Admissions Director: "We had only four spots in our 10th Grade class, and when we have so few spots, we consider composition of the class [gender, and maybe race?], your child's academic record, essays, and overall package."
OK -- Academic record? If you're a homeschooling parent, you know what my next question was --
Erm, but my son's grades are mostly all As. And he's already taking an AP course in 9th Grade.
"But his ISEE score wasn't as strong."
She is right. It wasn't. One crappy day of standardized testing determined his admission to Bucolic Campus.
"...And when entering 10th Grade, we really, REALLY want strong students. I hope you understand."
I understand that my son should go to early college and not your stupid elitist school.
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6 comments:
One day can make or break a future path. And that is true for other Real Life situations.
Thanks for continuing to share your journey.
My dd is entering 9th grade, so I'm with you on this high school craziness. We have our hearts set on ONE school and we won't know if she got in until the end of March. I was so looking forward to the end of the endless open houses, the tons of research and questions, the forms, the tests, etc. But now that all seemed easy compared to waiting for an acceptance letter. LOL!
Angela
You are absolutely right, Heidi.
However, what I failed to state in this post was that the Admissions Director kept repeating, "We want academically strong students." Which led to my asking "What does that mean? My kid has mostly As!"
I do not think that the private school admissions exam (ISEE) would be the litmus test here, except for that A is a homeschooler.
I am guessing that private schools do not trust the academic worthiness/grading scale which homeschoolers offer -- ours were based on A's teachers evaluations.
I feel like the idea that "strong student = good test scores" is rather simplistic and ridiculous, but then I've never been one to feel like testing should be the defining factor of a person and/or their abilities in any case. It's too unreliable when factors like whether the student "tests" well, has testing anxiety, or simply isn't feeling well that day are taken into account. I feel like testing should only be a small part of a larger whole, one figure in a bigger picture.
I totally agree that this person is stressing the test scores because she doesn't trust homeschooling "grades."
That's coming through loud and clear. They want "known quantities" -- these places are not known for taking risks/experimentation, and, really,
why not use that as a sign right at the gate for what the culture of the school would be as a whole?
Just one opinion.
I coach a MathCounts team made up of homeschoolers. At the end of the season, each student is given a certificate of participation. If they did well at regionals or state, then they get more certificates.
Even though these are 6-8th graders, we have learned to stress to them and their parents to treat these certificates like gold. Put them in a safe file. Because down the line, they provide external evaluation of a student's activities and performance level more than any administrator will accept from a parent/teacher.
I would expect that A's evaluations are part of his portfolio, so they must not be reading everything.
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