College admissions from low SES

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's interesting to me is how hard certain people come down on lower SES schools.

You want your kid to go to a higher SES school? That's great! Good for you! You do you.

But those same folks continually disparage those who attend lower SES schools and are happy and successful there. I wonder why. Is it an insecurity thing? You want to believe that you made the right decision? You feel the best way you can do it is to put down anyone who takes a different track in life? You continue to play the same recording of negativity, over and over, and you don't want to listen to anyone who says it's not like that.

I went to a lower SES school, got scholarship that paid for most of my undergrad, then a full-ride scholarship for my master's degree. My family is definitely UMC, and I mean upper. My kids are at a school with low SES kids, and they're doing great. To be honest, I'm more comfortable with the lower SES community.

So let me encourage you to continue to do you. Live where you want. And I don't know your kid, but I hope they turn out just fine.

By all means make the best of your personal situation. Just stop the BS that attending a lower SES school is a big advantage when it comes to college preparation and admissions. Those of us with direct personal experience with different pyramids in FCPS know that's the exception, not the rule.

And, of course, there's an irony is touting the "school within the school" at the lower SES schools and then claiming you've immersed yourself in a "lower SES community."

Of course students who have the qualifications/aptitude at the “lower performing” schools have an advantage in college admissions, simply because there is a higher concentration of applicants from the schools you see as “superior”.

The students at the lower ranked schools are less likely to end up with similar qualifications as the students at higher ranked schools with similar raw ability, and most top schools would prefer to take multiple kids with superior qualifications coming from a top HS over a kid with inferior qualifications coming from a low performing HS. They are looking at their larger applicant pool and don’t have quotas to admit kids from low performing public high schools.

Hmm, not what I am seeing. You are very out of touch.

You are fighting a battle with reality you won’t win.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People at lower SES schools have a greater chance of getting into the advanced band/orchestra earlier in the high school career, and thus receive the higher GPA boost.

People at lower SES schools have a greater chance of making the varsity sports teams earlier.

People at lower SES schools have a chance at obtaining leadership positions in sports and music. They have a greater chance at starring roles in drama.

Those are all things that look great on a college application.

Competition is fierce at the higher SES schools for leadership positions, sports teams, and music programs. On top of having to juggle an advanced academics course. Some kids thrive in that kind of cut-throat environment. Some kids don't.

This assumes a child can remain impervious to his or her environment and refuse to be influenced by it.

+1. Big assumption, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's interesting to me is how hard certain people come down on lower SES schools.

You want your kid to go to a higher SES school? That's great! Good for you! You do you.

But those same folks continually disparage those who attend lower SES schools and are happy and successful there. I wonder why. Is it an insecurity thing? You want to believe that you made the right decision? You feel the best way you can do it is to put down anyone who takes a different track in life? You continue to play the same recording of negativity, over and over, and you don't want to listen to anyone who says it's not like that.

I went to a lower SES school, got scholarship that paid for most of my undergrad, then a full-ride scholarship for my master's degree. My family is definitely UMC, and I mean upper. My kids are at a school with low SES kids, and they're doing great. To be honest, I'm more comfortable with the lower SES community.

So let me encourage you to continue to do you. Live where you want. And I don't know your kid, but I hope they turn out just fine.

By all means make the best of your personal situation. Just stop the BS that attending a lower SES school is a big advantage when it comes to college preparation and admissions. Those of us with direct personal experience with different pyramids in FCPS know that's the exception, not the rule.

And, of course, there's an irony is touting the "school within the school" at the lower SES schools and then claiming you've immersed yourself in a "lower SES community."

Of course students who have the qualifications/aptitude at the “lower performing” schools have an advantage in college admissions, simply because there is a higher concentration of applicants from the schools you see as “superior”.

The students at the lower ranked schools are less likely to end up with similar qualifications as the students at higher ranked schools with similar raw ability, and most top schools would prefer to take multiple kids with superior qualifications coming from a top HS over a kid with inferior qualifications coming from a low performing HS. They are looking at their larger applicant pool and don’t have quotas to admit kids from low performing public high schools.

What are you basing this on? Have you actually seen all the universities students across FCPS high schools attend? And you don’t even know ALL the schools that they were accepted into.

Just another poster weighing in on something they know nothing about.

[Anonymous]

High SES parents are not going to move to low SES schools to try and game the admissions system. Take a look at TJ HS admissions. There are plenty of MS in FCPS that do not hit the 1.5% of 8th graders to attend TJ and we all know it. You don't see parents from Carson, Rocky Run, Cooper, or Longfellow moving to place their kids at Poe HS so they have a guaranteed seat to attend TJ. Some people said they would do that when the change was first announced but no one has actually done that.

Why is that? Because most people agree that the cohort your kid is surrounded by matters and the larger the group of kids who share your families goal of high academic achievement, the better.

Great Falls parents have been fighting tooth and nail to keep their kids at Langley over Herndon even though many of them are closer to Herndon and the bus ride would be shorter. Just review the boundary topic. Crossfield families are doing the same thing right now to stay at Oakton and not attend Skyview because they are so attached to Oakton's academic standing.

I know that my kid can get an excellent education at any HS in FCPS, the AP/IB programs are strong and they all have a cohort that cares about school. The reality is, I prefer my kids have more kids around them that care about school then fewer kids and lower SES schools have more kids whose families did not complete HS, never mind college, and who are not focused on academics. There are smart and capable kids at low SES schools whose parents did not complete HS or college and some will work their butts off, take AP classes, and do well on the SAT and go to excellent colleges but not many. We celebrate those individuals who pull themselves up by their bootstraps but we are all aware that they are rare cases, not the norm. It they were the norm, we wouldn't be as impressed.

I don't care about the SAT score differences. The bright kids at low SES schools are going to have lower test scores. Mom and Dad are not paying for tutoring programs and classes and individualized tutoring that the hyper competitive parents at High SES schools are paying for. The reality is that a self studied for 1500 is in many ways more impressive then the NMF at Langley whose parents had their kids in enrichment since ES and working with SAT tutors through HS. It is a false metric for any number of reasons. A kid with a FARMS student 1500 SAT who is accepted at Harvard will have their tuition paid for and doesn't need to be a NMF or NMSF or commended student. The kid from Langley needs the higher test scores to try and standout from the 100 other kids who have been prepped and enriched their entire lives and have the same test scores and grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's interesting to me is how hard certain people come down on lower SES schools.

You want your kid to go to a higher SES school? That's great! Good for you! You do you.

But those same folks continually disparage those who attend lower SES schools and are happy and successful there. I wonder why. Is it an insecurity thing? You want to believe that you made the right decision? You feel the best way you can do it is to put down anyone who takes a different track in life? You continue to play the same recording of negativity, over and over, and you don't want to listen to anyone who says it's not like that.

I went to a lower SES school, got scholarship that paid for most of my undergrad, then a full-ride scholarship for my master's degree. My family is definitely UMC, and I mean upper. My kids are at a school with low SES kids, and they're doing great. To be honest, I'm more comfortable with the lower SES community.

So let me encourage you to continue to do you. Live where you want. And I don't know your kid, but I hope they turn out just fine.

By all means make the best of your personal situation. Just stop the BS that attending a lower SES school is a big advantage when it comes to college preparation and admissions. Those of us with direct personal experience with different pyramids in FCPS know that's the exception, not the rule.

And, of course, there's an irony is touting the "school within the school" at the lower SES schools and then claiming you've immersed yourself in a "lower SES community."

Of course students who have the qualifications/aptitude at the “lower performing” schools have an advantage in college admissions, simply because there is a higher concentration of applicants from the schools you see as “superior”.

The students at the lower ranked schools are less likely to end up with similar qualifications as the students at higher ranked schools with similar raw ability, and most top schools would prefer to take multiple kids with superior qualifications coming from a top HS over a kid with inferior qualifications coming from a low performing HS. They are looking at their larger applicant pool and don’t have quotas to admit kids from low performing public high schools.

What are you basing this on? Have you actually seen all the universities students across FCPS high schools attend? And you don’t even know ALL the schools that they were accepted into.

Just another poster weighing in on something they know nothing about.

We know there are high-income neighborhoods in most school pyramids and we also know that some pyramids, year after year, have very few high performing kids (next to no National Merit Semifinalists and very few Commended Students).

In any events, it’s a sad flex to claim lower achieving kids have an advantage in the college admissions process because they stand out more at GS 2 or 3 schools. You can only be the big fish in the little pond so long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's interesting to me is how hard certain people come down on lower SES schools.

You want your kid to go to a higher SES school? That's great! Good for you! You do you.

But those same folks continually disparage those who attend lower SES schools and are happy and successful there. I wonder why. Is it an insecurity thing? You want to believe that you made the right decision? You feel the best way you can do it is to put down anyone who takes a different track in life? You continue to play the same recording of negativity, over and over, and you don't want to listen to anyone who says it's not like that.

I went to a lower SES school, got scholarship that paid for most of my undergrad, then a full-ride scholarship for my master's degree. My family is definitely UMC, and I mean upper. My kids are at a school with low SES kids, and they're doing great. To be honest, I'm more comfortable with the lower SES community.

So let me encourage you to continue to do you. Live where you want. And I don't know your kid, but I hope they turn out just fine.

By all means make the best of your personal situation. Just stop the BS that attending a lower SES school is a big advantage when it comes to college preparation and admissions. Those of us with direct personal experience with different pyramids in FCPS know that's the exception, not the rule.

And, of course, there's an irony is touting the "school within the school" at the lower SES schools and then claiming you've immersed yourself in a "lower SES community."

Of course students who have the qualifications/aptitude at the “lower performing” schools have an advantage in college admissions, simply because there is a higher concentration of applicants from the schools you see as “superior”.

The students at the lower ranked schools are less likely to end up with similar qualifications as the students at higher ranked schools with similar raw ability, and most top schools would prefer to take multiple kids with superior qualifications coming from a top HS over a kid with inferior qualifications coming from a low performing HS. They are looking at their larger applicant pool and don’t have quotas to admit kids from low performing public high schools.

What are you basing this on? Have you actually seen all the universities students across FCPS high schools attend? And you don’t even know ALL the schools that they were accepted into.

Just another poster weighing in on something they know nothing about.

We know there are high-income neighborhoods in most school pyramids and we also know that some pyramids, year after year, have very few high performing kids (next to no National Merit Semifinalists and very few Commended Students).

In any events, it’s a sad flex to claim lower achieving kids have an advantage in the college admissions process because they stand out more at GS 2 or 3 schools. You can only be the big fish in the little pond so long.

That is not what the post you quoted said.

And sad flex?? That a high achieving student from any HS in this county has the ability to be accepted into a competitive university? Wow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids are compared against their peers in their high school first. So yes standing out gives one an advantage in college admissions.

Many FCPS high schools are schools within schools. A group going on to college, a group taking advantage of vocational training opportunities and a group where high school is the terminal education point.

Having a 1580 SAT and a 4.5 GPA at West Potomac is going to stand out more than those same figures at TJ or McLean or Langley.

It’s less likely you’ll end up with that 1580 SAT if you’ve come up through the West Potomac pyramid. And only a few schools are going to care about making sure they offer seats to kids from every FCPS high school.

Bullshit. Pyramids don’t produce 1580’s. Paying for tutoring does.

We’d see better NMSF/CS results at the lower ranked schools if all the UMC families needed to do was buy into those schools and then pay for tutoring.

Nope, if you want to prepare your kids well, you make sure they attend schools with high performing peers, not schools that focus on the bare minimum needed to get kids to graduate.

Yeah you still don’t get it. When you have an entire school trying to buy prestige, you have some success stats to cherry pick. When most of the school can’t do that, you can’t cherry pick the few that have resources. Not EVERY rich kid can buy success. But out of an entire school is rich kids you can purchase some 1580’s.

What you don’t get is that the most educated parents in the county consistently prefer, given a choice, that their kids attend schools with a culture of academic excellence, rather than attend schools where the primary focus is on getting kids to pass SOLs and graduate and the more affluent parents look down on most of the kids as an undifferentiated group of low achievers who exist merely to make their own kids look better by comparison. They want strong schools, not “schools within a school” or whatever other cute phrase you can come up with.

I’m sorry that vexes you so much, but it’s the reality as long as the county isn’t dictating which schools kids can attend.

You sound biased, not educated.

Experienced and well educated, if you must know.

Neither are an excuse for blatant bias.

Please. You were the ones resorting to the usual tropes about the purported advantages of sending your higher SES kids to lower performing schools. They don't align with reality or the preferences of most parents with options. We know you do this because you want more high-SES families at your schools, but history says it won't work.

Speak for yourself. One day your kid might be on a bus to Herndon or Lewis.

I won't let that happen, nor will I make phony claims that it would give them an advantage over kids at higher rated schools.

You can go to private then. You’re not entitled to a certain pyramid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's interesting to me is how hard certain people come down on lower SES schools.

You want your kid to go to a higher SES school? That's great! Good for you! You do you.

But those same folks continually disparage those who attend lower SES schools and are happy and successful there. I wonder why. Is it an insecurity thing? You want to believe that you made the right decision? You feel the best way you can do it is to put down anyone who takes a different track in life? You continue to play the same recording of negativity, over and over, and you don't want to listen to anyone who says it's not like that.

I went to a lower SES school, got scholarship that paid for most of my undergrad, then a full-ride scholarship for my master's degree. My family is definitely UMC, and I mean upper. My kids are at a school with low SES kids, and they're doing great. To be honest, I'm more comfortable with the lower SES community.

So let me encourage you to continue to do you. Live where you want. And I don't know your kid, but I hope they turn out just fine.

By all means make the best of your personal situation. Just stop the BS that attending a lower SES school is a big advantage when it comes to college preparation and admissions. Those of us with direct personal experience with different pyramids in FCPS know that's the exception, not the rule.

And, of course, there's an irony is touting the "school within the school" at the lower SES schools and then claiming you've immersed yourself in a "lower SES community."

Of course students who have the qualifications/aptitude at the “lower performing” schools have an advantage in college admissions, simply because there is a higher concentration of applicants from the schools you see as “superior”.

The students at the lower ranked schools are less likely to end up with similar qualifications as the students at higher ranked schools with similar raw ability, and most top schools would prefer to take multiple kids with superior qualifications coming from a top HS over a kid with inferior qualifications coming from a low performing HS. They are looking at their larger applicant pool and don’t have quotas to admit kids from low performing public high schools.

Cite?

[Anonymous]

At my kid's school, a girl moved from Langley to South Lakes for this reason alone. Her parents rent in Reston. They also do other things for an advantage that I won't get into here. Some parents will do anything for an advantage. I find it odd as they have a lot of money and can afford probably any university and yet go to extremes for admissions. I feel bad for the daughter as it signals they can't fully rely on her merits to get accepted into university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's interesting to me is how hard certain people come down on lower SES schools.

You want your kid to go to a higher SES school? That's great! Good for you! You do you.

But those same folks continually disparage those who attend lower SES schools and are happy and successful there. I wonder why. Is it an insecurity thing? You want to believe that you made the right decision? You feel the best way you can do it is to put down anyone who takes a different track in life? You continue to play the same recording of negativity, over and over, and you don't want to listen to anyone who says it's not like that.

I went to a lower SES school, got scholarship that paid for most of my undergrad, then a full-ride scholarship for my master's degree. My family is definitely UMC, and I mean upper. My kids are at a school with low SES kids, and they're doing great. To be honest, I'm more comfortable with the lower SES community.

So let me encourage you to continue to do you. Live where you want. And I don't know your kid, but I hope they turn out just fine.

By all means make the best of your personal situation. Just stop the BS that attending a lower SES school is a big advantage when it comes to college preparation and admissions. Those of us with direct personal experience with different pyramids in FCPS know that's the exception, not the rule.

And, of course, there's an irony is touting the "school within the school" at the lower SES schools and then claiming you've immersed yourself in a "lower SES community."

Of course students who have the qualifications/aptitude at the “lower performing” schools have an advantage in college admissions, simply because there is a higher concentration of applicants from the schools you see as “superior”.

The students at the lower ranked schools are less likely to end up with similar qualifications as the students at higher ranked schools with similar raw ability, and most top schools would prefer to take multiple kids with superior qualifications coming from a top HS over a kid with inferior qualifications coming from a low performing HS. They are looking at their larger applicant pool and don’t have quotas to admit kids from low performing public high schools.

What are you basing this on? Have you actually seen all the universities students across FCPS high schools attend? And you don’t even know ALL the schools that they were accepted into.

Just another poster weighing in on something they know nothing about.

We know there are high-income neighborhoods in most school pyramids and we also know that some pyramids, year after year, have very few high performing kids (next to no National Merit Semifinalists and very few Commended Students).

In any events, it’s a sad flex to claim lower achieving kids have an advantage in the college admissions process because they stand out more at GS 2 or 3 schools. You can only be the big fish in the little pond so long.

That is not what the post you quoted said.

And sad flex?? That a high achieving student from any HS in this county has the ability to be accepted into a competitive university? Wow.

Someone must have majored in Goalpost Relocation.

[Anonymous]

They really need to equalize the zones. If every PUBLIC school isn’t equal, the system has failed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They really need to equalize the zones. If every PUBLIC school isn’t equal, the system has failed.

"Equalizing the zones" is a fool's errand. The schools will never be equal in every respect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They really need to equalize the zones. If every PUBLIC school isn’t equal, the system has failed.

"Equalizing the zones" is a fool's errand. The schools will never be equal in every respect.

Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They really need to equalize the zones. If every PUBLIC school isn’t equal, the system has failed.

"Equalizing the zones" is a fool's errand. The schools will never be equal in every respect.

Why?

Serve different neighborhoods and demographics, have different facilities, have different programs, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They really need to equalize the zones. If every PUBLIC school isn’t equal, the system has failed.

"Equalizing the zones" is a fool's errand. The schools will never be equal in every respect.

Why?

Serve different neighborhoods and demographics, have different facilities, have different programs, etc.

Nothing that can’t be fixed.