Don't Send Your Kid To Big 3 For Ivy Admissions. Send Them To Public Or Less Competitive Private

[Anonymous]

I see you, OP.

—proud parent of a Jackson-Reed grad who is on their way to an Ivy

[Anonymous]

Uncle Chris.

onymous]Please do not send your kid to Sidwell/GDS/NCS/STA with the expectation they will get into an Ivy or top 20 school. You are likely to end up very, very disappointed. There *used to be* an advantage in going to a feeder school, but not anymore. These schools deflate GPAs and don't weight. Your kid will also be in direct competition with the children of extremely powerful and connected people. People gush at the idea of sending their son/daughter to school alongside the children of White House cabinet members....until you have to compete with them in college admissions.



If you are a standard, upper-middle class family, send your kid to public school or a less competitive private like Visitation, St. John's College Prep, Gonzaga, etc. These schools actually weight GPAs and are much easier to graduate with the straight-A's necessary for Ivy admissions in 2023.

Getting into an Ivy is no longer about the name of the school on your transcript. It's about being the most outstanding applicant in your school group. It's far easier to do that at a public school where most kids don't care about going to an elite university. Your kid will also have time to focus on extracurriculars due to having easier homework and grade inflation.

I sent the kid to a "Big 3" for the education. Not for auto admission to an Ivy. Sounds like you expected your kid to roll into Harvard??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please do not send your kid to Sidwell/GDS/NCS/STA with the expectation they will get into an Ivy or top 20 school. You are likely to end up very, very disappointed. There *used to be* an advantage in going to a feeder school, but not anymore. These schools deflate GPAs and don't weight. Your kid will also be in direct competition with the children of extremely powerful and connected people. People gush at the idea of sending their son/daughter to school alongside the children of White House cabinet members....until you have to compete with them in college admissions.

If you are a standard, upper-middle class family, send your kid to public school or a less competitive private like Visitation, St. John's College Prep, Gonzaga, etc. These schools actually weight GPAs and are much easier to graduate with the straight-A's necessary for Ivy admissions in 2023.

Getting into an Ivy is no longer about the name of the school on your transcript. It's about being the most outstanding applicant in your school group. It's far easier to do that at a public school where most kids don't care about going to an elite university. Your kid will also have time to focus on extracurriculars due to having easier homework and grade inflation.

I agree with some things you are saying. But while Big 3 might not open door to Ivies, they do position you well to enter the T20s/T30s. My DD would not have been gotten intot he T20 she is at if she was competing from MOCO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please do not send your kid to Sidwell/GDS/NCS/STA with the expectation they will get into an Ivy or top 20 school. You are likely to end up very, very disappointed. There *used to be* an advantage in going to a feeder school, but not anymore. These schools deflate GPAs and don't weight. Your kid will also be in direct competition with the children of extremely powerful and connected people. People gush at the idea of sending their son/daughter to school alongside the children of White House cabinet members....until you have to compete with them in college admissions.

If you are a standard, upper-middle class family, send your kid to public school or a less competitive private like Visitation, St. John's College Prep, Gonzaga, etc. These schools actually weight GPAs and are much easier to graduate with the straight-A's necessary for Ivy admissions in 2023.

Getting into an Ivy is no longer about the name of the school on your transcript. It's about being the most outstanding applicant in your school group. It's far easier to do that at a public school where most kids don't care about going to an elite university. Your kid will also have time to focus on extracurriculars due to having easier homework and grade inflation.

I agree with some things you are saying. But while Big 3 might not open door to Ivies, they do position you well to enter the T20s/T30s. My DD would not have been gotten intot he T20 she is at if she was competing from MOCO.

Did the college tell you this?

[Anonymous]

To OP - what is the point of your stupid post?
The pressure at some of the public schools among top students is crushing. So perhaps don’t write about stuff that you don’t know anything about. You come across as clueless.

[Anonymous]

My scholarship-girl DD was plausibly admitted to an HYP in part because of — not in spite of — a few powerful families in her school who were getting their kids in. She was no shoe-in, but I think the admissions people took a real shine to her (great essays and presumably great recs) and I think made the case that it was patently unfair to reject her and admit the VIP classmate with similar credentials. Of course, I can’t know what happened, but my other children had similar credentials but no VIP competition and were not admitted. Maybe being on financial aid helped her and reinforced the fairness aspect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please do not send your kid to Sidwell/GDS/NCS/STA with the expectation they will get into an Ivy or top 20 school. You are likely to end up very, very disappointed. There *used to be* an advantage in going to a feeder school, but not anymore. These schools deflate GPAs and don't weight. Your kid will also be in direct competition with the children of extremely powerful and connected people. People gush at the idea of sending their son/daughter to school alongside the children of White House cabinet members....until you have to compete with them in college admissions.

If you are a standard, upper-middle class family, send your kid to public school or a less competitive private like Visitation, St. John's College Prep, Gonzaga, etc. These schools actually weight GPAs and are much easier to graduate with the straight-A's necessary for Ivy admissions in 2023.

Getting into an Ivy is no longer about the name of the school on your transcript. It's about being the most outstanding applicant in your school group. It's far easier to do that at a public school where most kids don't care about going to an elite university. Your kid will also have time to focus on extracurriculars due to having easier homework and grade inflation.

Unless you are a handful of elite NE boarding schools, the bolded has never been the case.

[Anonymous]

This has been true for decades. If you want an amazing education, send your kid to the “big 3”. If you are a double legacy with status and a sport, you will still get into an ivy. But if you’re a normal family and ivy is the goal, you’re much better off at something like an Alexandria or south Arlington public high school - where you can stand out more easily and you get the benefit of a high free lunch and very diverse population. Colleges love this. They act like they’re doing something good by taking “disadvantaged” kids from low scoring/failing high schools but really all they did was take one of the handful of UMC kids. That same kid at Langley would be 50/50 for UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are these mythical public schools without high-achieving students gunning for Ivies? Not in Moco.

Nor FCPS

MCPS and FCPS are full of super smart Asian kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The OP is 100% correct.

Agreed and it's not just Ivy admission. And it's not just powerful and connected classmates, it's also the great diversity in classmates and superstar athletes. All of the students in the prior sentence received a great education at your Big 3 and will be prepared to succeed at top colleges. They are GOLD for college AOs because they are qualified candidates who fill institutional priorities, so even if you happen to have higher rigor or higher GPA, it still will not push you ahead of these classmates in a head on comparision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please do not send your kid to Sidwell/GDS/NCS/STA with the expectation they will get into an Ivy or top 20 school. You are likely to end up very, very disappointed. There *used to be* an advantage in going to a feeder school, but not anymore. These schools deflate GPAs and don't weight. Your kid will also be in direct competition with the children of extremely powerful and connected people. People gush at the idea of sending their son/daughter to school alongside the children of White House cabinet members....until you have to compete with them in college admissions.

If you are a standard, upper-middle class family, send your kid to public school or a less competitive private like Visitation, St. John's College Prep, Gonzaga, etc. These schools actually weight GPAs and are much easier to graduate with the straight-A's necessary for Ivy admissions in 2023.

Getting into an Ivy is no longer about the name of the school on your transcript. It's about being the most outstanding applicant in your school group. It's far easier to do that at a public school where most kids don't care about going to an elite university. Your kid will also have time to focus on extracurriculars due to having easier homework and grade inflation.

I agree with some things you are saying. But while Big 3 might not open door to Ivies, they do position you well to enter the T20s/T30s. My DD would not have been gotten intot he T20 she is at if she was competing from MOCO.

All but a couple of T20 were hooked from our Big 3 and the vast majority of T20-30 also.

[Anonymous]

I am sending both of my kids to a school that consistently ends up as being referred to as "a big 3" on this board, and I am not doing so with any expectation of admissions to an Ivy. My kids might not even want to go to an Ivy and I am not the kind of parent to force the issue out of some entitled expectation that I paid for easier entry.

Why do I send my kids? I actually like the school, the community...and want them to get a great education in a safe environment. The public we came from didn't even lock the doors. The buzzer in the front was busted and instead of spending money to fix it, the PTA fought to make sure the drama club had better microphones. My daughter had a student in her class who was threatening to harm people and constantly throwing things at her.

So if staying at public is the way to have a better shot at the Ivy's - you can have it. I will pay to not have the drama we endured in our public. Our private is also more racially diverse than our "highly rated" public. (note: I know all publics aren't created equal.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please do not send your kid to Sidwell/GDS/NCS/STA with the expectation they will get into an Ivy or top 20 school. You are likely to end up very, very disappointed. There *used to be* an advantage in going to a feeder school, but not anymore. These schools deflate GPAs and don't weight. Your kid will also be in direct competition with the children of extremely powerful and connected people. People gush at the idea of sending their son/daughter to school alongside the children of White House cabinet members....until you have to compete with them in college admissions.

If you are a standard, upper-middle class family, send your kid to public school or a less competitive private like Visitation, St. John's College Prep, Gonzaga, etc. These schools actually weight GPAs and are much easier to graduate with the straight-A's necessary for Ivy admissions in 2023.

Getting into an Ivy is no longer about the name of the school on your transcript. It's about being the most outstanding applicant in your school group. It's far easier to do that at a public school where most kids don't care about going to an elite university. Your kid will also have time to focus on extracurriculars due to having easier homework and grade inflation.

You been paying tuition for the last 13 years thinking your kid was guaranteed an Ivy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am sending both of my kids to a school that consistently ends up as being referred to as "a big 3" on this board, and I am not doing so with any expectation of admissions to an Ivy. My kids might not even want to go to an Ivy and I am not the kind of parent to force the issue out of some entitled expectation that I paid for easier entry.

Why do I send my kids? I actually like the school, the community...and want them to get a great education in a safe environment. The public we came from didn't even lock the doors. The buzzer in the front was busted and instead of spending money to fix it, the PTA fought to make sure the drama club had better microphones. My daughter had a student in her class who was threatening to harm people and constantly throwing things at her.

So if staying at public is the way to have a better shot at the Ivy's - you can have it. I will pay to not have the drama we endured in our public. Our private is also more racially diverse than our "highly rated" public. (note: I know all publics aren't created equal.)

+1. Happy to trade 13 years of a terrific environment for four years at an Ivy. My kid will be just fine no matter where they end up.

[Anonymous]

There are exponentially fewer private school kids than public school kids. That skews the perception of who is getting admitted.