Update from an Alumna of this Group

[Anonymous]

Back of the envelope math, I will have spent 650k on my kid’s education from pre-K through four year undergraduate degree. It will be worth every penny. Not looking or hoping kid goes to Ivy. Not necessary, IMO. Self made husband went to a small no name undergrad. I went to a big state university and partied for 5 years. We are both very successful in our fields and want our kid to have a solid foundational education. We don’t need social justice taught to little kids or you can identify as a cat. Teach reading, writing, math, geography, foreign languages, creative writing, critical thinking, etc… I wish I could have saved a couple hundred thousand off the education fund, but the county I pay taxes in is more focused on screwing up the core education of students than setting them up for success.

Kudos to OP and their kids. Not impressed about the Ivies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We don’t need social justice taught to little kids or you can identify as a cat.

That's definitely a private school thing - they're generally far more progressive and inclusive than public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for coming back and posting! It’s also important to note that I think many people are in private simply because they think it’s better and/or safer than public - and not necessarily for the college prospects. I am happy for you and your kids’ success though and would be over the moon for a result like that for my children - however, I would see it as the icing on the cake - and not, the cake itself if that makes sense.

My kids won’t be going to top colleges, and I still think private is worth every penny. It’s a better experience for them all around.

Same here. We chose private for a better all-around school experience and so DC wouldn’t be lost in our good but large public.

[Anonymous]

Hey OP, really appreciate you reporting back on this. Ignore the naysayers. Your family chose private, and it worked for you. Congrats to you and your DC!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Few years since I graduated as a poster in this group (except for occasionally checking). Thought I would update on life after PIS. Kids went to top area private. Have now graduated from Ivies (well one has a year left). They had near perfect grades in college. Are now working for a couple of years before going to law school.

I think back to the meeting that we had with a paid college consultant who advised us to pull the kids out of privates so they would have a better shot at getting into college as it was less competitive and could distinguish themselves. I wonder if she is still in business?

Was private worth it? Hell yeah. It made my kids able to handle College much better from an education perspective--they were academically ready.

Yuck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Few years since I graduated as a poster in this group (except for occasionally checking). Thought I would update on life after PIS. Kids went to top area private. Have now graduated from Ivies (well one has a year left). They had near perfect grades in college. Are now working for a couple of years before going to law school.

I think back to the meeting that we had with a paid college consultant who advised us to pull the kids out of privates so they would have a better shot at getting into college as it was less competitive and could distinguish themselves. I wonder if she is still in business?

Was private worth it? Hell yeah. It made my kids able to handle College much better from an education perspective--they were academically ready.

You don't know whether they would have been admitted to the same schools, or handled College [sic] just as well had they attended a public school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So if none of kids went to public, how do you know that it was your private school that made them more “academically ready”? What is your comparison? Did your kids come home from college and say, “man, those public school kids really struggled academically!”

Yeah, they kind of did, especially one of my kids during a required freshman year writing class. Lots of peer review of first, second drafts and my kid said the kids who were shocked by how “good” his, in his mind very mediocre early drafts were, were all public school grads. It came up in group
discussions. More broadly all my kids commented how better prepared for writing papers and studying effectively their private school educated friends were v their college peers who they knew went to public. Said it was obvious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So if none of kids went to public, how do you know that it was your private school that made them more “academically ready”? What is your comparison? Did your kids come home from college and say, “man, those public school kids really struggled academically!”

Yeah, they kind of did, especially one of my kids during a required freshman year writing class. Lots of peer review of first, second drafts and my kid said the kids who were shocked by how “good” his, in his mind very mediocre early drafts were, were all public school grads. It came up in group
discussions. More broadly all my kids commented how better prepared for writing papers and studying effectively their private school educated friends were v their college peers who they knew went to public. Said it was obvious.

I am a college professor and can attest to this. It is not that private school grads are smarter - they are just easily, better prepared. And like it or not, this gives them a significant head start and impacts grades. I always recommend at a minimum that public school students get extra writing and study skills support outside of school while in high school. And if you are able to, have your child take some type of public speaking course.

[Anonymous]

Meh. We have one that graduated from public (a W in MCPS) and one who graduated from a top private, both have had straight As/Dean's list in college. Both aiming for summa cum laude.

One is a rising senior and has a job offer from the place they are interning at this summer. The other is a rising sophomore, and has plans to spend the spring semester abroad in Europe

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Meh. We have one that graduated from public (a W in MCPS) and one who graduated from a top private, both have had straight As/Dean's list in college. Both aiming for summa cum laude.

One is a rising senior and has a job offer from the place they are interning at this summer. The other is a rising sophomore, and has plans to spend the spring semester abroad in Europe

Do you love your private school grad more? Why did you send one to private, and the other to public?

[Anonymous]

Op capitalized “colleges”. Calling troll.

[Anonymous]

I suspect we all have cognitive bias and would think private was best since we paid for it.

—a fellow private school parent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Meh. We have one that graduated from public (a W in MCPS) and one who graduated from a top private, both have had straight As/Dean's list in college. Both aiming for summa cum laude.

One is a rising senior and has a job offer from the place they are interning at this summer. The other is a rising sophomore, and has plans to spend the spring semester abroad in Europe

This is us too. Our public school hs and college grad was hired by an Ivy lab and will be doing a STEM PhD at at one. Jury still out on private hs kid. I do believe kid at private got the better education overall though. However, public school kid has rocked it so far.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like the public school students are getting more from their college investment!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like the public school students are getting more from their college investment!

- Said the public school parent!