Sound off - Ivy grads & high income earners who chose public schools over privates

[Anonymous]

Notice very few of theses high earning ivy grad public school folks are posting the actual schools? A quick check of the MCPS will verify the demography and average hhi. You can pay for private or you can pay for public but either way you are going to pay. There are always barriers to entry.

[Anonymous]

I see all kinds of HYP shirts/sweatshirts on parents and their kids at my kid's elementary school in Arlington (ASFS). We are the low-caste parents from Duke/UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Notice very few of theses high earning ivy grad public school folks are posting the actual schools? A quick check of the MCPS will verify the demography and average hhi. You can pay for private or you can pay for public but either way you are going to pay. There are always barriers to entry.

Really? I've looked at the published demographic data for MCPS, and I haven't ever seen any categories for "graduate of Ivy League college" or "rich". What data are you looking at?

[Anonymous]

@19:34 you can pretend to be obtuse doesn't change the facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:@19:34 you can pretend to be obtuse doesn't change the facts.

Yes, the facts being that MCPS doesn't have data on this, and neither do you.

[Anonymous]

PP please don't comment that a local public isn't full of Ivy parents. This is heresy. I bet 99 percent of parents whose kids attend Ballou have an Ivy degree though probably not top Ivy- don't look at FARMs rates etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP please don't comment that a local public isn't full of Ivy parents. This is heresy. I bet 99 percent of parents whose kids attend Ballou have an Ivy degree though probably not top Ivy- don't look at FARMs rates etc.

Are you 19:34 again? I am not PP, but can't understand anything you write.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP please don't comment that a local public isn't full of Ivy parents. This is heresy. I bet 99 percent of parents whose kids attend Ballou have an Ivy degree though probably not top Ivy- don't look at FARMs rates etc.

\
Makes perfect sense, because all public schools are Ballou. Right.
Signed, double-Harvard mom whose kids go to MCPS.

[Anonymous]

I see a lot of MCPS here. What about Arlington Public Schools, specifically those south of Rte. 50. Anyone here (ivy grad/high income) who sends their children to a neighborhood school in South Arlington? I'm an Ivy grad (DH is UDelaware/UC Davis), we live in South Arlington and are looking at public Spanish immersion, private or parochial (Jesuit) for DD. We don't feel confident about the nearby neighborhood schools. With the looming admission/boundary changes due to overcrowding there is no telling what our neighborhood school option will be but our nearest surrounding schools are all low-scoring on the SOLs. Our neighborhood is nice though - no plans to move!

[Anonymous]

I think there is a flaw in the question - Ivy and/or >350K HHI. This assumes that private is an affordable choice at 350K income.

Granted, we only recently hit >350K HHI (we are around 400K, which translates to under 300K after-tax) but I personally don't feel like private for 2 kids makes financial sense for us. We have no family money, little equity in our (pretty modest) home, drive modest cars (no loans/leases). We earn too much to get any FA when it comes time for college & need to save for that and retirement.

Both kids in MCPS/ BCC Cluster.

I am a private school grad (Georgetown undergrad, and "public ivy" JD) and would definitely consider private for the smaller class sizes and more challenging education if I thought it made financial sense for my family.

[Anonymous]

What exactly is the point of this thread?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What exactly is the point of this thread?

OP here. The point of the thread is exactly what I stated in my original post.

On another thread, someone suggested that most Ivy grads and high-income families choose private schools, so there aren't many of those in area public schools. I don't think that's correct. I know several people who have high HHIs and who went to top colleges, but have chosen public schools for their children. But maybe my circle of friends is just abnormal in that respect. Aren't there lots of other people like that?

Based on my personal experience, it struck me as inaccurate for someone to claim that parents with high HHI and/or alumni of top colleges most often choose private schools. I personally know many people in those categories who chose public schools. But because my personal experience is limited to only the people I know, I wanted to get a sense of what other people perceive.

It seems to me from this thread that there are quite a few high-HHI parents and grads of top colleges at local public schools (on a real number basis, not a % basis), so the person who claimed there simply aren't many of those in public schools was wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly is the point of this thread?

OP here. The point of the thread is exactly what I stated in my original post.

On another thread, someone suggested that most Ivy grads and high-income families choose private schools, so there aren't many of those in area public schools. I don't think that's correct. I know several people who have high HHIs and who went to top colleges, but have chosen public schools for their children. But maybe my circle of friends is just abnormal in that respect. Aren't there lots of other people like that?

Based on my personal experience, it struck me as inaccurate for someone to claim that parents with high HHI and/or alumni of top colleges most often choose private schools. I personally know many people in those categories who chose public schools. But because my personal experience is limited to only the people I know, I wanted to get a sense of what other people perceive.

It seems to me from this thread that there are quite a few high-HHI parents and grads of top colleges at local public schools (on a real number basis, not a % basis), so the person who claimed there simply aren't many of those in public schools was wrong.

Look, statistically most people choose public school. 90% of all kids are in public school last I read somewhere. But in the private school population, high HHI kids are over represented for obvious reasons. If you think going to a selective school has any correlations with HHI (either because smart means high income, or rich folks got into Yale), then top college graduates are also over represented at the top private schools. However, over reppresented does not mean there are more Harvard graduates parents in private schools than public schools, because more people are in public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look, statistically most people choose public school. 90% of all kids are in public school last I read somewhere. But in the private school population, high HHI kids are over represented for obvious reasons. If you think going to a selective school has any correlations with HHI (either because smart means high income, or rich folks got into Yale), then top college graduates are also over represented at the top private schools. However, over reppresented does not mean there are more Harvard graduates parents in private schools than public schools, because more people are in public schools.

OP again. I believe you're waaaaaay overthinking this, and you're making lots of incorrect assumptions about me and my thought process. I'll try again: Someone on another thread claimed there are hardly any high-HHI students at public schools, and also that there are hardly any children of grads from top colleges. I thought that was a bullshit claim, but I wanted to get opinions from others on DCUM to see whether or not my gut instinct was correct. It appears my gut instinct was correct, because several high-HHI and top-college grads have chimed in here. That's it -- I've got no hidden motive or other inference I'm drawing based on this thread about public schools, private schools, or my children's academic future.

I gather you don't like some implication or correlation that might be drawn from this fact, but to be honest, I can't quite figure out from your post what it is. If you want a debate, you'll need to get it from someone else.

[Anonymous]

OP,

I am telling you it is most likely there are more Harvard graduates who send kids to public school than private school in this area because most kids go to public school.

That is all I said. Relax.