Which of the "top 3" or "top 5" private schools has the best track record at the Ivies?

[Anonymous]

Honestly, GDS is a great school, but I was swayed away by the parents who so aggressively promote it on boards like this and in person. It made me feel that the school was full of high stress aggressive parents who were more concerned about college admissions than the actual education of their kids. Probably not fair on my part, but that was my impression.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, GDS is a great school, but I was swayed away by the parents who so aggressively promote it on boards like this and in person. It made me feel that the school was full of high stress aggressive parents who were more concerned about college admissions than the actual education of their kids. Probably not fair on my part, but that was my impression.

Very fair, on your part

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, GDS is a great school, but I was swayed away by the parents who so aggressively promote it on boards like this and in person. It made me feel that the school was full of high stress aggressive parents who were more concerned about college admissions than the actual education of their kids. Probably not fair on my part, but that was my impression.

Of course the problem with this board is that you can't tell whether a GDS "promoter" is an actual GDS parent or someone pretending to be/hoping you'll assume that she is a GDS parent. To me, the Admissions Whisperer most likely falls in the latter camp. (Seriously, if you were trying to convince someone to send their kid to your school why would you write something like that?) So yeah, in many cases, the goal seems to be to leave people with a bad impression of the school and, clearly, to some extent it works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you ask admission directors at the Nation's top prestigious colleges, I suspect that among Washington private schools, Georgetown Day would be whispered most often.

I'm an alumni interviewer for two of the HYPs, and I can assure you this is not the case for at least two Ivies.

How could you be an undergraduate alum of more than one of the schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, GDS is a great school, but I was swayed away by the parents who so aggressively promote it on boards like this and in person. It made me feel that the school was full of high stress aggressive parents who were more concerned about college admissions than the actual education of their kids. Probably not fair on my part, but that was my impression.

Of course the problem with this board is that you can't tell whether a GDS "promoter" is an actual GDS parent or someone pretending to be/hoping you'll assume that she is a GDS parent. To me, the Admissions Whisperer most likely falls in the latter camp. (Seriously, if you were trying to convince someone to send their kid to your school why would you write something like that?) So yeah, in many cases, the goal seems to be to leave people with a bad impression of the school and, clearly, to some extent it works.

If actual GDS parents dislike the CAT so much, they should deny the CAT's claims and perhaps post verifiable info about GDS's college admissions. IMHO, they kind of like the CAT's boosterism, so you rarely see them repudiating it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, GDS is a great school, but I was swayed away by the parents who so aggressively promote it on boards like this and in person. It made me feel that the school was full of high stress aggressive parents who were more concerned about college admissions than the actual education of their kids. Probably not fair on my part, but that was my impression.

Not an inaccurate description ....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, GDS is a great school, but I was swayed away by the parents who so aggressively promote it on boards like this and in person. It made me feel that the school was full of high stress aggressive parents who were more concerned about college admissions than the actual education of their kids. Probably not fair on my part, but that was my impression.

Not an inaccurate description ....

All of these schools are full of high stress aggressive parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, GDS is a great school, but I was swayed away by the parents who so aggressively promote it on boards like this and in person. It made me feel that the school was full of high stress aggressive parents who were more concerned about college admissions than the actual education of their kids. Probably not fair on my part, but that was my impression.

Not an inaccurate description ....

Those GDS parents, they are "machers."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, GDS is a great school, but I was swayed away by the parents who so aggressively promote it on boards like this and in person. It made me feel that the school was full of high stress aggressive parents who were more concerned about college admissions than the actual education of their kids. Probably not fair on my part, but that was my impression.

Not an inaccurate description ....

Those GDS parents, they are "machers."

And "uber-talented"! Those posts, I have to admit, probably *were* made by an actual GDS parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, GDS is a great school, but I was swayed away by the parents who so aggressively promote it on boards like this and in person. It made me feel that the school was full of high stress aggressive parents who were more concerned about college admissions than the actual education of their kids. Probably not fair on my part, but that was my impression.

I don't think a single GDS parent or student has posted any details about this year's college admissions, on this thread or elsewhere on DCUM, so I find it odd that you think GDS parents aggressively promote it and are obsessed with college admissions. There have been numerous posts about how many kids at some other schools got into each Ivy.

[Anonymous]

I don't think a single GDS parent or student has posted any details about this year's college admissions, on this thread or elsewhere on DCUM, so I find it odd that you think GDS parents aggressively promote it and are obsessed with college admissions. There have been numerous posts about how many kids at some other schools got into each Ivy.

And how would you know which are GDS parents and kids and which are not. Are you a GDS parent or student?

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I had a similar reaction to 20:19's post. No one knows who is posting what here.

OTOH, GDS hasn't circulated/publicized admissions stats for this year, so anyone posting claims about percentages is just making stuff up (and/or has a very creepy hobby!)

[Anonymous]

Or is a student/parent in the current senior class and is posting anecdotal information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why the obsession with Ivies? There are many great colleges and universities that are not Ivy that offer their students amazing intellectual opportunities and position them well for any range of careers.

I'm genuinely curious as to why parents value the Ivies so highly. What do you think your kids will get there that they won't get at other schools? Is it the status? Do you think it will open doors that, say, Stanford, Berkeley, UVA, UT, etc. will not?

I think that it's legitimate to use the category of the Ivys as a rough proxy for admissions success generally since most of the Ivys are good, competitive schools. So success in Ivy placement gives you a good sense of placement success more generally since a strong track record there usually filters out to other schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or is a student/parent in the current senior class and is posting anecdotal information.

Anecdotes don't take the form of x% of the class did this or GDS did better than school y. Those are claims that require systematic knowledge that parents/students don't have. Which, to me, makes those statements obvious BS and they're done in such an obnoxious tone that I find it hard to believe anyone trying to promote the school made those posts.