High School Guide: Admissions, reviews, and advice

mellowskipper said:

I don't really have anything to say about albundy0009—not that I’ve been following their posts closely, mind you—but if there was supposed to be a point here, I suppose I missed it. Maybe I just wasn't paying enough attention. Or maybe there isn't much to pay attention to. It's hard to tell sometimes, I guess. mellowskipper says:
I completely agree with you there—and honestly, I’m struggling to see how someone like that would ever deserve priority for high school admission over a student who pulls a 4.0 GPA through sheer grit and self-study. It just doesn't add up. But then again, maybe that's exactly what you're advocating for with this whole system of yours and all those little comments you make. I guess that's just how you see it.

The person who mentioned taking time off was pretty explicit about their reasons—it’s entirely due to teachers failing to fulfill their basic responsibilities, which I suppose is a legitimate grievance. Honestly, it would be nice if you could drop those obnoxious comments about someone not being "cut out" for high school. I mean, seriously... where does that kind of arrogance even come from?

My daughter is studying entirely on her own—and she’s also in an honors program. It seems like most kids in the 10th or 11th grade are constantly getting private tutoring, or their parents are basically sitting there coaching them through everything just so they can maintain a 4.0 GPA and coast into those elite prep schools. My girl is sitting at a 3.7, which is strictly her own doing—no tutors, no hand-holding, nothing—so I guess the real question is... will that be enough to get her into the Graphic Design program she actually wants?
It’s pretty obvious that I’m the idiot here—the one who should have actually sat down and studied alongside my kid, or maybe just shelled out the cash for a private tutor like everyone else seems to be doing.
I ended up taking some time off—just my annual leave—to help her out with that massive mountain of essays and PowerPoints she’s drowning in. She’s managing for now, I suppose, though... the only thing I really did was show her how to use Google Forms to streamline things and hopefully save her a bit of a headache.
According to some people, it's just for Zagorski—a kitchen assistant.
I find myself wondering—though I suppose it’s a bit of a pointless question, really—what kind of schools all those fake fifth graders are actually aiming for? You know the type. They enroll in a prep school or an academy, go through all that unnecessary struggle—whether they make it easy or hard on themselves, I guess—just to graduate and call themselves something they aren't. It's all a bit performative, isn't it?

Actually, I think Zadar is holding its ground pretty well. As for Chicago—well, they told me at the Graphic school that you basically need to be north of a 70, plus a massive amount of points from the entrance exam to stand a chance. For the Media Technician program, I'm guessing it’s closer to a 74... maybe? It's hard to say for sure.
They’re only taking one class per grade level—so, if you're doing the math, I guess that works out to about 23 regular students per section. Maybe.
My daughter is going to give it a shot, I suppose—but honestly, it’s pretty discouraging that they only accept one class. I really hope that the straight-A students lean more toward the academic prep schools rather than heading off into Web design.

Look, just check out the suburbs surrounding the metropolitan area—places like suburban outskirts near Chicago or maybe parts of New Jersey. If you really can't make it work elsewhere, they have Computer Technician and Mechatronics programs, and the entry requirements aren't even that steep. There might even be an option to transfer over to the main city center after the first year.

The pressure exists because the system itself is fundamentally broken. Parents are simply doing the only thing they can within the circumstances they've been handed. Once the flaws in the enrollment system are actually fixed, there won't be any parental pressure left to talk about. I imagine that would be in everyone's best interest, I guess.

It’s not really a crisis for us specifically—with her score sitting at 74.30, she’d almost certainly land a spot as a Radiology Technician (which is about 90% similar to being a Google designer; she isn't going to be a programmer anyway, a fact I can confidently gauge having spent over 20 years working in IBM), and maybe even a Google designer if the cutoff drops—which is a possibility, given how many people pulled straight 5s during those two weird COVID years. As a backup, Cleveland is only a quick train ride away.

I’m speaking in general terms here—it’s just a shame that kids who graduate with honors and want to pursue a career in IBM-related fields can't, simply because the demand is through the roof. And I assume our school in Savannah doesn't exactly have the capacity or the legal permission to just arbitrarily add more classrooms...

northerntiger9 said:It’s hard to make a direct comparison since school quality varies so much—it isn't just about the curriculum.

I’ve actually touched on this before when discussing the situation in Cleveland... if you're a STEM-focused student, your options are pretty slim—maybe one or two solid prep schools at most. We don't really have a top-tier technical school, nothing like Rudyard Kipling, so typically, the vocational tracks are filled by students who aren't quite hitting those straight-A marks. That explains why someone might only need 63 points for a Google designer program; let's be honest, it's not exactly an elite program. Anyone with high grades and actual talent would rather head to a specialized math academy than settle for a design track.

I haven't really seen the web design kids acting like the type to breeze through a math academy. They seem more like hybrid creatives and programmers to me. They occupy this middle ground, I guess, but I wouldn't go so far as to call them classic STEM types...

stormymarlin22 said:Will they even get to the prerequisites, considering the Intel situation?

Nope. They discussed it and concluded there is a better chance of getting in during regular enrollment. As for Intel—they are likely only taking 3.

boldbadger1 said:It’s not really a crisis for us specifically—with her score sitting at 74.30, she’d almost certainly land a spot as a Radiology Technician (which is about 90% similar to being a Google designer; she isn't going to be a programmer anyway, a fact I can confidently gauge having spent over 20 years working in IBM), and maybe even a Google designer if the cutoff drops—which is a possibility, given how many people pulled straight 5s during those two weird COVID years. As a backup, Cleveland is only a quick train ride away.

I’m speaking in general terms here—it’s just a shame that kids who graduate with honors and want to pursue a career in IBM-related fields can't, simply because the demand is through the roof. And I assume our school in Savannah doesn't exactly have the capacity or the legal permission to just arbitrarily add more classrooms...

In Chicago, starting this year, they finally added one web design class and one Radiology Technician class. So, yeah, we can only dream about increasing capacity...
The Radiology Technician program seems phenomenal, though; I saw some of the kids during the open house. They had a very distinct, positive vibe.

Did you know they're actually allowed to sit in on both the preliminary exams and the regular ones?

stormymarlin22 said:Did you know they're actually allowed to sit in on both the preliminary exams and the regular ones?

Honestly, I’m at a bit of a loss for words here. I keep getting these incredibly vague, conflicting answers about the whole situation—from the school administration and even from the unemployment office. It’s actually quite disheartening, I suppose, because I feel like I can't get a straight, transparent answer from anyone.
The way it was explained to us was that if, for instance, someone applies to any school listed on the Intel system—even one at the very bottom of the list—they won't be rejected. The only way they wouldn't get in is if they don't qualify for a single school, in which case they could try for the summer session during regular enrollment.
And naturally, we didn't agree to that.
Then, of course, some people tell me the exact opposite...

Yeah, they're right about that. If she gets accepted during early admissions, she’s set—no need to wait for the regular enrollment period. You aren't even supposed to swap schools around once that happens, unlike the standard process. But if she just puts her top choice on the early list, she can either take it or pass and try again during regular enrollment, where she can still pick that same school.

stormymarlin22 said:Yeah, they're right about that. If she gets accepted during early admissions, she’s set—no need to wait for the regular enrollment period. You aren't even supposed to swap schools around once that happens, unlike the standard process. But if she just puts her top choice on the early list, she can either take it or pass and try again during regular enrollment, where she can still pick that same school.

I guess we could have done it that way, but they certainly didn't present it to us like that. They kept suggesting five different schools to us—though, to be fair, the first two were her actual choices. I just had no idea we had the option to reject the others, or rather, ask them to just strike those schools from our list entirely.
It felt almost like they were subliminally nudging us at the college fair to just wait for the regular enrollment cycle instead.

Kate Jackson4 said:Kate Jackson4, I feel your pain. It’s the same story here in NYC; take NASA, for instance. Last year, you needed a 76.11 just to qualify as a computer technician.

If we weren't living in NYC, 50 points would probably be plenty... 🤣

NASA has always been viewed as a step above the standard technical schools—kind of like a hybrid between a vocational school and a prep academy.

If I recall correctly, you could probably land a spot at a US Army facility in Chicago with maybe 55 or 56 points, but let's be honest—the environment there isn't nearly as stimulating as what you'd find at NASA.
Whatever, I guess that's why NASA can afford to be so picky about their requirements.

Dana Smith2 said:NASA has always been viewed as a step above the standard technical schools—kind of like a hybrid between a vocational school and a prep academy.

If I recall correctly, you could probably land a spot at a US Army facility in Chicago with maybe 55 or 56 points, but let's be honest—the environment there isn't nearly as stimulating as what you'd find at NASA.
Whatever, I guess that's why NASA can afford to be so picky about their requirements.

Actually, for the US Army program, the cutoff for a computer technician is 65.66 points.

I think I might have gotten my grades mixed up—all those Bs and As are starting to blur together.
Still, you need ten points less than what they require at NASA, so if you didn't make the cut there, you've still got an option here.

Susan James said:The whole thing became a mess because parents were putting so much pressure on schools to get their kids into specific programs. Honestly, the specialized sports tracks are just as ridiculous—especially when kids drop out of them halfway through middle school—and some of those medical diagnoses feel a bit exaggerated too. When you take the massive population of Washington, D.C., and add everyone commuting in from the suburbs, those spots fill up incredibly fast...
We were actually debating the other day whether transit authorities should raise ticket prices for commuters coming from outside the city. Personally, I don't think that's the answer, since that would just drive more people to drive cars and create even worse traffic jams. But, following that logic, maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to implement a residency preference point system, similar to how they handle preschool placements (since high school isn't mandatory anyway)....

It wasn't mandatory fifty years ago either, and back then, almost everyone from my immediate and extended family moved from rural areas into the big cities to finish high school, and some even went on to college later. Because of those skills they picked up, they were able to make a living—and they still do. I suppose it actually worked out well for us as a society that people didn't just stay in their small towns tending to livestock; instead, they headed off to those non-mandatory high schools in distant major cities, staying in state-funded dormitories along the way. 🤔

Besides, elementary school is compulsory, so parents can really only enroll their kids in the schools within their specific local district (for anything else, they have to submit formal requests which the district doesn't necessarily have to grant), rather than just picking any school they want.

And the Supreme Court has already struck down a previous enrollment decision that included extra credit for certain municipal schools or foreign language programs, because they felt those opportunities weren't equally accessible to everyone across the country. So, I suspect that adding extra points based on where someone lives would almost certainly be ruled unconstitutional.

Honestly, I can't think of a more half-baked idea I've heard lately than this whole mess regarding residency requirements. 🤣

In my opinion, the worst part is how active this thread is—high school discussions happening on a parenting subforum... that says everything we need to know.
I’ve tried asking questions in high school threads where actual students or alumni post, but there's absolutely nobody there...

It used to be that parents barely knew which school their kid was heading to, and most kids handled the whole process themselves... nowadays, we're fighting their battles for them, obsessing over GPA and admissions... that's why this isn't working.😢

Kate Jackson4 said:In my opinion, the worst part is how active this thread is—high school discussions happening on a parenting subforum... that says everything we need to know.
I’ve tried asking questions in high school threads where actual students or alumni post, but there's absolutely nobody there...

It used to be that parents barely knew which school their kid was heading to, and most kids handled the whole process themselves... nowadays, we're fighting their battles for them, obsessing over GPA and admissions... that's why this isn't working.😢

Yeah, 🙏really

Kate Jackson4 said:In my opinion, the worst part is how active this thread is—high school discussions happening on a parenting subforum... that says everything we need to know.
I’ve tried asking questions in high school threads where actual students or alumni post, but there's absolutely nobody there...

It used to be that parents barely knew which school their kid was heading to, and most kids handled the whole process themselves... nowadays, we're fighting their battles for them, obsessing over GPA and admissions... that's why this isn't working.😢

I suspect it’s mostly because the general public doesn't really visit this site anymore. It’s just not their scene. They’re probably all over Instagram or TikTok talking about this stuff instead.

mellowskipper said:I suspect it’s mostly because the general public doesn't really visit this site anymore. It’s just not their scene. They’re probably all over Instagram or TikTok talking about this stuff instead.

I think you might be forgetting that some of them are constantly surrounded by hundreds of high schoolers in their everyday lives.
they don't really give a second thought to things like enrollment numbers, calculating GPA, or meeting certain academic thresholds.
they just kind of assume the parents will handle all that heavy lifting.😁
it seems to me they only get worked up if they notice the adults around them starting to stress out, and then they just end up caught in that same loop.

mellowskipper said:I guess we could have done it that way, but they certainly didn't present it to us like that. They kept suggesting five different schools to us—though, to be fair, the first two were her actual choices. I just had no idea we had the option to reject the others, or rather, ask them to just strike those schools from our list entirely.
It felt almost like they were subliminally nudging us at the college fair to just wait for the regular enrollment cycle instead.

Well, you can still pull it off; after all, the exchange is supposed to provide its own input anyway, so when you file your next application at the local school board office, just list the specific schools you're actually interested in. The deadline for students with special needs hasn't passed yet, has it?

mellowskipper, true enough, but over here, every mom in the suburbs is already losing her mind over school enrollments while most kids couldn't care less... just saying

urbantinker8 said:I think you might be forgetting that some of them are constantly surrounded by hundreds of high schoolers in their everyday lives.
they don't really give a second thought to things like enrollment numbers, calculating GPA, or meeting certain academic thresholds.
they just kind of assume the parents will handle all that heavy lifting.😁
it seems to me they only get worked up if they notice the adults around them starting to stress out, and then they just end up caught in that same loop.

Well, maybe that's because they've already cleared those hurdles?

Carl Bishop2 said:Well, maybe that's because they've already cleared those hurdles?

That's pretty funny, I guess.🙄
I suppose we might be spending years sitting on these admissions committees, so we end up seeing just about everything imaginable.
Because, believe it or not, for someone to actually be enrolled, they first have to go through the process of applying, and you can run into all sorts of things during that period.😲
And if you'd rather me talk about elementary schoolers who haven't even reached the application stage yet—well, I have two kids myself, and I've been hearing all sorts of stories from parents since they were in second or third grade.🙂

What kind of red flags do you usually spot when dealing with college admissions committees?