K-8 gave us no guidance so far as our child's chances at the school of choice. Only supported basics such as recommendations (although this went straight to teachers for some schools) and submitting transcripts. Underwhelming but not surprising based on our experience over the past 9 years.

So far as timing of results, we are Diocese of Arlington and had them via US Mail from our school maybe 2 weeks after the test.

Legit question: How can the K-8 give a sincere and honest opinion of your kid's chances of getting into the school YOU chose? They don't work there. How would they know? Sounds like they could make up an answer but it would likely but a hunch at best.

At our k-8 school, HOS has told us what a lot of the high schools expect like approximately what HSPT or SSAT score is needed and usually how many kids each school,takes in the past. They said it’s been a little hard to predict since covid bc schools have not been relying too much on scores the past 2 years and might consider it more this year. Our HOS has a strong relationship with the other catholic high schools, so it seems like it’s more than a hunch.

I am the PP, and the above is what I'd expect. Students from this school with this general profile/scores/grades have generally been admitted to School X.

Here is a school that does things much differently than DC area Catholic Schools. 99 on the HSPT gets you a 80% 4-year scholarship at Mater Dei in San Diego.

I had a 99% kid a few years ago. DC area Catholic schools, (one of which we attended) didn't offer anything remotely close to this.


https://materdeicatholic.org/mdchs/admissions/scholarships/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a very weird system to give the test and then require applications to go in totally blind - you have NO idea where your kid stands in terms of the scores. I don't understand it. The SAT and ACT scores come back in like 13 days. How could HSPT take so many weeks to score?

I can't speak to admissions but I do know that very high HSPT scores led to merit scholarships for my DD a few years ago at two DC Catholic girls' schools.

My sons got offered zero merit awards, one 99 and one a 98. I think at their high school the merit awards are parsed out by financial need. That’s fine, but then don’t call it a merit award.

Huh yeah I agree it shouldn’t be called a merit scholarship if fa is involved. From asking around in our area it’s been my impression that the Catholic merit scholarship criteria are pretty cut and dry. You have to meet a min test% requirement and also have straight A’s in certain subjects.

The requirements, yes. The distribution, no. My kids were above and beyond and received zero $. With two kids (and some families w/ more than that), there is no sibling discount and most students that meet the requirements get no $. We certainly aren't wealthy. We contribute to the various funds, so I'm not knocking it. But, to me it's kind of like not telling the kids they won the Merit scholar awards (going on now in public School). They aren't getting recognized for merit when the awards state that's how they are distributed.

Those requirements are the minimum. Really depends on what the applicant pool looks like from year to year. My DD received the highest merit scholarship at 2 schools. Had the 99% HSPT and straight As, but also had like 100 hours of community service and was in sports and other EC activities. Other kids in her class had high HSPT and good grades but got no merit, but there was little else that they did. Basically schools give merit to dissuade you from accepting an offer at other schools. They do this with the most competitive candidates.

My kids had this as well. The school just doesn't award merit to the majority of kids, but I think it's because a very large swath of applicants all have those stats. It's very competitive, low admit rate. Applicants should know this so they don't set their sites on a school they won't be able to afford.

Yes. Our school also doesn't provide sibling discount. It's very competitive and there are more than enough full-pay and the applicant pool is all very high stat--grades and ECs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a very weird system to give the test and then require applications to go in totally blind - you have NO idea where your kid stands in terms of the scores. I don't understand it. The SAT and ACT scores come back in like 13 days. How could HSPT take so many weeks to score?

I can't speak to admissions but I do know that very high HSPT scores led to merit scholarships for my DD a few years ago at two DC Catholic girls' schools.

My sons got offered zero merit awards, one 99 and one a 98. I think at their high school the merit awards are parsed out by financial need. That’s fine, but then don’t call it a merit award.

Huh yeah I agree it shouldn’t be called a merit scholarship if fa is involved. From asking around in our area it’s been my impression that the Catholic merit scholarship criteria are pretty cut and dry. You have to meet a min test% requirement and also have straight A’s in certain subjects.

The requirements, yes. The distribution, no. My kids were above and beyond and received zero $. With two kids (and some families w/ more than that), there is no sibling discount and most students that meet the requirements get no $. We certainly aren't wealthy. We contribute to the various funds, so I'm not knocking it. But, to me it's kind of like not telling the kids they won the Merit scholar awards (going on now in public School). They aren't getting recognized for merit when the awards state that's how they are distributed.

Those requirements are the minimum. Really depends on what the applicant pool looks like from year to year. My DD received the highest merit scholarship at 2 schools. Had the 99% HSPT and straight As, but also had like 100 hours of community service and was in sports and other EC activities. Other kids in her class had high HSPT and good grades but got no merit, but there was little else that they did. Basically schools give merit to dissuade you from accepting an offer at other schools. They do this with the most competitive candidates.

My kids had this as well. The school just doesn't award merit to the majority of kids, but I think it's because a very large swath of applicants all have those stats. It's very competitive, low admit rate. Applicants should know this so they don't set their sites on a school they won't be able to afford.

I think different schools approach this very differently. DD was offered merit at all three school she applied to last year. In addition to a 99% score sheet was similar to the student mentioned above. Admittedly, I thought test was the only requirement at the Diocesan HSs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a very weird system to give the test and then require applications to go in totally blind - you have NO idea where your kid stands in terms of the scores. I don't understand it. The SAT and ACT scores come back in like 13 days. How could HSPT take so many weeks to score?

I can't speak to admissions but I do know that very high HSPT scores led to merit scholarships for my DD a few years ago at two DC Catholic girls' schools.

My sons got offered zero merit awards, one 99 and one a 98. I think at their high school the merit awards are parsed out by financial need. That’s fine, but then don’t call it a merit award.

Huh yeah I agree it shouldn’t be called a merit scholarship if fa is involved. From asking around in our area it’s been my impression that the Catholic merit scholarship criteria are pretty cut and dry. You have to meet a min test% requirement and also have straight A’s in certain subjects.

The requirements, yes. The distribution, no. My kids were above and beyond and received zero $. With two kids (and some families w/ more than that), there is no sibling discount and most students that meet the requirements get no $. We certainly aren't wealthy. We contribute to the various funds, so I'm not knocking it. But, to me it's kind of like not telling the kids they won the Merit scholar awards (going on now in public School). They aren't getting recognized for merit when the awards state that's how they are distributed.

Those requirements are the minimum. Really depends on what the applicant pool looks like from year to year. My DD received the highest merit scholarship at 2 schools. Had the 99% HSPT and straight As, but also had like 100 hours of community service and was in sports and other EC activities. Other kids in her class had high HSPT and good grades but got no merit, but there was little else that they did. Basically schools give merit to dissuade you from accepting an offer at other schools. They do this with the most competitive candidates.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a very weird system to give the test and then require applications to go in totally blind - you have NO idea where your kid stands in terms of the scores. I don't understand it. The SAT and ACT scores come back in like 13 days. How could HSPT take so many weeks to score?

I can't speak to admissions but I do know that very high HSPT scores led to merit scholarships for my DD a few years ago at two DC Catholic girls' schools.

My sons got offered zero merit awards, one 99 and one a 98. I think at their high school the merit awards are parsed out by financial need. That’s fine, but then don’t call it a merit award.

Huh yeah I agree it shouldn’t be called a merit scholarship if fa is involved. From asking around in our area it’s been my impression that the Catholic merit scholarship criteria are pretty cut and dry. You have to meet a min test% requirement and also have straight A’s in certain subjects.

The requirements, yes. The distribution, no. My kids were above and beyond and received zero $. With two kids (and some families w/ more than that), there is no sibling discount and most students that meet the requirements get no $. We certainly aren't wealthy. We contribute to the various funds, so I'm not knocking it. But, to me it's kind of like not telling the kids they won the Merit scholar awards (going on now in public School). They aren't getting recognized for merit when the awards state that's how they are distributed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a very weird system to give the test and then require applications to go in totally blind - you have NO idea where your kid stands in terms of the scores. I don't understand it. The SAT and ACT scores come back in like 13 days. How could HSPT take so many weeks to score?

I can't speak to admissions but I do know that very high HSPT scores led to merit scholarships for my DD a few years ago at two DC Catholic girls' schools.

My sons got offered zero merit awards, one 99 and one a 98. I think at their high school the merit awards are parsed out by financial need. That’s fine, but then don’t call it a merit award.

Huh yeah I agree it shouldn’t be called a merit scholarship if fa is involved. From asking around in our area it’s been my impression that the Catholic merit scholarship criteria are pretty cut and dry. You have to meet a min test% requirement and also have straight A’s in certain subjects.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a very weird system to give the test and then require applications to go in totally blind - you have NO idea where your kid stands in terms of the scores. I don't understand it. The SAT and ACT scores come back in like 13 days. How could HSPT take so many weeks to score?

I can't speak to admissions but I do know that very high HSPT scores led to merit scholarships for my DD a few years ago at two DC Catholic girls' schools.

I agree with the first paragraph - but I suppose admission isn't as dependent on HSPT score as college admission is dependent on SAT/ACT. Our K-8 gave us no guidance so far as our child's chances at the school of choice. Only supported basics such as recommendations (although this went straight to teachers for some schools) and submitting transcripts. Underwhelming but not surprising based on our experience over the past 9 years.

So far as timing of results, we are Diocese of Arlington and had them via US Mail from our school maybe 2 weeks after the test.

Legit question: How can the K-8 give a sincere and honest opinion of your kid's chances of getting into the school YOU chose? They don't work there. How would they know? Sounds like they could make up an answer but it would likely but a hunch at best.

At our k-8 school, HOS has told us what a lot of the high schools expect like approximately what HSPT or SSAT score is needed and usually how many kids each school,takes in the past. They said it’s been a little hard to predict since covid bc schools have not been relying too much on scores the past 2 years and might consider it more this year. Our HOS has a strong relationship with the other catholic high schools, so it seems like it’s more than a hunch.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a very weird system to give the test and then require applications to go in totally blind - you have NO idea where your kid stands in terms of the scores. I don't understand it. The SAT and ACT scores come back in like 13 days. How could HSPT take so many weeks to score?

I can't speak to admissions but I do know that very high HSPT scores led to merit scholarships for my DD a few years ago at two DC Catholic girls' schools.

I agree with the first paragraph - but I suppose admission isn't as dependent on HSPT score as college admission is dependent on SAT/ACT. Our K-8 gave us no guidance so far as our child's chances at the school of choice. Only supported basics such as recommendations (although this went straight to teachers for some schools) and submitting transcripts. Underwhelming but not surprising based on our experience over the past 9 years.

So far as timing of results, we are Diocese of Arlington and had them via US Mail from our school maybe 2 weeks after the test.

Legit question: How can the K-8 give a sincere and honest opinion of your kid's chances of getting into the school YOU chose? They don't work there. How would they know? Sounds like they could make up an answer but it would likely but a hunch at best.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a very weird system to give the test and then require applications to go in totally blind - you have NO idea where your kid stands in terms of the scores. I don't understand it. The SAT and ACT scores come back in like 13 days. How could HSPT take so many weeks to score?

I can't speak to admissions but I do know that very high HSPT scores led to merit scholarships for my DD a few years ago at two DC Catholic girls' schools.

My sons got offered zero merit awards, one 99 and one a 98. I think at their high school the merit awards are parsed out by financial need. That’s fine, but then don’t call it a merit award.

Agree with both these posters. 3 kids in and its a scheme. For what I don't know..I think ADW wants kids spread out and not every 99 applying to Gz or whatever.

But to the 2nd poster, very wealthy schools do skew toward only FA because it makes little sense to give merit aid to wealthy people that can easily afford your school and when lots of your families are in fact wealthy.

Other (more diverse) schools have been skewing more toward FA for a different reason: Tuition is getting so high that everyone needs "something" so its a mark it up to mark it down...at the expense of big merit awards.

Living in a rich area...this is what it is.

Anonymous wrote:It's a very weird system to give the test and then require applications to go in totally blind - you have NO idea where your kid stands in terms of the scores. I don't understand it. The SAT and ACT scores come back in like 13 days. How could HSPT take so many weeks to score?

I can't speak to admissions but I do know that very high HSPT scores led to merit scholarships for my DD a few years ago at two DC Catholic girls' schools.

My sons got offered zero merit awards, one 99 and one a 98. I think at their high school the merit awards are parsed out by financial need. That’s fine, but then don’t call it a merit award.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a very weird system to give the test and then require applications to go in totally blind - you have NO idea where your kid stands in terms of the scores. I don't understand it. The SAT and ACT scores come back in like 13 days. How could HSPT take so many weeks to score?

I can't speak to admissions but I do know that very high HSPT scores led to merit scholarships for my DD a few years ago at two DC Catholic girls' schools.

I agree with the first paragraph - but I suppose admission isn't as dependent on HSPT score as college admission is dependent on SAT/ACT. Our K-8 gave us no guidance so far as our child's chances at the school of choice. Only supported basics such as recommendations (although this went straight to teachers for some schools) and submitting transcripts. Underwhelming but not surprising based on our experience over the past 9 years.

So far as timing of results, we are Diocese of Arlington and had them via US Mail from our school maybe 2 weeks after the test.

This is a problem. When Arl Diocese students have had their scores for weeks already, what is the ADW justification for withholding these scores from students just over the river? Students applying for many of the same schools as those in Arlington?