Bethesda Magazine - List of College Acceptances

[Anonymous]

To 22:15 and the rest of you, there is a reason the rest of the country thinks this city and its inhabitants are annoying -- Everyone here seems to have an out-sized opinion of themselves and the institutions in the city. As good as Sidwell is to the eyes of locals, anyone from outside the area knows that it is inferior to other schools in large cities. The Obama's had to put their kids in a school that was inferior to the one they left (Chicago Lab).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These boards can be annoying. For all the snobs out there who are hung up on the big three, let's remember that those schools are weak compared to the top prep schools in New England and NYC. There was a list that I remember seeing in Forbes that ranked the top schools by what % of the student body placed in the Ivy League, MIT and Stanford. Guess what, not a single DC school made the list.

Because clearly that is the single best measure of school quality. No, wait...

[Anonymous]

08:45, The ranking did have other factors. The conclusion is that the schools here are good but are not deserving of the praise they get on this board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To 22:15 and the rest of you, there is a reason the rest of the country thinks this city and its inhabitants are annoying -- Everyone here seems to have an out-sized opinion of themselves and the institutions in the city. As good as Sidwell is to the eyes of locals, anyone from outside the area knows that it is inferior to other schools in large cities. The Obama's had to put their kids in a school that was inferior to the one they left (Chicago Lab).

What's your basis for your claim?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:All of this is why the applications to UMD are so high from the Bethesda/Potomac public schools. Over 40% of Whitman students apply to UMD, and it looks like even higher percentages do from the other schools. The admission rate from Whitman is over 75% so these are qualified kids applying. I know some/many have gotten generous aid packages. I think more people are really starting to consider the public options much more seriously than in the past because the cost of private college has gotten just too high relative to the product, given that there are much less expensive options.

Agreed. On a related note, a top student at our private school went to University of Maryland Baltimore County, over a number of highly rated SLACs, because the student received a full merit scholarship for all four years.

Same. A friend of ours daughter is in at an Ivy for next year already. Mom is thinking hard about UMBC instead. That this is even a question is interesting.

She may have an interest in information technology. I know Towson's program is considered one of the best in the nation by people that actually work in the inducstry. I am hearing rumblings about UMBC also. People in the know don't just head for an Ivy because it is an Ivy. They look for the best step to where they are trying to go. For example, I bet a lot of the students headed to Michigan are going for business. For people in the know, there is a large network to Wall Street out of Ann Arbor (hedge fund fast forward).

Really? I work in the field, am a hiring manager and have heard nothing about Towson. UMBC is getting a pretty good reputation, but still not close to UMCP. When I think of "best in the nation" I think of Berkeley, CMU, MIT etc.

Right, but according to a PP, schools like Michigan, Berkely and CMU are "certainly not first tier!" According to the latest rankings, they are all in the same neighborhood. So you have provided evidence to the point that the HYP is not the " be all - end all" for everyone (even for those at Big 3's)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of this is why the applications to UMD are so high from the Bethesda/Potomac public schools. Over 40% of Whitman students apply to UMD, and it looks like even higher percentages do from the other schools. The admission rate from Whitman is over 75% so these are qualified kids applying. I know some/many have gotten generous aid packages. I think more people are really starting to consider the public options much more seriously than in the past because the cost of private college has gotten just too high relative to the product, given that there are much less expensive options.

Agreed. On a related note, a top student at our private school went to University of Maryland Baltimore County, over a number of highly rated SLACs, because the student received a full merit scholarship for all four years.

Same. A friend of ours daughter is in at an Ivy for next year already. Mom is thinking hard about UMBC instead. That this is even a question is interesting.

She may have an interest in information technology. I know Towson's program is considered one of the best in the nation by people that actually work in the inducstry. I am hearing rumblings about UMBC also. People in the know don't just head for an Ivy because it is an Ivy. They look for the best step to where they are trying to go. For example, I bet a lot of the students headed to Michigan are going for business. For people in the know, there is a large network to Wall Street out of Ann Arbor (hedge fund fast forward).

Really? I work in the field, am a hiring manager and have heard nothing about Towson. UMBC is getting a pretty good reputation, but still not close to UMCP. When I think of "best in the nation" I think of Berkeley, CMU, MIT etc.

UMBC has one particular engineering honors program that is incredibly hard to get into, and it considered among the very best in the nation. My cousin's son wants to apply to it, and is considered a longshot, in spite of the fact that he has perfect math SATs (and almost perfect other scores).