Do Elite Prep Schools Hurt College Chances?

[Anonymous]

At schools like Phillips, sure. But for DC/NoVA schools it's an advantage.

[Anonymous]

A rule of thumb is, if a private school meets full need and recruits nationally, it's going to be hard to stand out there to the point where you get into a too school. If a school recruits regionally, then it's more likely to give you a boost.

[Anonymous]

I think it helps at top liberal arts schools, doesn’t help/hurt for top private universities, and hurts for top public universities.

I will say people seem to be obsessed with private school as a means to getting into an elite college, but it helps prepare kids for the academics and can help with future connections. My brother got a job at a hedge fund from a non-target school through a prep school classmate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The goal posts are going to move many times for your DC. What Ivy League schools want always changes. Private schools have been an advantage in the past but then other times it was being URMs, then living in a low income zip code. Well rounded students were hot until pointy ones were. Test scores seem to be the most important thing this upcoming year but weren’t the past few years.

Making too many decisions with Ivy admissions in mind isn’t the way to go.

I went to Ivy in the 90s, and half the kids were from private schools. Considering how few private schools there are compared to public, that was INSANE.

I was a rural admit (though I didn’t test well, NMSF).

But OP learn from my path: you want your kids to prepared well enough to succeed at an Ivy (or any college) not just get admitted to an Ivy. I was way way over my head coming from CowTown High. Your kids will be fine, so focus on which school best fits them and challenges them now as prep for the future.

[Anonymous]

Yes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If my kid wants to attend an Ivy League or similar university after high school, will a top private school hurt their chances due to the intense competition?

It depends. Can he be in the top 20-30th percentile of the class at an elite school?
If not, he’d get better chances going to a slightly less prestigious high school if he can be in the top 5 percentile there.
Big fish in the small sea principle …

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, that's just rich people cope.

Are the very top students at Big 3 schools not getting into Ivy League schools?

A few do. Most don’t. It is absolutely not a guarantee. So if that is the reason you want to go, you may be disappointed in the outcome.

Not our experience with 2 kids at 2 different Big3 schools in the past 2 years. If you are top10 in the class then an Ivy is almost a guarantee. This is where attending a Big3 can be an advantage over public. At a public there is a far greater percentage of kids at the top of the class and these kids' college admissions are sorted by their extracurriculars, random chance, etc. Some get an Ivy or other top20 spot, some do not. That all said, it's incredibly hard to be top10 in a Big3 class.

Sure it is, but don't be obtuse about how hard it is to be Top 10 anywhere that has a fairly affluent, high achieving population (Ws, Langley, Blair Magnet, etc...). Being at the top of your class of 70 is just as hard as being at the top of your class of 700. The #s, proportionally, work out the same. Some may argue that it's harder when there are no politics or special treatment or over-familiarity (I'm not) but in any case, Top 10 when taking 6 APs and pouring yourself into activities is what it is. And imagine that some kids do it without SAHMs to bend to their needs and housecleaners and all the comforts of being a 3%er or more! I know what I find more real-world impressive!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am looking at private schools for kid. Not DC but in Baltimore. I went to a well known prep school in another city and cannot but help make comparisons to the 1990s. Also went to an Ivy. In glancing at the 2025 classes Instagram, there are fewer prestigious college placements than you would expect. Of those, disproportionate are black, especially those of African ancestry. Most kids seem to be going to big state universities across the country. Far fewer LACs, which really surprised me.

It has made me pause a bit.

Far fewer kids want to go to the Ivies, particularly certain ones. My kids and a few of their friends all said no thanks to Columbia, Brown and Penn the past few years. Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth and for some kids, Harvard are still in vogue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am looking at private schools for kid. Not DC but in Baltimore. I went to a well known prep school in another city and cannot but help make comparisons to the 1990s. Also went to an Ivy. In glancing at the 2025 classes Instagram, there are fewer prestigious college placements than you would expect. Of those, disproportionate are black, especially those of African ancestry. Most kids seem to be going to big state universities across the country. Far fewer LACs, which really surprised me.

It has made me pause a bit.

Don't know what's happening in Baltimore. But hey, it's Baltimore. The top DC schools still have stellar records at getting kids into top schools.

Um, Tulane, Northeastern, NYU, etc are “top” schools only in the minds of a few. The Ivies, Stanford and MITs are no longer banging down the doors at any DC privates begging for their students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am looking at private schools for kid. Not DC but in Baltimore. I went to a well known prep school in another city and cannot but help make comparisons to the 1990s. Also went to an Ivy. In glancing at the 2025 classes Instagram, there are fewer prestigious college placements than you would expect. Of those, disproportionate are black, especially those of African ancestry. Most kids seem to be going to big state universities across the country. Far fewer LACs, which really surprised me.

It has made me pause a bit.

Far fewer kids want to go to the Ivies, particularly certain ones. My kids and a few of their friends all said no thanks to Columbia, Brown and Penn the past few years. Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth and for some kids, Harvard are still in vogue.

Brown surprises me in the avoid list. It is still popular with our non-DC kids. I’d love to understand why some are not interested.

Broadly, I agree that state flagships are attracting some kids who would have gone top-tier SLAC a decade ago.