Do you think it is easier to get into a top college from public or private?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As I said before from my experience in the Bay Area- yes for the very top students but not for the next tier. Those kids from the public high schools don’t seem to get in to the top privates or Cal and UCLA. Look at the Stanley Zhong example- Gunn HS, was in the top 9% of his class but had at least one B in junior year and took stem AP’s but not the humanities side. Best acceptance was UC Davis. Similar kids from our local independent high schools (and there are several very good private high schools) have better/more choices.

I know nothing of Langley HS but what I do know is AO are assigned by region so the AO who reviews applicants from Langley also reviews the applicants from the local private high schools. Students in a geographic area are necessarily competing with each other . .

No one knows (or cares) about any of the schools you keep mentioning. This thread is asking about a specific school in FCPS. Please stop posting about SF.

Agreed. This is just so odd. We have a poster asking if they should keep their kid in a public high school in McLean, VA and somebody is going on and on about San Francisco? Why??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s always amusing to see how worked up public school parents get on these threads.

I was thinking just the opposite. The insecurity dripping from the private school parents' posts is something to behold. I guess they have to somehow rationalize throwing away thousands on private school.

OP, you're in an excellent school pyramid. Langley has fantastic college acceptance results. There's no way I'd pay for private in your situation.
NP

+100 I have to agree. The private school posters have been the rude ones on this thread.

Send your kids to where they will thrive. It can be private or public. No private school is going to save your kids if they are mediocre.

[Anonymous]

It depends on the private school. Some are better than Langley, some are worse. Private schools have a lot of variance and aren't a monolith.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the private. I don’t want to denigrate any schools, but there is a big difference between the best privates, mid tier privates, and random catholic schools. I would bet the best privates would give your kid a better chance but a great public would be the same or better than the latter two.

For us, the ones that I think are actually better than our public would add a lot of logistics and time, so we said no. No regrets but as we have a junior now, I can see the difference in the level of support that my kid is getting at his highly rated public vs some of my friends’ kids who are at these very good private schools.

Relatedly, I am over the rat race to a T20. I just want to raise a happy adult with a good work ethic. There is only one chance at childhood, and we aren’t breaking our kids’ backs to get to a T20. They will be just fine wherever they go. All that to say, I don’t care about the different college outcomes that much, even if they are a little different.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s always amusing to see how worked up public school parents get on these threads.

I was thinking just the opposite. The insecurity dripping from the private school parents' posts is something to behold. I guess they have to somehow rationalize throwing away thousands on private school.

OP, you're in an excellent school pyramid. Langley has fantastic college acceptance results. There's no way I'd pay for private in your situation.
NP

What exactly are these fantastic Langley results? Lots of adjectives and no actual receipts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As I said before from my experience in the Bay Area- yes for the very top students but not for the next tier. Those kids from the public high schools don’t seem to get in to the top privates or Cal and UCLA. Look at the Stanley Zhong example- Gunn HS, was in the top 9% of his class but had at least one B in junior year and took stem AP’s but not the humanities side. Best acceptance was UC Davis. Similar kids from our local independent high schools (and there are several very good private high schools) have better/more choices.

I know nothing of Langley HS but what I do know is AO are assigned by region so the AO who reviews applicants from Langley also reviews the applicants from the local private high schools. Students in a geographic area are necessarily competing with each other . .

No one knows (or cares) about any of the schools you keep mentioning. This thread is asking about a specific school in FCPS. Please stop posting about SF.

Agreed. This is just so odd. We have a poster asking if they should keep their kid in a public high school in McLean, VA and somebody is going on and on about San Francisco? Why??

The answer may be about SF, but from my experience with my kids, it is valid for the DMV, for the same profile, top 10% in public HS, great APs but did not score 16 5s. Best acceptance would be UMD. Meanwhile at private schools, UMD is a safety and everyone gets in!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in a top public school (Langley High in McLean). My oldest is currently a junior and it feels like there are so many students who may sound similar on paper. He is targeting T20 schools like everyone else in the school.

I have 2 other kids and considering private schools for them. Cost is a non-factor. We gave our oldest the option to switch to private in middle school and he chose to stay with his friends. He does have a fantastic friend group. Wondering if we should switch our younger kids earlier.

I think the better approach is to avoid focusing only on the "T20" like everyone else in your DC's school. Apply to 1-2 as reaches if there's something about them that's particularly well suited, or if anyone in the family is legacy, but otherwise it's a low odds lottery if you're only focused on admission to a handful of schools with far fewer seats than there is demand.

We're at a private school. We chose it for the curriculum and small class size (ranging from 12-18). We had the ability to afford it and chose it for those reasons, not their college matriculation list. College matriculation lists at strong private high schools are typically impressive because the families are well resourced and many are legacies at schools that still give advantages to children and grandchildren of alums.

So my advice would be: 1) broaden the college list far beyond the T20 (everyone thinks they can get in, but there's too many similar candidates vying to get in), and 2) only go private if you like the other aspects of what it has to offer (classes, class size, admin, teachers) and not because you expect that you will have an easier college admissions season. I don't think it makes much difference in terms of admissions between private vs. public when you take legacy, resources into account.

I hope that helps!

Bingo. Go to private school if you can afford it AND you want the experience (smaller class size, more diverse enrichment courses, more available teachers) and NOT for better college matriculation. Go to private for that school's experience, not college entry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s always amusing to see how worked up public school parents get on these threads.

I was thinking just the opposite. The insecurity dripping from the private school parents' posts is something to behold. I guess they have to somehow rationalize throwing away thousands on private school.

OP, you're in an excellent school pyramid. Langley has fantastic college acceptance results. There's no way I'd pay for private in your situation.
NP

+100 I have to agree. The private school posters have been the rude ones on this thread.

Send your kids to where they will thrive. It can be private or public. No private school is going to save your kids if they are mediocre.

You might not want to hear it, but for the same kid, private schools would get the best college admission results. It is not rude to point it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s always amusing to see how worked up public school parents get on these threads.

I was thinking just the opposite. The insecurity dripping from the private school parents' posts is something to behold. I guess they have to somehow rationalize throwing away thousands on private school.

OP, you're in an excellent school pyramid. Langley has fantastic college acceptance results. There's no way I'd pay for private in your situation.
NP

What exactly are these fantastic Langley results? Lots of adjectives and no actual receipts.

They do well for a non-magnet public. Last year Harvard, Yale, Stanford x3, Northwestern x3, Duke, Brown, Rice, Dartmouth, Cornell, multiple Georgetown, tons of UVA, W&M, and VT. Probably not enough to impress the private school snobs but for kids who don’t need their hands held it can work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As I said before from my experience in the Bay Area- yes for the very top students but not for the next tier. Those kids from the public high schools don’t seem to get in to the top privates or Cal and UCLA. Look at the Stanley Zhong example- Gunn HS, was in the top 9% of his class but had at least one B in junior year and took stem AP’s but not the humanities side. Best acceptance was UC Davis. Similar kids from our local independent high schools (and there are several very good private high schools) have better/more choices.

I know nothing of Langley HS but what I do know is AO are assigned by region so the AO who reviews applicants from Langley also reviews the applicants from the local private high schools. Students in a geographic area are necessarily competing with each other . .

No one knows (or cares) about any of the schools you keep mentioning. This thread is asking about a specific school in FCPS. Please stop posting about SF.

Agreed. This is just so odd. We have a poster asking if they should keep their kid in a public high school in McLean, VA and somebody is going on and on about San Francisco? Why??

The answer may be about SF, but from my experience with my kids, it is valid for the DMV, for the same profile, top 10% in public HS, great APs but did not score 16 5s. Best acceptance would be UMD. Meanwhile at private schools, UMD is a safety and everyone gets in!

Just stop, ok? The poster herself admitted she “knows nothing” about Langley. And your kid is in MD. It’s weird AF to have somebody from clear across the country weighing in on this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s always amusing to see how worked up public school parents get on these threads.

I was thinking just the opposite. The insecurity dripping from the private school parents' posts is something to behold. I guess they have to somehow rationalize throwing away thousands on private school.

OP, you're in an excellent school pyramid. Langley has fantastic college acceptance results. There's no way I'd pay for private in your situation.
NP

What exactly are these fantastic Langley results? Lots of adjectives and no actual receipts.

They do well for a non-magnet public. Last year Harvard, Yale, Stanford x3, Northwestern x3, Duke, Brown, Rice, Dartmouth, Cornell, multiple Georgetown, tons of UVA, W&M, and VT. Probably not enough to impress the private school snobs but for kids who don’t need their hands held it can work.

Most of T20 admits at Langley are Asian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s always amusing to see how worked up public school parents get on these threads.

I was thinking just the opposite. The insecurity dripping from the private school parents' posts is something to behold. I guess they have to somehow rationalize throwing away thousands on private school.

OP, you're in an excellent school pyramid. Langley has fantastic college acceptance results. There's no way I'd pay for private in your situation.
NP

What exactly are these fantastic Langley results? Lots of adjectives and no actual receipts.

They do well for a non-magnet public. Last year Harvard, Yale, Stanford x3, Northwestern x3, Duke, Brown, Rice, Dartmouth, Cornell, multiple Georgetown, tons of UVA, W&M, and VT. Probably not enough to impress the private school snobs but for kids who don’t need their hands held it can work.

Also Penn, Columbia, Vanderbilt, Michigan, Berkeley

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s always amusing to see how worked up public school parents get on these threads.

I was thinking just the opposite. The insecurity dripping from the private school parents' posts is something to behold. I guess they have to somehow rationalize throwing away thousands on private school.

OP, you're in an excellent school pyramid. Langley has fantastic college acceptance results. There's no way I'd pay for private in your situation.
NP

+100 I have to agree. The private school posters have been the rude ones on this thread.

Send your kids to where they will thrive. It can be private or public. No private school is going to save your kids if they are mediocre.

You might not want to hear it, but for the same kid, private schools would get the best college admission results. It is not rude to point it out.

DP. And it’s not rude to state you have no idea what you’re talking about. Especially if that private school kid is a mediocre student compared to a stellar student at a great public school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s always amusing to see how worked up public school parents get on these threads.

I was thinking just the opposite. The insecurity dripping from the private school parents' posts is something to behold. I guess they have to somehow rationalize throwing away thousands on private school.

OP, you're in an excellent school pyramid. Langley has fantastic college acceptance results. There's no way I'd pay for private in your situation.
NP

+100 I have to agree. The private school posters have been the rude ones on this thread.

Send your kids to where they will thrive. It can be private or public. No private school is going to save your kids if they are mediocre.

You might not want to hear it, but for the same kid, private schools would get the best college admission results. It is not rude to point it out.

Not necessarily. Some private school parents will tell you they wished they’d stayed at their local public and that they would’ve done better with admissions. I posted above… it depends on the kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As I said before from my experience in the Bay Area- yes for the very top students but not for the next tier. Those kids from the public high schools don’t seem to get in to the top privates or Cal and UCLA. Look at the Stanley Zhong example- Gunn HS, was in the top 9% of his class but had at least one B in junior year and took stem AP’s but not the humanities side. Best acceptance was UC Davis. Similar kids from our local independent high schools (and there are several very good private high schools) have better/more choices.

I know nothing of Langley HS but what I do know is AO are assigned by region so the AO who reviews applicants from Langley also reviews the applicants from the local private high schools. Students in a geographic area are necessarily competing with each other . .

No one knows (or cares) about any of the schools you keep mentioning. This thread is asking about a specific school in FCPS. Please stop posting about SF.

Agreed. This is just so odd. We have a poster asking if they should keep their kid in a public high school in McLean, VA and somebody is going on and on about San Francisco? Why??

The answer may be about SF, but from my experience with my kids, it is valid for the DMV, for the same profile, top 10% in public HS, great APs but did not score 16 5s. Best acceptance would be UMD. Meanwhile at private schools, UMD is a safety and everyone gets in!

You're pulling ideas out of your ass.
when you look at the numbers of kids going to UMD in the annual lists in Bethesda Magazine, its in the hundreds.
Most kids from Whitman go to UMD. Most.