<p>Harvard Westlake in Los Angeles for 9th Grade admissions.</p>
<p>ISEE
Verbal Comprehension- 98 percentile
Verbal Reasoning-90 percentile
Math Reasoning- 75 percentile
Math Data- 83 percentile</p>
<p>Straight A's in previous grade
Good letters of Reco's
CTY- State award 2 year in a row
Play Sitar- an indian string instrument ( private lessons for the past 2 years)
Member of student council
Captain of school Robotics team
GATE student at her school
Plays Violen at school and participates in school oschestra</p>
<p>presently attending a very competitive public school in Los Angeles County</p>
<p>Sounds like she has a good chance. Her math score could be a little higher and it's harder to be accepted for 9th grade. They take most of their students for 7th. The acceptance rate for 9th is around 20%-25% Otherwise she sounds like a great applicant. Good luck!</p>
<p>is acceptance that difficult? i know several people at harvard-westlake who aren't nearly as "candidate"-worthy as the OP. I know that Harvard-Westlake is an EXTREMELY good school, but I never knew it was that hard</p>
<p>Westcoast I hesitate to judge your opinion of H-W, but I know of a Senior at an Ivy this year, an Eagle Scout, captain of his college water polo team, "A" student, came from an prestige private Elementary school in W. LA...he had to go to Loyola HS because he didn't get into H-W. I have no idea why he didn't get in.
Your friends who went probably had, unbeknown to you, talents the school needed in order to complete the best well rounded freshman class that year. What year did your friends graduate H-W? What varsity teams did they end up on? What college did they end up going to? Were they actors?</p>
<p>Back to the thread, sorry to hijack it, personally I believe the OPs child will have a pretty good chance, but the math score is a little on the lower side. I don't know if the ISEE tests math are in similar respects to the SSAT (which is, in my opinion, pure reasoning), but if they are, perhaps your child did a question or two backwards or interpreted them wrong. If they adhere more to calculations and the like, I'm sure that Harvard-Westlake has an accelerated program on top of being an academically reputed school. </p>
<p>Haha, random fact for me to learn today; A Sitar is an Indian string instrument.</p>
<p>Yes, Sitar is an East Indian Instrument. Another percussion instrument, though not heard very commonly is a 'tanpura'.
Pandit Ravishankar,is one of the greatest Sitar players and composer. I guess he has won 3 grammy's and if I remember correctly George harrison is his disciple. You might be able to relate to Ravishankar as Norah Jones father.</p>
<p>Coming back to chances for my D, I am getting info from non official sources that the admit ratio in 9th grade at HW is mre like 1 in 7 or 1 in 8 and not 1 in 4 as some one mentioned. My friends in the pasadena area tell that it is even more competitive in Polytechnic School in Pasadena, I guess last eyar they had 175 apps for 20 openings in 9th grade.</p>
<p>I vote for an accept if the school orchestra needs a violinist.
How far would she have to drive in LA to get to HW? Do you know any important alumni or ex parents who have or could write letters for her?</p>
<p>About 27 miles one way. their bus comes to the area to pick/drop students.</p>
<p>I know of exparents who went there and also a teacher who taught there but has moved on to do other things. I thought about them writing a reco for my D but decided against it. I do not want to bend back to get her in. </p>
<p>I am coming to an understanding that HW is a great school if you want to develop leadership skills, go for education in areas of arts, music and business. My D is trying things out at this time and does not show any leaning towards any particular career. But with both of us parents being engineers, I feel she might gravitate towards that.</p>
<p>I have been looking at the placement record of the high school in my area for the UG in engineering and Premed and looks like they place more students in Engg ( read caltech, Georgia Tech, Berkeley Engg, MIT and Standford) and Premed than the elite private schools in the area. My understanding is that for placement in colleges offering engineering and medicine programs- the kind of high school one graduates out of does not matter a whole lot.</p>
<p>In my experience, you won't find many kids at elite high schools who want to be engineers at that point. I know in NY they seem focused on careers they have seen pay a lot--investment bankers and corporate lawyers in NY and producers and agents in LA. My son was the only kid at his NYC high school that wanted to go to MIT and when I look at elite school matriculation's the tech school do not seem nearly as popular as the ivies and top LACs. That could actually work in your child's favor. It may well be a socio economic measure.</p>
<p>My brother has a child at HW who is very, very happy there. They place a lot of kids at Stanford because they are legacies. It is really important to understand when sending kids to elite prep schools that many of the college placements you're looking at have more to do with legacy and development status than the elite school.</p>
<p>That said, choose the high school because it's a good fit for your child. These schools expose the kids to things they may not have seen before. A child entering planning to be a doctor could well turn into an astronaut.</p>
<p>Hmom, You bring a good point. She was asked in her group task about what would she be doing when she is 25 yrs old- Others in the group said- lawyers, making documentary movies, performing arts, backpacking in Africa etc.etc.. She mentioned that she would be working for kids- writing books for them or designing educational computer games like Civilization.</p>
I think your daughter has a pretty good chance because of her ECs. My brother applied, too, to H-W during his ninth grade year with a 92% SSAT. He got in, but didn’t go. Good luck!