<p>“Mahh-thah”</p>
<p>thats how i’m greeted.</p>
<p>I kinda like it, although i get sick of my sister being called SAY-rah</p>
<p>Since a piece of my family is from the Caribbean, your name would be pronounce “Mah-da” by my grandmother. She always says “Rah-buht” when greeting my father.</p>
<p>I swear, if I go off somewhere to college, I am so increasing my accent, yah know?</p>
<p>i’m torn between playing it up or taking speech lessons</p>
<p>i’m afraid it will hinder job opportunities</p>
<p>Back in 8th grade, I got accepted to Whitney Young but went somewhere else just as selective. Young was a 1.5-hour commute each way from my house. I applied just in case i got denied at my other schools. applying to more schools=greater likelihood of being accepted at a selective enrollment school.</p>
<p>Who cares if you have a Southern accent? At least you speak relatively proper English. Now if you spoke Ebonics as the main form of English I could see the need to take speech lessons.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your help, everyone. gianscolere1, was it really hard getting into Whitney Young?</p>
<p>Martha, my grandmother has your name, but without the h.</p>
<p>Chicago’s magnet high schools (“college preps” as they are called) use a points system for admissions. The perfect score is 1,000, where 300 points is for grades, 300 7th grade exam scores, 300 entrance exam scores, and 100 for attendance. The cutoff at Whitney Young was about 860, if I remember correctly. I scored 950.</p>
<p>If you are in high school, do they take into consideration grades, test scores, etc. from your time spent in high school?</p>
<p>I’m sure they would take those into consideration. I know that prep schools do, at least.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies!</p>
<p>Yayyaahhh represent Chicago. Haha. Some of my friends used to go there.</p>
<p>“If you are in high school, do they take into consideration grades, test scores, etc. from your time spent in high school?”</p>
<p>Actually, I’m not sure if they accept students who are already freshmen or beyond.</p>
<p>I’m a WYHS alumnus if you have any questions.</p>
<p>
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<p>I don’t know if that’s strictly correct, because WY has race quotas for admissions, so the cutoff scores for under-represented minorities are lower. The official PR spin may be quoting the cutoff score for white applicants or something.</p>
<p>Whitney Young High School is in the movie Cheaters, very enlightening :-D</p>
<p>You’re right in saying that admissions at the college preps here in Chicago are quite arbitrary. A former classmate was denied at Northside, despite his score meeting the published cutoff, whereas URMs got in with scores 50 points below it. I think he wanted all the best for URMs, but he was pretty upset that AA personally affected him.</p>
<p>Actually, I have heard about this school. My cousin went to this high school, a few years back. I’m pretty sure that she applied after freshmen year, because she was going to a public school during her ninth grade year. She had high scores, came from a very low income family, and etc. She ended up getting into all the colleges that she applied to (Princeton, WashU, Georgetown, Tufts, UIUC, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, and other schools), and is now a student at University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.</p>