Anonymous
Post 02/14/2026 11:15     Subject: School Without Walls interviews
Anonymous wrote:They are notoriously bad at communicating to applicants regarding interviews and the “rubric” is a black box on a good day.


A black box indeed. Trying to understand any of this process is total crap and they need to do better with transparency. It would also be nice if they emailed to tell you that you didn’t get an interview.
Anonymous
Post 02/14/2026 10:49     Subject: School Without Walls interviews
Anonymous wrote:Walls got 1300 applications, are inviting 520 kids for interviews and will accept 150. This is from the ward 3 Ednet zoom with the principals this past week on Tuesday night. That is what the principal of wall said.

She might have said “accept 150” but surely she meant “accept enough students to have about 150 freshmen enrolled on count day,” which for the last few years has meant accepting 200-250 students.
Anonymous
Post 02/14/2026 10:37     Subject: School Without Walls interviews
They are notoriously bad at communicating to applicants regarding interviews and the “rubric” is a black box on a good day.
Anonymous
Post 02/14/2026 10:34     Subject: School Without Walls interviews
Walls got 1300 applications, are inviting 520 kids for interviews and will accept 150. This is from the ward 3 Ednet zoom with the principals this past week on Tuesday night. That is what the principal of wall said.
Anonymous
Post 02/14/2026 10:22     Subject: Re:School Without Walls interviews
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Received an email last night (11.13)


11:13pm? We still haven’t gotten one. I assume that means it’s not happening right?


Seems like no one really knows for sure. We haven't received an email but my good friend's daughter received hers yesterday and it said that she is invited to interview on either February 21 or February 28 and to be prepared for either. The email also said more instructions would be emailed no later than Wednesday February 18 by 7pm, so I'm going to guess if you didn't receive an email, it's unlikely you will be called for an interview.
Anonymous
Post 02/14/2026 10:13     Subject: Re:School Without Walls interviews
Anonymous wrote:Received an email last night (11.13)


11:13pm? We still haven’t gotten one. I assume that means it’s not happening right?
Anonymous
Post 02/14/2026 09:41     Subject: School Without Walls interviews
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I understand the reasons that Walls does it how they do, but it still seems a little bit insane that they don’t even consider test scores but they weight recommendations so highly that a 3 out of 4 rating from one teacher takes you out of the running and you won’t even get an interview. I can imagine this system gives them the most compliant students in the district (since teachers will generally highly recommend students who follow directions well), but not necessarily the ones who are most smart and curious.


Teacher who writes a LOT of recommendations here and last year had about 20 kids get interviews for Walls. There seems to be a misconception from parents that if we don’t put the highest score for everything they won’t get an interview. That’s just not true. The highest options have statements like “requests additional work” and that they are always a thoughtful and diligent leader. I had 3 students get interviews last year with middle of the road teacher recommendations from me. I also had students I gave really glowing recommendations for not get an interview.


Hmm. So then what do they go on? The only information they have is the recommendations.


Each of the two rec letters counts for more than the GPA, if you look at the rubric. Each rec letter is worth up to 15 points, so together the letters count for up to 30 points. But even a perfect GPA only counts for 10 points. A 3.9 or higher gets the max of 10 points, a 3.8 earns 8 points, and so on. Because so many applicants come in with high GPAs, the variation in points from rec letters plays an outsized role in deciding who gets an interview.

Here’s the rubric:
https://enrolldcps.dc.gov/sites/dcpsenrollment/files/page_content/attachments/SY26-27%20SWW_Admissions%20Process%20Rubric_Final.pdf
Anonymous
Post 02/14/2026 08:16     Subject: Re:School Without Walls interviews
Received an email last night (11.13)
Anonymous
Post 02/14/2026 07:43     Subject: School Without Walls interviews
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I understand the reasons that Walls does it how they do, but it still seems a little bit insane that they don’t even consider test scores but they weight recommendations so highly that a 3 out of 4 rating from one teacher takes you out of the running and you won’t even get an interview. I can imagine this system gives them the most compliant students in the district (since teachers will generally highly recommend students who follow directions well), but not necessarily the ones who are most smart and curious.


Teacher who writes a LOT of recommendations here and last year had about 20 kids get interviews for Walls. There seems to be a misconception from parents that if we don’t put the highest score for everything they won’t get an interview. That’s just not true. The highest options have statements like “requests additional work” and that they are always a thoughtful and diligent leader. I had 3 students get interviews last year with middle of the road teacher recommendations from me. I also had students I gave really glowing recommendations for not get an interview.


Hmm. So then what do they go on? The only information they have is the recommendations.

They have some formula that quantifies the recommendations and then combines them with GPA. It’s not recommendations only.


My kid has strong recs but not a great GPA - no invite. So this sounds correct.
Anonymous
Post 02/14/2026 07:41     Subject: School Without Walls interviews
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I understand the reasons that Walls does it how they do, but it still seems a little bit insane that they don’t even consider test scores but they weight recommendations so highly that a 3 out of 4 rating from one teacher takes you out of the running and you won’t even get an interview. I can imagine this system gives them the most compliant students in the district (since teachers will generally highly recommend students who follow directions well), but not necessarily the ones who are most smart and curious.


Teacher who writes a LOT of recommendations here and last year had about 20 kids get interviews for Walls. There seems to be a misconception from parents that if we don’t put the highest score for everything they won’t get an interview. That’s just not true. The highest options have statements like “requests additional work” and that they are always a thoughtful and diligent leader. I had 3 students get interviews last year with middle of the road teacher recommendations from me. I also had students I gave really glowing recommendations for not get an interview.


Hmm. So then what do they go on? The only information they have is the recommendations.

They have some formula that quantifies the recommendations and then combines them with GPA. It’s not recommendations only.
Anonymous
Post 02/13/2026 20:33     Subject: School Without Walls interviews
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I understand the reasons that Walls does it how they do, but it still seems a little bit insane that they don’t even consider test scores but they weight recommendations so highly that a 3 out of 4 rating from one teacher takes you out of the running and you won’t even get an interview. I can imagine this system gives them the most compliant students in the district (since teachers will generally highly recommend students who follow directions well), but not necessarily the ones who are most smart and curious.


Teacher who writes a LOT of recommendations here and last year had about 20 kids get interviews for Walls. There seems to be a misconception from parents that if we don’t put the highest score for everything they won’t get an interview. That’s just not true. The highest options have statements like “requests additional work” and that they are always a thoughtful and diligent leader. I had 3 students get interviews last year with middle of the road teacher recommendations from me. I also had students I gave really glowing recommendations for not get an interview.


Hmm. So then what do they go on? The only information they have is the recommendations.
Anonymous
Post 02/13/2026 19:40     Subject: Re:School Without Walls interviews
At what time?
Anonymous
Post 02/13/2026 19:37     Subject: School Without Walls interviews
Got the interview notification!
Anonymous
Post 02/13/2026 19:01     Subject: School Without Walls interviews
Anonymous wrote:I understand the reasons that Walls does it how they do, but it still seems a little bit insane that they don’t even consider test scores but they weight recommendations so highly that a 3 out of 4 rating from one teacher takes you out of the running and you won’t even get an interview. I can imagine this system gives them the most compliant students in the district (since teachers will generally highly recommend students who follow directions well), but not necessarily the ones who are most smart and curious.


Teacher who writes a LOT of recommendations here and last year had about 20 kids get interviews for Walls. There seems to be a misconception from parents that if we don’t put the highest score for everything they won’t get an interview. That’s just not true. The highest options have statements like “requests additional work” and that they are always a thoughtful and diligent leader. I had 3 students get interviews last year with middle of the road teacher recommendations from me. I also had students I gave really glowing recommendations for not get an interview.
Anonymous
Post 02/13/2026 18:07     Subject: Re:School Without Walls interviews
Also wondering: Do they send all interview invites out at once? Should we assume our kid wasn't invited to interview?