College admissions from APS

[Anonymous]

11:50 - agreed. And some of us buy in close-in VA vs. close-in MD because we think the Virginia state schools are better than the UMD system. (I say this as someone who graduated from UMD.)

I'm not too worried about how many kids did or didn't get into Harvard from this school or that school. Ivy league isn't everything; she can get a good education from a lot of schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Over the years I've seen posters comment on how college admissions for APS students are sub-part compared to their peer schools around here, and, to the extent it's true, I'm curious to know what people think the cause is (I'm not the person who asked in the other thread about what PTAs can do, but they did make me think to start this thread). Hopefully this can be a constructive, respectful conversation and not a bunch of trolling. Do you believe APS students aren't doing as well as kids at other schools (other than something like TJ, that's not a peer school to any standard public high school) in terms of college admissions, and if so, what's your perception of why? Are school offerings lacking? Different demographics leading to different results? Something else?

Speaking of this, has anyone heard how Arlington Public Schools' seniors are faring in the early decision (ED) process? Any Ivies? MIT? Stanford? Duke? Chicago?

Why do you care?

We have kids in APS in 5th, 7th and 9th grade and just trying to get a feel for their prospects in a few years.

This is just weird. How a random few APS seniors who applied ED to top schools did has nothing to do with how well yours will do in 3, 5 and 7 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:11:50 - agreed. And some of us buy in close-in VA vs. close-in MD because we think the Virginia state schools are better than the UMD system. (I say this as someone who graduated from UMD.)

I'm not too worried about how many kids did or didn't get into Harvard from this school or that school. Ivy league isn't everything; she can get a good education from a lot of schools.

That was one of our factors when deciding where to buy - not the sole one, mind you. I'm a Terp grad too, and love the school. But VA has a "deeper bench" so to speak. If no UVA, there's still options like VA Tech and William & Mary, etc whereas there's a pretty big drop-off after College Park.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:11:50 - agreed. And some of us buy in close-in VA vs. close-in MD because we think the Virginia state schools are better than the UMD system. (I say this as someone who graduated from UMD.)

I'm not too worried about how many kids did or didn't get into Harvard from this school or that school. Ivy league isn't everything; she can get a good education from a lot of schools.

That was one of our factors when deciding where to buy - not the sole one, mind you. I'm a Terp grad too, and love the school. But VA has a "deeper bench" so to speak. If no UVA, there's still options like VA Tech and William & Mary, etc whereas there's a pretty big drop-off after College Park.

Meh. Your kid would have landed at JMU either way. At least now you get the discount.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:11:50 - agreed. And some of us buy in close-in VA vs. close-in MD because we think the Virginia state schools are better than the UMD system. (I say this as someone who graduated from UMD.)

I'm not too worried about how many kids did or didn't get into Harvard from this school or that school. Ivy league isn't everything; she can get a good education from a lot of schools.

That was one of our factors when deciding where to buy - not the sole one, mind you. I'm a Terp grad too, and love the school. But VA has a "deeper bench" so to speak. If no UVA, there's still options like VA Tech and William & Mary, etc whereas there's a pretty big drop-off after College Park.

Meh. Your kid would have landed at JMU either way. At least now you get the discount.

Well it's 3 kids, not just one. And amazing how you already know where they'll "land," considering the oldest one is in 3rd grade...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of our kids attend or went to unremarkable out of state flagships for free, essentially. Places like Tennessee, South Carolina, and Alabama. All of them got into UVA and passed because they got zero aid.

All of them made this choice because they want to pursue grad school (one is in medical school, one is applying to law school and one wants to be a vet). They are all using 529 money to offset grad school costs so they have less debt. This is the smartest choice when you are trying to balance cost, program, and debt. Not everyone wants to pay 120K for a bachelor's degree.

Honestly, as a Harvard undergrad alum, I found the undergrad experience to be wildly overrated. My kids' experience in their honor colleges seem pretty great and did I mention they are free? Yeah.

Good for you. Smart decision-making. You have thought this through and had/have a good plan for your family.

The downside risk of this approach is that one's kids don't feel challenged at schools like this, get caught up in the partying scene at these big schools and end up nowhere.

Honestly, this was our approach as well. My kids all went to Honors colleges at large SEC/Big10 schools for free. They are spending money on professional school grad programs like the PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of our kids attend or went to unremarkable out of state flagships for free, essentially. Places like Tennessee, South Carolina, and Alabama. All of them got into UVA and passed because they got zero aid.

All of them made this choice because they want to pursue grad school (one is in medical school, one is applying to law school and one wants to be a vet). They are all using 529 money to offset grad school costs so they have less debt. This is the smartest choice when you are trying to balance cost, program, and debt. Not everyone wants to pay 120K for a bachelor's degree.

Honestly, as a Harvard undergrad alum, I found the undergrad experience to be wildly overrated. My kids' experience in their honor colleges seem pretty great and did I mention they are free? Yeah.

Good for you. Smart decision-making. You have thought this through and had/have a good plan for your family.

The downside risk of this approach is that one's kids don't feel challenged at schools like this, get caught up in the partying scene at these big schools and end up nowhere.

Honestly, this was our approach as well. My kids all went to Honors colleges at large SEC/Big10 schools for free. They are spending money on professional school grad programs like the PP.

I think this is a very reasonable approach if you know graduate school is a certainty and if you can't afford to pay for both.