A prime example of college counseling steering

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do the parents who send their kids to elite boarding schools and have their kids end up at colleges that were easily attainable from public (e.g., the example above, UC Davis) end up regretting the decision to send their kids to boarding school? Or do they feel that it was worth it since the kids got a great education, great high school network, and were more ready for college life?

I feel like we never hear the perspective of a parent who made this decision and I'm sure there are some on this board.

I don't think many regret it at all. Most kids at elite boarding schools find college a breeze. Even the ones that don't end up at their top choices, usually float through academically and have an extremely strong foundation. This means they are able to complete pre-med coursework without as much struggle.

The network at a top boarding school is immensely helpful. The students my kid met at Lawrenceville were much more driven and impressive than what he met at his T10 school. The vast majority of his HS classmates became very successful with many in top graduate programs and elite career pathways. It was definitely worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the parents who send their kids to elite boarding schools and have their kids end up at colleges that were easily attainable from public (e.g., the example above, UC Davis) end up regretting the decision to send their kids to boarding school? Or do they feel that it was worth it since the kids got a great education, great high school network, and were more ready for college life?

I feel like we never hear the perspective of a parent who made this decision and I'm sure there are some on this board.

I don't see many matriculting to public unis. I think boarding schools and private schools are REALLY good at sending kids to liberal arts colleges. Second tier liberal art colleges like Davidson Wesleyan Bates or even Dickinson, are not that easily attainable to public school kids. Not to mention Chicago. Many parents are fine with these results. No regrets.

Wesleyan and Dickinson (not sure about Davidson and Bates) are not that unattainable for public school kids.

LACs (especially second tier) are just not that popular among most public school applicants.

LACs are not popular because they don't take many from public schools, as a result fewer public school kids apply there. And because fewer applications, LACs become even less favoring public school kids.

No matter what reason, this creates certain exclusivity for LACs, even the second tier ones. Private school parents are okay with this result.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.instagram.com/phillipsexeter26decisions/?g=5
You won't find a cluster of more than 2, 3 kids for a same school. They are steered to a WIDE range of ivy league and plus and top lac schools.
No rat race, everyone finds somewhere they are happy.
Well done!

We know the Exeter college process well. this isn't true whatsoever. About 50 kids apply for Harvard each year. About 10 will be admitted, but it's not the best 10 applicants. Usually, it is a combination of legacies, athletes, URMs, FGLI, etc. Exeter is wealthier than most colleges, so they have many scholarship students with great personal stories. During college admissions season, they are heavily encouraged to lean on these stories in their applications.

The counseling process looks very different for hooked and unhooked kids. A low-income black student with a B+ average could be encouraged to ED to Penn. I've seen Exeter black kids with C's or worse in math class get into Yale over the years. Meanwhile, an unhooked kid with a 10/11 GPA (very strong at Exeter) will be encouraged to shoot for Cornell or Dartmouth ED.

I guarantee you that many of these kid admitted to places like Colby, Tufts, or Wesleyan had Ivy ambitions which were shot down by their college counseling office and they were encouraged to aim lower. Most of the kids are not happy with their outcomes, and many kids feel like they would've had better odds applying from their local public school because the pool is much less competitive. Instead of competing against 50 driven Exonians, they might be competing against 4 kids that aren't that impressive.

I know the Andover process well and just so nobody is confused, these are the right categories but let's make sure we know the order. It' snot really about black kid with the B+. That kid will get in every other year, and there are many at Andover. And I've never seen a black kid with Cs in math get into HYP - maybe if it was a C first semester freshman year and now his SAT is a 780 in math. (Harvard uses questbridge now to get the low income URM from these schools). And legacies and FGLI with a B+ have a little big better odds. But still tough.

Here's who gets into Harvard: the rower with the B+. the tennis player with a 1480. the football player with a B average and a 1450. the squash player who isn't a top 20 ranked and has no other EC are all. the "sailing team" who all get in who are not top 10% of the class. the soccer player who is a good student but a top 10 kid.

It's the athletes guys. Always and always.

This is somewhat true, but Harvard definitely will take the top 2-3 academic applicants from the HADES schools. They know these kids are extremely bright and extremely well prepared and it helps the school's academic profile to have them on campus. The students outside the top decile struggle in college admissions if they want an Ivy. They usually can land on their feet if they're strategic and ED to Chicago or EA to Georgetown. Nearly everyone ends up somewhere in the T50 and many transfer into the T20 after freshman year anyways.

[Anonymous]

My top boarding school (HADES) network helped me more with my job search than my top LAC (WASP) network.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.instagram.com/phillipsexeter26decisions/?g=5
You won't find a cluster of more than 2, 3 kids for a same school. They are steered to a WIDE range of ivy league and plus and top lac schools.
No rat race, everyone finds somewhere they are happy.
Well done!

We know the Exeter college process well. this isn't true whatsoever. About 50 kids apply for Harvard each year. About 10 will be admitted, but it's not the best 10 applicants. Usually, it is a combination of legacies, athletes, URMs, FGLI, etc. Exeter is wealthier than most colleges, so they have many scholarship students with great personal stories. During college admissions season, they are heavily encouraged to lean on these stories in their applications.

The counseling process looks very different for hooked and unhooked kids. A low-income black student with a B+ average could be encouraged to ED to Penn. I've seen Exeter black kids with C's or worse in math class get into Yale over the years. Meanwhile, an unhooked kid with a 10/11 GPA (very strong at Exeter) will be encouraged to shoot for Cornell or Dartmouth ED.

I guarantee you that many of these kid admitted to places like Colby, Tufts, or Wesleyan had Ivy ambitions which were shot down by their college counseling office and they were encouraged to aim lower. Most of the kids are not happy with their outcomes, and many kids feel like they would've had better odds applying from their local public school because the pool is much less competitive. Instead of competing against 50 driven Exonians, they might be competing against 4 kids that aren't that impressive.

I know the Andover process well and just so nobody is confused, these are the right categories but let's make sure we know the order. It' snot really about black kid with the B+. That kid will get in every other year, and there are many at Andover. And I've never seen a black kid with Cs in math get into HYP - maybe if it was a C first semester freshman year and now his SAT is a 780 in math. (Harvard uses questbridge now to get the low income URM from these schools). And legacies and FGLI with a B+ have a little big better odds. But still tough.

Here's who gets into Harvard: the rower with the B+. the tennis player with a 1480. the football player with a B average and a 1450. the squash player who isn't a top 20 ranked and has no other EC are all. the "sailing team" who all get in who are not top 10% of the class. the soccer player who is a good student but a top 10 kid.

It's the athletes guys. Always and always.

This is somewhat true, but Harvard definitely will take the top 2-3 academic applicants from the HADES schools. They know these kids are extremely bright and extremely well prepared and it helps the school's academic profile to have them on campus. The students outside the top decile struggle in college admissions if they want an Ivy. They usually can land on their feet if they're strategic and ED to Chicago or EA to Georgetown. Nearly everyone ends up somewhere in the T50 and many transfer into the T20 after freshman year anyways.

Depends on which T20. It's still very difficult for all the ivies. Vandy maybe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do the parents who send their kids to elite boarding schools and have their kids end up at colleges that were easily attainable from public (e.g., the example above, UC Davis) end up regretting the decision to send their kids to boarding school? Or do they feel that it was worth it since the kids got a great education, great high school network, and were more ready for college life?

I feel like we never hear the perspective of a parent who made this decision and I'm sure there are some on this board.

Absolutely! I know parents who regretted sending them to boarding schools because they thought the kids would go to an Ivy+. The unhooked kids stayed at publics seem to have been more successful in getting those Ivy+ admits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the parents who send their kids to elite boarding schools and have their kids end up at colleges that were easily attainable from public (e.g., the example above, UC Davis) end up regretting the decision to send their kids to boarding school? Or do they feel that it was worth it since the kids got a great education, great high school network, and were more ready for college life?

I feel like we never hear the perspective of a parent who made this decision and I'm sure there are some on this board.

Absolutely! I know parents who regretted sending them to boarding schools because they thought the kids would go to an Ivy+. The unhooked kids stayed at publics seem to have been more successful in getting those Ivy+ admits.

That's why you heard kid committed suicide. It is so evil

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hah! Not impressed: no Bucknell, no Holy Cross, no Northeastern.

But then how will they make it to The Street??

No one cares about going to The Street. Gen Z makes money from Polymarket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The original Phillips in Massachusetts does the same. I had a friend whose son went there and they steered him to UIUC. Oh a girl from DC’s class who attended ended up at UC Davis. I believe she is a Harvard legacy. Wonder if she was even allowed to apply to Harvard if she ended up at Davis.

UIUC is one of the top 3-5 for CS, also v highly ranked for all Engineering so perhaps the student wanted one of those majors - if so, well done

lol no neither the parents nor the student were happy. They expected HYPMS!

Ofc, that's what they are promoting themselves to begin with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the parents who send their kids to elite boarding schools and have their kids end up at colleges that were easily attainable from public (e.g., the example above, UC Davis) end up regretting the decision to send their kids to boarding school? Or do they feel that it was worth it since the kids got a great education, great high school network, and were more ready for college life?

I feel like we never hear the perspective of a parent who made this decision and I'm sure there are some on this board.

Absolutely! I know parents who regretted sending them to boarding schools because they thought the kids would go to an Ivy+. The unhooked kids stayed at publics seem to have been more successful in getting those Ivy+ admits.

That's why you heard kid committed suicide. It is so evil

I have never heard of boarding school parents "thought the kids would go to an Ivy+". It's a competitive environment, and most parents are wealthy or at least well off, and they know better than that. They sent their kids for a good education, not ivy+.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the parents who send their kids to elite boarding schools and have their kids end up at colleges that were easily attainable from public (e.g., the example above, UC Davis) end up regretting the decision to send their kids to boarding school? Or do they feel that it was worth it since the kids got a great education, great high school network, and were more ready for college life?

I feel like we never hear the perspective of a parent who made this decision and I'm sure there are some on this board.

Absolutely! I know parents who regretted sending them to boarding schools because they thought the kids would go to an Ivy+. The unhooked kids stayed at publics seem to have been more successful in getting those Ivy+ admits.

That's why you heard kid committed suicide. It is so evil

I have never heard of boarding school parents "thought the kids would go to an Ivy+". It's a competitive environment, and most parents are wealthy or at least well off, and they know better than that. They sent their kids for a good education, not ivy+.

you are probably one of the rich and legacy

[Anonymous]

I regret sending my kid to private school - it won’t help DC w college admissions - it is an IB school and realized too late that it is too much work for no benefit. Outcomes would likely be same or better at public with less useless busywork for the IB.

[Anonymous]

The amount of money these parents invest in their unhooked children is probably insane. They might be better off putting their resources to create a new prestigious school that teaches practical, meaningful material and helps their brightest children start businesses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hah! Not impressed: no Bucknell, no Holy Cross, no Northeastern.

But then how will they make it to The Street??

No one cares about going to The Street. Gen Z makes money from Polymarket.

Ha. So true. My DC's roommate developed some coding interface business (honestly, I have no idea what it is, but it does something like polymarket) and is clearing $700k/MONTH. Considering dropping out of Ivy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the parents who send their kids to elite boarding schools and have their kids end up at colleges that were easily attainable from public (e.g., the example above, UC Davis) end up regretting the decision to send their kids to boarding school? Or do they feel that it was worth it since the kids got a great education, great high school network, and were more ready for college life?

I feel like we never hear the perspective of a parent who made this decision and I'm sure there are some on this board.

Absolutely! I know parents who regretted sending them to boarding schools because they thought the kids would go to an Ivy+. The unhooked kids stayed at publics seem to have been more successful in getting those Ivy+ admits.

Exeter and Andover are not what they once were, college admissions have declined over the years.

But if you choose the right school, you can absolutely still expect the kids go to ivy+.

Take a look at this one, so far every single one is an ivy+.
https://www.instagram.com/chapin26decisions/