Big 3 College Placement, Class of 2022

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is indeed a stream of good news out of the private schools and to answer OP’s question, things seem a lot brighter than they did after ED/EA rounds last year.
NCS and STA having great results and congratulations to all the seniors at whatever school they are at. It has been a rough few years for that class of kids all over the US. A lot of work was put in by all these kids and I am thrilled that they are getting the outcomes they were hoping for.

Somebody is trying hard to spin this.

+1. This is not what I'm hearing at all from my DC at a Big 3. I would say results are mixed, at best.

Results are “mixed” at Big 3s for Ivy admissions every year. It’s definitionally linked to their sub-6% acceptance rates. I’m not sure what your point is?

Basic numbers tell the story. On average, every year a school like Sidwell or GDS sends a dozen kids each to an Ivy out of a class of about 125. By comparison, every year Whitman HS also sends about a dozen kids per year on average to Ivies out of a class of 600.

This has not changed in decades. There may be year to year fluctuations but this is essentially it.


“Data tell”

What surprises me about all of this is that every year people still seem to not understand how few people actually get in to these schools and we get threads like this.

To repeat, to get into an Ivy from a Big 3 the kid needs to be top 10% in class and have a “hook”. From Whitman it’s top 2% with an incredible CV that would make Tracy Flick blush. That’s it.

14:52 here. Thank you for your smart analysis but I'm not talking about Ivys. Read PP's post again; she doesn't mention Ivy either. Only you seems to believe that factor is important.

I'm saying that normal kids at this Big 3, who are applying ED to normal schools (yes, there are kids who want to go to non-Ivy schools, in case that's news to you) are having mixed results, at best.

Love the anecdata. Unfortunately for you the data at the end of the year, every year, tells a different story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The other thread is talking about private, including the Big3 is waste of money and with no advantage to college admissions. Would be interesting to actually see the stats for the bottom 75% of class. I am sure to 25% are what people are touting here.

Nope. There are "bottom 75%" who applied to non-Ivy, first choice schools and are getting in ED. They may not be schools that some consider "elite" (I am referring to the long thread in the College forum here) but they are those students first choices. Schools like Carnegie, Case-Western, Pitzer, etc.

Okay, but was spending money at Big3 helping them get in at the low tier schools or would they still have gotten in coming from a public?

Your brain is truly in the wrong place. You have no idea what you are talking about to ask such a question.

I would argue that being in the lower 75% of your class at a private school actually hurts your application. college admissions is mainly a numbers game and if your class standing is low you will be over looked. Funny how people think spending tons of money on private school gives them a leg up, but in reality it is the opposite.

Agreed…I’m in undergraduate admissions at mid-tier private university and being in the lower half of a regarded private works against the student, as we select based on numbers - including number of students from a specific school. You may have better credentials than middle third of public high school, but we select only so many from your school. High performing public school students are actually more desirable…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The other thread is talking about private, including the Big3 is waste of money and with no advantage to college admissions. Would be interesting to actually see the stats for the bottom 75% of class. I am sure to 25% are what people are touting here.

Nope. There are "bottom 75%" who applied to non-Ivy, first choice schools and are getting in ED. They may not be schools that some consider "elite" (I am referring to the long thread in the College forum here) but they are those students first choices. Schools like Carnegie, Case-Western, Pitzer, etc.

Okay, but was spending money at Big3 helping them get in at the low tier schools or would they still have gotten in coming from a public?

Your brain is truly in the wrong place. You have no idea what you are talking about to ask such a question.

I would argue that being in the lower 75% of your class at a private school actually hurts your application. college admissions is mainly a numbers game and if your class standing is low you will be over looked. Funny how people think spending tons of money on private school gives them a leg up, but in reality it is the opposite.

Agreed…I’m in undergraduate admissions at mid-tier private university and being in the lower half of a regarded private works against the student, as we select based on numbers - including number of students from a specific school. You may have better credentials than middle third of public high school, but we select only so many from your school. High performing public school students are actually more desirable…

Wow…so bottom line is save your money. This makes sense, as you want your kid to be on the top half of the travel sports team he/she plays on, so that they get the most reps / exposure / playing time. Seems to be true for admissions as well. Better to be in the top half of a public school than the bottom half of a private. And shows you are more well-rounded / adjusted as you are exposed to more adversity / distraction / inclusion. Better to shine than to be average, no matter what the school…again, save your money

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The other thread is talking about private, including the Big3 is waste of money and with no advantage to college admissions. Would be interesting to actually see the stats for the bottom 75% of class. I am sure to 25% are what people are touting here.

Nope. There are "bottom 75%" who applied to non-Ivy, first choice schools and are getting in ED. They may not be schools that some consider "elite" (I am referring to the long thread in the College forum here) but they are those students first choices. Schools like Carnegie, Case-Western, Pitzer, etc.

Okay, but was spending money at Big3 helping them get in at the low tier schools or would they still have gotten in coming from a public?

Your brain is truly in the wrong place. You have no idea what you are talking about to ask such a question.

I would argue that being in the lower 75% of your class at a private school actually hurts your application. college admissions is mainly a numbers game and if your class standing is low you will be over looked. Funny how people think spending tons of money on private school gives them a leg up, but in reality it is the opposite.

Agreed…I’m in undergraduate admissions at mid-tier private university and being in the lower half of a regarded private works against the student, as we select based on numbers - including number of students from a specific school. You may have better credentials than middle third of public high school, but we select only so many from your school. High performing public school students are actually more desirable…

Wow…so bottom line is save your money. This makes sense, as you want your kid to be on the top half of the travel sports team he/she plays on, so that they get the most reps / exposure / playing time. Seems to be true for admissions as well. Better to be in the top half of a public school than the bottom half of a private. And shows you are more well-rounded / adjusted as you are exposed to more adversity / distraction / inclusion. Better to shine than to be average, no matter what the school…again, save your money

These are bizarre sentiments.

The median public school graduates attend community colleges or regional (not flagship) state universities.

The median Big 3 graduate attends Tulane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The other thread is talking about private, including the Big3 is waste of money and with no advantage to college admissions. Would be interesting to actually see the stats for the bottom 75% of class. I am sure to 25% are what people are touting here.

Nope. There are "bottom 75%" who applied to non-Ivy, first choice schools and are getting in ED. They may not be schools that some consider "elite" (I am referring to the long thread in the College forum here) but they are those students first choices. Schools like Carnegie, Case-Western, Pitzer, etc.

Okay, but was spending money at Big3 helping them get in at the low tier schools or would they still have gotten in coming from a public?

Your brain is truly in the wrong place. You have no idea what you are talking about to ask such a question.

I would argue that being in the lower 75% of your class at a private school actually hurts your application. college admissions is mainly a numbers game and if your class standing is low you will be over looked. Funny how people think spending tons of money on private school gives them a leg up, but in reality it is the opposite.

Agreed…I’m in undergraduate admissions at mid-tier private university and being in the lower half of a regarded private works against the student, as we select based on numbers - including number of students from a specific school. You may have better credentials than middle third of public high school, but we select only so many from your school. High performing public school students are actually more desirable…

Wow…so bottom line is save your money. This makes sense, as you want your kid to be on the top half of the travel sports team he/she plays on, so that they get the most reps / exposure / playing time. Seems to be true for admissions as well. Better to be in the top half of a public school than the bottom half of a private. And shows you are more well-rounded / adjusted as you are exposed to more adversity / distraction / inclusion. Better to shine than to be average, no matter what the school…again, save your money

The person in undergraduate admissions is saying it is better to be a high performing public school students than a lower than average private school student. Not exactly what you understood.
The average performing student would still do better college admissions wise at a private than a public.

[Anonymous]

If you look at the admissions for a Big3, some of the lower placing kids attend places like Tulane, Wisconsin, Richmond, etc.
If you look at the admission for Wilson, this is where many the highest placing kids attend (outside of a recruited crew athlete or two). I have kids at both schools and have watched admissions really closely for years.
I would ague that paying for private is actually more advantageous for a kid who isn't going to be a top 10 student in public. I have one of these: he does well but he wasn't going to
take 15 APs, etc, become editor of the school newspaper (there are many) and do a ton of other extracurriculars which are all things that are necessary to attend a decent college out of Wilson. Attending private
gives him similar (if not better) college outcomes without a whole lot of stress of having to get a ton of leadership positions on his resume. The competition for extracurricular leaderships positions at Wilson is fierce
and can be really stressful (per friends whose kids are there).

[Anonymous]

Question is "better for what"? If your goal is Ivy or bust then public may be better because it may be easier to distinguish yourself by being the really tippytop kid. But once you're down off the very peak of the mountain, you probably have a better chance of getting into a lot of high-rated colleges that aren't HYPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you look at the admissions for a Big3, some of the lower placing kids attend places like Tulane, Wisconsin, Richmond, etc.
If you look at the admission for Wilson, this is where many the highest placing kids attend (outside of a recruited crew athlete or two). I have kids at both schools and have watched admissions really closely for years.
I would ague that paying for private is actually more advantageous for a kid who isn't going to be a top 10 student in public. I have one of these: he does well but he wasn't going to
take 15 APs, etc, become editor of the school newspaper (there are many) and do a ton of other extracurriculars which are all things that are necessary to attend a decent college out of Wilson. Attending private
gives him similar (if not better) college outcomes without a whole lot of stress of having to get a ton of leadership positions on his resume. The competition for extracurricular leaderships positions at Wilson is fierce
and can be really stressful (per friends whose kids are there).

Lots of wisdom here. We are a MoCo family in the Whitman district. DD is very disciplined and hard working and made the top 10% at Whitman. DS was not disciplined nor hard working and to be brutally honest was just not as smart as his sister. He finished in the top half at a Big 3. DD ended up at a top 20 state U. No complaints there. DS got into a few higher ranked state schools than his sister and ended up at a top 5 SLAC. My view is that DD would have ended up at the same school, whether a public or private high school. For DS he would have been an average Whitman student and there is no way he would have made it into his current college had he remained at Whitman.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The other thread is talking about private, including the Big3 is waste of money and with no advantage to college admissions. Would be interesting to actually see the stats for the bottom 75% of class. I am sure to 25% are what people are touting here.

Nope. There are "bottom 75%" who applied to non-Ivy, first choice schools and are getting in ED. They may not be schools that some consider "elite" (I am referring to the long thread in the College forum here) but they are those students first choices. Schools like Carnegie, Case-Western, Pitzer, etc.

Okay, but was spending money at Big3 helping them get in at the low tier schools or would they still have gotten in coming from a public?

Your brain is truly in the wrong place. You have no idea what you are talking about to ask such a question.

I would argue that being in the lower 75% of your class at a private school actually hurts your application. college admissions is mainly a numbers game and if your class standing is low you will be over looked. Funny how people think spending tons of money on private school gives them a leg up, but in reality it is the opposite.

Agreed…I’m in undergraduate admissions at mid-tier private university and being in the lower half of a regarded private works against the student, as we select based on numbers - including number of students from a specific school. You may have better credentials than middle third of public high school, but we select only so many from your school. High performing public school students are actually more desirable…

Wow…so bottom line is save your money. This makes sense, as you want your kid to be on the top half of the travel sports team he/she plays on, so that they get the most reps / exposure / playing time. Seems to be true for admissions as well. Better to be in the top half of a public school than the bottom half of a private. And shows you are more well-rounded / adjusted as you are exposed to more adversity / distraction / inclusion. Better to shine than to be average, no matter what the school…again, save your money

The person in undergraduate admissions is saying it is better to be a high performing public school students than a lower than average private school student. Not exactly what you understood.
The average performing student would still do better college admissions wise at a private than a public.

Average performing students at Big 3 privates would be high performing students at public schools if they chose to attend public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The other thread is talking about private, including the Big3 is waste of money and with no advantage to college admissions. Would be interesting to actually see the stats for the bottom 75% of class. I am sure to 25% are what people are touting here.

Nope. There are "bottom 75%" who applied to non-Ivy, first choice schools and are getting in ED. They may not be schools that some consider "elite" (I am referring to the long thread in the College forum here) but they are those students first choices. Schools like Carnegie, Case-Western, Pitzer, etc.

Okay, but was spending money at Big3 helping them get in at the low tier schools or would they still have gotten in coming from a public?

Your brain is truly in the wrong place. You have no idea what you are talking about to ask such a question.

I would argue that being in the lower 75% of your class at a private school actually hurts your application. college admissions is mainly a numbers game and if your class standing is low you will be over looked. Funny how people think spending tons of money on private school gives them a leg up, but in reality it is the opposite.

Agreed…I’m in undergraduate admissions at mid-tier private university and being in the lower half of a regarded private works against the student, as we select based on numbers - including number of students from a specific school. You may have better credentials than middle third of public high school, but we select only so many from your school. High performing public school students are actually more desirable…

Wow…so bottom line is save your money. This makes sense, as you want your kid to be on the top half of the travel sports team he/she plays on, so that they get the most reps / exposure / playing time. Seems to be true for admissions as well. Better to be in the top half of a public school than the bottom half of a private. And shows you are more well-rounded / adjusted as you are exposed to more adversity / distraction / inclusion. Better to shine than to be average, no matter what the school…again, save your money

The person in undergraduate admissions is saying it is better to be a high performing public school students than a lower than average private school student. Not exactly what you understood.
The average performing student would still do better college admissions wise at a private than a public.

Maybe, maybe not. Private schools have a bit of a stigma now, in this anti-elite, inclusive shift. I would save the money as there isn’t a big difference in career outcomes from the bottom performer at private vs. high performer at public…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The other thread is talking about private, including the Big3 is waste of money and with no advantage to college admissions. Would be interesting to actually see the stats for the bottom 75% of class. I am sure to 25% are what people are touting here.

Nope. There are "bottom 75%" who applied to non-Ivy, first choice schools and are getting in ED. They may not be schools that some consider "elite" (I am referring to the long thread in the College forum here) but they are those students first choices. Schools like Carnegie, Case-Western, Pitzer, etc.

Okay, but was spending money at Big3 helping them get in at the low tier schools or would they still have gotten in coming from a public?

Your brain is truly in the wrong place. You have no idea what you are talking about to ask such a question.

I would argue that being in the lower 75% of your class at a private school actually hurts your application. college admissions is mainly a numbers game and if your class standing is low you will be over looked. Funny how people think spending tons of money on private school gives them a leg up, but in reality it is the opposite.

Then why do they choose private over inclusive public?
Agreed…I’m in undergraduate admissions at mid-tier private university and being in the lower half of a regarded private works against the student, as we select based on numbers - including number of students from a specific school. You may have better credentials than middle third of public high school, but we select only so many from your school. High performing public school students are actually more desirable…

Wow…so bottom line is save your money. This makes sense, as you want your kid to be on the top half of the travel sports team he/she plays on, so that they get the most reps / exposure / playing time. Seems to be true for admissions as well. Better to be in the top half of a public school than the bottom half of a private. And shows you are more well-rounded / adjusted as you are exposed to more adversity / distraction / inclusion. Better to shine than to be average, no matter what the school…again, save your money

The person in undergraduate admissions is saying it is better to be a high performing public school students than a lower than average private school student. Not exactly what you understood.
The average performing student would still do better college admissions wise at a private than a public.

Average performing students at Big 3 privates would be high performing students at public schools if they chose to attend public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The other thread is talking about private, including the Big3 is waste of money and with no advantage to college admissions. Would be interesting to actually see the stats for the bottom 75% of class. I am sure to 25% are what people are touting here.

Nope. There are "bottom 75%" who applied to non-Ivy, first choice schools and are getting in ED. They may not be schools that some consider "elite" (I am referring to the long thread in the College forum here) but they are those students first choices. Schools like Carnegie, Case-Western, Pitzer, etc.

Okay, but was spending money at Big3 helping them get in at the low tier schools or would they still have gotten in coming from a public?

Your brain is truly in the wrong place. You have no idea what you are talking about to ask such a question.

I would argue that being in the lower 75% of your class at a private school actually hurts your application. college admissions is mainly a numbers game and if your class standing is low you will be over looked. Funny how people think spending tons of money on private school gives them a leg up, but in reality it is the opposite.

Then why do they choose private over inclusive public?
Agreed…I’m in undergraduate admissions at mid-tier private university and being in the lower half of a regarded private works against the student, as we select based on numbers - including number of students from a specific school. You may have better credentials than middle third of public high school, but we select only so many from your school. High performing public school students are actually more desirable…

Wow…so bottom line is save your money. This makes sense, as you want your kid to be on the top half of the travel sports team he/she plays on, so that they get the most reps / exposure / playing time. Seems to be true for admissions as well. Better to be in the top half of a public school than the bottom half of a private. And shows you are more well-rounded / adjusted as you are exposed to more adversity / distraction / inclusion. Better to shine than to be average, no matter what the school…again, save your money

The person in undergraduate admissions is saying it is better to be a high performing public school students than a lower than average private school student. Not exactly what you understood.
The average performing student would still do better college admissions wise at a private than a public.

Average performing students at Big 3 privates would be high performing students at public schools if they chose to attend public schools.

Then why do they choose elitist private over inclusive public?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you look at the admissions for a Big3, some of the lower placing kids attend places like Tulane, Wisconsin, Richmond, etc.
If you look at the admission for Wilson, this is where many the highest placing kids attend (outside of a recruited crew athlete or two). I have kids at both schools and have watched admissions really closely for years.
I would ague that paying for private is actually more advantageous for a kid who isn't going to be a top 10 student in public. I have one of these: he does well but he wasn't going to
take 15 APs, etc, become editor of the school newspaper (there are many) and do a ton of other extracurriculars which are all things that are necessary to attend a decent college out of Wilson. Attending private
gives him similar (if not better) college outcomes without a whole lot of stress of having to get a ton of leadership positions on his resume. The competition for extracurricular leaderships positions at Wilson is fierce
and can be really stressful (per friends whose kids are there).

Lots of wisdom here. We are a MoCo family in the Whitman district. DD is very disciplined and hard working and made the top 10% at Whitman. DS was not disciplined nor hard working and to be brutally honest was just not as smart as his sister. He finished in the top half at a Big 3. DD ended up at a top 20 state U. No complaints there. DS got into a few higher ranked state schools than his sister and ended up at a top 5 SLAC. My view is that DD would have ended up at the same school, whether a public or private high school. For DS he would have been an average Whitman student and there is no way he would have made it into his current college had he remained at Whitman.

Why do you send your son to a private, but daughter to a public?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you look at the admissions for a Big3, some of the lower placing kids attend places like Tulane, Wisconsin, Richmond, etc.
If you look at the admission for Wilson, this is where many the highest placing kids attend (outside of a recruited crew athlete or two). I have kids at both schools and have watched admissions really closely for years.
I would ague that paying for private is actually more advantageous for a kid who isn't going to be a top 10 student in public. I have one of these: he does well but he wasn't going to
take 15 APs, etc, become editor of the school newspaper (there are many) and do a ton of other extracurriculars which are all things that are necessary to attend a decent college out of Wilson. Attending private
gives him similar (if not better) college outcomes without a whole lot of stress of having to get a ton of leadership positions on his resume. The competition for extracurricular leaderships positions at Wilson is fierce
and can be really stressful (per friends whose kids are there).

Lots of wisdom here. We are a MoCo family in the Whitman district. DD is very disciplined and hard working and made the top 10% at Whitman. DS was not disciplined nor hard working and to be brutally honest was just not as smart as his sister. He finished in the top half at a Big 3. DD ended up at a top 20 state U. No complaints there. DS got into a few higher ranked state schools than his sister and ended up at a top 5 SLAC. My view is that DD would have ended up at the same school, whether a public or private high school. For DS he would have been an average Whitman student and there is no way he would have made it into his current college had he remained at Whitman.

I guess it’s important for the lower-end private school kids. Likely the same life outcome in 20 years - keep us posted

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The other thread is talking about private, including the Big3 is waste of money and with no advantage to college admissions. Would be interesting to actually see the stats for the bottom 75% of class. I am sure to 25% are what people are touting here.

Nope. There are "bottom 75%" who applied to non-Ivy, first choice schools and are getting in ED. They may not be schools that some consider "elite" (I am referring to the long thread in the College forum here) but they are those students first choices. Schools like Carnegie, Case-Western, Pitzer, etc.

Okay, but was spending money at Big3 helping them get in at the low tier schools or would they still have gotten in coming from a public?

Your brain is truly in the wrong place. You have no idea what you are talking about to ask such a question.

I would argue that being in the lower 75% of your class at a private school actually hurts your application. college admissions is mainly a numbers game and if your class standing is low you will be over looked. Funny how people think spending tons of money on private school gives them a leg up, but in reality it is the opposite.

Agreed…I’m in undergraduate admissions at mid-tier private university and being in the lower half of a regarded private works against the student, as we select based on numbers - including number of students from a specific school. You may have better credentials than middle third of public high school, but we select only so many from your school. High performing public school students are actually more desirable…

Yes, I sent my kid to private for the outstanding education, but I understood clearly that the cost was a less prestigious college admission. That's okay. Our local public school hands out As like candy and has classes of 35+ for English. I am willing to trade academic rigor in HS for a worse chance in college admissions.