Which DC area private school have the highest acceptances to Harvard?

[Anonymous]

DD turned down Harvard and Princeton for Yale. She is having a wonderful time, and couldn't be happier about her choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it that Harvard is no longer the top choice among students in the DMV? It seems that every Stanford or Princeton student I know turned down Harvard. I don’t know a single student who turned down Stanford or Princeton for Harvard. It seems that Stanford and Princeton are now in a class by themselves among DMV students. I know it’s splitting hairs because all of the top 5 schools are terrific, but the emergence of Stanford and Princeton as the “top of the top” is a bit surprising.

My DD turned down Princeton for Harvard. Very happy about the choice as well.

Congrats!

My doctor's daughter turned down Harvard, Yale and Stanford for Princeton. They all were recruiting her for a sport but she decided on Princeton bc she liked their team and felt Princeton was the best fit.

[Anonymous]

At a certain level, for students in the US, there's not a clear hierarchy of top colleges, just different tastes/preferences.

[Anonymous]

We are looking at GDS strongly and will likely get attend for High School but we are in Maryland suburbs and the commute is kind of far. Is it worth the commute? Or should we go to Churchill? I keep hearing public schools have a better chance than private at top ivies.

[Anonymous]

if you have a "hook-less" child, the top publics will probably be better. there may be exceptions in a given year at a given school, but top public is generally the better place for a hook-less student -- if you're looking purely at his/her odds at a top college.

People will point to the percentage of students at a top private who have been admitted in a given year to a top college -- and yes, the top privates will often have higher percentages of their senior class going to the top colleges. BUT -- and it's a big "but" -- those percentages include a bunch of kids who are the children of either very powerful or extremely wealthy people. and some of those parents are legacies at those schools (though that's not needed when the family can donate 7 figures to a university or can pull in connections at the White House) and some of those families are also diverse. So when you look at stats for the completely unhooked (which are hard to come by), that's when you see that there's not an advantage to being at a top private when you're a non-diverse, non-recruited-athlete, non-legacy, middle class kid.

of course, someone will trot out the odd year where that hasn't been the case -- but people who've watched this for years will tell you this: that's the exception and not the rule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of course he attends GDS...

But of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:if you have a "hook-less" child, the top publics will probably be better. there may be exceptions in a given year at a given school, but top public is generally the better place for a hook-less student -- if you're looking purely at his/her odds at a top college.

People will point to the percentage of students at a top private who have been admitted in a given year to a top college -- and yes, the top privates will often have higher percentages of their senior class going to the top colleges. BUT -- and it's a big "but" -- those percentages include a bunch of kids who are the children of either very powerful or extremely wealthy people. and some of those parents are legacies at those schools (though that's not needed when the family can donate 7 figures to a university or can pull in connections at the White House) and some of those families are also diverse. So when you look at stats for the completely unhooked (which are hard to come by), that's when you see that there's not an advantage to being at a top private when you're a non-diverse, non-recruited-athlete, non-legacy, middle class kid.

of course, someone will trot out the odd year where that hasn't been the case -- but people who've watched this for years will tell you this: that's the exception and not the rule.

I can't agree with this more. An un-hooked child has a very slim shot at ivy admissions. period. I worked at a big 3 for about 10 years. We consistently "wowed" with our ivy admissions numbers -every year it was 25%-30% of the class going ivy. But that was made almost exclusively of URM, athletes, kids of alums who donate in the 10s of thousands and up or VIP money kids (think heir to an oil fortune VIP, not 2 big law partners VIP). Of the 20-30 kids going to ivies at most 3 or 4 were not listed above. If you are a URM I think the college counseling at the big 3s is going to give you a big heads up in admissions. The top kids who were not hooked "settled" for school like UVA and U Chicago and Northwestern... not really settling but it isn't Harvard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it that Harvard is no longer the top choice among students in the DMV? It seems that every Stanford or Princeton student I know turned down Harvard. I don’t know a single student who turned down Stanford or Princeton for Harvard. It seems that Stanford and Princeton are now in a class by themselves among DMV students. I know it’s splitting hairs because all of the top 5 schools are terrific, but the emergence of Stanford and Princeton as the “top of the top” is a bit surprising.

My DD turned down Princeton for Harvard. Very happy about the choice as well.

Congrats!

My doctor's daughter turned down Harvard, Yale and Stanford for Princeton. They all were recruiting her for a sport but she decided on Princeton bc she liked their team and felt Princeton was the best fit.

She attended a public hs and her father attended UPenn so no hook. Did not apply to UPenn but she most likely would have got in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:if you have a "hook-less" child, the top publics will probably be better. there may be exceptions in a given year at a given school, but top public is generally the better place for a hook-less student -- if you're looking purely at his/her odds at a top college.

People will point to the percentage of students at a top private who have been admitted in a given year to a top college -- and yes, the top privates will often have higher percentages of their senior class going to the top colleges. BUT -- and it's a big "but" -- those percentages include a bunch of kids who are the children of either very powerful or extremely wealthy people. and some of those parents are legacies at those schools (though that's not needed when the family can donate 7 figures to a university or can pull in connections at the White House) and some of those families are also diverse. So when you look at stats for the completely unhooked (which are hard to come by), that's when you see that there's not an advantage to being at a top private when you're a non-diverse, non-recruited-athlete, non-legacy, middle class kid.

of course, someone will trot out the odd year where that hasn't been the case -- but people who've watched this for years will tell you this: that's the exception and not the rule.

I can't agree with this more. An un-hooked child has a very slim shot at ivy admissions. period. I worked at a big 3 for about 10 years. We consistently "wowed" with our ivy admissions numbers -every year it was 25%-30% of the class going ivy. But that was made almost exclusively of URM, athletes, kids of alums who donate in the 10s of thousands and up or VIP money kids (think heir to an oil fortune VIP, not 2 big law partners VIP). Of the 20-30 kids going to ivies at most 3 or 4 were not listed above. If you are a URM I think the college counseling at the big 3s is going to give you a big heads up in admissions. The top kids who were not hooked "settled" for school like UVA and U Chicago and Northwestern... not really settling but it isn't Harvard.

If the Supreme Court throws out affirmative action, the URM preference could give way to a challenged SES-based preference. That's more legally sustainable and it makes little sense that economically advantaged applicants who happen to be racial minorities, such as the sons and daughters of C-suite execs or Big Law partners) get a hook in admissions.

[Anonymous]

Two fallacies being perpetuated in this most recent set of posts. With 10 pct legacy, 15 pct URM (less than demo representation in U.S.) and 7 pct athletic recruits in a typical Harvard class - and some overlap between these groups - the significant majority of admits in any year are "unhooked". So if junior doesn't get in, the main reason is because he/she was rejected in favor of someone looking a whole lot like himself. Further, closer inspection of the admits from places like Sidwell to Yale and Harvard and Stanford is that there are a whole lot of white, upper middle class non-legacy kids, with acceptance at a higher admit rate than from any of the local publics.

[Anonymous]

Harvard legacies are around 16% for the class of 2018:

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2014/9/23/what-should-harvards-legacy/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My neighbors kid was admitted early to Harvard a few days ago. Very sweet couldn't be happier for them. I do find it interesting that this kid just had straight up great grades in the hardest classes and great SAT Scores. They had no extracurriculars, played no sports or musical instruments, belonged to no clubs and just took Jihns Hopkins classes in the summer...just school and that's it. I guess it worked for them.

Sorry poster, but this doesn't sound legit.

[Anonymous]

I heard that one DC private got 6 early to Harvard but no name net.

[Anonymous]

The eight wealthiest people who attended Harvard all dropped out of Harvard. Unless a kid needs the preferred route back to DC to suffocate in a law firm for 35 years the best thing for a kid may be to just break the mold and get off the beaten path. In the financial industry all the Harvard guys are the brokers who take people like me to dinner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I heard that one DC private got 6 early to Harvard but no name net.

GDS?