Are rich/connected kids given special treatment?

[Anonymous]

Well, but local privates depend on each other (and on parent volunteers and local money). Elite colleges are part of a different eco-system -- they've got a nationwide pool of rich people, they don't need/want parent volunteers, and they have their own alumn network to worry about. A local private that pushed substandard rich kids at the expense of really talented kids wouldn't do well wrt college admissions.

And if you do see more (and less impressive) rich kids from your local private headed to some coveted college, check to see where their parents went to school. Many prestigious universities have been plutocracies for many more generations than they've been meritocracies.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]OP here... not worried about the hugs and pictures, but what really matters. I have a nagging fear that students from weathly families receive better college recommendations, especially to elite universities, over more deserving students from more modest backgrounds. Basically, colleges will only admit a certain number of students from each school and private schools in particular exert a lot of control over college counseling, placement, recommendations, etc. The other special treatments are irritatiing, but what really matters is whether or not special treatment is given unfairly in the college placement process.[/quote]

This!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, they are the kids who are in all the photos on the school website, the teachers pets and the ones chosen to do special things in class. Not all the wealthy kids, but a select few, whose parents have the teachers and principal by the balls.

This is correct.

I disagree. We are not wealthy and my son always has his photo I'm the school magazines. He is at a "Big 3"z

[Anonymous]

Of course rich kids get better treatment. Why would that come as a surprise OP? I remember when Nelson Mandela came to Holton Arms. The girl whose parents arranged the visit got to skip up the aisle with Nelson Mandela, arm-in-arm. That was quite a sight. It might have been nicer if some of the black girls could have skipped with him.

[Anonymous]

Skipped up the aisle? Nelson Mandela skipped up the aisle?

A friend whose child receives FA wondered if the school assigned the best teachers to students on FA. No! I quickly reminded her that one student in her child's case was famously wealthy!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here... not worried about the hugs and pictures, but what really matters. I have a nagging fear that students from weathly families receive better college recommendations, especially to elite universities, over more deserving students from more modest backgrounds. Basically, colleges will only admit a certain number of students from each school and private schools in particular exert a lot of control over college counseling, placement, recommendations, etc. The other special treatments are irritatiing, but what really matters is whether or not special treatment is given unfairly in the college placement process.

Teacher recs treat the kids the same. They are confidential and that's a good thing.

[Anonymous]

Yes -- Nelson Mandela did skip up the aisle at Holton with a wealthy kid...he's very youthful despite his years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, but local privates depend on each other (and on parent volunteers and local money). Elite colleges are part of a different eco-system -- they've got a nationwide pool of rich people, they don't need/want parent volunteers, and they have their own alumn network to worry about. A local private that pushed substandard rich kids at the expense of really talented kids wouldn't do well wrt college admissions.

And if you do see more (and less impressive) rich kids from your local private headed to some coveted college, check to see where their parents went to school. Many prestigious universities have been plutocracies for many more generations than they've been meritocracies.

Good analysis and a nice tone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, but local privates depend on each other (and on parent volunteers and local money). Elite colleges are part of a different eco-system -- they've got a nationwide pool of rich people, they don't need/want parent volunteers, and they have their own alumn network to worry about. A local private that pushed substandard rich kids at the expense of really talented kids wouldn't do well wrt college admissions.

And if you do see more (and less impressive) rich kids from your local private headed to some coveted college, check to see where their parents went to school. Many prestigious universities have been plutocracies for many more generations than they've been meritocracies.

Good analysis and a nice tone.

Absolutely. The rich kids may get special treatment at the private school in some ways, but I am sure there is no preference given in college recs.

[Anonymous]

Of course! What a silly question. Their rich, connected friends can give them internships, recommendations, and contacts!

[Anonymous]

There was a dust-up at our school about 8 years ago that ended with a college couselor parting company with the school. This one counselor was deciding which students the school would push at which schools, openly telling families not to bother applying at some colleges because it would be a waste of money because our school was not going to promote their child. The counselor had an ego and expected the parents to trust the that the admissions office knew best.

My DS was in middle school at the time so I didn't have personal knowledge of the events. My recollection is that the couselor's office tightly controlled the number of recmendations teachers could write. I never understood who made the decision about which teacher wrote for which students but the situation became quite emotionally charged. Now that DS is getting into the application process I can see that some teachers's opinions clearly carry more weight than others and I want them writing letters for my DS.

The counselor who left works for another private school now so I don't think the practice is out of the norm. But I can see the danger of abuse is very real and I'm sure the well-connected families use their connections.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, but local privates depend on each other (and on parent volunteers and local money). Elite colleges are part of a different eco-system -- they've got a nationwide pool of rich people, they don't need/want parent volunteers, and they have their own alumn network to worry about. A local private that pushed substandard rich kids at the expense of really talented kids wouldn't do well wrt college admissions.

And if you do see more (and less impressive) rich kids from your local private headed to some coveted college, check to see where their parents went to school. Many prestigious universities have been plutocracies for many more generations than they've been meritocracies.

I agree with this. I think the college admissions counselors are playing a far different game. "The Gatekeepers" has a very interesting discussion of their relationships with college admissions. The high school counselors are trying to maximize their students' acceptances to colleges over several years. If they oversell certain students that don't belong at the colleges, then they lose credibility with the college admissions people, and are less successful in later years. On the flip side, the college admissions people want to work with the high school counselors wherever they can, so that the counselors won't deter future candidates from applying to or attending that particular college.

It made me realize how terribly ineffective my own high school counselor was by comparison.

[Anonymous]

7:27 here.

Perhaps the couselor who left our school was protecting own reputation, as well as the school's reputation, by trying to craft the best application pool for the school. In which case the parents do have to trust the college admissions office at their school BUT given that parents don't meet these people until well into high school it's asking a lot of families who have spent a lot of money on tuition.

[Anonymous]

No reputable high school will jeopardize their chances at college admissions by pushing their graduates onto colleges where they don't have a chance at succeeding. The colleges keep very good track records of high schools, and the ones that send mediocre students end up shooting themselves in the foot. This also, over the long term, hurts the high school, too. College placements at top tier schools will nosedive. And don't forget that college admissions officers have their own unofficial networks. If one admissions officer hears that school X's college counselors do a bad job of finding a good match, that will be a topic of conversation with admissions officers at other schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes -- Nelson Mandela did skip up the aisle at Holton with a wealthy kid...he's very youthful despite his years.

How about a focus on the fact that the girl's parents arranged for his visit? Perhaps they know him personally or professionally. If the man wants to skip, he can skip, and if he wants to skip with the girl of people he knows, fine with me. It's Mandela for goodness sake. I trust him to make his own decisions. Good grief, the parents tried (and succeeded) in doing something nice for the school, and are referred to simply as being "rich."