Anonymous
04/02/2025 12:03
Subject: Why are the WALLS parents always bragging...
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Lol, I mention I'm a Walls parent and people, I have found, make their own assumptions. It's not a brag to say, after you ask, what high school my kid goes to. But I have found that people have very predictable reactions after I say it (Oh Wow!)
This is hilarious. I have had two kids go through Walls….nobody says “wow”. It is not a “wow” school.
+1. My son applied to Walls and got in, but at no point did he think it's a "wow" school. No public school in DC is a "wow" school. He applied just to see if he could get in, but will probably turn it down to stay where he is.
This is wonderful for your kid but I truly don't get bashing DC schools every chance people get. DC has two top 100 public non-charter USNews HSs which is two more than the entire state of Maryland and one more than the entire state of Virginia.
I don't have a kid at Walls and may never but it's very odd the lengths people go just to rip DC schools. Two public top 100 HS in a city of less than 100,000 is really good. It's other areas that absolutely have to be improved upon.
Anonymous
04/02/2025 11:46
Subject: Why are the WALLS parents always bragging...
Anonymous wrote:I think some of you are assuming "wow" means "wow, your kid must be a superstar to get into Walls."
But it could mean "wow, it's a total crapshoot to get into Walls, so many qualified kids don't."
DC has way more kids capable of succeeding at Walls than there are spots at walls. Walls has way more in common with DC's good elementaries and middle schools (also in short supply) than it does with Harvard. I've said "wow" when learning that someone's kid goes to a school like SWS or Latin or BASIS, not because all kids who attend those schools are superstars, but because I am aware that the odds are very much against a kid getting a lottery spot at those schools so it's like "wow, you must have had a good lottery number, good for you."
To me, the application HSs are only a smidge more meritocratic than Latin and BASIS, but honestly they draw from similar populations anyway.
I can see this. It's kind of a "wow" of "wow, you have an option for your kid that is actually likely to give them appropriately challenging work and set them on the right path for the future."
My kid are younger (middle school) but I do always say wow when I hear about a Walls admit because the kids are always lovely, hard working kids who deserve good things. I know there are many others in the category who do, too.
Anonymous
04/02/2025 11:15
Subject: Why are the WALLS parents always bragging...
I think some of you are assuming "wow" means "wow, your kid must be a superstar to get into Walls."
But it could mean "wow, it's a total crapshoot to get into Walls, so many qualified kids don't."
DC has way more kids capable of succeeding at Walls than there are spots at walls. Walls has way more in common with DC's good elementaries and middle schools (also in short supply) than it does with Harvard. I've said "wow" when learning that someone's kid goes to a school like SWS or Latin or BASIS, not because all kids who attend those schools are superstars, but because I am aware that the odds are very much against a kid getting a lottery spot at those schools so it's like "wow, you must have had a good lottery number, good for you."
To me, the application HSs are only a smidge more meritocratic than Latin and BASIS, but honestly they draw from similar populations anyway.
But it could mean "wow, it's a total crapshoot to get into Walls, so many qualified kids don't."
DC has way more kids capable of succeeding at Walls than there are spots at walls. Walls has way more in common with DC's good elementaries and middle schools (also in short supply) than it does with Harvard. I've said "wow" when learning that someone's kid goes to a school like SWS or Latin or BASIS, not because all kids who attend those schools are superstars, but because I am aware that the odds are very much against a kid getting a lottery spot at those schools so it's like "wow, you must have had a good lottery number, good for you."
To me, the application HSs are only a smidge more meritocratic than Latin and BASIS, but honestly they draw from similar populations anyway.
Anonymous
04/02/2025 11:09
Subject: Why are the WALLS parents always bragging...
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Lol, I mention I'm a Walls parent and people, I have found, make their own assumptions. It's not a brag to say, after you ask, what high school my kid goes to. But I have found that people have very predictable reactions after I say it (Oh Wow!)
This is hilarious. I have had two kids go through Walls….nobody says “wow”. It is not a “wow” school.
+1. My son applied to Walls and got in, but at no point did he think it's a "wow" school. No public school in DC is a "wow" school. He applied just to see if he could get in, but will probably turn it down to stay where he is.
Anonymous
04/02/2025 07:10
Subject: Why are the WALLS parents always bragging...
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Lol, I mention I'm a Walls parent and people, I have found, make their own assumptions. It's not a brag to say, after you ask, what high school my kid goes to. But I have found that people have very predictable reactions after I say it (Oh Wow!)
This is hilarious. I have had two kids go through Walls….nobody says “wow”. It is not a “wow” school.
That is your experience, and this is mine. My kiddo has had a good experience, and I think whether it is a "wow" school really depends on your individual child and how they did, just like at any school. People make assumptions about the school, maybe they project onto you that you are "bragging."
Anonymous
03/22/2025 15:36
Subject: Why are the WALLS parents always bragging...
Anonymous wrote:Lol, I mention I'm a Walls parent and people, I have found, make their own assumptions. It's not a brag to say, after you ask, what high school my kid goes to. But I have found that people have very predictable reactions after I say it (Oh Wow!)
This is hilarious. I have had two kids go through Walls….nobody says “wow”. It is not a “wow” school.
Anonymous
03/21/2025 21:26
Subject: Why are the WALLS parents always bragging...
Anonymous wrote:I think a lot of it is because there's so much luck involved in the admissions process, so you have a ton of overqualified kids who didn't get in and a ton of underqualified kids who did. And the parents of the latter group probably don't realize how lucky they are.
As a walls parent, I actually really agree- there is so much weird bonne chance involved and I don't attribute it at all to my child's merit over someone else. It really is about the interview/ whatever steps, however whoever is seeing it perceives it. Many amazing children who don't get in, and I hope really thrive at the many positive schools DCPS offers. Our fallback was Jackson-Reed and I think my child would have done very well there as well; as well as Banneker or McKinley.
Anonymous
03/21/2025 18:23
Subject: Why are the WALLS parents always bragging...
I think a lot of it is because there's so much luck involved in the admissions process, so you have a ton of overqualified kids who didn't get in and a ton of underqualified kids who did. And the parents of the latter group probably don't realize how lucky they are.
Anonymous
03/21/2025 17:34
Subject: Why are the WALLS parents always bragging...
Anonymous wrote:Lol, I mention I'm a Walls parent and people, I have found, make their own assumptions. It's not a brag to say, after you ask, what high school my kid goes to. But I have found that people have very predictable reactions after I say it (Oh Wow!)
Also a Walls parent. I think some of that is like wow, your kid made it through the admissions process as opposed to wow, your kid must be so great.
Anonymous
03/21/2025 08:24
Subject: Why are the WALLS parents always bragging...
Wow!
Anonymous
03/21/2025 08:22
Subject: Why are the WALLS parents always bragging...
Anonymous wrote:Lol, I mention I'm a Walls parent and people, I have found, make their own assumptions. It's not a brag to say, after you ask, what high school my kid goes to. But I have found that people have very predictable reactions after I say it (Oh Wow!)
Where do these people live? In Upper NW almost nobody has that reaction because people affirmatively pick their HS…whether JR, Walls or private.
There is no Wow factor whatsoever.
Anonymous
03/21/2025 08:07
Subject: Why are the WALLS parents always bragging...
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Lol, I mention I'm a Walls parent and people, I have found, make their own assumptions. It's not a brag to say, after you ask, what high school my kid goes to. But I have found that people have very predictable reactions after I say it (Oh Wow!)
+1
The same thing happens when someone asks what university your kid goes to and the answer is Yale or Stanford. People react the same way.
Thanks for illustrating OP’s point.
Anonymous
03/21/2025 07:07
Subject: Why are the WALLS parents always bragging...
Anonymous wrote:Lol, I mention I'm a Walls parent and people, I have found, make their own assumptions. It's not a brag to say, after you ask, what high school my kid goes to. But I have found that people have very predictable reactions after I say it (Oh Wow!)
+1
The same thing happens when someone asks what university your kid goes to and the answer is Yale or Stanford. People react the same way.
Anonymous
03/21/2025 06:45
Subject: Why are the WALLS parents always bragging...
Anonymous wrote:So tired of my friend whose kid is at WALLs acting like it is an Ivy school.......
Grow up OP. No one is bragging about Walls.
Anonymous
03/21/2025 06:40
Subject: Why are the WALLS parents always bragging...
Anonymous wrote:Lol, I mention I'm a Walls parent and people, I have found, make their own assumptions. It's not a brag to say, after you ask, what high school my kid goes to. But I have found that people have very predictable reactions after I say it (Oh Wow!)
I can totally see this conversation happening and the person on the other side coming in with a bunch of insecurities in response to a simple answer.