Regretting private high school investment because of colleges want more public school graduates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LOL, there are way more Ivy legacies in MCPS, FCPS, Arlington, et al. than all the private schools combined.

yes obviously my point is the private schools touting their great numbers are fully aware that their stellar admits are mostly Ivy legacies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are bunch of drama queens on this thread.

Public schools are not unilaterally in shambles people, come on. Ask any parent or kid at a higher achieving school in MCPS or FCPS or at Walls or similar and you will see: high achieving kids anywhere have similar outcomes. Account for wealth and SES, even more so.

The PP touting a 30% ivy admit rate would find that a similar demographic of kids at NCS and Churchill, or Bullis and Whitman, are going to have very similar outcomes.

Public schools are great for some kids, and the more people who send their kids to public school the stronger our schools are for it as a public good. That said, opting out for private schools is better for some kids and I don't wholly begrudge that, but you are being dishonest if you think that private schools aren't part of a larger societal problem, or that school shootings can only happen in public schools.

Do what is best for your family. But you're ignorant and short-sighted if you think private school alone is going to get your kid into Yale, or if you think dumb kids from public school took your kid's spot, or if you think all public schools are bad and all private schools are better. Be a little more honest and rigorous in your analysis.

Genuine question - how are privates a part of a larger societal problem?

Using Fairfax County as example, there are nearly 100 private schools with over 20,000 students enrolled. The average cost to educate a student in FCPS is $19,750. If we got rid of privates, these +20K students would cost FCPS another $400M and that doesn’t include cost of building additional classrooms. These private school families are already paying property and state income taxes that fund the public schools so, you can’t expect them to pay more. If anything, they are freeing up resources for public schools students.

I think you know but if you genuinely don't, I can explain.

The majority of parents who choose private school are weathier, and relatedly, value education. Basically all of the high-risk, low-SES, underperforming kids in the country attend public schools. Opting out of public school makes public schools lose resources, affects the demographics of a school or system, and perpetuates a growing divide. It's a classic example of valuing individuals over communities, which we would probably ALL do, but it's not good for society. To. be fair, moving to a "good school district" which almost always has higher priced housing is the same concept. We made this choice, so I am not attacking anyone. But all of us are smart enough to recognize that these things create problems, specifically for disadvantaged black and brown kids at scale.

How does opting out of public deprive public of their resources? Had we stayed, we would have consumed the limited resources at our. Since we don’t have school vouchers, we’re not taking the taxes that we paid for our child’s education with us to private.

I don’t buy your argument on valuing the individual over community. We’re choosing to be with a different community. We’re not homeschooling or hiring private instructors, we’re sending her to a different school. Our responsibility is to make sure our child receives the best educational experience we can provide her. If every family did the same, we wouldn’t have the problems we do in public schools.

Objectively speaking, the fact that public schools try to provide the best education experience to all students vs the amount of funding and supports they have is a huge part of the problems in public schools. Someone earlier listed the average pp cost as something like $19k. But that cost also accounts for significant things that many private schools don't have or cover. For example, More expansive Special Needs, Transportation, Meals, ESL, etc. Public schools have problems because they lack the actual funding/resources (buildings, people, external resources) to support its required mission of educating all students.

[Anonymous]

Are you serious about wanting public school education for your kid? I mean unless they are going to the top few, I suggest never going to college and going to a top private school till grad will serve them better in life overall.

In this day and age y'all gotta get over going to the best college.

I recruit out of top MBA programs and will tell you just about any good college has employers recruiting out of it due to competition in the market. As well, there's 100000 ways to make a living. You do not need to be 1 of 100000 UVA or Yale grad to be successful in life.

You do however need to understand how to learn, why it's important to learn and be well rounded enough and articulate enough to present yourself effectively. I'll take a private school education 9 times out of 10 for my kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you serious about wanting public school education for your kid? I mean unless they are going to the top few, I suggest never going to college and going to a top private school till grad will serve them better in life overall.

In this day and age y'all gotta get over going to the best college.

I recruit out of top MBA programs and will tell you just about any good college has employers recruiting out of it due to competition in the market. As well, there's 100000 ways to make a living. You do not need to be 1 of 100000 UVA or Yale grad to be successful in life.

You do however need to understand how to learn, why it's important to learn and be well rounded enough and articulate enough to present yourself effectively. I'll take a private school education 9 times out of 10 for my kid.

You have 10 kids? Go public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL, there are way more Ivy legacies in MCPS, FCPS, Arlington, et al. than all the private schools combined.

yes obviously my point is the private schools touting their great numbers are fully aware that their stellar admits are mostly Ivy legacies.

What's your evidence that Ivy legacy admits are more likely to be from private schools than public?

[Anonymous]

This particular forum is obnoxious on so many levels.

[Anonymous]

College admissions are much better for the unhooked at DMV publics than privates.

Sending your unhooked kid to a Big 3 will just result in a suboptimal college outcome.

Hooked kids will gobble up scarce T20 slots, leaving your kid to gnaw on scraps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Been told by our college counselor that this year colleges are turning away from selecting most private high school kids because of their privileged education. That you now have a better chance coming from a public high school with good grades and top scores and activities. There’s no advantage anymore paying more money for private. None at all.

So for those of you looking to go private, don’t waste your money. Your private school kid, despite top gpa and test scores, will probably will be bumped in favor of someone from a good public school.

Regrets, regrets, regrets…

Bet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sending your unhooked kid to a Big 3 will just result in a suboptimal college outcome.

It's cute that you think Big 3 schools are full of unhooked kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sending your unhooked kid to a Big 3 will just result in a suboptimal college outcome.

It's cute that you think Big 3 schools are full of unhooked kids.

NP. I think your reading comprehension is off and it's not cute.

[Anonymous]

What's the relevance of PP's statement about unhooked kids at Big 3 schools if there aren't many of them there in the first place?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's the relevance of PP's statement about unhooked kids at Big 3 schools if there aren't many of them there in the first place?

If it's going to be a financial burden to send your kid to a Big3 and you don't already have hooks (likely a legacy hook) but you DO have hopes for them to go to a top college, you'll need to be realistic that their college prospects might be better elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the relevance of PP's statement about unhooked kids at Big 3 schools if there aren't many of them there in the first place?

If it's going to be a financial burden to send your kid to a Big3 and you don't already have hooks (likely a legacy hook) but you DO have hopes for them to go to a top college, you'll need to be realistic that their college prospects might be better elsewhere.

I am so confused by this nonsense that kids in public schools aren’t hooked. It’s like you all live in some insane bubble. In my rich people neighborhood in Nova we know parents who attended school at Harvard, Stanford, UVa, Michigan, USNA, Duke, etc. They all send their kids to our local public high school.

If you want your kids to have a better chance, move to Iowa or Mississippi or somewhere. But sending them to our local public school does not get them away from the hooks.

[Anonymous]

The legacy hook is way overrated IMO because it’s useful for one or two colleges at most. Better to have or develop a hook that holds much broader appeal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:College admissions are much better for the unhooked at DMV publics than privates.

Sending your unhooked kid to a Big 3 will just result in a suboptimal college outcome.

Hooked kids will gobble up scarce T20 slots, leaving your kid to gnaw on scraps.

False. Big 3 college placement is great! Sidwell STA and NCS. NCS college placement is amazing this year!!