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

[Anonymous]

My aunt is a poorly rate Kaiser doc and her husband works for the CIA or something military and secret. My cousin swam for Harvard Westlake, and was poised for Tokyo Olympics-- accepted to Berkely. Failed out not long after.

They're not that special, believe me. I laugh to myself every time I see them because she was so uptight and focused on his swimming that she would make him go swim with the local Bahamians at 5am while on vacation. Look at them now. Still a 2.5 star rating on health grades and failure to thrive.

This is your reminder that no outcome is perfect and you can't control the outcome for your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My aunt is a poorly rate Kaiser doc and her husband works for the CIA or something military and secret. My cousin swam for Harvard Westlake, and was poised for Tokyo Olympics-- accepted to Berkely. Failed out not long after.

They're not that special, believe me. I laugh to myself every time I see them because she was so uptight and focused on his swimming that she would make him go swim with the local Bahamians at 5am while on vacation. Look at them now. Still a 2.5 star rating on health grades and failure to thrive.

This is your reminder that no outcome is perfect and you can't control the outcome for your child.

It takes a special kind of person to revel in other people's setbacks.

[Anonymous]

At a school like Harvard Westlake, many of these kids would also have been admitted without a hook. It's actually deceptive to remove them from the pool.

[Anonymous]

Kenyon College seems to be the HW safety school as 30 of 33 were admitted over the past 3 years (the 3 declines were probably due to yield protection concerns).

HW does well with Columbia University and Duke, but not Northwestern (only 6 of 102 accepted).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kenyon College seems to be the HW safety school as 30 of 33 were admitted over the past 3 years (the 3 declines were probably due to yield protection concerns).

HW does well with Columbia University and Duke, but not Northwestern (only 6 of 102 accepted).

Just checked. The 3 students rejected had low GPAs.

[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.

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?

+10

[Anonymous]

If you’re sending your kids to a private school just because you think it will give them a leg up on getting into a top college, you’ve already missed the point of private school. And be careful what you aspire to. Harvard Westlake has had a very sad string of suicides in the community.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think you send your child to a nationally elite school (Collegiate, Spence, HW, HADES) to get them into college. Because you already know that the network most people think is to be found at elite colleges is now actually found at these elite high schools. Like everything else, it happens earlier than it did 30 years ago.

High school is no longer the feeder. It IS the prize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kenyon College seems to be the HW safety school as 30 of 33 were admitted over the past 3 years (the 3 declines were probably due to yield protection concerns).

HW does well with Columbia University and Duke, but not Northwestern (only 6 of 102 accepted).

What's interesting about Northwestern is that they seem to take some kids within the median of the class. It seems like you don't have to be at the tippy-top at HW to get into a T10 school, although it certainly helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think you send your child to a nationally elite school (Collegiate, Spence, HW, HADES) to get them into college. Because you already know that the network most people think is to be found at elite colleges is now actually found at these elite high schools. Like everything else, it happens earlier than it did 30 years ago.

High school is no longer the feeder. It IS the prize.

Not sure this is entirely true. Getting into an elite university definitely is a huge boost in the labor market. NY Times and WaPo are obsessed with the happenings of HYPSMC. They don't care much about what happens at Tufts.

However, the truly elite social circles are now in top prep schools. Harvard and its peers aren't as socially elite as they once were, because they are not committed to admitting far more low-income students than before. About 20% of Princeton is now pell grant eligible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My aunt is a poorly rate Kaiser doc and her husband works for the CIA or something military and secret. My cousin swam for Harvard Westlake, and was poised for Tokyo Olympics-- accepted to Berkely. Failed out not long after.

They're not that special, believe me. I laugh to myself every time I see them because she was so uptight and focused on his swimming that she would make him go swim with the local Bahamians at 5am while on vacation. Look at them now. Still a 2.5 star rating on health grades and failure to thrive.

This is your reminder that no outcome is perfect and you can't control the outcome for your child.

It takes a special kind of person to revel in other people's setbacks.

DP.
How can you not laugh a little?

[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.

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?

The experience is far more meaningful than the objective "results".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think you send your child to a nationally elite school (Collegiate, Spence, HW, HADES) to get them into college. Because you already know that the network most people think is to be found at elite colleges is now actually found at these elite high schools. Like everything else, it happens earlier than it did 30 years ago.

High school is no longer the feeder. It IS the prize.

Not sure this is entirely true. Getting into an elite university definitely is a huge boost in the labor market. NY Times and WaPo are obsessed with the happenings of HYPSMC. They don't care much about what happens at Tufts.

However, the truly elite social circles are now in top prep schools. Harvard and its peers aren't as socially elite as they once were, because they are not committed to admitting far more low-income students than before. About 20% of Princeton is now pell grant eligible.

Interesting. Because colleges that are traditionally super elite/selective are now admitting "those other people" at higher rates, the high school someone attends now becomes a greater focus for the truly elite social circles. Convenient as well as the established elite are going to be less impacted by their college admissions outcome and have easier access to these elite high schools. Basically moving the goal posts and preserving barriers to the elite social class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think you send your child to a nationally elite school (Collegiate, Spence, HW, HADES) to get them into college. Because you already know that the network most people think is to be found at elite colleges is now actually found at these elite high schools. Like everything else, it happens earlier than it did 30 years ago.

High school is no longer the feeder. It IS the prize.

This is what TJ students have found for years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kenyon College seems to be the HW safety school as 30 of 33 were admitted over the past 3 years (the 3 declines were probably due to yield protection concerns).

HW does well with Columbia University and Duke, but not Northwestern (only 6 of 102 accepted).

What's interesting about Northwestern is that they seem to take some kids within the median of the class. It seems like you don't have to be at the tippy-top at HW to get into a T10 school, although it certainly helps.

Northwestern took just one student over three application cycles that appears to have earned just slightly above a 4.0 GPA.

The safe schools for those at this level are, surprisingly, Carleton College 4 of 4 accepted, Kenyon College 8 of 8 accepted, U Wisconsin, University of St. Andrew's, McGill,Oberlin 5/5, Lehigh 2/2,and several others.