The one thing I can say with confidence this admissions season is that high stats kids I know...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WITHOUT A HOOK, landed at public schools (UVA, UMich, California schools) and could not really break through to the T-20 coming from MCPS....is there just too much competition at these public schools and do privates have better placement? This is just my observation--have you seen the same?

No. But even my post is anecdata. I mean at our public magnet school, every kid is high stat. I know kids that got into places like CMU, MIT, UT@Austin, Rice, UCLA but not really Harvard. So sucks majorly for them. Without a hook, you don't land anywhere. Especially if Asian-American.

These are all top schools - so doesn't suck at all for them. My Asian-American DC goes to UCLA and it was their top choice. Amazing school which BTW is T20.

[Anonymous]

My high stats kid is going to the University of Arizona and received two large scholarships to bring the price down significantly. Happy for her. They have a dedicated residence hall for the honors college that has its own recreation center, parking etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Top schools are a lottery now. Many kids won't win. The secondary education system in this country is as broken as health care.

Why do you say that? There have always been only so many seats at the T10 schools. That isn't new. It has always also been the case that you don't need to go to those schools to succeed, and there are thousands of colleges where your child can get an excellent education. The rank of your undergrad school does not factor into you starting salary; the gal starting the same job the same day from the state school will have the same salary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Top schools are a lottery now. Many kids won't win. The secondary education system in this country is as broken as health care.

Why do you say that? There have always been only so many seats at the T10 schools. That isn't new. It has always also been the case that you don't need to go to those schools to succeed, and there are thousands of colleges where your child can get an excellent education. The rank of your undergrad school does not factor into you starting salary; the gal starting the same job the same day from the state school will have the same salary.

Yes, but now kids who didn’t even take sat/act are getting accepted

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WITHOUT A HOOK, landed at public schools (UVA, UMich, California schools) and could not really break through to the T-20 coming from MCPS....is there just too much competition at these public schools and do privates have better placement? This is just my observation--have you seen the same?

No. But even my post is anecdata. I mean at our public magnet school, every kid is high stat. I know kids that got into places like CMU, MIT, UT@Austin, Rice, UCLA but not really Harvard. So sucks majorly for them. Without a hook, you don't land anywhere. Especially if Asian-American.

Huh, MIT "sucks majorly" Really???

My magnet kid is going to UMD but has friends going to colleges listed above and I’m impressed (plus Harvard). I’m impressed with all of them.

I am one year out of date, but Montgomery Blair routinely sends kids to Princeton, Stanford, Yale, MIT, Brown, etc. I should point out that the kids that get into these places are often Asian, and they are truly impressive. The math/science/computer science magnet kids are usually going to pick a national university because that's where you go when you are at their level in terms of math and science (don't come here to say that you can get a really good math/science education at a liberal arts school - you can!, but you can't expect a liberal arts school to be appropriate for kids who are already done with two years of college math - they run out of courses). A lot of these kids pick a strategy of top 10 and UMD, because UMD is so good in the areas they are interested in, that it doesn't make sense to pay more unless it's an MIT, etc. Then, of course, lots of them are "shut out" because they went with lottery schools and a safety or two. That's not because they couldn't make it into the top thirty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WITHOUT A HOOK, landed at public schools (UVA, UMich, California schools) and could not really break through to the T-20 coming from MCPS....is there just too much competition at these public schools and do privates have better placement? This is just my observation--have you seen the same?

No. But even my post is anecdata. I mean at our public magnet school, every kid is high stat. I know kids that got into places like CMU, MIT, UT@Austin, Rice, UCLA but not really Harvard. So sucks majorly for them. Without a hook, you don't land anywhere. Especially if Asian-American.

Huh, MIT "sucks majorly" Really???

My magnet kid is going to UMD but has friends going to colleges listed above and I’m impressed (plus Harvard). I’m impressed with all of them.

I am one year out of date, but Montgomery Blair routinely sends kids to Princeton, Stanford, Yale, MIT, Brown, etc. I should point out that the kids that get into these places are often Asian, and they are truly impressive. The math/science/computer science magnet kids are usually going to pick a national university because that's where you go when you are at their level in terms of math and science (don't come here to say that you can get a really good math/science education at a liberal arts school - you can!, but you can't expect a liberal arts school to be appropriate for kids who are already done with two years of college math - they run out of courses). A lot of these kids pick a strategy of top 10 and UMD, because UMD is so good in the areas they are interested in, that it doesn't make sense to pay more unless it's an MIT, etc. Then, of course, lots of them are "shut out" because they went with lottery schools and a safety or two. That's not because they couldn't make it into the top thirty.

Exactly right.

Blair Magnet admissions look solid this year so far. Fewer to MIT than usual, which hopefully means a few more MCPS non-magnet kids got those slots.

Seems like fellow parents in MCPS general education also report very good results. This is the year when essays were important. Good grades and scores get the candidate a read, a consideration, that is all. Once the candidate is being considered, it no longer matters if they had 1500, 1550, or 1600 on their SAT, it's "good enough" for admission. Then it's all about the essay and the extracurriculars. Students who had top scores, solid extracurriculars, and good essays, were admitted with excellent selections.

Fellow magnet parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think it's just the school. It's the "parental awareness" of how to get into a top private - the right counselor, the right EC, etc. - which a public school DIY family, however educated or smart, just does not have.

That's crazy. That's me, boo. And I know what I'm doing.

Btw, are you saying private school parents can DIY but not public school parents? Gtfo.

No. I'm saying that the majority of the public school families DIY and fail while the majority of private school families hire counselors. What's another $5-10K when you are already able to pay upto $50K for high school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WITHOUT A HOOK, landed at public schools (UVA, UMich, California schools) and could not really break through to the T-20 coming from MCPS....is there just too much competition at these public schools and do privates have better placement? This is just my observation--have you seen the same?

No. But even my post is anecdata. I mean at our public magnet school, every kid is high stat. I know kids that got into places like CMU, MIT, UT@Austin, Rice, UCLA but not really Harvard. So sucks majorly for them. Without a hook, you don't land anywhere. Especially if Asian-American.

Huh, MIT "sucks majorly" Really???

My magnet kid is going to UMD but has friends going to colleges listed above and I’m impressed (plus Harvard). I’m impressed with all of them.

I am one year out of date, but Montgomery Blair routinely sends kids to Princeton, Stanford, Yale, MIT, Brown, etc. I should point out that the kids that get into these places are often Asian, and they are truly impressive. The math/science/computer science magnet kids are usually going to pick a national university because that's where you go when you are at their level in terms of math and science (don't come here to say that you can get a really good math/science education at a liberal arts school - you can!, but you can't expect a liberal arts school to be appropriate for kids who are already done with two years of college math - they run out of courses). A lot of these kids pick a strategy of top 10 and UMD, because UMD is so good in the areas they are interested in, that it doesn't make sense to pay more unless it's an MIT, etc. Then, of course, lots of them are "shut out" because they went with lottery schools and a safety or two. That's not because they couldn't make it into the top thirty.

Exactly right.

Blair Magnet admissions look solid this year so far. Fewer to MIT than usual, which hopefully means a few more MCPS non-magnet kids got those slots.

Seems like fellow parents in MCPS general education also report very good results. This is the year when essays were important. Good grades and scores get the candidate a read, a consideration, that is all. Once the candidate is being considered, it no longer matters if they had 1500, 1550, or 1600 on their SAT, it's "good enough" for admission. Then it's all about the essay and the extracurriculars. Students who had top scores, solid extracurriculars, and good essays, were admitted with excellent selections.

Fellow magnet parent.

My kids did have top stats, solid essays, real extracurriculars and he is in at a California school, but couldn't break into the private T-20 schools from MCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think it's just the school. It's the "parental awareness" of how to get into a top private - the right counselor, the right EC, etc. - which a public school DIY family, however educated or smart, just does not have.

That's crazy. That's me, boo. And I know what I'm doing.

Btw, are you saying private school parents can DIY but not public school parents? Gtfo.

No. I'm saying that the majority of the public school families DIY and fail while the majority of private school families hire counselors. What's another $5-10K when you are already able to pay upto $50K for high school?

This is a WILD exaggeration. Many private school families do not hire counselors because they already receive a higher level of attention from the school counselors. Conversely, public school parents have to contend with one or two college admissions counselors for 500 kids; they're frequently the ones seeking outside help. My first went to a private and my second went public. I "DIYed" each.

[Anonymous]

Really not much of an exaggeration. I’d say at least 50% are hiring private based on friend group

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WITHOUT A HOOK, landed at public schools (UVA, UMich, California schools) and could not really break through to the T-20 coming from MCPS....is there just too much competition at these public schools and do privates have better placement? This is just my observation--have you seen the same?

No. But even my post is anecdata. I mean at our public magnet school, every kid is high stat. I know kids that got into places like CMU, MIT, UT@Austin, Rice, UCLA but not really Harvard. So sucks majorly for them. Without a hook, you don't land anywhere. Especially if Asian-American.

Huh, MIT "sucks majorly" Really???

My magnet kid is going to UMD but has friends going to colleges listed above and I’m impressed (plus Harvard). I’m impressed with all of them.

I am one year out of date, but Montgomery Blair routinely sends kids to Princeton, Stanford, Yale, MIT, Brown, etc. I should point out that the kids that get into these places are often Asian, and they are truly impressive. The math/science/computer science magnet kids are usually going to pick a national university because that's where you go when you are at their level in terms of math and science (don't come here to say that you can get a really good math/science education at a liberal arts school - you can!, but you can't expect a liberal arts school to be appropriate for kids who are already done with two years of college math - they run out of courses). A lot of these kids pick a strategy of top 10 and UMD, because UMD is so good in the areas they are interested in, that it doesn't make sense to pay more unless it's an MIT, etc. Then, of course, lots of them are "shut out" because they went with lottery schools and a safety or two. That's not because they couldn't make it into the top thirty.

Exactly right.

Blair Magnet admissions look solid this year so far. Fewer to MIT than usual, which hopefully means a few more MCPS non-magnet kids got those slots.

Seems like fellow parents in MCPS general education also report very good results. This is the year when essays were important. Good grades and scores get the candidate a read, a consideration, that is all. Once the candidate is being considered, it no longer matters if they had 1500, 1550, or 1600 on their SAT, it's "good enough" for admission. Then it's all about the essay and the extracurriculars. Students who had top scores, solid extracurriculars, and good essays, were admitted with excellent selections.

Fellow magnet parent.

My kids did have top stats, solid essays, real extracurriculars and he is in at a California school, but couldn't break into the private T-20 schools from MCPS

It is literally impossible for every kid like yours to get a seat; there are more kids like that than there are seats, and not all seats are going to go to top stat kids anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Really not much of an exaggeration. I’d say at least 50% are hiring private based on friend group

It depends on the rumors at a given school about the strength of the counseling department. Some schools, no one gets private counselors, other schools might have more parents hedging their bets.

[Anonymous]

That’s right. We sent our lids to two different privates. One had outstanding college counseling and it would have been overkill to do anything more. The other had so-so counseling and we might have benefited from outside help. (I did a lot of DIY and all turned out fine, but it might have been healthier for my kid for us to have outsourced. I was overinvolved.)

[Anonymous]

kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think it's just the school. It's the "parental awareness" of how to get into a top private - the right counselor, the right EC, etc. - which a public school DIY family, however educated or smart, just does not have.

That's crazy. That's me, boo. And I know what I'm doing.

Btw, are you saying private school parents can DIY but not public school parents? Gtfo.

No. I'm saying that the majority of the public school families DIY and fail while the majority of private school families hire counselors. What's another $5-10K when you are already able to pay upto $50K for high school?

Do you have any evidence for this? I'm the parent of three kids who all graduated from independent schools and I would disagree. I'd also say that the effectiveness of in-school college counseling varies considerably from school to school.