Public vs Private re: College outcomes

[Anonymous]

My daughter attended public school for middle school and truly thrived there. She is now at a private high school, and the academic rigor is significantly higher, more homework, much more challenging coursework, and far greater expectations overall.

Many of her friends who remained at our local public high school earned unweighted 4.0 GPAs their first quarter. My daughter earned a 3.6 unweighted. While I know that is still a strong GPA, I can’t help but feel anxious when I think about how competitive college admissions have become and where she’ll be 3.5 years from now.

I’m confident that had she stayed at our local school, she very likely would have earned a 4.0 as well. She took six HS classes in middle school and earned straight A’s throughout. That comparison has led me to worry that we may have made the wrong decision by moving her to private school for high school.

At the same time, I can clearly see the value of where she is now. The school is doing an excellent job preparing her for college. The rigor is intentional. They are teaching her how to learn, developing study skills, strategies, and academic independence that will serve her well longterm. Some of her classes already feel college-level, and I can see how much she is growing because of it.

That said, we will likely need to rely on some merit-based aid to help close the financial gap for college, and she has already expressed interest in honors programs and more competitive academic tracks. That reality adds another layer of pressure and uncertainty.

I’m trying to balance what I know is good for long-term development with very real concerns about GPA, merit aid, and college admissions and I find myself wondering what the right path forward really is.

Anyone else going through internal angst? Parents of older private HS kids, how did you feel about your child’s college results in context of their public school peers?

Thank you!!

[Anonymous]

It’s less about absolute GPA and more about how that GPA stacks up against the kid’s peers at the school. Basically think rank instead of GPA. You also don’t know the extent to which kids are hooked.

It’s for these reasons that it’s not a good idea to try to compare outcomes with your local public (or any other school, to be honest).

There are plenty of lower-ranked schools that offer decent merit aid to good students. Stay open to those schools and your in-state options. That can be difficult in a private school setting depending on the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s less about absolute GPA and more about how that GPA stacks up against the kid’s peers at the school. Basically think rank instead of GPA. You also don’t know the extent to which kids are hooked.

It’s for these reasons that it’s not a good idea to try to compare outcomes with your local public (or any other school, to be honest).

There are plenty of lower-ranked schools that offer decent merit aid to good students. Stay open to those schools and your in-state options. That can be difficult in a private school setting depending on the school.

This plus have her take the SAT or ACT with enough time to retake and do a prep course. High scores plus high rigor/grades/rank (even if her school doesn’t officially rank students) will be important for college admissions. She is compared to kids at her school not the public school.

[Anonymous]

Unless you incorrectly believe there are only 20 good colleges in the U.S., this is not an issue at all.

[Anonymous]

Frankly, the line between good college choices and limited choices at a top DC private is about a 3.8. So you need to do whatever you can to get your child above this line by the end of junior year. "Whatever" meaning monitoring her work to make sure she gets it done, working with her or getting tutors to help her better understand things, etc.
Private school is only "worth it" when ti comes to college outcomes if you can do well at the private because even at those most rigorous privates there are a decent number of kids who are doing well. Maybe not 4.0s but plenty in the 3.8-3.98 range. Now the benefits of attending private outside of college outcomes are many: learning how to think, write, study, etc are skills she will have for a lifetime. But since you mentioned college I will say that she still needs to preform fairly well in the private school environment if she's going to be competitive for top50 schools.

[Anonymous]

If she stays and you need aid for college, accept the fact that she is going to end up at a lower ranked school that gives aid or at a lower ranked, less expensive public university. Once she’s there, she will probably do fantastic and be a top student.

[Anonymous]

I said this in another thread: my kid went to a public HS and graduated with a 4.0/4.8 without doing a lot of work. She’s now at a top ten college. If I could do it over again, I would have sent her to a private school where she would have gotten a much better education but likely would have ended up at a lower ranked college.
A good education is the point and college name is not the end all be all.

[Anonymous]

In this area, and both for public schools and private schools, it is impossible to disentangle someone with legacy hooks from unhooked.

At my HS, valedictorian with best academics was rejected by a well known Ivy. They accepted a middle tier student whose grandfather (unbeknownst to the school or other students/families) was an alumnus and long-time donor. The hidden hook only came to light years later.

[Anonymous]

With a 3.6 gpa, even from a private, you aren't competitive for the tippy top schools. Below that level, there are many schools that give merit money to virtually all students -- look at the CDS. The most rejective schools don't give merit money to anyone (only more generous financial aid), so if you're serious about needing merit, you were never going to consider those schools.

[Anonymous]

Colleges consider school profiles when assessing GPAs. A 3.6 at an academically rigorous, selective private school is not necessarily going to be considered the same light as a 3.6 at an above-average public school.

[Anonymous]

This is an excellent example of a thread where the responses are clueless and useless generalizations from posters who knows nothing.

The answer is simple: applications are always evaluated in the context of the particular school. Every school includes a school profile with a student's transcript. It explains the grading scale, often breaks down where a given GPA will place a student in the class, and it will list the courses offered, the average test scores, and what percentage of graduates go to college and often where they go.

Bottom line: your 3.6 won't be compared to a public school kid's 4.4. It will be compared to your kid's classmate's 3.8.

[Anonymous]

There's been a lot of talk in other threads about the college application process in private schools.

One of the advantages is that smaller private schools allow the teachers to know students on a more intimate level than a typical public. The counselors work with a smaller group of students. For example, at my daughter's school, the counselors work with about 30 girls each. This allows for much more in depth letters of recommendation from both teachers and the counselor. The counselor also has relationships with some of the universities and will actually have conversations about your student with the AO's about them. We are going through this right now with my daughter. She is deferred from her #1 school, and the AO is really going to bat. She shared with us her conversations with the AO, who mainly wants to know if my DD will enroll if admitted. I don't think these sort of conversations are happening at the public school level.

And for what it's worth, DD was accepted at every other school to which she applied so far.

That said, if money is an issue, you should think twice. If you live in a strong school district, you could consider staying public and spending some money on a private counselor who can help you navigate the process. A lot cheaper than private school. Also be sure to start prepping for the SAT/ACT in summer before junior year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's been a lot of talk in other threads about the college application process in private schools.

One of the advantages is that smaller private schools allow the teachers to know students on a more intimate level than a typical public. The counselors work with a smaller group of students. For example, at my daughter's school, the counselors work with about 30 girls each. This allows for much more in depth letters of recommendation from both teachers and the counselor. The counselor also has relationships with some of the universities and will actually have conversations about your student with the AO's about them. We are going through this right now with my daughter. She is deferred from her #1 school, and the AO is really going to bat. She shared with us her conversations with the AO, who mainly wants to know if my DD will enroll if admitted. I don't think these sort of conversations are happening at the public school level.

And for what it's worth, DD was accepted at every other school to which she applied so far.

That said, if money is an issue, you should think twice. If you live in a strong school district, you could consider staying public and spending some money on a private counselor who can help you navigate the process. A lot cheaper than private school. Also be sure to start prepping for the SAT/ACT in summer before junior year.

LOL colleges know that public school guidance counselors are overwhelmed and can't provide the same service and take that into account. Plenty of public school kids get into excellent colleges without "private counselors." And if yours was so great your kid wouldn't have been deferred.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's been a lot of talk in other threads about the college application process in private schools.

One of the advantages is that smaller private schools allow the teachers to know students on a more intimate level than a typical public. The counselors work with a smaller group of students. For example, at my daughter's school, the counselors work with about 30 girls each. This allows for much more in depth letters of recommendation from both teachers and the counselor. The counselor also has relationships with some of the universities and will actually have conversations about your student with the AO's about them. We are going through this right now with my daughter. She is deferred from her #1 school, and the AO is really going to bat. She shared with us her conversations with the AO, who mainly wants to know if my DD will enroll if admitted. I don't think these sort of conversations are happening at the public school level.

And for what it's worth, DD was accepted at every other school to which she applied so far.

That said, if money is an issue, you should think twice. If you live in a strong school district, you could consider staying public and spending some money on a private counselor who can help you navigate the process. A lot cheaper than private school. Also be sure to start prepping for the SAT/ACT in summer before junior year.

LOL colleges know that public school guidance counselors are overwhelmed and can't provide the same service and take that into account. Plenty of public school kids get into excellent colleges without "private counselors." And if yours was so great your kid wouldn't have been deferred.

The public school kids that get into excellent colleges are all over the top high performing students who are cutthroat and competitive. I know the type. They live in my neighborhood. In our private, you don't have to play that game, and while at good publics you see about 5% of students going to T20 schools, that number is more like 20-25% at privates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's been a lot of talk in other threads about the college application process in private schools.

One of the advantages is that smaller private schools allow the teachers to know students on a more intimate level than a typical public. The counselors work with a smaller group of students. For example, at my daughter's school, the counselors work with about 30 girls each. This allows for much more in depth letters of recommendation from both teachers and the counselor. The counselor also has relationships with some of the universities and will actually have conversations about your student with the AO's about them. We are going through this right now with my daughter. She is deferred from her #1 school, and the AO is really going to bat. She shared with us her conversations with the AO, who mainly wants to know if my DD will enroll if admitted. I don't think these sort of conversations are happening at the public school level.

And for what it's worth, DD was accepted at every other school to which she applied so far.

That said, if money is an issue, you should think twice. If you live in a strong school district, you could consider staying public and spending some money on a private counselor who can help you navigate the process. A lot cheaper than private school. Also be sure to start prepping for the SAT/ACT in summer before junior year.

No offense but you are really naive if you think conversations that your college counselor is having with the admissions rep from their deferred school are going to get them into the school. These conversations happen every year and very few to none of them actually result in a RD admission. I've been at Big3 privates through 3 kids and it's all just a game that is played.