Does going to a Big 3 school really help with college admissions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ well- it’s true. My Midwesterner husband readily acknowledges that it definitely gave him a boost. A good majority of his HS didn’t go to college after graduation.

Was my husband smart/deserving? Yes- near perfect SATs and all As in AP courses—but this described at least 1/4 of the population at my very large Fairfax Co HS. who did not get into Ivies and were wait listed at places like UVA, W&M.

The parents I meet that did not grow up in high SES areas with a very educated parent base really are in for a shock.

We have many people in our neighborhood that got into Ivies from very tiny towns. They have no idea the competition coming from a VA school for even UVA. The quotas are real. It’s the small fish in a big pond scenario. I lived it as #5 in my HS class of 675 from a very good Ffx Co HS, near perfect SATs and many athletic and academic high achievements. There are just too many kids like this around here and colleges have quotas from each HS.

I always said I would get my kids educated here and then move to some tiny obscure area the last 2 years of HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If in the top 10% of the class, yes, they will be in good shape. After that, no, I don't think it confers much advantage these days.

I agree with this. The problem being that it's really not easy to be in the top 10%. Pretty much everyone at a big3 for high school is very smart. Being in the top 10% is reserved for kids who study non-stop at the expense of almost everything else.
I'm beginning to realize that college admissions-wise my kids my kids would have been better off or just as good in public. They're well rounded kids--they work hard and do well in school, they play travel sports, they volunteer, they have active social lives---
but they're not going to be in the top 10%. That is reserved for the kids who are compulsive about school (more power to them but it's not most kids).

Nah. Senior class at our public VA HS has 950 students (close to 3,000 total).

There are almost non-existent Ivy League acceptances and maybe 15-20 UVA —out of 950 kids. These are the full IB program kids with a gazillion AP credits and well over a 4.5-4.6 gpa.

Also, counselors are over-worked, deal with way too many students and don’t have any connection to admission offices.

Kids with 4.0, multiple activities are struggling to get into Tech and JMU these days due to the quotas per Fairfax and Arlington HS.

It’s not what you think it is. The stress levels and anxiety are through the roof and the competition insane.

And doesn't this prove that point that there are absolutely brilliant students at lots and lots of colleges and universities, so why the heck should children be killing themselves to be one of 300 non-athlete/pref kid/legacy/cancer curing/big donor spots in the freshman class at Strangle Yourself with an Invasive Vine U.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private school is good of you are happy to later be full pay at Elon, Davidson, Kenyon, or Wesleyan.

One of these schools isn't in the same league as the others.

I think to many people schools like this blend together. And they might be awesome. they certainly seem to be a bastion of white privilege. Kind of like when rich boys used to get into Ivy League schools back through the 60s and 70s.