Yes, but among those critical posts you'll get honest sincere answers - IF you ask specific questions nd not just "Which one is better? Which one is more nurturing?" You need to go check them out, ask most of your questions to the schools and parents directly, then research the archives here. If you still have unanswered questions, ask away. By then your questions will probably be so specific, you won't even get called a troll.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not trying to be snarky,OP. You have about a .00004% of getting into any of them so really, it worth very little of your time worrying whether the teachers are warm and nurturing at this point. It's just not a rational decision to put this much energy into thinking about schools that your child will likely never attend.

OP, if we had followed pessimistic advice like this, our child would never have been admitted to LAMB last year (months after the lottery, off the waitlist). Apply where you would like your child to go - there's always a chance.

No one is telling OP not to apply, where are you getting that from? The PP you're replying to is basically saying go ahead and apply, but your odds of getting in are so slim, don't waste a lot of time labor ing over the differences in "levels of nurturing" until you know what your actual choices are. Then come back and specifically ask because it's a real choice you have.

And given the odds, that is darn good advice.

Actually, if you get into more than one hot charter and post here asking about it, you'll get a lot of responses saying that no one gets into more than one school, and calling you a liar and a troll.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP
Thanks for all the input.
And to answer the question as to why I queried these specific charter schools, it is because I felt I had enough current information on the others we are planning to apply to.

I don't see how this is possible[b], unless of course this is your entire list and you are just trying to be tricky with words. What school has more written about how nuturing it is than Bridges? None. And, I have absolutely no connection with the school, but I think you are a far way off from completing your research.

You must have a very limited imagination. Maybe OP has friends she trusts with children at the other schools. Maybe she's attended open houses and had all her questions answered to her satisfaction by current parents or the administraton. There is a world beyond DCUM you know.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not trying to be snarky,OP. You have about a .00004% of getting into any of them so really, it worth very little of your time worrying whether the teachers are warm and nurturing at this point. It's just not a rational decision to put this much energy into thinking about schools that your child will likely never attend.

OP, if we had followed pessimistic advice like this, our child would never have been admitted to LAMB last year (months after the lottery, off the waitlist). Apply where you would like your child to go - there's always a chance.

No one is telling OP not to apply, where are you getting that from? The PP you're replying to is basically saying go ahead and apply, but your odds of getting in are so slim, don't waste a lot of time labor ing over the differences in "levels of nurturing" until you know what your actual choices are. Then come back and specifically ask because it's a real choice you have.

And given the odds, that is darn good advice.

We have two friends whose kids were offered spots at LAMB, but because they had already accepted spots elsewhere, they turned them down. It is silly to take DC Urbanmom and assume that the hundreds of folks who apply are sharing the result of their experience with everyone on here. That is obviously where these "low odds" (re. 0.00004%) claims are coming from. How often have people written "We got into LAMB" on here? It's those who didn't who post a lot, giving a certain impression about the odds. Just saying.

Ok PP, since you're so confident that we're over-hyping the awful odds, how many people applied to LAMB for 2011-2012 school year, and how many actual lottery slots did they have for PS3, PK4, and K? I don't remember LAMBs exact numbers but I asked this exact question of their enrollment person at the Charter School Expo and when I heard the numbers I almost just gave back my blank application without filling it out. Then I heard even worse odds from Cap City, Haynes and Stokes, and I sucked it up and applied anyway.

But LAMB had bad odds as well. So if you're sure this is wrong, back up your sense that this is unnecessary pessimism with optimistic actual LAMB numbers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not trying to be snarky,OP. You have about a .00004% of getting into any of them so really, it worth very little of your time worrying whether the teachers are warm and nurturing at this point. It's just not a rational decision to put this much energy into thinking about schools that your child will likely never attend.

OP, if we had followed pessimistic advice like this, our child would never have been admitted to LAMB last year (months after the lottery, off the waitlist). Apply where you would like your child to go - there's always a chance.

No one is telling OP not to apply, where are you getting that from? The PP you're replying to is basically saying go ahead and apply, but your odds of getting in are so slim, don't waste a lot of time labor ing over the differences in "levels of nurturing" until you know what your actual choices are. Then come back and specifically ask because it's a real choice you have.

And given the odds, that is darn good advice.

We have two friends whose kids were offered spots at LAMB, but because they had already accepted spots elsewhere, they turned them down. It is silly to take DC Urbanmom and assume that the hundreds of folks who apply are sharing the result of their experience with everyone on here. That is obviously where these "low odds" (re. 0.00004%) claims are coming from. How often have people written "We got into LAMB" on here? It's those who didn't who post a lot, giving a certain impression about the odds. Just saying.

I've written TOMES about LAMB so OP you didn't really do a good search. I've written about how I've written about LAMB.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not trying to be snarky,OP. You have about a .00004% of getting into any of them so really, it worth very little of your time worrying whether the teachers are warm and nurturing at this point. It's just not a rational decision to put this much energy into thinking about schools that your child will likely never attend.

OP, if we had followed pessimistic advice like this, our child would never have been admitted to LAMB last year (months after the lottery, off the waitlist). Apply where you would like your child to go - there's always a chance.

No one is telling OP not to apply, where are you getting that from? The PP you're replying to is basically saying go ahead and apply, but your odds of getting in are so slim, don't waste a lot of time labor ing over the differences in "levels of nurturing" until you know what your actual choices are. Then come back and specifically ask because it's a real choice you have.

And given the odds, that is darn good advice.

Anonymous wrote:Not trying to be snarky,OP. You have about a .00004% of getting into any of them so really, it worth very little of your time worrying whether the teachers are warm and nurturing at this point. It's just not a rational decision to put this much energy into thinking about schools that your child will likely never attend.

OP, if we had followed pessimistic advice like this, our child would never have been admitted to LAMB last year (months after the lottery, off the waitlist). Apply where you would like your child to go - there's always a chance.

We really like inspired for our DC. They have a laid back approach as far as structure but require students to think. I will be back at ITS next year and I skipped the lotteries.

NP
I have to say the snark about researching charter schools is grossly unfair. Yes, you'll find thousands of posts but 98% of those will be one-liners about lottery or waitlist, another 1% will be one-liners giving preference for one school over another, and if you're still interested after slogging through all that you may find one or two thoughtful posts like those above.

Anonymous wrote:OP
Thanks for all the input.
And to answer the question as to why I queried these specific charter schools, it is because I felt I had enough current information on the others we are planning to apply to.

I don't see how this is possible, unless of course this is your entire list and you are just trying to be tricky with words. What school has more written about how nuturing it is than Bridges? None. And, I have absolutely no connection with the school, but I think you are a far way off from completing your research.

Anonymous wrote:OP
Thanks for all the input.
And to answer the question as to why I queried these specific charter schools, it is because I felt I had enough current information on the others we are planning to apply to.

That's odd. Are you doing research for IT and Inspired? All I see on the threads (recent) is about the nurturing teachers there blah blah blah. Not to put it down, but I see these posts ALL the time. Maybe you're not properly using the search functions.