Popular DC Independent Schools: How to Look Long Term?

[Anonymous]

I have to admit that as a parent, I have let myself dream occasionally of my child ending up at a really good college. The choice of an independent education for our child was about making more options available in the future, but certainly not guaranteeing them! Moreover, I would not wish that my child end up in a situation where he had to totally struggle every day just to keep up. Going to Harvard is no boon if it makes you miserable. Of course, the likelihood of getting in if you are not competitive protects kids from such a situation.

[Anonymous]

I'd think that opening up choices is the primary goal of a high-priced education
I'm not really sure how parents feel when the child graduates from a pricey high school, to go to community college...

[Anonymous]

If a broader array of choices at the college admissions stage is the goal of a high-priced education, then very few private schools are worth the money and those that are are only worth it for some kids.

Private school makes more sense if your goal is a different kind of education than what public schools provide.

[Anonymous]

I've been rethinking my ideas about private schools.

Looking over where St. Albans and other top schools send their grads, I've realized that my alma mater (not an Ivy, but consistently in the top 15 colleges) is a favored choice. My child would be a legacy applicant several times over to this university. So if he just performs to his natural potential, he's in. And if he doesn't, then he really doesn't deserve to go.

What this does for me is give me both peace of mind AND make me contemplate my priorities. Right now, he's a smart kid of uncommon sweetness and kindness. Maybe this isn't right, but I feel that by pushing him into a really competitive school, I'm risking the qualities that make him so endearing to his father and me. I hate the idea of my boy playing at the home of a parent who calls another school a "reject pile" (as one parent did recently) on DCUM.

I'm going to have to decide soon, but am beginning to lean away from all this. (One less qualified student for the rest of you to compete against). Maybe that $350K would be better spent on family vacations and charity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure why Virginia Tech is such a bad choice? No, not an Ivy, but very hard-working students with a strong work ethic. Many of my fellow alums from VT are very successful, especially in high-tech. I also had classmates who went to Harvard Law and the Kennedy School. It is a huge school, so many others are just "normal", but certainly a lot more happy and well-adjusted than some of the neurotic, money-obsessed mothers on this board. There is more to life than the diploma on your wall.

I'm the PP who mentioned Virginia Tech. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it. That's not at all what I was implying. A couple I knew were quite distressed when that was the best university their child go into, though. And the reason they were distressed was that they had spent a couple of hundred thousand dollars at a "Big Three" to ensure that their child would get into MIT, Harvard, or a similar university. That was their primary goal when they decided to send their child to a very expensive school for K-12. And they were disappointed. That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with Virginia Tech. It means there's something wrong with those parents' expectations, and with their reasoning for choosing their kid's K-12 school. That's all. I don't think they're unique. They just didn't understand that many kids at Big Three schools who end up at Ivies are legacies of those Ivies. They thought they were purchasing a ticket to the Ivy League.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been rethinking my ideas about private schools.

Looking over where St. Albans and other top schools send their grads, I've realized that my alma mater (not an Ivy, but consistently in the top 15 colleges) is a favored choice. My child would be a legacy applicant several times over to this university. So if he just performs to his natural potential, he's in. And if he doesn't, then he really doesn't deserve to go.

What this does for me is give me both peace of mind AND make me contemplate my priorities. Right now, he's a smart kid of uncommon sweetness and kindness. Maybe this isn't right, but I feel that by pushing him into a really competitive school, I'm risking the qualities that make him so endearing to his father and me. I hate the idea of my boy playing at the home of a parent who calls another school a "reject pile" (as one parent did recently) on DCUM.

I'm going to have to decide soon, but am beginning to lean away from all this. (One less qualified student for the rest of you to compete against). Maybe that $350K would be better spent on family vacations and charity.

I feel similarly to you. I want to preserve the sweetness, not create a sense of entitlement. But did someone really call a school a "reject pile"? Yuck. I must have missed that thread!

[Anonymous]

My child would be a legacy applicant several times over to this university. So if he just performs to his natural potential, he's in. And if he doesn't, then he really doesn't deserve to go.

What this does for me is give me both peace of mind AND make me contemplate my priorities.

I get what you're saying, I agree, but ... what if DC doesn't want to go to your alma mater? At all?