Best High Schools in Fairfax based on college outcomes (not incl TJHSST)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^my point is not to think about college when they are in elementary school.

Yeah, that's not a reality. Parents need to know what programs to enroll their children in so that they can compete in High School. There are a lot of parents that map out which grad schools to target as undergrad is just a waypoint nowadays. To answer their question, for now, several public high schools provide opportunities that outperform private ones. Outside of TJ, the top students from Langley, Madison, Oakton, Westfield, West Springfield, Robinson, Lake Braddock, Chantilly, and South Lakes do just fine competing for the top-tier colleges and universities.

Just wonder why Woodson is not in the above list? Underperformance or something? (Another parent of elementary kids )

Woodson should be in that list. I think it's just oversight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.fcps.edu/news/fcps-high-schools-ranked-among-best-virginia-and-nation-us-news-and-world-report

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia/districts/fairfax-county-public-schools-109481

Just curious - what’s the point of these off-topic links?

How are these links off-topic? The subject is "best high schools in Fairfax."

The subject is “best high schools in Fairfax based on college outcomes.” Which the ranking you linked to does not take into account.

Do you have a ranking that specifically takes that into account? Why haven't you posted it then?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.fcps.edu/news/fcps-high-schools-ranked-among-best-virginia-and-nation-us-news-and-world-report

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia/districts/fairfax-county-public-schools-109481

Thanks for posting these links!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.fcps.edu/news/fcps-high-schools-ranked-among-best-virginia-and-nation-us-news-and-world-report

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia/districts/fairfax-county-public-schools-109481

Just curious - what’s the point of these off-topic links?

DP here. The top schools on this list are pretty interchangeable with best college outcomes. Sure, McLean may or may not have slightly better or just more kids or more kids posting than Langley but the list is probably right. I think it has more to do with higher SES. Well educated and wealthier parent population with generally produce better results.

At the same time, college admissions officers don’t just want to admit kids from the wealthiest school with the highest average SAT scores. Kids from other schools often have more interesting backgrounds and stronger achievements.

Middle class kids can't afford OOS flagships like Michigan, they and the can't afford private universities and SLACS. Schools like Eidson and West Springfield and South County will have more families with HHIs in the 150-250k range for whom those schools aren't an option, so the results will be heavily skewed towrards Virginia schools and cheaper OOS options. That doesn't mean that a kid from a family who can afford 80k a year in one of those high schools isn't positioned just as well as the same kid in Langley.

Nearly all T30 privates meet full need, and usually cost even less than UVA for 150-250k HHI families. The hardest part is getting accepted, not affording it.

[Anonymous]

You have to understand a MAJOR aspect of college admissions at top schools-LEGACY and DONATIONS. In wealthy areas you have more people who went to top schools and donate to those schools. Add to that having the money for tutors, being able to afford to do the most impressive volunteer work because you don't need a job and parents paying to start non-profits "started by their kids" or paying to do other things that make their kids look special. Those same parents make sure to submit things to local and national newspapers for proof to send to the college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.instagram.com/langleycommits2023/

https://www.instagram.com/madisondecisions2023/

https://www.instagram.com/mcleancommits2023/

Based on these insta pages they are all three equal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.fcps.edu/news/fcps-high-schools-ranked-among-best-virginia-and-nation-us-news-and-world-report

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia/districts/fairfax-county-public-schools-109481

Just curious - what’s the point of these off-topic links?

DP here. The top schools on this list are pretty interchangeable with best college outcomes. Sure, McLean may or may not have slightly better or just more kids or more kids posting than Langley but the list is probably right. I think it has more to do with higher SES. Well educated and wealthier parent population with generally produce better results.

At the same time, college admissions officers don’t just want to admit kids from the wealthiest school with the highest average SAT scores. Kids from other schools often have more interesting backgrounds and stronger achievements.

Middle class kids can't afford OOS flagships like Michigan, they and the can't afford private universities and SLACS. Schools like Eidson and West Springfield and South County will have more families with HHIs in the 150-250k range for whom those schools aren't an option, so the results will be heavily skewed towrards Virginia schools and cheaper OOS options. That doesn't mean that a kid from a family who can afford 80k a year in one of those high schools isn't positioned just as well as the same kid in Langley.

Nearly all T30 privates meet full need, and usually cost even less than UVA for 150-250k HHI families. The hardest part is getting accepted, not affording it.

My daughter was a Shipman Scholar at Michigan. We didn't pay a penny of tuition, and ended up buying her a car and spent extra money for food and entertainment and a great off campus place. Surely it is not typical to be a Shipman - but it is worth checking out available scholarships.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.instagram.com/langleycommits2023/

https://www.instagram.com/madisondecisions2023/

https://www.instagram.com/mcleancommits2023/

Based on these insta pages they are all three equal.

Going by the Instagram pages, McLean and Madison look better than Langley, but not many Langley kids reported their plans so actual outcomes might be similar.

[Anonymous]

My kid attended a bottom tier fcps school. The high achieving students got into good universities, probably the same ones they would have gotten into had they gone to Langley or Mclean. Maybe there would be more top 10 acceptances if there were more legacy applicants. Cannot complain. The kids that put in the work, did well. The majority of students at this school are first-gen/low income. A good number of those students will go to George Mason or NOVA. Some may say those are not great options, however, if your parents did not graduate from high school, then I would say fcps did not let them down.

“Best outcome” can be measured in many ways. I believe each student’s starting point should be taken into account as well. Is the better school the one that sends sons and daughters of Ivy grads to Ivy schools? Or is the better school the one that sends sons and daughters of illiterate parents to George Mason?

Just my two cents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid attended a bottom tier fcps school. The high achieving students got into good universities, probably the same ones they would have gotten into had they gone to Langley or Mclean. Maybe there would be more top 10 acceptances if there were more legacy applicants. Cannot complain. The kids that put in the work, did well. The majority of students at this school are first-gen/low income. A good number of those students will go to George Mason or NOVA. Some may say those are not great options, however, if your parents did not graduate from high school, then I would say fcps did not let them down.

“Best outcome” can be measured in many ways. I believe each student’s starting point should be taken into account as well. Is the better school the one that sends sons and daughters of Ivy grads to Ivy schools? Or is the better school the one that sends sons and daughters of illiterate parents to George Mason?

Just my two cents.

+100. Any FCPS school that manages to transform a kid with parents from a developing country into a first-gen college student has accomplished an impressive task. Most of the "worst" FCPS schools are doing this year after year with thousands of first-gen kids getting into GMU, VT, and UVA regularly. FCPS' success here is greatly underappreciated.

[Anonymous]

The eternal question: Is it the demographics or the quality of the school that help determine the college acceptance outcomes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid attended a bottom tier fcps school. The high achieving students got into good universities, probably the same ones they would have gotten into had they gone to Langley or Mclean. Maybe there would be more top 10 acceptances if there were more legacy applicants. Cannot complain. The kids that put in the work, did well. The majority of students at this school are first-gen/low income. A good number of those students will go to George Mason or NOVA. Some may say those are not great options, however, if your parents did not graduate from high school, then I would say fcps did not let them down.

“Best outcome” can be measured in many ways. I believe each student’s starting point should be taken into account as well. Is the better school the one that sends sons and daughters of Ivy grads to Ivy schools? Or is the better school the one that sends sons and daughters of illiterate parents to George Mason?

Just my two cents.

+100. Any FCPS school that manages to transform a kid with parents from a developing country into a first-gen college student has accomplished an impressive task. Most of the "worst" FCPS schools are doing this year after year with thousands of first-gen kids getting into GMU, VT, and UVA regularly. FCPS' success here is greatly underappreciated.

Bit of hyperbole there.

It would be interesting if someone could develop a fair and objective way to rate schools based on the delta (exit performance vs. entrance performance), rather than the raw achievement.

[Anonymous]

We are a Herndon family. Middle class, single family house with a stay at home parent. Does our school have issues? Yes, many. Do the academically driven students do well? Yes they do. Do the low income students with challenging family lives struggle? Yes, a lot.
Would we move to a higher ranked school district? No. We love the community. My kids can walk to their friends’ houses, swimming pools, downtown area. I love the sense of community. We looked at homes in the Chantilly and Westfield pyramids, but those communities were just too sterile.

We are lucky our kids are hard working and do well in school. They play sports (can pretty much on any team as a freshman!) and are involved in school activities. They are not part of the crazy rat-race I read about in “high achieving” schools. Do we have a bunch of top 10 acceptances? No. There are a lot of VT, UVA and JMU bound students who are happy with their results. In the end, I want my kids to have a positive high school / teenage experience, and be happy!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are a Herndon family. Middle class, single family house with a stay at home parent. Does our school have issues? Yes, many. Do the academically driven students do well? Yes they do. Do the low income students with challenging family lives struggle? Yes, a lot.
Would we move to a higher ranked school district? No. We love the community. My kids can walk to their friends’ houses, swimming pools, downtown area. I love the sense of community. We looked at homes in the Chantilly and Westfield pyramids, but those communities were just too sterile.

We are lucky our kids are hard working and do well in school. They play sports (can pretty much on any team as a freshman!) and are involved in school activities. They are not part of the crazy rat-race I read about in “high achieving” schools. Do we have a bunch of top 10 acceptances? No. There are a lot of VT, UVA and JMU bound students who are happy with their results. In the end, I want my kids to have a positive high school / teenage experience, and be happy!

You make a lot of assumptions and aspersions on people who live in Chantilly and Westfield - we live in one of those pyramids and don't agree that they are "sterile" - we are closer to aspects of the local geography and have a thriving community in our housing neighborhood. Our kids have plenty of activities and friends etc... We are a "high-achieving" family and don't think we are in a "rat-race" but have a set of positive goals that our kids are driven to achieve with plenty of reinforcement from their friends and peers. No need to cast aspersions just because you have made some choices about what activities you feel are healthy or morally valuable for your kids. Other people have equally valid but different beliefs as you do.

[Anonymous]

I am the PP. Sorry. I should have not said that area as being “sterile” as a fact. In my opinion, it is sterile. We used to live within the Westfield pyramid, and frequented some events, businesses, but it just wasn’t our vibe. We cannot afford Mclean or Madison, but were lucky to find a community that suited oir needs in Herndon.