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CPS has added a page with a plethora of information regarding how, why, where, when, etc they will release information for High School notifications. The new GoCPS single offer application for one selective and one non-selective offer is definitely more confusing than in the past. On top of that, they are adding “Second Rounds” this year, although extremely popular programs will not dip into second rounds, we suspect.
Check out the extremely detailed videos and info on https://go.cps.edu/selection/high-school.
Round 1 Offers
MARCH 30, 2018
Round 1 – Offers PostedAPRIL 13, 2018
Round 1 – Accept/Decline DeadlineAPRIL 18, 2018
Round 1 Waitlist Process Opens48 HRS AFTER OFFER POSTS
Waitlist Accept/Decline Deadline
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Round 2 Applications
APRIL 30, 2018
Round 2 OpensMAY 4, 2018
Round 2 ClosesRound 2 Offers
JUNE 1, 2018
Round 2 – Offers PostedJUNE 8, 2018
Round 2 – Accept/Decline DeadlineJUNE 13, 2018
Round 2 Waitlist Process Opens48 HRS AFTER OFFER POSTS
Waitlist Accept/Decline Deadline -
Principal’s Discretion (which is only available for one of the 11 Selective Enrollment High schools that should have been on your child’s original application) will open on April 9 and close on April 20. The packet itself should be available on March 30.
SEHS cutoff scores should also be posted on 3/30/18. Here are cutoff scores: https://www.cps.edu/AccessAndEnrollment/Documents/CutoffScores_SEHS_2018-2019.pdf
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Results are trickling in! My friend said her son is headed to his 1st choice, Lane Tech!
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High School offers are now online at GoCPS…. haven’t found cut-off scores yet. Can tell you that my Tier 4 kiddo received a Lane offer (first and only choice) with a score of 871 (IEP student). If anyone finds the 2018 cut-off scores, could you please post? Thanks….
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My child got a 871 Tier 4 as well. Whitney was her 1st choice. She got into Lane her 2nd choice. Can’t find cut off scores but am very curious.
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Jones 1st choice T4 898
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Payton first choice 300; friend had 896 – missed Payton and got her second choice which was Whitney.
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Guess I should have added my daughter and her friend are both Tier 4. I think the Go CPS website has crashed now, but when I looked earlier, I could not find the scores either.
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My kiddo received her first choice!
Northside prep
Tier 4
897 -
Tier 4, 896. Missed Payton as first choice. Headed to WY.
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She didn’t have Northside on her list. Payton #1, Young #2.
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Payton, got 1st choice, 900, tier 3.
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Tier 4 – 892 – missed Payton, got Jones!
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@LJF22 I don’t understand how your daughter did not get accepted to northside prep if the cut off is 896 for tier 4. Is the cutoff actually 895?
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@kris, northside wasn’t on her list.
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@kris, I’m thinking a lot of kids had 896 with Payton as #1 and the official tie breaking system decided who got a seat and who didn’t. All good though, she’s happy with second choice.
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Got it! Maybe we’ll meet sometime over the next 4 years! 🙂
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Tier 3 877 WY first choice
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Is anyone else in the position where they have an incoming 9th grader and an incoming 7th grader?
We got the great news that my 9th grader got into Whitney and Taft IB but doesn’t want to decide until she knows where her brother got in for the academic center (either Whitney or Taft). I can’t believe that CPS expects parents to decide for one before knowing the other results!! We have no idea what to do.-
@Faye, Take Whitney Young. The program is exceptional. My daughter is in 9th this year, started in 7th, and it has been amazing for her. Different schools is not the end of the world.
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Lots of helpful links to cutoff scores and Principal’s Discretion at this post: https://chicagoschooloptions.com/spring-2018-cps-high-school-offers/
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Tier 4 – 897; 300 on SE Test. Got into Payton, 1st choice. We’re in a school choice dilemma now – St. Ignatius or Payton. Concerned that Payton will be too much of a pressure-cooker. Kids will clearly be top 10% of class going in at St. Ignatius (top 1-2% math), but maybe only top 1/3rd at Payton – is it better to take the stress off and go Ignatius route or keep pushing and go the Payton route?
They have surprisingly similar college placement statistics – which has me worried. Payton is a lot more diverse, so one theory is that the minority students are the ones getting the coveted college placements and the non-minorities are left scratching and competing. So, while Ignatius has poor diversity figures, when they report 25% going to top colleges, those figures are truly available to non-minorities.
Would love to know if others are going through the same or have thoughts.
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I have a senior at St. Ignatius and have several friends with children at Payton. You should try to speak to parents with children at both schools. Our experience has been that St. Ignatius has roughly double the homework of Payton, assuming the student is taking mainly honors/AP courses. Just because your daughter did well on the entrance exam does not mean that her experience at Ignatius would be a cake walk. All students at Ignatius are challenged.
There is no difference between legacies and non-legacies and there are many students who are not Catholic. All are treated the same, so this is not something to worry about.
I’m hoping you went to the admitted student night at St. Ignatius and that your daughter did a shadow day. You will have an idea of the atmosphere there – most people are either drawn to it or know it is not for them. I recommend weighing this feeling heavily.
Best of luck with your decision.
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898: SE test 300
Got into 1st choice WPCP
Also got offer for Jones Pre-engineering CTE
Tier 4
Haven’t decided which one yet. Any one has advice on the differences between the schools? -
Tier 4, 900. My son will be joining his sister at Northside! We are so relieved not to be split between different schools.
Faye, that’s an awful position to be in. I’m so sorry you’re stuck making a decision without complete information. I would encourage you to think long and hard about whether the IB program is a good fit for your student’s learning style, because I remember discussions from CPSO about Taft IB students who decided it wasn’t a great fit for them, who then had to leave the school because it wasn’t their neighborhood HS. I’m not 100% certain of this, but I think Taft is so crowded that if you leave IB, they just can’t keep you in the building. I had listed Taft IB as our top non-selective choice, but I was worried about it because I thought my son wouldn’t be the best IB fit and I didn’t know what we’d do if he turned out to be miserable.
I would try to make the choice focused on what’s the best fit for your high schooler. The 7th grader will have another shot at making a change in two years. It feels in our house like the high school years are lived in technicolor; everything is experienced by your kid at higher intensity than everything that came before. Follow the path of best fit for the high schooler, whatever that may be. If you end up dealing with two schools for two years, that won’t be different than it would have been if your rising 7th grader were staying in their middle school. (Although I certainly understand the challenge and aggravation of being split between schools, as that’s what I’ve been doing for the last three years.) I hope you are lucky enough that it works out for both of your kids to be in the same place!
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@2nd Time Around
My daughter LOVED WY today for the shadow day. It will be a no brainer decision now between WY and Taft IB. CTA was no problem too. Phew!! ☺️☺️
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@CubbieBlue, my daughter is a Northside junior, but I think some of the issues there are similar to what you would see at Payton. I will tell you that the pressure can be intense. We’ve had a bit of a rough go of it this year in particular, and her GPA has taken a few hits. More importantly, she is stressed out and exhausted most of the time, which is tough to watch. It has caused her to decide that in the college search she wants to avoid schools that are quite so intense, so we are focusing on liberal arts colleges with an intellectual but supportive vibe. Don’t get me wrong, she loves Northside and couldn’t imagine herself anywhere else, but the pressure can be tough to manage when you’re taking 4 APs and doing extracurriculars.
The question is, is the pressure at Ignatius going to be any less than the pressure at Payton? I’m not sure that it is. Some of this is baked into the high school cake no matter where you go, especially if you are taking a course load designed to position yourself for a shot at a top school. So I would look carefully at what seems to be the best overall environment for your student. Put them in the place where they will be happiest generally to give them the best shot at having success in their coursework and activities. Payton and Ignatius are really different places. Which does your student prefer?
When it comes to the college search, I think it’s important to realize that it’s an insane experience for everyone at this point. This year’s admission numbers were alarming. In many cases, the best shot at getting in is now reserved for the kids who apply early decision, which is binding and isn’t the best option for everyone, and we are being advised that it’s a risk that should only be taken if you know you can write a check for the full tuition. But no matter what, admission to the very top places is limited to the very top students, period.
Looking at Naviance, which tracks college admission statistics for high schools, it’s clear that Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc only offer admission to at most two Northsiders per year. I know some of those kids, and they are exceptional; for most of them their hook wasn’t about being a minority, it’s that they are amazing Latin students. My guess is that the numbers are similar with Payton (minus the Latin part; Payton has another specialty, I expect). But I don’t know about Ignatius.
So I think I’d be wondering what do they mean by “Top Colleges.” That’s a hard-to-define group. And I suspect that the kids who are getting in to very competitive schools are just really good candidates. Maybe some of them do have a hook related to being an underrepresented minority, but that’s not the only kind of hook there is. (Also, if UChicago is on your student’s list of wish schools, be reassured that they have a particular commitment to supporting CPS students, and I’d bet that they take more Payton kids than Ignatius kids.)
Basically I think you shouldn’t overthink the college angle too much. That’s going to be intense and painful and semi-random whether you’re coming from Payton or Ignatius. The critical question for you right now is which is the environment that will best allow your student to thrive. Because ultimately the college admissions process is going to be more influenced by your student’s transcript and activities than anything else.
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Thank you so much for taking the time to give me your thoughts. This is an agonizing decision and I wish we could foretell the future
On paper, I’d say Payton. On everything else, I’d say Ignatius. My daughter has always succeeded at everything she’s touched – grades, art & dance. It sounds like I’m speaking to choir on this thread. But, I suppose the question is: what do you do with such gifts?
She’s very introspective and deeply, internally competitive. She does not react well to an A- on a test and she takes it out on herself harshly. She’s never had a B and I’m not looking forward to the day that that occurs. I attribute her introspection to the fact that she’s just not around kids that are thinking like her and that she’s taking middle school very seriously – whereas the other kids are planning the weekends. She’s an exceptionally humble and quiet leader and she’s made “being smart” a cool thing at her school.
Correct me if I miss the perception, but Payton seems to me to be an academic factory of high achievers who are pushing the boundaries of every subject – particularly math and science. Ignatius to me seems to be a leadership factory, where they are trying to make the ‘whole’ person. They seem to fall short on straight-up math/science, but they try to make up for it with their push of religion and service. Though neither seem to have strong dance programs, Ignatius’ performances are clearly better. Also, Ignatius seems to have more outlets for art. Ignatius might give her that chance to ‘come out of her shell’ a bit. But, then again, if she doesn’t my worry is that she gets trampled by the privileged legacies that already had their path charted for them (a path us non-legacy, non-Catholics don’t get).
Both schools now have the traditional grading scales (Ignatius finally came into the 21st century last year), so my daughter can put aside the fear of the dreaded 92% B+. Ignatius publishes what % students have earned what grades and its encouraging (40% getting A’s in math for instance) – they aren’t grade inflating, but they’re not killing peoples GPA’s either. Knowing where she typically performs, she shouldn’t have a problem graduating with honors. I have no idea what the grade distributions are like at Payton, but am curious whether and the extent to which grades are the end-all-be-all of your success for the next level.
Sorry for the diatribe, but this thread has been a welcomed, unbiased outlet.
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@CubbieBlue, it sounds like you have a pretty strong sense of direction on this. I think Ignatius is pulling at your gut, and that’s something you need to listen to.
Three additional observations:
1) Thirty years ago, I was the only Non-Catholic at my class at my (now-defunct) Chicago Catholic high school. I had something of an adjustment period, but I was welcomed and supported and ended up one of the top students in my class. Unlike my high school, Ignatius has a long history of integrating non-Catholics into their community, and I am 100% confident that your daughter will be welcomed and supported and encouraged to shine just as I was. I wouldn’t worry about the legacy issue at all. Truly, everyone gets the opportunity to forge their own path in high school.
2) I know you are worried about how your daughter will react to that first B on a test, but she needs to have this experience. Gifted kids in particular must have the opportunity to experience failure and recover from it, but unless they are in an environment where they are really being challenged, they can sail along without ever having to develop those coping skills. This, in turn, can lead to them becoming risk-averse, which will limit how far they can develop their potential. It also makes it really tough going when they finally do come face-to-face with a major failure. Your daughter needs to fall every once in awhile so she can learn to pick herself back up. Don’t be afraid for her to be in an environment where that can happen. Fortunately, both Ignatius and Payton should be able to challenge her and help her grow in this way. You really don’t want the first time it happens to be in college.
3) Although I sense you are strongly inclined to Ignatius, the other point you should carefully consider before making that final decision is finances. College is very, very expensive, and aid is inconsistent and often doesn’t meet parents’ expectations. People who think they are prepared all too frequently discover they are not. Make sure you have thought long and hard about how you will fund four to five years of $50-80K per year before you give up an opportunity for an excellent AND free high school education. (My kids did their elementary/middle school years at a private school, and I’m not knocking going that route for high school if you can afford it. Just make sure you have given it full consideration.)
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Thanks @castlehillmom and @2nd Time Around!! Such good advice!
It really helps to hear your thoughts on just going for what is best for my 9th grader. She is hopefully shadowing at Whitney this coming Thursday and I’ve told her that she will “know” after that day what she should do. Taking CTA is a big fear for her. She was comfortable with Taft because she is already there at the AC and it is walkable from our house. Whitney would push her out of her comfort zone (but in a good way – in my opinion).-
@Faye Walkable is great because it will give her more time for everything, but if she comes home Thursday feeling like Whitney is the right fit, then the commute time will be worth it. And mastering CTA travel will be so empowering for her! The whole city will be at her feet. I’m excited for her shadow day and hope it goes well. But if she comes home feeling that Taft is where she will be happiest, then that’s a win, too. All will be well.
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@2nd Time Around – thanks!! She is definitely going Thursday for the shadow day and I’m happy to learn there is a parent meeting at the closing of the day. I have a feeling she is going to love it! Also at school today at her AC all the kids were talking about where they got in and unfortunately for Taft, not many are staying. So I think that is also influencing her. Time will tell! ☺️
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You are hitting on all cylinders with your responses especially the money part private elementary/high school and now looking at college next year wish in some ways took the free high school route. Although she enjoys her time at trinity high school. They to need to change their grading policy and she is full IB 92 B+ thing is very tough and does actually hurt the GPA.
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Cubbie Blue and Faye, this is an issue near and dear to my heart. I have two boys. One is a junior at a private school similar to Ignatius, the other will be starting there this year. Both went through the selective enrollment process. The older one got into Payton. We decided against Payton for very simple reasons: the large classes, the heavy duty competition and inability to develop deep relationships with teachers. Plus, at his current school, writing is emphasized and this just cannot and does not happen at CPS with the class load the teachers have. Yes, it is expensive. Yes, it is more privileged. The education beats the cons every time.
We also wanted him to have time for sports and friends, which it sounds like your daughter needs. The homework load at SE schools is just too much, with little time for sports and outside life. My younger son got into Lane but will not be taking that spot as he will be going to the same school as his brother.
It really comes down to what is important to your kid and your family and which school qhas more of what is most important. I’d leave the college side out, you have enough to grapple with now.
Send your kids to the shadow days and talk things through as a family. You’ll get there!
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Has anyone received registration information from Payton? Or have information on a freshman welcome?
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Thank you. Have you received anything directly from the school?
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The Assistant Principal sent a congratulatory welcome note and invitation to the event in an e-mail on Saturday.
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Thank you!
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We also got a letter in the mail today.
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Thanks! We got a letter today, and I went back and found the email I somehow missed on Saturday. Yikes.
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Hi All:
My incoming 9th grader got into Taft IB and also got into Fenwick and we’re having a hard time deciding between the 2. Does anyone have a child at either school that can tell me about the programs? I’m concerned about the stress at Taft IB and the fact that they have to wait until 11th grade to see if they get into the Diploma Programme. How many don’t make the cut, etc.. What colleges accept Taft IB students? I also don’t want a super stressed out child throughout high school. We’re looking for a solid well rounded experience that will result in a good college.
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the IB program is tough no doubt its college based material and yes there will be some stress and your child will quiet at least 10-20 times and blame you. I still think its a strong education that prepares them very well for their freshman year regardless of were they attend college.
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does anyone have any information on the Principal’s Discretion process? I’ve heard they only look at the applications/letters of students who listed the school as 1 or 2
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