Sound off - Ivy grads & high income earners who chose public schools over privates

[Anonymous]

On another thread, someone suggested that most Ivy grads and high-income families choose private schools, so there aren't many of those in area public schools. I don't think that's correct. I know several people who have high HHIs and who went to top colleges, but have chosen public schools for their children. But maybe my circle of friends is just abnormal in that respect. Aren't there lots of other people like that?

To keep things arbitrarily specific, let's focus just on Ivy league grads and/or HHIs > $350k, who chose to send their children to public schools. Bonus points if you'll post which public high school cluster you're in (e.g., Wilson, Whitman, Langley, etc).

[Anonymous]

Only Ivy's? No Stanford, MIT etc?

[Anonymous]

Ivy grad, not HHI though. We're in FCPS, Lake Braddock.

[Anonymous]

I went to an Ivy for college. My household income is way under $350,000. My children are in MCPS (not in Whitman-Wootton-Churchill-Walter Johnson). All of my friends from college who have kids have their kids in public schools.

[Anonymous]

We send our kids to public schools. They're getting a fine education and it feels like the money we put into the school goes farther. We'll keep comparing the public to private upon approach to middle and high schools, but for now, public is looking good.

P.S. DH and I both grew up going to public schools all the way through. Met at Yale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only Ivy's? No Stanford, MIT etc?

OP here. I was trying to create an arbitrary bright-line with Ivy league, so we can avoid debates over whether places like Michigan or Texas-Austin are really top colleges. But I see your point. If you consider your college a top one, and you chose public school, post away. Maybe just name the college, so others can decide for themselves.

[Anonymous]

Families make all sorts of different decisions. So many particulars go into these decisions -- I don't really see the point of collecting anecdata.

Of course Ivy League parents send their kids to public schools. State school parents send their kids to private schools. And Ivy League parents send their kids to private, and state school parents send their kids to public.

So?

[Anonymous]

Harvard grad. Kid is in an EOTP DCPS. So far we love it.

[Anonymous]

Not Ivy but Top 10 Law School and not particularly high-earning. EOTP public, baby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Families make all sorts of different decisions. So many particulars go into these decisions -- I don't really see the point of collecting anecdata.

Of course Ivy League parents send their kids to public schools. State school parents send their kids to private schools. And Ivy League parents send their kids to private, and state school parents send their kids to public.

So?

I'm know it happens all different ways. I'm just trying to get a sense of how common or uncommon it is. If I get only 3-4 parents from top colleges, and only 1-2 posters with HHI >$350k, that'll tell me it's not as common as I suspected. If I get 3 pages of shout-outs, that'll tell me something different. I'm not conducting an academic study, just testing waters.

[Anonymous]

The quality of the parent's education matters less than the parent's income level.

[Anonymous]

Ivy grad here, HHI $250K, 2 kids. We're in Fairfax County Public Schools, but if I could comfortably afford it, I'd send the kids to private for more individual attention.

[Anonymous]

Looks like I meet your criteria - Ivy grad (for grad school), HHI well over $350k, child in a W school. There are lots of people who meet those criteria at our school, plus some who meet 2 of the 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
The quality of the parent's education matters less than the parent's income level.

Posted too soon.

At a certain socio-economic level, the value of private school greatly increases compared to public school, because its true value lies in wielding influence to further children's prospects, children who might not have been accepted into the best programs without connections. All this to preserve family wealth and prestige across generations.

Ivy-league grads who have chosen not to enter high-earning walks of life have a different mindset and are not any different from non-Ivy League parents when it comes to considering the benefits of public versus private.

The middle-class sacrificing everything to put their kids in private are the real losers, in the financial sense of the word.

[Anonymous]

A lot of Langley and McLean parents went to Ivies.