Anonymous
Post 02/20/2024 21:09     Subject: SWW - when do notices go out about interviews?
Congrats to those kids who got an interview!

Parents -- please remind your children to be kind to their friends who may be disappointed pr dejected tomorrow at school.

My kid had a 3.9, which included a HS math class, didn't get an interview, and he's kinda blue tonight.
Anonymous
Post 02/20/2024 20:59     Subject: SWW - when do notices go out about interviews?
It's a real swing for the school to go from "GPA is the entire criteria to get into the interview pool" to "GPA is worth 25% of the score after kid meets a GPA threshold*."

*Which we say is the highest but isn't actually the highest.
Anonymous
Post 02/20/2024 20:59     Subject: SWW - when do notices go out about interviews?
Anonymous wrote:The rubric says grades count for 10 points, so the 4.0 kids got 10 of 10. I think 3.8 was worth 8. The recs are worth 15 points each, total of 30. So if a 4.0 kid lost 1 point from each teacher they now have the same score as a 3.8 with full marks from recs


The teacher above said that they did not assign points.

So a SWW staff member read each rec and assigned a point value to the phrases?



"This kid is great". Hmm. Let's give that one a 9/10. What about "this kid has potential". Hmm. Definite 8/10. Or maybe 9/10. "this kid has REAL potential." Now that is a 10/10.
Anonymous
Post 02/20/2024 20:53     Subject: SWW - when do notices go out about interviews?
Anonymous wrote:
The Walls rubric says: The recommendation letters for the top students with the highest GPA on a 4.0 scale (3.0 minimum required) will be reviewed and this will determine who is invited to participate in an interview.

I don't know how this process leads to a kid with a 4.0 not selected to interview.


All kids with 4.0s should have been in the group of students from which interviewees were selected under this rubric, but since recommendations were used to make selections from that group, it makes sense that not all kids with 4.0s would be selected (whether the group consisted entirely of 4.0 students or, say, students with 3.8 to 4.0 GPAs)
Anonymous
Post 02/20/2024 20:52     Subject: SWW - when do notices go out about interviews?
The rubric says grades count for 10 points, so the 4.0 kids got 10 of 10. I think 3.8 was worth 8. The recs are worth 15 points each, total of 30. So if a 4.0 kid lost 1 point from each teacher they now have the same score as a 3.8 with full marks from recs
Anonymous
Post 02/20/2024 20:43     Subject: SWW - when do notices go out about interviews?
Anonymous wrote:I am feeling pretty mama bear about this tonight.

The Walls rubric says: The recommendation letters for the top students with the highest GPA on a 4.0 scale (3.0 minimum required) will be reviewed and this will determine who is invited to participate in an interview.

I don't know how this process leads to a kid with a 4.0 not selected to interview.


Because they also scored the letters of rec and used the overall score to pick kids for interviews.
Anonymous
Post 02/20/2024 20:37     Subject: SWW - when do notices go out about interviews?
I am feeling pretty mama bear about this tonight.

The Walls rubric says: The recommendation letters for the top students with the highest GPA on a 4.0 scale (3.0 minimum required) will be reviewed and this will determine who is invited to participate in an interview.

I don't know how this process leads to a kid with a 4.0 not selected to interview.
Anonymous
Post 02/20/2024 20:33     Subject: SWW - when do notices go out about interviews?
Anonymous wrote:Even if there were no recs, many 4.0 kids would not get interviews because they just can’t interview everyone.


This is an interesting thing to write because it is OBJECTIVELY not true. Last year, everyone with a 3.86 or above got an interview. This year, kids with a 4.0 did not.
Anonymous
Post 02/20/2024 20:28     Subject: SWW - when do notices go out about interviews?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I just have to laugh. This is quite a robust magnet school that DCPS is running. Academic record has completely ceased to be a factor in admissions. 🤔🤪


I just have to laugh at this post. Because a few parents on DCUM post their 4.0 kids didn’t get an interview the school has completely let go of academic records as a factor? Hyperbolic much? My 4.0 kid got an interview. As I’m sure many of 4.0 kids did.


Knowing stats would be helpful. How many applicants were there? How many had a 4.0? How many spots are there total? How many interview invites did they extend? Did all the kids being invited to interview rank school without walls as number one? I really think the recommendation letter process was not fair. This was a lot of extra unpaid work for the teachers, some of whom probably were not too happy, and it might've shown in their letters.


Correct. There were teachers asked to write one letter and teachers asked to write 50.
There were kids whose parents applied in the 11th hour (for a million reasons) and I can imagine that if they asked the teacher writing 50 recs, that might have not have been viewed favorably.

there were teachers who had to be reminded by parents (a process probably also not viewed favorably by the teacher who is already over burdened).

There were kids who were the first kid to ask a teacher (and probably were also not high scorers as recommenders always tend to leave room at the top for those who come later).

All sorts of room for error and bias, which is why recs don't typically count for everything in an admissions process like this. But in this case they did since 4.0s were turned down.

King of crazy. This was ultimately decided entirely by the recs!!


So much conjecture. First of all, you don’t know what the recs say about your kid. A kid might not have gotten an interview because their rec wasn’t as good as other kids, which is valid. The recs ask about all sorts of things, including social skills. Maybe a 4.0 kid isn’t mature, or kind, or whatever….they have to differentiate between the apps, and so the recs add to the big picture. Even if there were no recs, many 4.0 kids would not get interviews because they just can’t interview everyone. I think the system is crazy that everyone is vying for spots for what is really not even a particularly awesome school (we did apply, though), but even I can recognize that recs aren’t inherently an unfair part of the process.


Walls used to have an entrance exam. Do you think that would be fairer?


Actually, no. I’m not a fan of the entrance exam. Kids take loads of tests during middle school, all of which are factored into their grades, which make up their gpa. I know the arguments for the test, but I’ve never heard a good enough argument for it that outweighs the reasons against it.
Anonymous
Post 02/20/2024 20:25     Subject: SWW - when do notices go out about interviews?
Anonymous wrote:I think they said around 300/350 interviews for 150 spots.


They have 150 seats in the freshman class, but they typically have to make more than 200 offers to fill those seats.
Anonymous
Post 02/20/2024 20:24     Subject: Re:SWW - when do notices go out about interviews?
My 3.89 kid got an interview. Assuming he had excellent recommendations to help out. One of those teachers also leads the club he’s in so maybe that helped. This was a surprise because they said last year the cut off was 3.86 at the open house. He also has his eyes on a J-R academy so good choices either way.

May everyone find a school that’s a great fit!
Anonymous
Post 02/20/2024 20:20     Subject: SWW - when do notices go out about interviews?
I think they said around 300/350 interviews for 150 spots.
Anonymous
Post 02/20/2024 20:15     Subject: SWW - when do notices go out about interviews?
*spots
Anonymous
Post 02/20/2024 20:14     Subject: SWW - when do notices go out about interviews?
Any idea how many interview slots they extend for how many sports total?
Anonymous
Post 02/20/2024 20:12     Subject: SWW - when do notices go out about interviews?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I just have to laugh. This is quite a robust magnet school that DCPS is running. Academic record has completely ceased to be a factor in admissions. 🤔🤪


I just have to laugh at this post. Because a few parents on DCUM post their 4.0 kids didn’t get an interview the school has completely let go of academic records as a factor? Hyperbolic much? My 4.0 kid got an interview. As I’m sure many of 4.0 kids did.


Knowing stats would be helpful. How many applicants were there? How many had a 4.0? How many spots are there total? How many interview invites did they extend? Did all the kids being invited to interview rank school without walls as number one? I really think the recommendation letter process was not fair. This was a lot of extra unpaid work for the teachers, some of whom probably were not too happy, and it might've shown in their letters.


Correct. There were teachers asked to write one letter and teachers asked to write 50.
There were kids whose parents applied in the 11th hour (for a million reasons) and I can imagine that if they asked the teacher writing 50 recs, that might have not have been viewed favorably.

there were teachers who had to be reminded by parents (a process probably also not viewed favorably by the teacher who is already over burdened).

There were kids who were the first kid to ask a teacher (and probably were also not high scorers as recommenders always tend to leave room at the top for those who come later).

All sorts of room for error and bias, which is why recs don't typically count for everything in an admissions process like this. But in this case they did since 4.0s were turned down.

King of crazy. This was ultimately decided entirely by the recs!!


So much conjecture. First of all, you don’t know what the recs say about your kid. A kid might not have gotten an interview because their rec wasn’t as good as other kids, which is valid. The recs ask about all sorts of things, including social skills. Maybe a 4.0 kid isn’t mature, or kind, or whatever….they have to differentiate between the apps, and so the recs add to the big picture. Even if there were no recs, many 4.0 kids would not get interviews because they just can’t interview everyone. I think the system is crazy that everyone is vying for spots for what is really not even a particularly awesome school (we did apply, though), but even I can recognize that recs aren’t inherently an unfair part of the process.


Walls used to have an entrance exam. Do you think that would be fairer?


I think that would be more objective. My son who is a senior this year is, I believe, the last class that took the exam.