Did private schools get a bump in elite college admissions?
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Anonymous
| We are considering switching our kids from public to private. I know some people don’t care about college outcomes from private but our family absolutely does care. I have been looking at the instagram pages of colleges from both public and private schools in the DMV and the private schools seem to have done significantly better. I currently have 1 kid in high school (freshman at local well regarded public) and two kids in elementary. We applied to a few privates last year for oldest and he decided to stay at his public. I also looked at the college instagrams last year and it didn’t seem like a large difference but the difference this year seems more significant. |
Anonymous
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Don't go by incomplete metrics like instagram pages. My kid's public only has maybe 10% of the class posting at all...it seems to be losing its popularity.
Unfortunately, most schools like to keep the data secret. They will list the list of colleges where kids are matriculating, but not the number of kids. Only Bullis in the DMV actually lists the colleges and number of kids attending. Perhaps it useful to print out Bullis' list from last year and then see what they report this year, and determine if they had better results or not. They have a bunch of athletes, so unfortunately is difficult to know if a kid is going to University of Oregon because they are a track star, or if they are a non-athlete attending. |
Anonymous
| Yeah I wouldn't decide based on insta pages. My kid goes to a dcum unregarded public and has friends going to Harvard, mit, BU, Dartmouth, Middlebury etc. they do not allow post on the insta pages. |
Anonymous
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Honestly it depends on your kid’s stats. What are the target types of schools based on gpa/stats/profile.
But imo yes, it does help. My kid w/ a 3.8 unweighted GPA at a non-DMV private got into colleges (including Ivy) that he wouldn’t have gotten into at a public. Maybe his GPA would’ve been higher at the public, but there’s no way he could’ve stood out. Search for a thread here with 3.8 GDS in title… |
Anonymous
His unweighted GPA would not have been higher at a good DMV public with the highest level of rigor available to him. Please stop the nonsense. |
Anonymous
Kids who aren't recruited athletes or URMs? Name the school or it didn't happen. |
Anonymous
| If you’re a T50 alum and your child is competing with five other legacies in generic private versus zero legacies in generic public, then I believe your chances are better in public. |
Anonymous
| No. |
Anonymous
OP here. My oldest is my strongest student. He would do well anywhere. He was accepted into the private schools he applied to but decided not to go. I’m not worried about him. I will probably apply for elementary and middle school for my younger kids and make a decision next year. |
Anonymous
| Hard no. Publics have it easier because its easier to get the stats needed to succeed. A 3.9 might be top 10 at a public but not even top 25 at a private. |
Anonymous
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Private school helps if you want to end up at private college , esp mid range (eg Tulane, BU, Emory etc)
Private school does not help if you want to get into tippy top (unless your kid is #1-#5 at the school). If your kid is #20, they will discourage you from applying to HYPSM because it might hurt the top kids chances. Public school is great if your kid would otherwise be upper middle of the road at private but can be the top in the public. |
Anonymous
It depends on the school. At our local public school, Jackson Reed, it is much easier to get a 4.0 than at nearby privates. |
Anonymous
That is fair. My kid is only a freshman and I know very few senior parents. The few I know are going to Harvard and UVA and none of the kids posted on the public school instagram. My kid wouldn’t post either. |
Anonymous
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If you are full pay, and goal is t11-25 (non Ivy) or similar slac, yes it will help.
If you want UCLA or Berkeley or similar, no, it will not help. |
Anonymous
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It depends on the college. No for HYPSM. Yes for Uchicago and a few others.
Been at this a few years for my kids. Every year parents misinterpret private high school placements, which are often heavily influenced by VIP families and other hooks. Every year parents enroll their kids and push them to grind away to be at the top of their classes. Every year they head out on Spring Break junior year and make a beeline for HYP, Brown and Columbia, believing this is the kids’ destiny. And every year almost all those great kids get mowed down. I keep wondering when people are going to start figuring out that this equation does not result in success. |