Which level kid goes to which schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard Trinity in NYC this year has 9 kids going to Brown? that's wild!

NYC kids are typically very impressive and often with hooks too. I think there are 6-8 girls at The Spence School going to Harvard this year out of a class of 60! Half of Brearley’s class is going to Ivies + Stanford & MIT. Saint Ann’s, Dalton, Hunter, Stuyvesant all have excellent outcomes too. Nothing new there. These are their results (almost) every year.

Almost everyone of these have $50k-100k per year counselors right from 8th grade.

No, they do not. The schools themselves provide the college counseling. I personally know a kid well at one of the privates going to HYPSM with zero outside help. What he does have is 1580 on the SAT that he got at one sitting the summer before his junior year, a 3.95 GPA and a niche major that is his true interest and intended course of study.
The rigor at those schools is insane. Their students are extremely well prepared for college and do very well.

Don’t let these schools totally fool you. These kids are not infinitely more impressive or working infinitely harder than dc kids. I know many. They have hooks well beyond just run of the mill legacy. Many have real f’u $ and many do hire private counselors.

They aren’t sending 8 a class to Yale bc they are working these kids harder and colleges are impressed by the rigor.

Private school kids are not smarter, nor are they more impressive. It's not really about the hooks, though, for the majority of the class getting into T20. Their schools are feeders that don't focus on testing (some of these schools don't even have grades). Instead, they focus on the whole person, often hyper-focused on intellectual independence, creativity, and curiosity, which creates strong analytic thinkers with strong communication skills. That is the difference.

- signed non-DMV private school parent

I was referring the ny private schools and the poster saying there were better trained etc. and more impressive kids at those schools. Apparently, I didn’t link to correct post. those kids have outsized performance from dc kids more bc of the family they were born into more than that Dalton or Trinity is so much better than St Albans or Sidwell.

The education between public and private has been debated at length so no need for me to retread there.

But those nyc private school kids are hooked. Just as hooked when we hire them at my finance firm.

+1. The advantages of the connections permeate high school, college, employment beyond college. Anyone at one of these elite colleges watches this go on

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard Trinity in NYC this year has 9 kids going to Brown? that's wild!

NYC kids are typically very impressive and often with hooks too. I think there are 6-8 girls at The Spence School going to Harvard this year out of a class of 60! Half of Brearley’s class is going to Ivies + Stanford & MIT. Saint Ann’s, Dalton, Hunter, Stuyvesant all have excellent outcomes too. Nothing new there. These are their results (almost) every year.

Almost everyone of these have $50k-100k per year counselors right from 8th grade.

No, they do not. The schools themselves provide the college counseling. I personally know a kid well at one of the privates going to HYPSM with zero outside help. What he does have is 1580 on the SAT that he got at one sitting the summer before his junior year, a 3.95 GPA and a niche major that is his true interest and intended course of study.
The rigor at those schools is insane. Their students are extremely well prepared for college and do very well.

Don’t let these schools totally fool you. These kids are not infinitely more impressive or working infinitely harder than dc kids. I know many. They have hooks well beyond just run of the mill legacy. Many have real f’u $ and many do hire private counselors.

They aren’t sending 8 a class to Yale bc they are working these kids harder and colleges are impressed by the rigor.

Private school kids are not smarter, nor are they more impressive. It's not really about the hooks, though, for the majority of the class getting into T20. Their schools are feeders that don't focus on testing (some of these schools don't even have grades). Instead, they focus on the whole person, often hyper-focused on intellectual independence, creativity, and curiosity, which creates strong analytic thinkers with strong communication skills. That is the difference.

- signed non-DMV private school parent

The HS rigor is much different though. I was a Ffx co public school kid. My kids did k-8 public in strong DMV school district. They then went to private HS in DC. They received 5s on all 10 AP exams with no outside studying or prep. They scored a 35 and 36 ACT- each first sitting. Not only did they excel in STEM, but they came out as excellent writers. They were taught to think, question and solve.

My attic is overflowing with the required books —literally shelves, upon shelves. The amount of novels in one year, the lit reading in Spanish - honors , etc. Oldest is at an Ivy and was very very well prepared.

Privates/Ivies do look at HS rigor.

I think public schools are often as good as or more rigorous than privates — it’s just the counseling is not as good so kids are not aware of what they need to do for Ivy admissions.

My public school kid (1600/4.0/10 APs) received the highest possible Academic Index of 240 at Harvard. DC had taken APs in all 5 core areas. Most kids at our school take 4 APs as that is what makes the counselor mark “highest rigor” on the SSR. Our school hadn’t sent anyone to Harvard in at least a decade and probably only legacies before then. My kid just took courses that seemed like natural progressions — had no idea about only 4 being necessary for the highest rigor marking. And applied to Harvard for the heck of it! We were shocked at the admittance. After my kid was admitted, the high performers started taking 10 APs and have gone even further by doing Calc BC in 10/11 and then do Linear Algebra, etc through other places. While no one has got into Harvard again, we definitely have kids going to more selective colleges.

However I’ve heard that private colleges trust private high school counselors more — mostly for yield. These are the fancy private schools counselors.

And my kid is doing just fine at Harvard. Public school kids are big readers too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard Trinity in NYC this year has 9 kids going to Brown? that's wild!

NYC kids are typically very impressive and often with hooks too. I think there are 6-8 girls at The Spence School going to Harvard this year out of a class of 60! Half of Brearley’s class is going to Ivies + Stanford & MIT. Saint Ann’s, Dalton, Hunter, Stuyvesant all have excellent outcomes too. Nothing new there. These are their results (almost) every year.

Almost everyone of these have $50k-100k per year counselors right from 8th grade.

No, they do not. The schools themselves provide the college counseling. I personally know a kid well at one of the privates going to HYPSM with zero outside help. What he does have is 1580 on the SAT that he got at one sitting the summer before his junior year, a 3.95 GPA and a niche major that is his true interest and intended course of study.
The rigor at those schools is insane. Their students are extremely well prepared for college and do very well.

Don’t let these schools totally fool you. These kids are not infinitely more impressive or working infinitely harder than dc kids. I know many. They have hooks well beyond just run of the mill legacy. Many have real f’u $ and many do hire private counselors.

They aren’t sending 8 a class to Yale bc they are working these kids harder and colleges are impressed by the rigor.

Private school kids are not smarter, nor are they more impressive. It's not really about the hooks, though, for the majority of the class getting into T20. Their schools are feeders that don't focus on testing (some of these schools don't even have grades). Instead, they focus on the whole person, often hyper-focused on intellectual independence, creativity, and curiosity, which creates strong analytic thinkers with strong communication skills. That is the difference.

- signed non-DMV private school parent

The HS rigor is much different though. I was a Ffx co public school kid. My kids did k-8 public in strong DMV school district. They then went to private HS in DC. They received 5s on all 10 AP exams with no outside studying or prep. They scored a 35 and 36 ACT- each first sitting. Not only did they excel in STEM, but they came out as excellent writers. They were taught to think, question and solve.

My attic is overflowing with the required books —literally shelves, upon shelves. The amount of novels in one year, the lit reading in Spanish - honors , etc. Oldest is at an Ivy and was very very well prepared.

Privates/Ivies do look at HS rigor.

I think public schools are often as good as or more rigorous than privates — it’s just the counseling is not as good so kids are not aware of what they need to do for Ivy admissions.

My public school kid (1600/4.0/10 APs) received the highest possible Academic Index of 240 at Harvard. DC had taken APs in all 5 core areas. Most kids at our school take 4 APs as that is what makes the counselor mark “highest rigor” on the SSR. Our school hadn’t sent anyone to Harvard in at least a decade and probably only legacies before then. My kid just took courses that seemed like natural progressions — had no idea about only 4 being necessary for the highest rigor marking. And applied to Harvard for the heck of it! We were shocked at the admittance. After my kid was admitted, the high performers started taking 10 APs and have gone even further by doing Calc BC in 10/11 and then do Linear Algebra, etc through other places. While no one has got into Harvard again, we definitely have kids going to more selective colleges.

However I’ve heard that private colleges trust private high school counselors more — mostly for yield. These are the fancy private schools counselors.

And my kid is doing just fine at Harvard. Public school kids are big readers too!

My public school kid had similar stats to yours (1580 sat, other stats identical), and was encouraged by his private college counselor to apply early to Wash U bc admittance to any of his other choices was a complete crapshoot for him (he was admitted to Wash U). But I really responded to say that his stats were pretty much no big deal at his mcps hs - he easily knew countless kids (good friends and others in his classes) with those stats and virtually none were admitted to any ivy. So your kid at Harvard either had something else going for them, or was spectacularly lucky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard Trinity in NYC this year has 9 kids going to Brown? that's wild!

NYC kids are typically very impressive and often with hooks too. I think there are 6-8 girls at The Spence School going to Harvard this year out of a class of 60! Half of Brearley’s class is going to Ivies + Stanford & MIT. Saint Ann’s, Dalton, Hunter, Stuyvesant all have excellent outcomes too. Nothing new there. These are their results (almost) every year.

Almost everyone of these have $50k-100k per year counselors right from 8th grade.

No, they do not. The schools themselves provide the college counseling. I personally know a kid well at one of the privates going to HYPSM with zero outside help. What he does have is 1580 on the SAT that he got at one sitting the summer before his junior year, a 3.95 GPA and a niche major that is his true interest and intended course of study.
The rigor at those schools is insane. Their students are extremely well prepared for college and do very well.

Don’t let these schools totally fool you. These kids are not infinitely more impressive or working infinitely harder than dc kids. I know many. They have hooks well beyond just run of the mill legacy. Many have real f’u $ and many do hire private counselors.

They aren’t sending 8 a class to Yale bc they are working these kids harder and colleges are impressed by the rigor.

Private school kids are not smarter, nor are they more impressive. It's not really about the hooks, though, for the majority of the class getting into T20. Their schools are feeders that don't focus on testing (some of these schools don't even have grades). Instead, they focus on the whole person, often hyper-focused on intellectual independence, creativity, and curiosity, which creates strong analytic thinkers with strong communication skills. That is the difference.

- signed non-DMV private school parent

The HS rigor is much different though. I was a Ffx co public school kid. My kids did k-8 public in strong DMV school district. They then went to private HS in DC. They received 5s on all 10 AP exams with no outside studying or prep. They scored a 35 and 36 ACT- each first sitting. Not only did they excel in STEM, but they came out as excellent writers. They were taught to think, question and solve.

My attic is overflowing with the required books —literally shelves, upon shelves. The amount of novels in one year, the lit reading in Spanish - honors , etc. Oldest is at an Ivy and was very very well prepared.

Privates/Ivies do look at HS rigor.

I think public schools are often as good as or more rigorous than privates — it’s just the counseling is not as good so kids are not aware of what they need to do for Ivy admissions.

My public school kid (1600/4.0/10 APs) received the highest possible Academic Index of 240 at Harvard. DC had taken APs in all 5 core areas. Most kids at our school take 4 APs as that is what makes the counselor mark “highest rigor” on the SSR. Our school hadn’t sent anyone to Harvard in at least a decade and probably only legacies before then. My kid just took courses that seemed like natural progressions — had no idea about only 4 being necessary for the highest rigor marking. And applied to Harvard for the heck of it! We were shocked at the admittance. After my kid was admitted, the high performers started taking 10 APs and have gone even further by doing Calc BC in 10/11 and then do Linear Algebra, etc through other places. While no one has got into Harvard again, we definitely have kids going to more selective colleges.

However I’ve heard that private colleges trust private high school counselors more — mostly for yield. These are the fancy private schools counselors.

And my kid is doing just fine at Harvard. Public school kids are big readers too!

My public school kid had similar stats to yours (1580 sat, other stats identical), and was encouraged by his private college counselor to apply early to Wash U bc admittance to any of his other choices was a complete crapshoot for him (he was admitted to Wash U). But I really responded to say that his stats were pretty much no big deal at his mcps hs - he easily knew countless kids (good friends and others in his classes) with those stats and virtually none were admitted to any ivy. So your kid at Harvard either had something else going for them, or was spectacularly lucky.

You did the right thing. Without something special, that kid or other kids like him are not getting into HYPSM.

If you are full pay, an ED1/2 choice to schools like WashU/Rice/Emory/Chicago and even Vanderbilt is the way to go.

Congratulations! Amazing outcome!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard Trinity in NYC this year has 9 kids going to Brown? that's wild!

NYC kids are typically very impressive and often with hooks too. I think there are 6-8 girls at The Spence School going to Harvard this year out of a class of 60! Half of Brearley’s class is going to Ivies + Stanford & MIT. Saint Ann’s, Dalton, Hunter, Stuyvesant all have excellent outcomes too. Nothing new there. These are their results (almost) every year.

Almost everyone of these have $50k-100k per year counselors right from 8th grade.

No, they do not. The schools themselves provide the college counseling. I personally know a kid well at one of the privates going to HYPSM with zero outside help. What he does have is 1580 on the SAT that he got at one sitting the summer before his junior year, a 3.95 GPA and a niche major that is his true interest and intended course of study.
The rigor at those schools is insane. Their students are extremely well prepared for college and do very well.

Don’t let these schools totally fool you. These kids are not infinitely more impressive or working infinitely harder than dc kids. I know many. They have hooks well beyond just run of the mill legacy. Many have real f’u $ and many do hire private counselors.

They aren’t sending 8 a class to Yale bc they are working these kids harder and colleges are impressed by the rigor.

Private school kids are not smarter, nor are they more impressive. It's not really about the hooks, though, for the majority of the class getting into T20. Their schools are feeders that don't focus on testing (some of these schools don't even have grades). Instead, they focus on the whole person, often hyper-focused on intellectual independence, creativity, and curiosity, which creates strong analytic thinkers with strong communication skills. That is the difference.

- signed non-DMV private school parent

I was referring the ny private schools and the poster saying there were better trained etc. and more impressive kids at those schools. Apparently, I didn’t link to correct post. those kids have outsized performance from dc kids more bc of the family they were born into more than that Dalton or Trinity is so much better than St Albans or Sidwell.

The education between public and private has been debated at length so no need for me to retread there.

But those nyc private school kids are hooked. Just as hooked when we hire them at my finance firm.

+1. The advantages of the connections permeate high school, college, employment beyond college. Anyone at one of these elite colleges watches this go on

I think regis is the opposite of st Ann’s. Not a very connected population and no outside counselors, but a very rigorous, traditional education. They do pretty well!

https://www.instagram.com/regisdecisions2025?igsh=MTFpZGMxcmpoc2l5dQ==

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard Trinity in NYC this year has 9 kids going to Brown? that's wild!

NYC kids are typically very impressive and often with hooks too. I think there are 6-8 girls at The Spence School going to Harvard this year out of a class of 60! Half of Brearley’s class is going to Ivies + Stanford & MIT. Saint Ann’s, Dalton, Hunter, Stuyvesant all have excellent outcomes too. Nothing new there. These are their results (almost) every year.

Almost everyone of these have $50k-100k per year counselors right from 8th grade.

No, they do not. The schools themselves provide the college counseling. I personally know a kid well at one of the privates going to HYPSM with zero outside help. What he does have is 1580 on the SAT that he got at one sitting the summer before his junior year, a 3.95 GPA and a niche major that is his true interest and intended course of study.
The rigor at those schools is insane. Their students are extremely well prepared for college and do very well.

Don’t let these schools totally fool you. These kids are not infinitely more impressive or working infinitely harder than dc kids. I know many. They have hooks well beyond just run of the mill legacy. Many have real f’u $ and many do hire private counselors.

They aren’t sending 8 a class to Yale bc they are working these kids harder and colleges are impressed by the rigor.

Private school kids are not smarter, nor are they more impressive. It's not really about the hooks, though, for the majority of the class getting into T20. Their schools are feeders that don't focus on testing (some of these schools don't even have grades). Instead, they focus on the whole person, often hyper-focused on intellectual independence, creativity, and curiosity, which creates strong analytic thinkers with strong communication skills. That is the difference.

- signed non-DMV private school parent

I was referring the ny private schools and the poster saying there were better trained etc. and more impressive kids at those schools. Apparently, I didn’t link to correct post. those kids have outsized performance from dc kids more bc of the family they were born into more than that Dalton or Trinity is so much better than St Albans or Sidwell.

The education between public and private has been debated at length so no need for me to retread there.

But those nyc private school kids are hooked. Just as hooked when we hire them at my finance firm.

+1. The advantages of the connections permeate high school, college, employment beyond college. Anyone at one of these elite colleges watches this go on

I think regis is the opposite of st Ann’s. Not a very connected population and no outside counselors, but a very rigorous, traditional education. They do pretty well!

https://www.instagram.com/regisdecisions2025?igsh=MTFpZGMxcmpoc2l5dQ==

Never heard of it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard Trinity in NYC this year has 9 kids going to Brown? that's wild!

NYC kids are typically very impressive and often with hooks too. I think there are 6-8 girls at The Spence School going to Harvard this year out of a class of 60! Half of Brearley’s class is going to Ivies + Stanford & MIT. Saint Ann’s, Dalton, Hunter, Stuyvesant all have excellent outcomes too. Nothing new there. These are their results (almost) every year.

Almost everyone of these have $50k-100k per year counselors right from 8th grade.

No, they do not. The schools themselves provide the college counseling. I personally know a kid well at one of the privates going to HYPSM with zero outside help. What he does have is 1580 on the SAT that he got at one sitting the summer before his junior year, a 3.95 GPA and a niche major that is his true interest and intended course of study.
The rigor at those schools is insane. Their students are extremely well prepared for college and do very well.

Don’t let these schools totally fool you. These kids are not infinitely more impressive or working infinitely harder than dc kids. I know many. They have hooks well beyond just run of the mill legacy. Many have real f’u $ and many do hire private counselors.

They aren’t sending 8 a class to Yale bc they are working these kids harder and colleges are impressed by the rigor.

Private school kids are not smarter, nor are they more impressive. It's not really about the hooks, though, for the majority of the class getting into T20. Their schools are feeders that don't focus on testing (some of these schools don't even have grades). Instead, they focus on the whole person, often hyper-focused on intellectual independence, creativity, and curiosity, which creates strong analytic thinkers with strong communication skills. That is the difference.

- signed non-DMV private school parent

I was referring the ny private schools and the poster saying there were better trained etc. and more impressive kids at those schools. Apparently, I didn’t link to correct post. those kids have outsized performance from dc kids more bc of the family they were born into more than that Dalton or Trinity is so much better than St Albans or Sidwell.

The education between public and private has been debated at length so no need for me to retread there.

But those nyc private school kids are hooked. Just as hooked when we hire them at my finance firm.

+1. The advantages of the connections permeate high school, college, employment beyond college. Anyone at one of these elite colleges watches this go on

I think regis is the opposite of st Ann’s. Not a very connected population and no outside counselors, but a very rigorous, traditional education. They do pretty well!

https://www.instagram.com/regisdecisions2025?igsh=MTFpZGMxcmpoc2l5dQ==

You are wrong about Regis. Many hooked kids there. It's a selective (test-in) school and viewed as the equivalent to Stuy/Hunter/Horace Mann. Lots of URM and also (Catholic) kids of big finance $$.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard Trinity in NYC this year has 9 kids going to Brown? that's wild!

NYC kids are typically very impressive and often with hooks too. I think there are 6-8 girls at The Spence School going to Harvard this year out of a class of 60! Half of Brearley’s class is going to Ivies + Stanford & MIT. Saint Ann’s, Dalton, Hunter, Stuyvesant all have excellent outcomes too. Nothing new there. These are their results (almost) every year.

Almost everyone of these have $50k-100k per year counselors right from 8th grade.

No, they do not. The schools themselves provide the college counseling. I personally know a kid well at one of the privates going to HYPSM with zero outside help. What he does have is 1580 on the SAT that he got at one sitting the summer before his junior year, a 3.95 GPA and a niche major that is his true interest and intended course of study.
The rigor at those schools is insane. Their students are extremely well prepared for college and do very well.

Don’t let these schools totally fool you. These kids are not infinitely more impressive or working infinitely harder than dc kids. I know many. They have hooks well beyond just run of the mill legacy. Many have real f’u $ and many do hire private counselors.

They aren’t sending 8 a class to Yale bc they are working these kids harder and colleges are impressed by the rigor.

Private school kids are not smarter, nor are they more impressive. It's not really about the hooks, though, for the majority of the class getting into T20. Their schools are feeders that don't focus on testing (some of these schools don't even have grades). Instead, they focus on the whole person, often hyper-focused on intellectual independence, creativity, and curiosity, which creates strong analytic thinkers with strong communication skills. That is the difference.

- signed non-DMV private school parent

I was referring the ny private schools and the poster saying there were better trained etc. and more impressive kids at those schools. Apparently, I didn’t link to correct post. those kids have outsized performance from dc kids more bc of the family they were born into more than that Dalton or Trinity is so much better than St Albans or Sidwell.

The education between public and private has been debated at length so no need for me to retread there.

But those nyc private school kids are hooked. Just as hooked when we hire them at my finance firm.

+1. The advantages of the connections permeate high school, college, employment beyond college. Anyone at one of these elite colleges watches this go on

I think regis is the opposite of st Ann’s. Not a very connected population and no outside counselors, but a very rigorous, traditional education. They do pretty well!

https://www.instagram.com/regisdecisions2025?igsh=MTFpZGMxcmpoc2l5dQ==

You are wrong about Regis. Many hooked kids there. It's a selective (test-in) school and viewed as the equivalent to Stuy/Hunter/Horace Mann. Lots of URM and also (Catholic) kids of big finance $$.

I know a lot about regis. it's test-in as much as any other private school (and not like stuy or hunter). Outside a couple legit rich families I could name - I could count on one hand - it's mostly either regular old UMC/UC donut hole families or first gen (a lot of first gen). FGLI is a hook, I guess, (there are a lot of FGLI out there) but I'd also argue that makes it the opposite of St Ann's

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard Trinity in NYC this year has 9 kids going to Brown? that's wild!

NYC kids are typically very impressive and often with hooks too. I think there are 6-8 girls at The Spence School going to Harvard this year out of a class of 60! Half of Brearley’s class is going to Ivies + Stanford & MIT. Saint Ann’s, Dalton, Hunter, Stuyvesant all have excellent outcomes too. Nothing new there. These are their results (almost) every year.

Almost everyone of these have $50k-100k per year counselors right from 8th grade.

No, they do not. The schools themselves provide the college counseling. I personally know a kid well at one of the privates going to HYPSM with zero outside help. What he does have is 1580 on the SAT that he got at one sitting the summer before his junior year, a 3.95 GPA and a niche major that is his true interest and intended course of study.
The rigor at those schools is insane. Their students are extremely well prepared for college and do very well.

Don’t let these schools totally fool you. These kids are not infinitely more impressive or working infinitely harder than dc kids. I know many. They have hooks well beyond just run of the mill legacy. Many have real f’u $ and many do hire private counselors.

They aren’t sending 8 a class to Yale bc they are working these kids harder and colleges are impressed by the rigor.

Private school kids are not smarter, nor are they more impressive. It's not really about the hooks, though, for the majority of the class getting into T20. Their schools are feeders that don't focus on testing (some of these schools don't even have grades). Instead, they focus on the whole person, often hyper-focused on intellectual independence, creativity, and curiosity, which creates strong analytic thinkers with strong communication skills. That is the difference.

- signed non-DMV private school parent

I was referring the ny private schools and the poster saying there were better trained etc. and more impressive kids at those schools. Apparently, I didn’t link to correct post. those kids have outsized performance from dc kids more bc of the family they were born into more than that Dalton or Trinity is so much better than St Albans or Sidwell.

The education between public and private has been debated at length so no need for me to retread there.

But those nyc private school kids are hooked. Just as hooked when we hire them at my finance firm.

+1. The advantages of the connections permeate high school, college, employment beyond college. Anyone at one of these elite colleges watches this go on

I think regis is the opposite of st Ann’s. Not a very connected population and no outside counselors, but a very rigorous, traditional education. They do pretty well!

https://www.instagram.com/regisdecisions2025?igsh=MTFpZGMxcmpoc2l5dQ==

Never heard of it

Never heard of Regis? It’s a very well known high school with trinity-level decisions. Maybe you’re not tapped into the private school space?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard Trinity in NYC this year has 9 kids going to Brown? that's wild!

NYC kids are typically very impressive and often with hooks too. I think there are 6-8 girls at The Spence School going to Harvard this year out of a class of 60! Half of Brearley’s class is going to Ivies + Stanford & MIT. Saint Ann’s, Dalton, Hunter, Stuyvesant all have excellent outcomes too. Nothing new there. These are their results (almost) every year.

Almost everyone of these have $50k-100k per year counselors right from 8th grade.

No, they do not. The schools themselves provide the college counseling. I personally know a kid well at one of the privates going to HYPSM with zero outside help. What he does have is 1580 on the SAT that he got at one sitting the summer before his junior year, a 3.95 GPA and a niche major that is his true interest and intended course of study.
The rigor at those schools is insane. Their students are extremely well prepared for college and do very well.

Don’t let these schools totally fool you. These kids are not infinitely more impressive or working infinitely harder than dc kids. I know many. They have hooks well beyond just run of the mill legacy. Many have real f’u $ and many do hire private counselors.

They aren’t sending 8 a class to Yale bc they are working these kids harder and colleges are impressed by the rigor.

Private school kids are not smarter, nor are they more impressive. It's not really about the hooks, though, for the majority of the class getting into T20. Their schools are feeders that don't focus on testing (some of these schools don't even have grades). Instead, they focus on the whole person, often hyper-focused on intellectual independence, creativity, and curiosity, which creates strong analytic thinkers with strong communication skills. That is the difference.

- signed non-DMV private school parent

I was referring the ny private schools and the poster saying there were better trained etc. and more impressive kids at those schools. Apparently, I didn’t link to correct post. those kids have outsized performance from dc kids more bc of the family they were born into more than that Dalton or Trinity is so much better than St Albans or Sidwell.

The education between public and private has been debated at length so no need for me to retread there.

But those nyc private school kids are hooked. Just as hooked when we hire them at my finance firm.

+1. The advantages of the connections permeate high school, college, employment beyond college. Anyone at one of these elite colleges watches this go on

I think regis is the opposite of st Ann’s. Not a very connected population and no outside counselors, but a very rigorous, traditional education. They do pretty well!

https://www.instagram.com/regisdecisions2025?igsh=MTFpZGMxcmpoc2l5dQ==

Never heard of it

Never heard of Regis? It’s a very well known high school with trinity-level decisions. Maybe you’re not tapped into the private school space?

It's a Catholic institution and its tuition free for the boys that are admitted. Surprise surprise but there is no Catholic equivalent for girls in New York. Or anywhere else that I'm aware of.

[Anonymous]

So many St. Regis kids going to Georgetown and Columbia. I know a family from NJ that had a son get into St. Regis and decided to buy a condo near the school so their kid doesn't have to commute from NJ.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I heard Trinity in NYC this year has 9 kids going to Brown? that's wild!

NYC kids are typically very impressive and often with hooks too. I think there are 6-8 girls at The Spence School going to Harvard this year out of a class of 60! Half of Brearley’s class is going to Ivies + Stanford & MIT. Saint Ann’s, Dalton, Hunter, Stuyvesant all have excellent outcomes too. Nothing new there. These are their results (almost) every year.

Almost everyone of these have $50k-100k per year counselors right from 8th grade.

No, they do not. The schools themselves provide the college counseling. I personally know a kid well at one of the privates going to HYPSM with zero outside help. What he does have is 1580 on the SAT that he got at one sitting the summer before his junior year, a 3.95 GPA and a niche major that is his true interest and intended course of study.
The rigor at those schools is insane. Their students are extremely well prepared for college and do very well.

Don’t let these schools totally fool you. These kids are not infinitely more impressive or working infinitely harder than dc kids. I know many. They have hooks well beyond just run of the mill legacy. Many have real f’u $ and many do hire private counselors.

They aren’t sending 8 a class to Yale bc they are working these kids harder and colleges are impressed by the rigor.

Private school kids are not smarter, nor are they more impressive. It's not really about the hooks, though, for the majority of the class getting into T20. Their schools are feeders that don't focus on testing (some of these schools don't even have grades). Instead, they focus on the whole person, often hyper-focused on intellectual independence, creativity, and curiosity, which creates strong analytic thinkers with strong communication skills. That is the difference.

- signed non-DMV private school parent

The HS rigor is much different though. I was a Ffx co public school kid. My kids did k-8 public in strong DMV school district. They then went to private HS in DC. They received 5s on all 10 AP exams with no outside studying or prep. They scored a 35 and 36 ACT- each first sitting. Not only did they excel in STEM, but they came out as excellent writers. They were taught to think, question and solve.

My attic is overflowing with the required books —literally shelves, upon shelves. The amount of novels in one year, the lit reading in Spanish - honors , etc. Oldest is at an Ivy and was very very well prepared.

Privates/Ivies do look at HS rigor.

I think public schools are often as good as or more rigorous than privates — it’s just the counseling is not as good so kids are not aware of what they need to do for Ivy admissions.

My public school kid (1600/4.0/10 APs) received the highest possible Academic Index of 240 at Harvard. DC had taken APs in all 5 core areas. Most kids at our school take 4 APs as that is what makes the counselor mark “highest rigor” on the SSR. Our school hadn’t sent anyone to Harvard in at least a decade and probably only legacies before then. My kid just took courses that seemed like natural progressions — had no idea about only 4 being necessary for the highest rigor marking. And applied to Harvard for the heck of it! We were shocked at the admittance. After my kid was admitted, the high performers started taking 10 APs and have gone even further by doing Calc BC in 10/11 and then do Linear Algebra, etc through other places. While no one has got into Harvard again, we definitely have kids going to more selective colleges.

However I’ve heard that private colleges trust private high school counselors more — mostly for yield. These are the fancy private schools counselors.

And my kid is doing just fine at Harvard. Public school kids are big readers too!

My public school kid had similar stats to yours (1580 sat, other stats identical), and was encouraged by his private college counselor to apply early to Wash U bc admittance to any of his other choices was a complete crapshoot for him (he was admitted to Wash U). But I really responded to say that his stats were pretty much no big deal at his mcps hs - he easily knew countless kids (good friends and others in his classes) with those stats and virtually none were admitted to any ivy. So your kid at Harvard either had something else going for them, or was spectacularly lucky.

For sure, there was a lot of luck involved! And that’s what I was saying — these public school kids are in fact as smart as and can get an equally rigorous education as the private school kids. You yourself know many, including your own.

The difference is probably the counseling in a school like ours. I mean if the kids are told 4 APs is enough to get highest rigor rating, how many are really going to take more. They’re kids after all! Mine just did what came naturally and the counselor did not object.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I heard Trinity in NYC this year has 9 kids going to Brown? that's wild!

NYC kids are typically very impressive and often with hooks too. I think there are 6-8 girls at The Spence School going to Harvard this year out of a class of 60! Half of Brearley’s class is going to Ivies + Stanford & MIT. Saint Ann’s, Dalton, Hunter, Stuyvesant all have excellent outcomes too. Nothing new there. These are their results (almost) every year.

Almost everyone of these have $50k-100k per year counselors right from 8th grade.

No, they do not. The schools themselves provide the college counseling. I personally know a kid well at one of the privates going to HYPSM with zero outside help. What he does have is 1580 on the SAT that he got at one sitting the summer before his junior year, a 3.95 GPA and a niche major that is his true interest and intended course of study.
The rigor at those schools is insane. Their students are extremely well prepared for college and do very well.

Don’t let these schools totally fool you. These kids are not infinitely more impressive or working infinitely harder than dc kids. I know many. They have hooks well beyond just run of the mill legacy. Many have real f’u $ and many do hire private counselors.

They aren’t sending 8 a class to Yale bc they are working these kids harder and colleges are impressed by the rigor.

Private school kids are not smarter, nor are they more impressive. It's not really about the hooks, though, for the majority of the class getting into T20. Their schools are feeders that don't focus on testing (some of these schools don't even have grades). Instead, they focus on the whole person, often hyper-focused on intellectual independence, creativity, and curiosity, which creates strong analytic thinkers with strong communication skills. That is the difference.

- signed non-DMV private school parent

I was referring the ny private schools and the poster saying there were better trained etc. and more impressive kids at those schools. Apparently, I didn’t link to correct post. those kids have outsized performance from dc kids more bc of the family they were born into more than that Dalton or Trinity is so much better than St Albans or Sidwell.

The education between public and private has been debated at length so no need for me to retread there.

But those nyc private school kids are hooked. Just as hooked when we hire them at my finance firm.

+1. The advantages of the connections permeate high school, college, employment beyond college. Anyone at one of these elite colleges watches this go on

I think regis is the opposite of st Ann’s. Not a very connected population and no outside counselors, but a very rigorous, traditional education. They do pretty well!

https://www.instagram.com/regisdecisions2025?igsh=MTFpZGMxcmpoc2l5dQ==

Never heard of it

Never heard of Regis? It’s a very well known high school with trinity-level decisions. Maybe you’re not tapped into the private school space?

It's a Catholic institution and its tuition free for the boys that are admitted. Surprise surprise but there is no Catholic equivalent for girls in New York. Or anywhere else that I'm aware of.

That's because it was really rare for a high school to be founded via a huge donation in 1914 mandating free tuition.

[Anonymous]

Is it really fair to create “levels” of kids based upon what happens with college admission in private schools in NYC? If someone in NY. Is interested in an esoteric niche area, they can find an outlet/opportunity for it there- especially if they come from a well-resourced family. And then stand out as “pointy”. A regular UMC kid from a random UMC suburb is also incredibly privileged compared to most, but their access to things may be limited to regular mainstream activities offered by their school or community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it really fair to create “levels” of kids based upon what happens with college admission in private schools in NYC? If someone in NY. Is interested in an esoteric niche area, they can find an outlet/opportunity for it there- especially if they come from a well-resourced family. And then stand out as “pointy”. A regular UMC kid from a random UMC suburb is also incredibly privileged compared to most, but their access to things may be limited to regular mainstream activities offered by their school or community.

there are a lot of people who posted on this thread, who are not from New York City, but also not from DC.

This is now a national college board. Sorry if you don’t like it.