Price sensitive but private high school

[Anonymous]

Some people have touched on this when talking about ED. But one thing you have to be aware of going in is that expensive, full pay-preferred but a bit lower ranked private colleges are very popular at private high schools. Your kid will have to be able to resist the pressure to shoot for Miami or Tulane, even though those options will be much more popular than Wisconsin. This will be less common at your public school.

[Anonymous]

Some private high schools limit the number of colleges you can apply to, usually to 10-12. This hits merit-seeking families particularly hard, so I would make sure you know what the high school’s rule is before you commit.

[Anonymous]

Some private high schools also limit the number of AP’s you can take. This may become an issue when applying to certain state flagships (UGA, UF) where the recalculated GPA’s favor kids who have taken more AP’s .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our nationally ranked public school still sends 20-30% kids to community colleges every year. Any decent private school would send most of their kids to t50 schools.

Only about 10% of our nationally ranked public school go to T30 schools. Some of them have a tough time at their college having difficulty to deal with college classes.

There are other issues in public schools such as weak curriculum and drug problems. Depression seems to be common among the student body. And many kids are not well mannered. We regret that we didn't send our kids to a private.

What does nationally ranked even mean? I think US News ranks like 1000+ HSs…are you saying it is top 10, top 100…1200th?

I guarantee you none of the top kids in the top 50 or even 100 HSs are struggling in college.

That chip on the shoulder!

You are aware that there are more than 23,000 public high school in the country, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our nationally ranked public school still sends 20-30% kids to community colleges every year. Any decent private school would send most of their kids to t50 schools.

Only about 10% of our nationally ranked public school go to T30 schools. Some of them have a tough time at their college having difficulty to deal with college classes.

There are other issues in public schools such as weak curriculum and drug problems. Depression seems to be common among the student body. And many kids are not well mannered. We regret that we didn't send our kids to a private.

What does nationally ranked even mean? I think US News ranks like 1000+ HSs…are you saying it is top 10, top 100…1200th?

I guarantee you none of the top kids in the top 50 or even 100 HSs are struggling in college.

That chip on the shoulder!

You are aware that there are more than 23,000 public high school in the country, right?

What’s the chip?

There are 4000 colleges in the US and nobody says the college ranked 500th is “nationally ranked” even though yes, it is nationally ranked at 500.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our nationally ranked public school still sends 20-30% kids to community colleges every year. Any decent private school would send most of their kids to t50 schools.

Only about 10% of our nationally ranked public school go to T30 schools. Some of them have a tough time at their college having difficulty to deal with college classes.

There are other issues in public schools such as weak curriculum and drug problems. Depression seems to be common among the student body. And many kids are not well mannered. We regret that we didn't send our kids to a private.

What does nationally ranked even mean? I think US News ranks like 1000+ HSs…are you saying it is top 10, top 100…1200th?

I guarantee you none of the top kids in the top 50 or even 100 HSs are struggling in college.

That chip on the shoulder!

You are aware that there are more than 23,000 public high school in the country, right?

What’s the chip?

There are 4000 colleges in the US and nobody says the college ranked 500th is “nationally ranked” even though yes, it is nationally ranked at 500.

Yeah I see no chip here. There is also a huge difference between a high school ranked 30th and one ranked 900th.

[Anonymous]

At DD’s private school in Baltimore, 10%+ of class are going to UMd, which has tuition significantly lower than the private school’s. No one bats an eye - good school, good price. People, even super rich people, understand the value of $$$$.

[Anonymous]

At least 80% of our independent Catholic school families are price sensitive about college, possibly more. Even those who are not worried about cost were not 'ivy or bust' or even rank conscious, knowing that the rank system is bogus. Most people are reasonable and focused on what each kid wants and needs, even applying ED to target schools and not bothering with reaches. Even people who can afford any price would rather not pay full price if a good fit school offers merit. That's just common sense.

FWIW, if you are not rank obsessed, you absolutely do not have to pay over 100K per year for an excellent college. So many amazing schools offer significant merit aid. IME, the price you see is rarely the "real price."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our nationally ranked public school still sends 20-30% kids to community colleges every year. Any decent private school would send most of their kids to t50 schools.

Only about 10% of our nationally ranked public school go to T30 schools. Some of them have a tough time at their college having difficulty to deal with college classes.

There are other issues in public schools such as weak curriculum and drug problems. Depression seems to be common among the student body. And many kids are not well mannered. We regret that we didn't send our kids to a private.

What does nationally ranked even mean? I think US News ranks like 1000+ HSs…are you saying it is top 10, top 100…1200th?

I guarantee you none of the top kids in the top 50 or even 100 HSs are struggling in college.

That chip on the shoulder!

You are aware that there are more than 23,000 public high school in the country, right?

What’s the chip?

There are 4000 colleges in the US and nobody says the college ranked 500th is “nationally ranked” even though yes, it is nationally ranked at 500.

Yeah I see no chip here. There is also a huge difference between a high school ranked 30th and one ranked 900th.

DP: You are trying to rank high schools now? LOLOLOLOLOLOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Underwhelmed by her middle school which seems so big, disorganized, and not rigorous.”

What do you want from middle school? What does not rigorous mean? If it offers algebra and geometry that’s about all you really need from a middle school.

Our middle school has prepped kids in math to precalculus. Basically, kids are ready to take AP classes once they entered high school.

A meaningless exercise. Seriously. Colleges are just as happy to take a kid who took honors Calc and did well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP you're better off getting her some tutoring here and there and keeping her in public school so she rises in the ranks to those top 10 who go to the Ivy league colleges (depending on her inherent potential, obviously).

My kids were at a very high performing public HS in the DMV where they were probably in the top 25-30% only. By my DD's assessment they were each "run of the mill". We moved to California where they literally ranked within the top 10 students in a 600+ per grade HS on arrival. And they stayed in that in that category. Each got into all their high ranking colleges of choice.

Insane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you're better off getting her some tutoring here and there and keeping her in public school so she rises in the ranks to those top 10 who go to the Ivy league colleges (depending on her inherent potential, obviously).

My kids were at a very high performing public HS in the DMV where they were probably in the top 25-30% only. By my DD's assessment they were each "run of the mill". We moved to California where they literally ranked within the top 10 students in a 600+ per grade HS on arrival. And they stayed in that in that category. Each got into all their high ranking colleges of choice.

Insane.

It's not insane. Many parents in our public school use heavy tutoring on their kids. Kids go to school during the day, and work with tutors in the night to achieve high stats. They don't participate in school activities much. Grades are very inflated 20% got straight As, so every one is competing for higher ranking by taking as many APs as possible. That PP parent moved to a less competitive out of state public school to catch a break. It's better for the kids.

[Anonymous]

My kid’s non-DMV, non-feeder private sends a decent number of kids (including kids whose families are full pay) to the honors program at our state flagship and other state flagships. It’s not always a money issue for these fortunate families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our nationally ranked public school still sends 20-30% kids to community colleges every year. Any decent private school would send most of their kids to t50 schools.

Only about 10% of our nationally ranked public school go to T30 schools. Some of them have a tough time at their college having difficulty to deal with college classes.

There are other issues in public schools such as weak curriculum and drug problems. Depression seems to be common among the student body. And many kids are not well mannered. We regret that we didn't send our kids to a private.

What does nationally ranked even mean? I think US News ranks like 1000+ HSs…are you saying it is top 10, top 100…1200th?

I guarantee you none of the top kids in the top 50 or even 100 HSs are struggling in college.

That chip on the shoulder!

You are aware that there are more than 23,000 public high school in the country, right?

What’s the chip?

There are 4000 colleges in the US and nobody says the college ranked 500th is “nationally ranked” even though yes, it is nationally ranked at 500.

Yeah I see no chip here. There is also a huge difference between a high school ranked 30th and one ranked 900th.

DP: You are trying to rank high schools now? LOLOLOLOLOLOL

No? I’m just saying that claiming something is “nationally ranked” runs a huge range since so many schools get ranked by USNWR.

I would ask if you even read the preceding comments but it’s clear you didn’t. LOLOLOLOLOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you're better off getting her some tutoring here and there and keeping her in public school so she rises in the ranks to those top 10 who go to the Ivy league colleges (depending on her inherent potential, obviously).

My kids were at a very high performing public HS in the DMV where they were probably in the top 25-30% only. By my DD's assessment they were each "run of the mill". We moved to California where they literally ranked within the top 10 students in a 600+ per grade HS on arrival. And they stayed in that in that category. Each got into all their high ranking colleges of choice.

Insane.

It's not insane. Many parents in our public school use heavy tutoring on their kids. Kids go to school during the day, and work with tutors in the night to achieve high stats. They don't participate in school activities much. Grades are very inflated 20% got straight As, so every one is competing for higher ranking by taking as many APs as possible. That PP parent moved to a less competitive out of state public school to catch a break. It's better for the kids.

The whole thing is insane, especially thinking only a handful of colleges are worthy to educate your child, which is all PP seemed to care about in the end.