Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What a mess the application process has become. The current rubric seems just as bad, only in different ways.

It's not just as bad - it at least considers teacher recommendations and an on-site essay in the mix with the interview. All of which are very subjective. But hopefully in different enough ways that they will lead to slightly more logical outcomes.

I don't agree. Without standardized test scores in the mix, this is essentially an affirmative action-based admission system relying heavily on highly subjective measure to assess an applicant's suitability. Once an applicant's race determined has been determined in an the interview, URMs can be identified and allowed to coast on the essay. Teacher recommendations are generally neither here nor there (since they tend to say more about the literacy, availability and dedication of the author than anything about the kid).

Recently, my youngest competed to qualify for a spot in a suburban district's public school 7th-8th grade band (my ex lives in MoCo and we share custody). Roughly 15% of those who auditioned were selected, after applicants auditioned behind a screen. That's right, the adults assessing the young musicians couldn't see them. Low-income applicants were awarded extra points on audition scores. That's the type of race-blind system I'd like to see for entry to Walls.

I love it when arguments suggest URM kids are all coasting and therefore getting into schools/jobs unfairly. That must mean they are taking the majority of the spots in good schools, taking the majority of the good jobs, have the most money in this country, and the most power in government. Cause they just coast into everything. But you were saying.

Also, legacy doesn’t count as coasting in these arguments. The privilege to be able to pay for teams of tutors that results in 4.0 GPAs doesn’t count as coasting. And automatically being considered worthy/capable/smart because a kid is not a URM is not considered coasting. But yeah, you were saying.

Nope

Has anyone heard about interviews yet?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Yeah, I agree - it seems like they wanted to signal that the recommendations matter for the early part of the process, but I just don't see how that is possible given the GPA threshold criteria. Like, it can't be both. Unless there's a circumstance where they decide that a kid who'd qualify by GPA doesn't make it to interview because of a bad rec. Or vice versa. But... I just don't see it actually happening that way.

It does makes sense to use the recs to help assess/score within the kids who make the GPA cutoff.

Considering grades and letters of rec before interviewing ultimately gives more weight to the interview & essays. If they consider GPA (10 points) and recs (30 points) before interviewing & interview only students with the highest combined scores, the result is likely to be very narrow range. As a result, most of the 40 possible points will not matter in the end because everyone in the interview pool also has those points. For example, if the range for interviewees is 35-40/40 points, 35 of the points are irrelevant for comparing the students, only the last 5 will ultimately matter. So while the highest possible score is nominally 100, in reality it is 65, almost all of which will be determined by the essay & interview.

This analysis depends on the assumption that Walls will interview many extra students, as they have done for the past three years (500). If they only interview the number of students they need to fill the school, as they did back in the exam days (250*), it’s the interview score that becomes almost meaningless. I believe I read on here that they said at an open house that this year they would interview 350.

*Yes, I know they only enroll 150. But not every admitted kid enrolls.

Anonymous wrote:Not a genuine question but one setting up a false equivalency. I'm claiming that and you know it. Fact is, UMC students of course enjoy many advantages over low SES students academically as a group, regardless of race. Almost all the poor teens in DC happen to be URMs.

But you are lumping all URMs together. So claiming they get into Walls because of their race. SES doesn’t seem to matter in your previous comment. I just find this view gross. But not surprising.

Anonymous wrote:
Yeah, I agree - it seems like they wanted to signal that the recommendations matter for the early part of the process, but I just don't see how that is possible given the GPA threshold criteria. Like, it can't be both. Unless there's a circumstance where they decide that a kid who'd qualify by GPA doesn't make it to interview because of a bad rec. Or vice versa. But... I just don't see it actually happening that way.

It does makes sense to use the recs to help assess/score within the kids who make the GPA cutoff.

Considering grades and letters of rec before interviewing ultimately gives more weight to the interview & essays. If they consider GPA (10 points) and recs (30 points) before interviewing & interview only students with the highest combined scores, the result is likely to be very narrow range. As a result, most of the 40 possible points will not matter in the end because everyone in the interview pool also has those points. For example, if the range for interviewees is 35-40/40 points, 35 of the points are irrelevant for comparing the students, only the last 5 will ultimately matter. So while the highest possible score is nominally 100, in reality it is 65, almost all of which will be determined by the essay & interview.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So much speculating about how Walls will do this. DCPS puts out a rubric that lays it all out (clear as mud. but at least it's something).

https://enrolldcps.dc.gov/sites/dcpsenrollment/files/page_content/attachments/SY24-25%20SWW_Admission%20Process%20Rubric_Final.pdf

The rubric says:
GPA is a threshold criteria. For ninth grade, the top students with the highest GPAs will be invited to interview.

Then scoring to decide who gets in is as follows:
30 pts: rec letters
60 pts: interview and essay submission
10 pts: GPA. 3.9 and higher get a 10, 3.8 a 9, etc. This element of the score usually doesn't matter much because the last few years kids have needed a 3.8 or higher to make the GPA threshold.

The rubric seems to pretend like Walls will consider rec letters as part of deciding whether or not to interview a student, but that contrasts explicitly with the statement that students with the top GPAs will be invited to interview.

This is most likely lazy process/bad writing of the rubric, though it could also be a way for the school to give itself room to make some weird decisions based on recs for kids whose GPA otherwise would not meet the interview threshold. Time will tell.

What's very strange is that the rubric both says that, and it ALSO says "Based on GPA and recommendation letter review, the top students in each grade are invited to participate in an interview." So it's pretty unclear whether recommendation letters go into deciding who gets an interview.

Yeah, I agree - it seems like they wanted to signal that the recommendations matter for the early part of the process, but I just don't see how that is possible given the GPA threshold criteria. Like, it can't be both. Unless there's a circumstance where they decide that a kid who'd qualify by GPA doesn't make it to interview because of a bad rec. Or vice versa. But... I just don't see it actually happening that way.

It does makes sense to use the recs to help assess/score within the kids who make the GPA cutoff.

I guess we'll just have to see how it plays out.

Anonymous wrote:So much speculating about how Walls will do this. DCPS puts out a rubric that lays it all out (clear as mud. but at least it's something).

https://enrolldcps.dc.gov/sites/dcpsenrollment/files/page_content/attachments/SY24-25%20SWW_Admission%20Process%20Rubric_Final.pdf

The rubric says:
GPA is a threshold criteria. For ninth grade, the top students with the highest GPAs will be invited to interview.

Then scoring to decide who gets in is as follows:
30 pts: rec letters
60 pts: interview and essay submission
10 pts: GPA. 3.9 and higher get a 10, 3.8 a 9, etc. This element of the score usually doesn't matter much because the last few years kids have needed a 3.8 or higher to make the GPA threshold.

The rubric seems to pretend like Walls will consider rec letters as part of deciding whether or not to interview a student, but that contrasts explicitly with the statement that students with the top GPAs will be invited to interview.

This is most likely lazy process/bad writing of the rubric, though it could also be a way for the school to give itself room to make some weird decisions based on recs for kids whose GPA otherwise would not meet the interview threshold. Time will tell.

What's very strange is that the rubric both says that, and it ALSO says "Based on GPA and recommendation letter review, the top students in each grade are invited to participate in an interview." So it's pretty unclear whether recommendation letters go into deciding who gets an interview.

Given all the angst parents had about getting letters of recommendation from over-worked math and English teachers, you'd think they'd wait and ask for letters only for kids who make the grade cut-off if they are sequenced criteria (only reading and considering the letters of kids who pass the GPA threshold). Either the rubric is wrong or they just made teachers do a lot of unnecessary work.

So much speculating about how Walls will do this. DCPS puts out a rubric that lays it all out (clear as mud. but at least it's something).

https://enrolldcps.dc.gov/sites/dcpsenrollment/files/page_content/attachments/SY24-25%20SWW_Admission%20Process%20Rubric_Final.pdf

The rubric says:
GPA is a threshold criteria. For ninth grade, the top students with the highest GPAs will be invited to interview.

Then scoring to decide who gets in is as follows:
30 pts: rec letters
60 pts: interview and essay submission
10 pts: GPA. 3.9 and higher get a 10, 3.8 a 9, etc. This element of the score usually doesn't matter much because the last few years kids have needed a 3.8 or higher to make the GPA threshold.

The rubric seems to pretend like Walls will consider rec letters as part of deciding whether or not to interview a student, but that contrasts explicitly with the statement that students with the top GPAs will be invited to interview.

This is most likely lazy process/bad writing of the rubric, though it could also be a way for the school to give itself room to make some weird decisions based on recs for kids whose GPA otherwise would not meet the interview threshold. Time will tell.

Anonymous wrote:I'm also curious about the timeline. Will Walls determine a GPA cutoff (for this year) and then review recommendation letters, or will they review the recommendation letters of ALL applicants before ranking for interviews?

At the open house they said that they will the top scores considering GPA + recommendation letters, and those kids get interviews. I think they said GPA counts for up to 5 points (so 4.0 = 5 points) and so do the recs. So they add up the two scores and put everyone in order starting with 10.0, and at some point they draw a line below the max number of kids they are going to interview.

I got the impression that the recommendation "letter" is more of a multiple choice in which teachers rate the kids on various factors via an online survey, so it should be fairly easy to "score" the letters.

I'm also curious about the timeline. Will Walls determine a GPA cutoff (for this year) and then review recommendation letters, or will they review the recommendation letters of ALL applicants before ranking for interviews?

Anonymous wrote:Mom of ASD kid here. My point isn’t just that process seems arbitrary—it also strikes me as discriminatory.

It’s also a crappy admissions process. Part of DC’s race to the bottom.

Just curious why you think your child is better deserving than mine or any other kid with 4.0.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Back to the topic at hand. Are Walls interview notices still coming out or not?

Seconded--anyone know of kids who have received interview notices yet? I was thinking it might be slow this year since they're considering recommendations, something they haven't done in the past.

Aren't they supposed to start notifying next week? I swear they said the week of the 19th when we went on the tour. It wasn't this week.

Two years ago, we got word on Feb 11th, but this was before teacher recs were added to the mix. I don't know if the recent past timing is relevant now.