Don't Send Your Kid To Big 3 For Ivy Admissions. Send Them To Public Or Less Competitive Private

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are exponentially fewer private school kids than public school kids. That skews the perception of who is getting admitted.

I would compare the honors kids or top 10% of a public school class to the private school assuming the private school kid had to have qualifications to have been admitted into a top private.

[Anonymous]

These schools are not "deflating" grades; the public schools have inflated them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These schools are not "deflating" grades; the public schools have inflated them.

The Big 3 are overworking kids with a lot of useless homework based on what I've seen from relatives at 2 of the schools. They also have a lot of legacy kids, which is great for ensuring admits each year, but kids and other parents worry it really adds to the competition.

[Anonymous]

I read this board and freaked out (for a minute) about sending my DC to a Big 3 for US. I tried to look deeper at this question to insure I was not harming my child’s academic options. My analysis was that I was not. Private schools publish their college matriculation data and, while public schools do not, admissions data is available. Giving every benefit of the doubt to the public school admission data, I still came to the conclusion that Big 3 certainly doesn’t harm you and probably helps you with college. And I don’t care about Ivies so I didn’t look at that angle. I don’t think USNWR is at all correct (but I had to use some metric), so I used its Top 15–places like UChicago, Northwestern, Duke, Rice, Georgetown. I hear all this message board nonsense about “hooked” kids at the Big3, but I know that’s equally true at my fancy local public high school where I know just as many parents who are alumnae of these places/potential big donors/etc. as well. So do your own homework future readers.

My conclusion was that it really depends on the specific public school. I can easily believe that if you aren’t in one of these few little bubble MCPS/FCPS/APS fancy public schools then maybe you actually do get a public school bump. I wouldn’t know since I haven’t looked at that question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I read this board and freaked out (for a minute) about sending my DC to a Big 3 for US. I tried to look deeper at this question to insure I was not harming my child’s academic options. My analysis was that I was not. Private schools publish their college matriculation data and, while public schools do not, admissions data is available. Giving every benefit of the doubt to the public school admission data, I still came to the conclusion that Big 3 certainly doesn’t harm you and probably helps you with college. And I don’t care about Ivies so I didn’t look at that angle. I don’t think USNWR is at all correct (but I had to use some metric), so I used its Top 15–places like UChicago, Northwestern, Duke, Rice, Georgetown. I hear all this message board nonsense about “hooked” kids at the Big3, but I know that’s equally true at my fancy local public high school where I know just as many parents who are alumnae of these places/potential big donors/etc. as well. So do your own homework future readers.

My conclusion was that it really depends on the specific public school. I can easily believe that if you aren’t in one of these few little bubble MCPS/FCPS/APS fancy public schools then maybe you actually do get a public school bump. I wouldn’t know since I haven’t looked at that question.

You are clueless. Wait after March of your child's senior year to give this board a conclusion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These schools are not "deflating" grades; the public schools have inflated them.

When basically no one graduates with a 4.0, how can that be anything but grade deflation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This has been true for decades. If you want an amazing education, send your kid to the “big 3”. If you are a double legacy with status and a sport, you will still get into an ivy. But if you’re a normal family and ivy is the goal, you’re much better off at something like an Alexandria or south Arlington public high school - where you can stand out more easily and you get the benefit of a high free lunch and very diverse population. Colleges love this. They act like they’re doing something good by taking “disadvantaged” kids from low scoring/failing high schools but really all they did was take one of the handful of UMC kids. That same kid at Langley would be 50/50 for UVA.

This is so true.

I worked at a fairly large at-risk public high school with a speciality program and our top 5-7% were admitted into Ivy and T20 almost every year. This is at a school where probably 80% of students graduate, and probably 40% or so go on to a 4 year university directly following high school. Getting in the top 5% would be incredibly easy for most academically focused families however I doubt the social, environmental and safety trade-off would be worth it for most. These students typically were from great middle class families with single parent and recent immigrant families mixed in. All of them were highly focused on academic success from what I recall.

[Anonymous]

No one has posted the simple numbers that the Ivies now take 4-8% of all applicants. Forty years ago, that was more like 15-20%.

That means they turn away thousands and thousands of highly qualified students. You never know what mix they want to get the right level of diversity in a freshman class for that school.

So no, there are no more automatic ins. Families who don't expect one will get a lot more from their secondary and college experiences.

There is also no magic ticket to a golden future by attending an Ivy. My circle of Ivy friends did well in an upper middle class way, but it wasn't a road to great riches for anyone. I see that in the alumni news and obits all the time. Ordinary successful professionals mostly.

Too many stereotypes bouncing around out there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read this board and freaked out (for a minute) about sending my DC to a Big 3 for US. I tried to look deeper at this question to insure I was not harming my child’s academic options. My analysis was that I was not. Private schools publish their college matriculation data and, while public schools do not, admissions data is available. Giving every benefit of the doubt to the public school admission data, I still came to the conclusion that Big 3 certainly doesn’t harm you and probably helps you with college. And I don’t care about Ivies so I didn’t look at that angle. I don’t think USNWR is at all correct (but I had to use some metric), so I used its Top 15–places like UChicago, Northwestern, Duke, Rice, Georgetown. I hear all this message board nonsense about “hooked” kids at the Big3, but I know that’s equally true at my fancy local public high school where I know just as many parents who are alumnae of these places/potential big donors/etc. as well. So do your own homework future readers.

My conclusion was that it really depends on the specific public school. I can easily believe that if you aren’t in one of these few little bubble MCPS/FCPS/APS fancy public schools then maybe you actually do get a public school bump. I wouldn’t know since I haven’t looked at that question.

You are clueless. Wait after March of your child's senior year to give this board a conclusion.

Parent with a senior this cycle and disagree. The top private schools do not have the same matriculation they had a few years ago but neither do the top publics. The top private schools still have better matriculation.

[Anonymous]

This is news to you, OP?

[Anonymous]

Here's another piece of advice, OP: stop obsessing about the Ivy League schools. They are really not the intellectual or cultural bastions they once were. Your kid can still thrive and succeed elsewhere. There are so many great colleges and opportunities out there. Really.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I read this board and freaked out (for a minute) about sending my DC to a Big 3 for US. I tried to look deeper at this question to insure I was not harming my child’s academic options. My analysis was that I was not. Private schools publish their college matriculation data and, while public schools do not, admissions data is available. Giving every benefit of the doubt to the public school admission data, I still came to the conclusion that Big 3 certainly doesn’t harm you and probably helps you with college. And I don’t care about Ivies so I didn’t look at that angle. I don’t think USNWR is at all correct (but I had to use some metric), so I used its Top 15–places like UChicago, Northwestern, Duke, Rice, Georgetown. I hear all this message board nonsense about “hooked” kids at the Big3, but I know that’s equally true at my fancy local public high school where I know just as many parents who are alumnae of these places/potential big donors/etc. as well. So do your own homework future readers.

My conclusion was that it really depends on the specific public school. I can easily believe that if you aren’t in one of these few little bubble MCPS/FCPS/APS fancy public schools then maybe you actually do get a public school bump. I wouldn’t know since I haven’t looked at that question.

If you just look at college admissions, everything has been torn asunder over the past three years - Covid, test optional, and now the end of affirmative action. There's no predictability about anything.

But if I were to guess, the "value" or "desirability" of Ivy League schools is going to lessen dramatically in the years ahead. Everything is going to be very fluid, but whether someone goes to Brown or StateU is not going to matter so much. There will be a new dynamic going forward

But the point is I would not choose high schools for college admissions reasons at this moment in time. Just whatever is best for the particular child and nothing more than that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are these mythical public schools without high-achieving students gunning for Ivies? Not in Moco.

Honestly, Einstein is a good place. There are students who apply to Ivies and other top tier schools, but not a ton of them. The Ivy legacy kids whom I’ve met are Donut Hole and won’t be going to Ivies themselves. Top students tend to go to Canada or schools with merit.

Why Canada?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read this board and freaked out (for a minute) about sending my DC to a Big 3 for US. I tried to look deeper at this question to insure I was not harming my child’s academic options. My analysis was that I was not. Private schools publish their college matriculation data and, while public schools do not, admissions data is available. Giving every benefit of the doubt to the public school admission data, I still came to the conclusion that Big 3 certainly doesn’t harm you and probably helps you with college. And I don’t care about Ivies so I didn’t look at that angle. I don’t think USNWR is at all correct (but I had to use some metric), so I used its Top 15–places like UChicago, Northwestern, Duke, Rice, Georgetown. I hear all this message board nonsense about “hooked” kids at the Big3, but I know that’s equally true at my fancy local public high school where I know just as many parents who are alumnae of these places/potential big donors/etc. as well. So do your own homework future readers.

My conclusion was that it really depends on the specific public school. I can easily believe that if you aren’t in one of these few little bubble MCPS/FCPS/APS fancy public schools then maybe you actually do get a public school bump. I wouldn’t know since I haven’t looked at that question.

You are clueless. Wait after March of your child's senior year to give this board a conclusion.

+1 the PP is clueless if they think Rice Duke Northwestern admits are not all hooked. And Chicago would need to be ED plus high rigor - high GPA - high test scores.

[Anonymous]

I take OP's point, but these DC schools have never been true feeder schools like Andover or Exeter (though I am not even sure if that's still the case!). I would assume all kids at top HS in DC or affluent suburbs are dealing with the same level of competition for Ivies - just some parents didn't have to pay as much for their kids not to get in. I am still open minded regarding what system would be better for my kid (public or private), but bc college admissions seems like a crapshoot, I think I am leaning towards what school offers the best balance of good academics with an environment that supports mental health and positive relationships (perhaps smaller, less prestigious privates since I doubt our zoned public offers this - Whitman).