Anonymous
Post 02/24/2025 13:50     Subject: My child got a SWW interview! Advice for preparing?
From my understanding, the students get different essay questions. There are a variety of questions and students are given one randomly.
Anonymous
Post 02/24/2025 10:49     Subject: My child got a SWW interview! Advice for preparing?
This was our experience too, except when our son finished his interview he went up to the room where they did the essays - he didn't wait for us to finish.

They had students who directed the kids on each floor to the essay room.

Also - the essay (paragraph) is not typed, they have to hand write it. And while the prompts are different our son's was "should life skills be taught in schools" Life skills - household finance, cooking, home ec.
Anonymous
Post 02/24/2025 06:01     Subject: My child got a SWW interview! Advice for preparing?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We had our SWW interview yesterday.
1. We arrived and checked in at the front desk.
2. Directed to wait in the Commons area until our time slot was called.
3. When our time was called, a student escorted our group to our assigned floor and directed us to our interview room.
4. Our child was called in. We waited outside.
5. After 10 min or so, we were called in, kid waited outside.
6. We were asked about our child's hobby and something that we admire about them (or something like that).
7. We asked a couple of questions.
8. Child was directed to the room for the essay.
9. We went back downstairs to wait.
10. Child finished essay (paragraph) but didn't know where to go afterwards. Called me and I found them.

Please be sure to remove tags from any new clothes you buy. Poor baby was in the interview with a tag hanging from under their arm...d-oh.

The process was efficient. Child originally found the school to be claustrophobic during open house. That opinion softened a bit. Bannkeker felt "warmer".


We had a very similar experience. Good recounting.


Didn’t remove the tag too?


Funny, no. The teacher and student interviewers were very warm and welcoming. They took turns asking questions. I was impressed with the student’s answers when I asked questions. Overall good experience.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2025 23:35     Subject: My child got a SWW interview! Advice for preparing?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We had our SWW interview yesterday.
1. We arrived and checked in at the front desk.
2. Directed to wait in the Commons area until our time slot was called.
3. When our time was called, a student escorted our group to our assigned floor and directed us to our interview room.
4. Our child was called in. We waited outside.
5. After 10 min or so, we were called in, kid waited outside.
6. We were asked about our child's hobby and something that we admire about them (or something like that).
7. We asked a couple of questions.
8. Child was directed to the room for the essay.
9. We went back downstairs to wait.
10. Child finished essay (paragraph) but didn't know where to go afterwards. Called me and I found them.

Please be sure to remove tags from any new clothes you buy. Poor baby was in the interview with a tag hanging from under their arm...d-oh.

The process was efficient. Child originally found the school to be claustrophobic during open house. That opinion softened a bit. Bannkeker felt "warmer".


We had a very similar experience. Good recounting.


Didn’t remove the tag too?
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2025 19:58     Subject: My child got a SWW interview! Advice for preparing?
Anonymous wrote:We had our SWW interview yesterday.
1. We arrived and checked in at the front desk.
2. Directed to wait in the Commons area until our time slot was called.
3. When our time was called, a student escorted our group to our assigned floor and directed us to our interview room.
4. Our child was called in. We waited outside.
5. After 10 min or so, we were called in, kid waited outside.
6. We were asked about our child's hobby and something that we admire about them (or something like that).
7. We asked a couple of questions.
8. Child was directed to the room for the essay.
9. We went back downstairs to wait.
10. Child finished essay (paragraph) but didn't know where to go afterwards. Called me and I found them.

Please be sure to remove tags from any new clothes you buy. Poor baby was in the interview with a tag hanging from under their arm...d-oh.

The process was efficient. Child originally found the school to be claustrophobic during open house. That opinion softened a bit. Bannkeker felt "warmer".


We had a very similar experience. Good recounting.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2025 16:08     Subject: My child got a SWW interview! Advice for preparing?
We had our SWW interview yesterday.
1. We arrived and checked in at the front desk.
2. Directed to wait in the Commons area until our time slot was called.
3. When our time was called, a student escorted our group to our assigned floor and directed us to our interview room.
4. Our child was called in. We waited outside.
5. After 10 min or so, we were called in, kid waited outside.
6. We were asked about our child's hobby and something that we admire about them (or something like that).
7. We asked a couple of questions.
8. Child was directed to the room for the essay.
9. We went back downstairs to wait.
10. Child finished essay (paragraph) but didn't know where to go afterwards. Called me and I found them.

Please be sure to remove tags from any new clothes you buy. Poor baby was in the interview with a tag hanging from under their arm...d-oh.

The process was efficient. Child originally found the school to be claustrophobic during open house. That opinion softened a bit. Bannkeker felt "warmer".
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2025 17:34     Subject: Re:My child got a SWW interview! Advice for preparing?
...and are the parent interviews with the same interviewers or different?
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2025 17:32     Subject: My child got a SWW interview! Advice for preparing?
Curious, what type of questions do they ask the parents?
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2025 09:07     Subject: My child got a SWW interview! Advice for preparing?
The interview / essay is worth 60/100 points, so it’s very important for selection according to the rubric.

https://www.myschooldc.org/sites/default/files/dc/sites/myschooldc/page/attachments/SY25-26_26-27_SWW_Admissions_Process_Rubric_FINAL%20%281%29.pdf
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2025 08:55     Subject: Re:My child got a SWW interview! Advice for preparing?
Anonymous wrote:Thank you all who are offering advice. My child is incredibly nervous about this interview, and is a kid on the quieter side. These tips -outside of the info the school sent- are great. Much appreciated.


My son has an interview tomorrow, and is also more nervous than I thought he would be. But for kids, this is their first real experience with this sort of thing. At the very least it's a good experience for college applications. Thanks for starting the thread. I think the suggestion about reading the mission statement on the website was a good one and I appreciate the other tips.

What we are stressing to our son is that after tomorrow the decision is down to the lottery and pure luck.

Best of luck to your kid!
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2025 08:49     Subject: Re:My child got a SWW interview! Advice for preparing?
Thank you all who are offering advice. My child is incredibly nervous about this interview, and is a kid on the quieter side. These tips -outside of the info the school sent- are great. Much appreciated.
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2025 08:40     Subject: My child got a SWW interview! Advice for preparing?
Anonymous wrote:So my kid did well on the interview but ended up choosing Banneker.

Experience was

You wait outside a room for a five to ten minute interview with only a couple of questions.

The question my kid got was basically tell us about a book you read recently and break down what you liked/didn't about it.

Then 10 minutes later, you're done.

Kid thought the point was to be able to have a reasonable thesis, show you're intellectually curious, and communicative.


Your kid is more thoughtful than the actual process!
Anonymous
Post 02/21/2025 07:42     Subject: My child got a SWW interview! Advice for preparing?
The email with the actual interview times had a Penguin Pointers attachment that might be helpful.
Anonymous
Post 02/20/2025 21:58     Subject: Re:My child got a SWW interview! Advice for preparing?
Good luck OP! My SWW kid was also asked the book question, as well as to design their ideal school trip and something about how they promote others' views to be heard. It's been a couple years so the last one I can't remember as well but it was getting at promoting diverse viewpoints.

My kid did a little bit of question prep from the list the school provided, but not a lot. I would suggest just going in and being themselves.

One suggestion might be to have your kid look at the SWW Instagram page to see what activities and things are promoted. It would give them a good feel for the school.
Anonymous
Post 02/20/2025 14:09     Subject: My child got a SWW interview! Advice for preparing?
In 10 minutes….

🤣🤣🤣