Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From experience I would recommend 4 or 5 with one of those being an obvious back-up (e.g Bullis, St Johns, St Andrews, or Burke) dependent on what your child's primary extra-curricular focus is (sports or arts).

Your experience is dated. None of the back-up schools are true back-ups. It is Damn hard to get into any private school since now Arlington, Fairfax and MoCo kids go to private schools in DC too.

No, its not. I have middle school and high school aged kids. Have been through application process recently. You are wrong. If your kid has top grades and solid test scores certain schools are definitely back ups. For kids who are strong enough to get into the top privates like STA/NCS, Sidwell, Potomac, and Maret, these other schools are back-ups.

22:09 back here. (I'm the one who said your experience is dated). Re-read the question, please. Here it is: "We're new to this process, and so I'm wondering for those of you who've been down this path before can help: what's a reasonable/recommended amount of schools to apply to? We have an upcoming 6th grader with great references and past grades but a hard transition year in fifth grade in a DC charter school."

OP said NOTHING about top grades and solid test scores. She said 5th grade was tough, earlier grades were great but does not specify where the child was schooled. For a family with a kid who does NOT have straight As in another private and does NOT have 99% test scores, and/or some other "hook," acceptance is NOT a sure thing ANYWHERE these days. Not at Bullis, not at St. John's, not anywhere.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From experience I would recommend 4 or 5 with one of those being an obvious back-up (e.g Bullis, St Johns, St Andrews, or Burke) dependent on what your child's primary extra-curricular focus is (sports or arts).

Your experience is dated. None of the back-up schools are true back-ups. It is Damn hard to get into any private school since now Arlington, Fairfax and MoCo kids go to private schools in DC too.

No, its not. I have middle school and high school aged kids. Have been through application process recently. You are wrong. If your kid has top grades and solid test scores certain schools are definitely back ups. For kids who are strong enough to get into the top privates like STA/NCS, Sidwell, Potomac, and Maret, these other schools are back-ups.

What do you consider a "solid" test score for middle school admissions? Anyone have an inkling of how many applications are received at top schools for MS? Are we talking hundreds at this point? Have no idea how many others are applying for 7th.

Anonymous wrote:Why was the sibling initially rejected? And not even WL?

During dc's interview, the interviewer felt that the child did not want to attend the school (not helped by the fact that to start the admissions process we had bribed kid with a video game purchase to go through the admissions process and visit the school...which was discussed during interview).We talked a lot in follow up meeting about dc's personality and how dc is a glass half empty kind of kid. The fact that DC was willing to go through the application process at all was the sign that DC was interested. And we did not make dc switch schools, but dc did decide to.
Having an amazing year. It really was the right decision.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From experience I would recommend 4 or 5 with one of those being an obvious back-up (e.g Bullis, St Johns, St Andrews, or Burke) dependent on what your child's primary extra-curricular focus is (sports or arts).

Your experience is dated. None of the back-up schools are true back-ups. It is Damn hard to get into any private school since now Arlington, Fairfax and MoCo kids go to private schools in DC too.

No, its not. I have middle school and high school aged kids. Have been through application process recently. You are wrong. If your kid has top grades and solid test scores certain schools are definitely back ups. For kids who are strong enough to get into the top privates like STA/NCS, Sidwell, Potomac, and Maret, these other schools are back-ups.

For 7 th grade apply to 4
Accepted to 3 and WL for one .
I would not apply for less than 4 unless your alternative is a good choice as well.

Last year, we applied to 3 schools for Pre-K. Our son received 1 acceptance, 1 waitlist, and 1 rejection. If you want to ensure options, I recommend applying to 4-5 schools. Our acceptance was not our first choice school but we got lucky and it’s a perfect fit. Our son LOVES school. The next time around though, I’m applying to 5.

6 is the number our educational consultant recommended. We only did 4, but it worked out for us.

Anonymous wrote:From experience I would recommend 4 or 5 with one of those being an obvious back-up (e.g Bullis, St Johns, St Andrews, or Burke) dependent on what your child's primary extra-curricular focus is (sports or arts).

Your experience is dated. None of the back-up schools are true back-ups. It is Damn hard to get into any private school since now Arlington, Fairfax and MoCo kids go to private schools in DC too.

Probably depends on what schools your child is applying to. Without having a sense of your/his/her aspirations and his/her needs - would say apply broadly, up to 7-8? Make sure that wherever you apply it makes sense for your child and your family.

Why was the sibling initially rejected? And not even WL?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2 different kids in the last 2 years . First kid applied to 4: in at 3, waitlisted at 1. we were surprised about WL, expected rejection. School notorious for quantity of homework and dc talked in interview about how useless homework is.
Second child : applied 1- School that older kid is at. Second kids stats better than first kids. Rejected.

then what? what intake year/grade was this for?

6th grade.
Well that is a different more interesting story.
We knew it was possible DC 2 would not get in, but honestly didn't believe it would happen. When it happened our plan was to stay put,which was an option for us. We called the school we applied to and asked to meet with director of admissions to get a feel for whether we should even try again the next year. When first child picked this school we felt that while it was a good fit for DC 1, it was an amazing fit for DC 2. After a very long meeting with director and staff, DC 2 was offered a place on WL. Then admitted from waitlist.