Pseudo prestigious privates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Poor OP, so insecure and miserable that they need to go online picking fights with people and pretending to be Ivies or bust.

Sucks to be you, I guess.

Not Ivy or bust at all. Just saying that private school parents who can’t get their kids into Ivies tell themselves that these schools are great just because they’re private and expensive — but they’re not great. At all. Many state flagships are better, certainly the ones around here.

Maybe they want a school in a big city, where there are abundant internship & employment opportunities, easy access to airports, a geographically diverse student body, smaller classes etc.

+1

My DC did for all of the reasons stated above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is “harder to get into” relevant regarding quality of education?

There's hundreds of quality schools, we only care about the exclusive ones. We suddenly play facetious when it comes to Emory's (or schools like it) selectivity. Its great your DC can get an equal or near equal education at Uva, Wake, William and Mary etc. Your child still couldn't get into Emory or WashU and you know that matters or you wouldn't be so bitter about it.

The majority of UVA students could get into Emory. No doubt about it. Most instate students don’t even think about Emory though because with UVA available going to Emory makes no sense.

They could not, especially the instate students. The instate students at UVa hover around the 25th percentile which is a 1410. Emory's 25th is a 1500.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is “harder to get into” relevant regarding quality of education?

There's hundreds of quality schools, we only care about the exclusive ones. We suddenly play facetious when it comes to Emory's (or schools like it) selectivity. Its great your DC can get an equal or near equal education at Uva, Wake, William and Mary etc. Your child still couldn't get into Emory or WashU and you know that matters or you wouldn't be so bitter about it.

The majority of UVA students could get into Emory. No doubt about it. Most instate students don’t even think about Emory though because with UVA available going to Emory makes no sense.

UVA is an easier admit in-state than Emory. Not even close.
UVA is a much, much easier admit oos than Emory.

Not sure where you are going with this, Emory is a prettty easy admit ED from most private high schools. It has over a 30 percent admit rate. OOS UVA admit is below 20 percent.

Emory ED includes both athletes and legacy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Poor OP, so insecure and miserable that they need to go online picking fights with people and pretending to be Ivies or bust.

Sucks to be you, I guess.

Not Ivy or bust at all. Just saying that private school parents who can’t get their kids into Ivies tell themselves that these schools are great just because they’re private and expensive — but they’re not great. At all. Many state flagships are better, certainly the ones around here.

Maybe they want a school in a big city, where there are abundant internship & employment opportunities, easy access to airports, a geographically diverse student body, smaller classes etc.

+1

My DC did for all of the reasons stated above.

x100

Some people focus solely on cost, rankings, or outdated prestige notions. Yet there’s a crucial factor that those metrics can’t capture.
Especially in today’s advanced, tech‑savvy, and globally accessible world, the state flagship isn’t the only option, and for many, these factors can matter more than private tuition. (Also, the financial‑aid eligibility thresholds at some of these schools are higher than those at state schools.)
If you can afford it and it aligns with your priorities, why not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Poor OP, so insecure and miserable that they need to go online picking fights with people and pretending to be Ivies or bust.

Sucks to be you, I guess.

Not Ivy or bust at all. Just saying that private school parents who can’t get their kids into Ivies tell themselves that these schools are great just because they’re private and expensive — but they’re not great. At all. Many state flagships are better, certainly the ones around here.

Maybe they want a school in a big city, where there are abundant internship & employment opportunities, easy access to airports, a geographically diverse student body, smaller classes etc.

+1

My DC did for all of the reasons stated above.

x100

Some people focus solely on cost, rankings, or outdated prestige notions. Yet there’s a crucial factor that those metrics can’t capture.
Especially in today’s advanced, tech‑savvy, and globally accessible world, the state flagship isn’t the only option, and for many, these factors can matter more than private tuition. (Also, the financial‑aid eligibility thresholds at some of these schools are higher than those at state schools.)
If you can afford it and it aligns with your priorities, why not?

Tech isnt hiring

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is “harder to get into” relevant regarding quality of education?

There's hundreds of quality schools, we only care about the exclusive ones. We suddenly play facetious when it comes to Emory's (or schools like it) selectivity. Its great your DC can get an equal or near equal education at Uva, Wake, William and Mary etc. Your child still couldn't get into Emory or WashU and you know that matters or you wouldn't be so bitter about it.

The majority of UVA students could get into Emory. No doubt about it. Most instate students don’t even think about Emory though because with UVA available going to Emory makes no sense.

UVA is an easier admit in-state than Emory. Not even close.
UVA is a much, much easier admit oos than Emory.

Not sure where you are going with this, Emory is a prettty easy admit ED from most private high schools. It has over a 30 percent admit rate. OOS UVA admit is below 20 percent.

Emory ED includes both athletes and legacy.

Emory is a D3 school that doesn’t field football or lacrosse teams. They have fewer recruited athlete than most SLACs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is “harder to get into” relevant regarding quality of education?

There's hundreds of quality schools, we only care about the exclusive ones. We suddenly play facetious when it comes to Emory's (or schools like it) selectivity. Its great your DC can get an equal or near equal education at Uva, Wake, William and Mary etc. Your child still couldn't get into Emory or WashU and you know that matters or you wouldn't be so bitter about it.

The majority of UVA students could get into Emory. No doubt about it. Most instate students don’t even think about Emory though because with UVA available going to Emory makes no sense.

They could not, especially the instate students. The instate students at UVa hover around the 25th percentile which is a 1410. Emory's 25th is a 1500.

Emory is very test optional so you are citing meaningless statistics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Poor OP, so insecure and miserable that they need to go online picking fights with people and pretending to be Ivies or bust.

Sucks to be you, I guess.

While none of these schools would be my DS’s first picks, these schools are all excellent.

[Anonymous]

Pseudo prestigious or not, WashU, Emory and BU are ideal for middle class families with average excellent kids, especially those living in states without strong instate flagships. These three schools are not as difficult to get in as a t15, and their COA after financial aid is only 20–30k compared to 60–80k at top OOS flagships.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is “harder to get into” relevant regarding quality of education?

There's hundreds of quality schools, we only care about the exclusive ones. We suddenly play facetious when it comes to Emory's (or schools like it) selectivity. Its great your DC can get an equal or near equal education at Uva, Wake, William and Mary etc. Your child still couldn't get into Emory or WashU and you know that matters or you wouldn't be so bitter about it.

The majority of UVA students could get into Emory. No doubt about it. Most instate students don’t even think about Emory though because with UVA available going to Emory makes no sense.

They could not, especially the instate students. The instate students at UVa hover around the 25th percentile which is a 1410. Emory's 25th is a 1500.

Emory is very test optional so you are citing meaningless statistics.

Emory and UVA have similar amounts of test optional students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We all know they're just expensive backups that are no better than the better state flagships, but private school parents have convinced themselves that they're prestigious.

In US News order:

WashU
Emory
NYU
BU
Wake
Northeastern
Tulane

NYU has a lot of issues. Too big. No campus. Job-central. These issues make it non-elite. But it's still a great school.

Agree on BU, Wake, NEU, and Tulane.

All positives. No other school in the US like it, although USC, UCLA and Cal are the closest. But none of them can match being educated in NYC.

USC is nothing like it. UCLA and UCB maybe but you just comp’d yourself to a pair of public’s…..which definitely aren’t elite except in the eyes of the middle class and immigrant engineering families.

NYU has the size of a large public in NYC with smaller class sizes. One could say the same about USC in LA (different culture, obviously). All four have a similar composition of students (NYU admits a high percentage of students with only AP scores), except for more international ones.

All four are also consistently in the Top 30 to Top 50 .

[Anonymous]

This thread is wild and misses the point on a major reason the caliber of these schools has increased in recent years: their real estate holdings in cities have given them $$$ to invest and they are very attractive places for top faculty to teach. I know kids who are super happy at BU because they wanted to be in a great city with great professors. Flagships in many east coast states (PA, NY, CT) won’t get them that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Poor OP, so insecure and miserable that they need to go online picking fights with people and pretending to be Ivies or bust.

Sucks to be you, I guess.

Not Ivy or bust at all. Just saying that private school parents who can’t get their kids into Ivies tell themselves that these schools are great just because they’re private and expensive — but they’re not great. At all. Many state flagships are better, certainly the ones around here.

Why can’t you just worry about your own kids? You are insufferable. Everyone isn’t looking to compete with your kid and many choose based on fit, not the “perceived prestige” you are obsessed with.

You really need help.

+1. Plenty of public school parents sending their kids to the supposedly Ivy-reject-private-school-parent-cope schools OP disdains. I know because my kid (who had no interest in the Ivies and did not apply) is at one of those schools and their roommate attended public school.

I love the “my kid had no interest in the Ivies” posters—what they really mean is that they knew the kid wouldn’t get in. There is not a kid enrolled in any of the schools on my list who wouldn’t be in an Ivy League school if they could get in.

My 2026 senior isn't applying to HYPSM. 4.0 unweighted, max rigor, National Merit semifinalist, 1590, strong ECs. One could make an argument that my kid "wouldn't get in" because 95% of kids don't, but DC certainly is qualified to take a shot at any of those schools. Student is focused on curriculum and social fit over prestige.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Poor OP, so insecure and miserable that they need to go online picking fights with people and pretending to be Ivies or bust.

Sucks to be you, I guess.

Not Ivy or bust at all. Just saying that private school parents who can’t get their kids into Ivies tell themselves that these schools are great just because they’re private and expensive — but they’re not great. At all. Many state flagships are better, certainly the ones around here.

Why can’t you just worry about your own kids? You are insufferable. Everyone isn’t looking to compete with your kid and many choose based on fit, not the “perceived prestige” you are obsessed with.

You really need help.

+1. Plenty of public school parents sending their kids to the supposedly Ivy-reject-private-school-parent-cope schools OP disdains. I know because my kid (who had no interest in the Ivies and did not apply) is at one of those schools and their roommate attended public school.

I love the “my kid had no interest in the Ivies” posters—what they really mean is that they knew the kid wouldn’t get in. There is not a kid enrolled in any of the schools on my list who wouldn’t be in an Ivy League school if they could get in.

My 2026 senior isn't applying to HYPSM. 4.0 unweighted, max rigor, National Merit semifinalist, 1590, strong ECs. One could make an argument that my kid "wouldn't get in" because 95% of kids don't, but DC certainly is qualified to take a shot at any of those schools. Student is focused on curriculum and social fit over prestige.

Uh huh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is wild and misses the point on a major reason the caliber of these schools has increased in recent years: their real estate holdings in cities have given them $$$ to invest and they are very attractive places for top faculty to teach. I know kids who are super happy at BU because they wanted to be in a great city with great professors. Flagships in many east coast states (PA, NY, CT) won’t get them that.

Spot on.