Thanks PP. It is about knowing the rules of the game and how to navigate in the college maze. It combines intelligence and street smarts, discipline and several other factors to ace college.

What I found when I went to a top college was that I didn't know the rules of the game. I was not from the area, and many of my classmates were, and knew each other, or their siblings did. I saw my advisor, who wasn't interested, the first day I arrived, and he told me to choose a whole lot of basic science courses for my pre-med curriculum.

Little did I know, all my classmates who were hoping to go to med school chose the easiest courses (Art of Listening, Basic English Lit, etc), and put off the science courses until later years. They finished up the year with exceptional GPAs, whereas mine was so-so. It's much harder to pull up a GPA than it is to drop one, at least at the college I attended. I did all those easier courses later, while my classmates did them first, and I believe this was reflected in the difference in our GPAs.

Regardless, I worked my a$$ off, and ended up attending a great med school and residency.

17:06, I agree. Even the "best" charters are still pretty weak when compared to Montgomery or Fairfax County or private. It's one thing to take a chance in elementary school, but it's entirely another when getting into a decent high school and college is part of the equation.

DCPS is often fine for elementary school, we even did a Title 1 school and liked it, but private middle school is money well spent at our house.

Every single kid I know who went to DC Charters (including Cap City and Washington Latin) left during or before middle school for exactly this reason. Most of them went private, and a couple to Deal.

Folks, I mentioned this earlier but I'll say it again - it's not just the school. Darryl didn't have the benefit of highly-educated parents to help him through all this. He grew up with his grandmother because, as I recall, his parents were unable to care for him. The reason I emphasize this is because it's kind of apples and oranges to be comparing our experiences with his.

Not that that excuses Chavez or suggests that Darryl can't succeed (by the end of the article it becomes clear that he is succeeding) but just to emphasize that comparing ourselves to Darryl doesn't really tell you much. Kids like this need a lot of support because college can really throw them for a loop - but they can survive and thrive. But high schools and colleges need to go above and beyond to make up for the lack of cultural resources (and sense of entitlement) one typically gets from growing up in an educated family.

Anonymous wrote:I also went to sidwell and did so-so my first semester in college. I had 3.0 and thought it was pretty bad, until i realized four years later most of my friends were way below me. The only thing I was prepared for was taking final exams and being self-motivated to study and get extra writing help. Ilearned quickly that science and math were not my areas, and was able to raise my gap to a 3.5 by graduation, which was enough for honors.

I posted on the other thread on this topic - I also went to Sidwell and did not do well my first semester at a top LAC. Much of that was adjusting to college life, some of that was being unprepared for college level classes. Once I figured it out I did well.

The other major factor at play is the peer group. Most of the kids at these competitive colleges are used to being in at least the top quartile, and probably the top 10% of their class. Simple math indicates that when you put them all in one place 50% of them will be below the median. This can be eye opening for high achievers.

Isn't this par for course. Many of the students who recieve the free ride scholarship from GW that are graduates from DCPS, struggle. But they do succeed.

My child didn't go to a tier one school but now is in Harvard University, which if it wasn't for his counselor he wouldn't not have applied. He was destined to attend Columbia Univesity as the school peaked his interests on a college tour while an eighth grader.

Scored a perfect score on the SAT's but was not in the top 5 of his graduating senior class. Though he was an extra-curricular king pin as he participated in sports, band and clubs. Columbia didn't accept him nor did GW but Harvard did along with the Bill Gates Scholarship a full ride indeed. Prepared, yes.

I also went to sidwell and did so-so my first semester in college. I had 3.0 and thought it was pretty bad, until i realized four years later most of my friends were way below me. The only thing I was prepared for was taking final exams and being self-motivated to study and get extra writing help. Ilearned quickly that science and math were not my areas, and was able to raise my gap to a 3.5 by graduation, which was enough for honors.

Anonymous wrote:Anyone knocking the young man who wrote this article is missing the point -- in DC, public and charter, we are forced to settle for less. Playing catch up, while many bloggers here can talk about how they or their kids did it and no big deal doesn't mean we shouldn't shine a spot light on the discrepancies between our DC graduates and so many others. It's not fair and I'm thankful for Darryl for taking the time (and the heat) to write this open, honest portrayal of his experience jumping from pubic DC schools to one of the finest US colleges.

this. And the fact that very few (if any) of us on this thread can really relate to his experience or circumstances. DC is certainly playing catch up and will be for a while. That's no excuse for children being accused of cheating or not challenged enough to develop critical thinking skills. Just looking at a child's demographics on paper does not determine their ability to succeed, yet so many teachers fall into the trap of "drill and kill" and don't bother filling in the gaps or allowing children to discover answers on their own. I admire this young man's bravery. His article is well-written and thoughtful. And it's about HIS experience, not yours, so stop trying to draw a line of comparison - it's not empathetic, it's insulting.

I went from a public, run of the mill hs (we had about 5 AP classes in the 80's) to Harvard. I didn't feel overwhelmed. I felt that many of my classmates had written more research papers and knew more European history than I did. On the other hand, I had taken way more computer programming courses than the private school kids, who were at sea with respect to the quantitative reasoning requirement, and I tested out of a lot of first year math and science courses.

Kids coming out of Wilson, Banneker, and SWW get 5's on AP tests and get into Ivy League colleges. I've met a few kids from Chavez, and they are motivated, but as the young man's WP article stresses, lacked good preparation. What's heartening is that he was really proactive and got himself the help and skills that he needed.