Price sensitive but private high school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“Underwhelmed by her middle school which seems so big, disorganized, and not rigorous.”

What do you want from middle school? What does not rigorous mean? If it offers algebra and geometry that’s about all you really need from a middle school.

Not the OP but I think most MS are shit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I want to send my DD to a specific school for high school in our area (not DMV) that costs around 40k a year. Second choice would be a school that costs around 30k. Our public high school is huge and not great college prep, though it consistently sends between 5-10 kids to Ivies a year out of 600 kids. Underwhelmed by her middle school which seems so big, disorganized, and not rigorous.

Are there private school parents on this board that aren’t letting their kid apply early decision or making their kids take into account costs? With schools starting to cross into the 100k range, our family can’t justify that cost even though we have a fair amount of savings. I don’t think it will be a problem if DD stays in public because many of her friends are UMC. But I don’t know about peer pressure at privates to go to the very best school regardless of cost. I’d be happy with DD getting merit from a school like Macalester or going to an out of state public to a school like Wisconsin.

Out of state cost of attendance (tuition, room and board) at Wisconsin is around $62,000 a year. Not exactly a bargain. Just fyi.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“Underwhelmed by her middle school which seems so big, disorganized, and not rigorous.”

What do you want from middle school? What does not rigorous mean? If it offers algebra and geometry that’s about all you really need from a middle school.

Our middle school has prepped kids in math to precalculus. Basically, kids are ready to take AP classes once they entered high school.

[Anonymous]

Going to a private school doesn’t help the “average-excellent” with admission to elite colleges the way it did a generation ago. Now there’s a whole industry that can fill the gaps where larger (or less rigorous) public schools may fall short. SAT prep, dual enrollment offerings, independent college consultants, online resources, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You want to send her to a private school for college prep, not prestige chasing. There are a lot of private school parents with that same mindset.

Depending on the particular private school’s outcome, I think it’s realistic to get merit from Macalester type of lac, if dc performs reasonably well. It’s really specific to the particular private school, better talk to parents there.

Waste of money public’s always do better

[Anonymous]

Our nationally ranked public school still sends 20-30% kids to community colleges every year. Any decent private school would send most of their kids to t50 schools.

Only about 10% of our nationally ranked public school go to T30 schools. Some of them have a tough time at their college having difficulty to deal with college classes.

There are other issues in public schools such as weak curriculum and drug problems. Depression seems to be common among the student body. And many kids are not well mannered. We regret that we didn't send our kids to a private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to send my DD to a specific school for high school in our area (not DMV) that costs around 40k a year. Second choice would be a school that costs around 30k. Our public high school is huge and not great college prep, though it consistently sends between 5-10 kids to Ivies a year out of 600 kids. Underwhelmed by her middle school which seems so big, disorganized, and not rigorous.

Are there private school parents on this board that aren’t letting their kid apply early decision or making their kids take into account costs? With schools starting to cross into the 100k range, our family can’t justify that cost even though we have a fair amount of savings. I don’t think it will be a problem if DD stays in public because many of her friends are UMC. But I don’t know about peer pressure at privates to go to the very best school regardless of cost. I’d be happy with DD getting merit from a school like Macalester or going to an out of state public to a school like Wisconsin.

Out of state cost of attendance (tuition, room and board) at Wisconsin is around $62,000 a year. Not exactly a bargain. Just fyi.

Just FYI, private colleges now cost $100,000 a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You want to send her to a private school for college prep, not prestige chasing. There are a lot of private school parents with that same mindset.

Depending on the particular private school’s outcome, I think it’s realistic to get merit from Macalester type of lac, if dc performs reasonably well. It’s really specific to the particular private school, better talk to parents there.

Waste of money public’s always do better

100% false- many privates are you feeder schools and a large % of the students get into top schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our nationally ranked public school still sends 20-30% kids to community colleges every year. Any decent private school would send most of their kids to t50 schools.

Only about 10% of our nationally ranked public school go to T30 schools. Some of them have a tough time at their college having difficulty to deal with college classes.

There are other issues in public schools such as weak curriculum and drug problems. Depression seems to be common among the student body. And many kids are not well mannered. We regret that we didn't send our kids to a private.

truth

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You want to send her to a private school for college prep, not prestige chasing. There are a lot of private school parents with that same mindset.

Depending on the particular private school’s outcome, I think it’s realistic to get merit from Macalester type of lac, if dc performs reasonably well. It’s really specific to the particular private school, better talk to parents there.

Waste of money public’s always do better

100% false- many privates are you feeder schools and a large % of the students get into top schools.

But OP’s situation is that if they pay for private high school they won’t be able to afford a top private college. So they won’t benefit from the feeder school effect.

[Anonymous]

It doesn’t sound like OP is focused on their kid attending an elite college, just concerned about the social environment if their kid needs to be money-aware in college choices and their friends and peers do not.

OP, there are always MC/UMC kids in private schools for whom the private tuition is a stretch but worth it, who are then making money-conscious decisions for college. I don’t think you should worry about that. Just make sure your child knows going in what the parameters are - X cost is fine, but any school over that won’t be doing able without aid or merit, for example. We’re in the situation with our rising junior, who knows that private SLACs will be dependent on the financial package offered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to send my DD to a specific school for high school in our area (not DMV) that costs around 40k a year. Second choice would be a school that costs around 30k. Our public high school is huge and not great college prep, though it consistently sends between 5-10 kids to Ivies a year out of 600 kids. Underwhelmed by her middle school which seems so big, disorganized, and not rigorous.

Are there private school parents on this board that aren’t letting their kid apply early decision or making their kids take into account costs? With schools starting to cross into the 100k range, our family can’t justify that cost even though we have a fair amount of savings. I don’t think it will be a problem if DD stays in public because many of her friends are UMC. But I don’t know about peer pressure at privates to go to the very best school regardless of cost. I’d be happy with DD getting merit from a school like Macalester or going to an out of state public to a school like Wisconsin.

Out of state cost of attendance (tuition, room and board) at Wisconsin is around $62,000 a year. Not exactly a bargain. Just fyi.

Just FYI, private colleges now cost $100,000 a year.

I know, my kids all attend privsate colleges.

[Anonymous]

My daughter was one of the few borderline MC/UMC students at her private school. The majority of students were wealthy, and a small percentage were low income with scholarships. She had a great experience and received a very strong education, but there are a few nuances we learned about the college admissions process. Most of her wealthy friends applied Early Decision to prestigious private colleges, where they were accepted as full-pay students. This was not an option for us. The students from low-income families focused on private meets-need colleges, which also didn’t work for us because the number the colleges felt we could afford wasn’t realistic for us. Ultimately, my daughter applied to and received merit to several selective out-of-state public schools. Fortunately, she had strong grades, SAT scores and several AP classes, because these schools tend to be more formulaic with admissions. Unlike the smaller private colleges, they don’t care if your school grades hard — you get a certain amount of points for an A, a certain amount for a B, etc. In other words, private school can provide a great education, but if you’re planning to apply to selective public colleges, make sure they’re at a high school where they can rack up a high GPA and lots of AP/IB/DE classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our nationally ranked public school still sends 20-30% kids to community colleges every year. Any decent private school would send most of their kids to t50 schools.

Only about 10% of our nationally ranked public school go to T30 schools. Some of them have a tough time at their college having difficulty to deal with college classes.

There are other issues in public schools such as weak curriculum and drug problems. Depression seems to be common among the student body. And many kids are not well mannered. We regret that we didn't send our kids to a private.

What does nationally ranked even mean? I think US News ranks like 1000+ HSs…are you saying it is top 10, top 100…1200th?

I guarantee you none of the top kids in the top 50 or even 100 HSs are struggling in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our nationally ranked public school still sends 20-30% kids to community colleges every year. Any decent private school would send most of their kids to t50 schools.

Only about 10% of our nationally ranked public school go to T30 schools. Some of them have a tough time at their college having difficulty to deal with college classes.

There are other issues in public schools such as weak curriculum and drug problems. Depression seems to be common among the student body. And many kids are not well mannered. We regret that we didn't send our kids to a private.

What does nationally ranked even mean? I think US News ranks like 1000+ HSs…are you saying it is top 10, top 100…1200th?

I guarantee you none of the top kids in the top 50 or even 100 HSs are struggling in college.

+1 just typical DCUM public school bashing. Of course some will end up at community college, that’s a function of having to take everyone, not some deficiency with the school. Drugs and depression? Rampant at private schools too. Don’t kid yourself.