Better college admissions for a not top student from public or private?

[Anonymous]

My son is a good student, not perfect. I am not trying to get him into an ivy, more like T20-T50 school.

It seems like most kids from private (>50%) attend good schools.

Would his chances of getting into a good college be better from a private school?

We are also not looking at Big 3 privates. Will likely be looking at Bullis, Landon or similar.

[Anonymous]

DS will probably play 3 sports in high school, doubtful he will be a college recruit but is very athletic. DH and I both attended ivy and T20 colleges and grad schools. We are not big donors so not sure how much legacy will matter.

[Anonymous]

Private

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS will probably play 3 sports in high school, doubtful he will be a college recruit but is very athletic. DH and I both attended ivy and T20 colleges and grad schools. We are not big donors so not sure how much legacy will matter.

You don't provide enough info. What public would he attend? Would he have any other decent ECs besides these sports? If he is not getting recruited, then don't put much stock in being a team captain...colleges don't care much about that anymore. Would he apply for a non-STEM major (i.e., easier admissions compared to STEM applicants).

Probably a good move to pick a Bullis that still has APs if interested in the UC schools. I think he would do fine coming from Whitman, Churchill, BCC, etc.

My gut tells me that you are not indifferent between say UCLA/Emory (both ranked ~ 20 by USNWR) and say Ohio State (#49)...if you really mean 20-50, then I am not sure there is much difference of note between private and public.

[Anonymous]

You can do the math on admissions data. It’s not perfect but pretty insightful. I compared our (very good) public and a big3, and big3 was much better. Publics give admission—not matriculation—but even giving the public all the benefit of the doubt, the private was materially better at placement. Can’t speak to nonbig3

And, as others will beat you down on, it ultimately didn’t come down to admission data for us but rather the happiness and stoking curiosity for our child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can do the math on admissions data. It’s not perfect but pretty insightful. I compared our (very good) public and a big3, and big3 was much better. Publics give admission—not matriculation—but even giving the public all the benefit of the doubt, the private was materially better at placement. Can’t speak to nonbig3

And, as others will beat you down on, it ultimately didn’t come down to admission data for us but rather the happiness and stoking curiosity for our child.

Ugh...what measure are you using for this. You can't use %age of a graduating class or anything like that...you have to just look at the nominal number of kids from say Whitman going to Top 50 vs. say Bullis. Again, OP said they are not going to a Big3 (looking at Bullis, Landon), so it's not relevant.

Also, OP specifically asked about schools 21-50...on this measure, I don't think you will see any real statistical difference. All this assumes, that you would be fine if your kid goes to Ohio State (#50) vs. say UCLA/Emory (#20).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can do the math on admissions data. It’s not perfect but pretty insightful. I compared our (very good) public and a big3, and big3 was much better. Publics give admission—not matriculation—but even giving the public all the benefit of the doubt, the private was materially better at placement. Can’t speak to nonbig3

And, as others will beat you down on, it ultimately didn’t come down to admission data for us but rather the happiness and stoking curiosity for our child.

Ugh...what measure are you using for this. You can't use %age of a graduating class or anything like that...you have to just look at the nominal number of kids from say Whitman going to Top 50 vs. say Bullis. Again, OP said they are not going to a Big3 (looking at Bullis, Landon), so it's not relevant.

Also, OP specifically asked about schools 21-50...on this measure, I don't think you will see any real statistical difference. All this assumes, that you would be fine if your kid goes to Ohio State (#50) vs. say UCLA/Emory (#20).

I would welcome your analysis, but it appears to me that you are offering an opinion.

And the PP clearly said Big3; did you think OP could not read?

[Anonymous]

Where will he do the best in high school? Will he like a big school with lots of activities and where he can sit in the back of the room and work independently? Does he do best when he can form relationships with his teachers?

In the end, he will get himself into college, not his high school. So choose the environment where he will thrive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can do the math on admissions data. It’s not perfect but pretty insightful. I compared our (very good) public and a big3, and big3 was much better. Publics give admission—not matriculation—but even giving the public all the benefit of the doubt, the private was materially better at placement. Can’t speak to nonbig3

And, as others will beat you down on, it ultimately didn’t come down to admission data for us but rather the happiness and stoking curiosity for our child.

If you “can’t speak to nonbig3” your input is useless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can do the math on admissions data. It’s not perfect but pretty insightful. I compared our (very good) public and a big3, and big3 was much better. Publics give admission—not matriculation—but even giving the public all the benefit of the doubt, the private was materially better at placement. Can’t speak to nonbig3

And, as others will beat you down on, it ultimately didn’t come down to admission data for us but rather the happiness and stoking curiosity for our child.

Publics have a wide range of kids, many of whom are going to trade school not college, and many of whom can't afford to be in the donut hole between grants and full pay. You need a way to compare the private school kids to public school kids who are headed to college as full-pay students, and to my knowledge there's no way to make this comparison.

[Anonymous]

I would sit down and consider what type of high school experience do you want for your child. Where would they thrive? What do you want for them?
College admissions is a pretty narrow metric to base an entire 4 years of learning and experiences around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can do the math on admissions data. It’s not perfect but pretty insightful. I compared our (very good) public and a big3, and big3 was much better. Publics give admission—not matriculation—but even giving the public all the benefit of the doubt, the private was materially better at placement. Can’t speak to nonbig3

And, as others will beat you down on, it ultimately didn’t come down to admission data for us but rather the happiness and stoking curiosity for our child.

Ugh...what measure are you using for this. You can't use %age of a graduating class or anything like that...you have to just look at the nominal number of kids from say Whitman going to Top 50 vs. say Bullis. Again, OP said they are not going to a Big3 (looking at Bullis, Landon), so it's not relevant.

Also, OP specifically asked about schools 21-50...on this measure, I don't think you will see any real statistical difference. All this assumes, that you would be fine if your kid goes to Ohio State (#50) vs. say UCLA/Emory (#20).

I would hope my kid would be able to at least go to Boston University or Northeastern. How sad if my kid can’t even go to Northeastern from public or private.

My kid likes school like Duke, USC and NYU. I feel his chances will be quite low from public. NYU and USC is T25, not T50. I would be pretty disappointed if my kid went to Ohio State.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can do the math on admissions data. It’s not perfect but pretty insightful. I compared our (very good) public and a big3, and big3 was much better. Publics give admission—not matriculation—but even giving the public all the benefit of the doubt, the private was materially better at placement. Can’t speak to nonbig3

And, as others will beat you down on, it ultimately didn’t come down to admission data for us but rather the happiness and stoking curiosity for our child.

Ugh...what measure are you using for this. You can't use %age of a graduating class or anything like that...you have to just look at the nominal number of kids from say Whitman going to Top 50 vs. say Bullis. Again, OP said they are not going to a Big3 (looking at Bullis, Landon), so it's not relevant.

Also, OP specifically asked about schools 21-50...on this measure, I don't think you will see any real statistical difference. All this assumes, that you would be fine if your kid goes to Ohio State (#50) vs. say UCLA/Emory (#20).

I would welcome your analysis, but it appears to me that you are offering an opinion.

And the PP clearly said Big3; did you think OP could not read?

Dude…read the post. OP said they are NOT considering a Big3 for private.

Are you going to make the same mistake a 3rd time?

[Anonymous]

I would think chances are better at public.

Smaller grade size in private, lots of rich kids with tutors and connections. If your kid is not at the top he’s still being compared against his class and there’s tough competition.

Public has a lot of smart kids but at least connections and legacies tend to be less and there are always lower performing kids.

If you’re a middle class family with an average kid, without money for an army of tutors, no connections, and no hooks-private does your kid no favors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would think chances are better at public.

Smaller grade size in private, lots of rich kids with tutors and connections. If your kid is not at the top he’s still being compared against his class and there’s tough competition.

Public has a lot of smart kids but at least connections and legacies tend to be less and there are always lower performing kids.

If you’re a middle class family with an average kid, without money for an army of tutors, no connections, and no hooks-private does your kid no favors.

We are UMC with high income (7 figures). Between DH and I, we have attended five T25 schools including 2 ivy grad schools. We have some not so strong connections. DH does interviews, has a conference room named after our family, knows some admissions people, etc. We know many students who got rejected despite both parents being alums, solid stats, parents having worked at the school, etc. They got rejected from T10 schools where these small hooks seem to not matter.