Although many upperclassmen may not recall much from their MLWGS admissions testing day many moons ago, it is likely still fresh in the minds of some of our newest Dragons. In particular, it became a shared experience full of the typical anxious apprehension for this year’s batch of potential future Dragons on Saturday, January 28th. The swarm of eighth graders that entered the building, however, took a distinctly different test than nearly all of the classes before them.

During the 2023 testing day, Maggie Walker administrator Dr. Max Smith was asked about changes to the admissions testing process and how he believes it will better reflect what the school is looking for in their student body. Coming out of the coronavirus pandemic, the majority of changes to the testing were implemented for the Class of 2026, and many of those changes remained for this year’s incoming freshman class. 

“We started doing it as a three-hour test as compared to a five-hour test,” Smith said when asked about the test’s structure. “There wasn't much that we were getting out of five hours that we couldn't get out of three, and so we chopped down a fair bit of the multiple-choice material in order to have more focus on writing samples.” 

The most significant change enacted for last year’s admissions cycle was creating a test that is aptitude-based rather than achievement-based. Smith described the previous achievement-based testing system, which included a section with a 10th-grade multiple choice history test, as “more evaluating [the students] on the quality of their middle school than anything else.” Smith then expressed that the new aptitude-based test is “more about trying to get at their [abilities] than the content of their knowledge.” 

A further addition to testing last year was the personal statement portion of the test. This section’s purpose, Smith says, is to “get at the ability of the student to write about their own experiences, challenges that they’ve faced, things they’ve overcome.” This year’s test also continued to include a persuasive essay section, which Smith says is used “to get at the ability of the student in order to write an argument.” Each essay aims to observe different sides of the students’ personalities and ability to express themselves through writing.

In terms of deciding how to redesign the admissions test, Smith shared that the task of changing the material of the test fell on a planning committee that is made up of gifted coordinators of every county and is currently chaired by the gifted coordinator from Hanover County. Later this month, the members of the planning committee will participate in evaluation day, during which “all of these gifted personnel drop in on the school and score all of the essays and come up with a composite score, and all those are sent back to the districts.” After that, the fate of the applicants lies in the hands of their districts as they implement their own processes to select who will be admitted.

When asked what he believes are the benefits of these admissions testing changes, Smith said that they help the school “get a class that would better represent Maggie Walker’s school divisions and create the environment we are looking to create here.” He also believes that this change would be more equitable to all applicants because of the additional stress created by a five-hour versus a three-hour test. He described how “absolutely terrified” the testers always look. “Running them through a five-hour test seemed real excessive to me.” 

However, having two three-hour tests held in one day also presented new challenges. Smith explained that, as usual, administration’s largest logistical challenge was dismissal because of all of the students and parents trying to leave simultaneously. On top of that, given the break between testing windows, the counseling department had to put in orders for lunches for everyone—all of the proctors, student ambassadors, and floaters. However, Smith still wholeheartedly supports the new process, adding, “It makes for a long day, but at least it’s on one Saturday in comparison to two.”

As the testing session came to an end and students rushed out to meet their parents, one aspiring Dragon from Richmond, Sofia, spoke about her experience applying to Maggie Walker this year. Sofia began by discussing how she applied to Maggie Walker for opportunities it offers, stating, “It’s really close, and it's essentially free compared to other really good schools.” 

With the benefit of quality, free public education, she further highlighted another key attraction of the school: languages. Sofia is already fluent in two languages, and she remarks, “Since you can take two languages [at Maggie Walker] and there is a larger variety than just French, Chinese, and Spanish, that’s another reason I would love to go here.” Yet, as expected, walking into an unknown building remains a daunting task no matter how prepared someone is. Sofia went on to illustrate this, saying, “Before, I didn’t know what to expect, so I was telling myself not to stress out too much, but the test was good.” Hopefully, Sofia will be on campus next year!

This year’s testing process saw a return to the normalcy of previous Maggie Walker admissions. Students were able to come onto campus and roam the hallways looking for their testing classroom in nervous anticipation. However, as Dr. Smith reflects, testing is just “one more milestone in a process that started at the beginning of the year and will not conclude until close to the end of the year with freshmen registration.” Future Dragons will be alerted of their admission in the coming months, and from then on, the class of 2027 will be slowly assembled before once again stepping through Maggie Walker’s doors as full-fledged Dragons.