Harvard-Westlake Is The Only Elite Prep School Transparent With College Admissions. Shame on DC Privates.

[Anonymous]

Harvard-Westlake in Los Angeles gives transparent data on which kids are admitted to elite schools, and removes "hooked" applicants such as athletes and legacies. They give a very clear indication as to what unhooked students can expect in the application process, given their gpa range. It's truly a shame that our DC private schools won't give families similar information. GDS tells us absolutely nothing about the college admissions process except meaningless, feel-good buzzwords.


https://students.hw.com/Portals/44/handbook0524.pdf

[Anonymous]

This is super interesting. Once you subtract the legacies and athletes, the outcomes for students at one of the best private schools in the country are not that different from the average.

[Anonymous]

I agree this is interesting info, OP. But would it really help you in any way? Other than to discourage you from applying to certain schools? Many people might still see these stats and still try to apply to their dream schools despite the odds.

[Anonymous]

Our DC private provides a list of unhooked admits for the last year.

[Anonymous]

This is good but a bit too specific. They should remove schools with only one applicant for privacy reasons. Otherwise you’re basically sharing that one kid’s gpa and results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is super interesting. Once you subtract the legacies and athletes, the outcomes for students at one of the best private schools in the country are not that different from the average.

Yes, there was a podcast analyzing this data at HW and concluding the same thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is super interesting. Once you subtract the legacies and athletes, the outcomes for students at one of the best private schools in the country are not that different from the average.

Yes, there was a podcast analyzing this data at HW and concluding the same thing.

What’s the podcast?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is good but a bit too specific. They should remove schools with only one applicant for privacy reasons. Otherwise you’re basically sharing that one kid’s gpa and results.

Or maybe aggregate 2-4 years of data to enhance privacy - and smooth out year-to-year variations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is super interesting. Once you subtract the legacies and athletes, the outcomes for students at one of the best private schools in the country are not that different from the average.

The college admission outcomes.

It would be interesting to look at other outcomes -- income at age 30 or 40, job satisfaction, mental health, etc. Parents tend to over-focus on college admissions because they view it as an objective measure of K-12 success. But is it really?

[Anonymous]

Interesting, though potentially a violation of federal privacy laws.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting, though potentially a violation of federal privacy laws.

What federal privacy laws apply to private schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting, though potentially a violation of federal privacy laws.

What federal privacy laws apply to private schools?

All of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting, though potentially a violation of federal privacy laws.

What federal privacy laws apply to private schools?

FERPA is an example of one that applies.

[Anonymous]

What's bizarre to me is why H-W students with non-stellar GPAs keep applying to UNC-Chapel Hill. Clearly it's not working.

[Anonymous]

GDS specializes in meaningless, feel-good buzzwords.