Which private school gets the most kids into top 20 colleges?

[Anonymous]

Not entirely true - GDS has a girl basketball player who is going to an Ivy next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have high school kids at two Big3 schools and have spent way too much time thinking about this.
The Ivy admits are 90% legacy or athletes or URMs or generally 2 of the 3. Actually you can probably say 95%.
I.e. if you're not 2 of the 3 you're not getting into an Ivy from a Big3. Period.
Might as well cross it off. Your odds are attending an Ivy are higher from a public.
....

I hope everyone understands this -- that if you are not an athlete, URM, or a legacy (and I doubt the legacy part) -- you are not going to an Ivy League college. Being a great student will not get you in. An anecdote: just a few years ago a colleague's son was a top student at St. Albans and a charming kid. The best he did was to make the waitlist at Columbia.

WHATS URM?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, public schools are the best for college admissions. Move to a W pyramid. If your children distinguishes themselves, top 20s will follows. Worked for us. Used the money we saved on private school to pay for college.

How did they distinguish themselves at such a huge school? Only works well for some.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have high school kids at two Big3 schools and have spent way too much time thinking about this.
The Ivy admits are 90% legacy or athletes or URMs or generally 2 of the 3. Actually you can probably say 95%.
I.e. if you're not 2 of the 3 you're not getting into an Ivy from a Big3. Period.
Might as well cross it off. Your odds are attending an Ivy are higher from a public.
....

I hope everyone understands this -- that if you are not an athlete, URM, or a legacy (and I doubt the legacy part) -- you are not going to an Ivy League college. Being a great student will not get you in. An anecdote: just a few years ago a colleague's son was a top student at St. Albans and a charming kid. The best he did was to make the waitlist at Columbia.

WHATS URM?

Under represented minorities

To PP above, so colleagues STA son didn’t get in anywhere, just waitlisted at Columbia? I find that very hard to believe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have high school kids at two Big3 schools and have spent way too much time thinking about this.
The Ivy admits are 90% legacy or athletes or URMs or generally 2 of the 3. Actually you can probably say 95%.
I.e. if you're not 2 of the 3 you're not getting into an Ivy from a Big3. Period.
Might as well cross it off. Your odds are attending an Ivy are higher from a public.
....

I hope everyone understands this -- that if you are not an athlete, URM, or a legacy (and I doubt the legacy part) -- you are not going to an Ivy League college. Being a great student will not get you in. An anecdote: just a few years ago a colleague's son was a top student at St. Albans and a charming kid. The best he did was to make the waitlist at Columbia.

WHATS URM?

Under represented minorities

To PP above, so colleagues STA son didn’t get in anywhere, just waitlisted at Columbia? I find that very hard to believe.

Don’t bother trying. What’s the point of believing a third hand story that doesn’t tell you anything?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The right answer is none. No local private *gets anyone in*. The kids get themselves in, and would have had approximately the same shot coming from a different school.

The right answer is that for many, being surrounded by over achievers makes one want to achieve. This is why we sent our son to a top private school (not a big 3) and to a top 20 university (not an ivy). He is doing great...well prepared and surrounded by high achieving kids.

You are responding to me. I actually agree with you and it’s why we sent our DS to a “non Big 3” top private (quite possibly the same one). It’s just that college matriculation was not and is not our goal and it’s likely his college matriculation would have been better elsewhere, but I doubt very much the quality of education would have been. All I’m saying is that any particular school itself has very little to do with getting a kid into college. The vast majority would have similar outcomes coming out of any one a half dozen high schools.

[Anonymous]

Looking at college placement is certainly a valid consideration in evaluating high schools. One of the best pieces of advice we were given is to look at where the bottom 20% of a senior class enrolled, not just the top 20%. Most of the area schools publish a list of where all of its graduates enroll each year, and it is often telling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not entirely true - GDS has a girl basketball player who is going to an Ivy next year.

And a male soccer player. both going to penn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Andover, Exeter, Brearley… oh wait, you meant DC private schools? None.

+1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looking at college placement is certainly a valid consideration in evaluating high schools. One of the best pieces of advice we were given is to look at where the bottom 20% of a senior class enrolled, not just the top 20%. Most of the area schools publish a list of where all of its graduates enroll each year, and it is often telling.

What do you think it is telling you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At GDS, no one is getting recruited for a sport, but I'd guesstimate that 1/4 to 1/3 of the students are undergraduate legacy at one of the Ivies. Probably closer to half if you include grad school. And that's true of the URM students too. I'd be surprised if it was not the same or higher at SFS or STA or NCS. Only a fraction of them get admitted to their parents' alma maters. The ones who do get admitted (except for the development cases) are also among the strongest students in the whole class and not very different than the non-legacy Ivy admits. So your best strategy for an Ivy admit is the same as any other school - take the most advanced classes, get great grades, and be a leader. And if you don't get into an Ivy you'll still end up at a great college.

The GDS reputation definitely helps, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have high school kids at two Big3 schools and have spent way too much time thinking about this.
The Ivy admits are 90% legacy or athletes or URMs or generally 2 of the 3. Actually you can probably say 95%.
I.e. if you're not 2 of the 3 you're not getting into an Ivy from a Big3. Period.
Might as well cross it off. Your odds are attending an Ivy are higher from a public.

Now the rest of the top 20 college spots go in part to the top academic achievers. Some also go to legacy/athletes/URM.
but many if not most are available to the top "smart kids" (i.e the top 10-20% of the class academically).

The next problem is, how to have one of the "smart kids". It's easier said than done. The work is hard, grade deflation is real and most
of the kids at the school are smart. It's not easy to be at the top of the class.

Nope. My white, non-legacy, non-athlete DD from GDS got into multiple Ivy League schools.

If your DD's declared major was CS/ENGINEERING/MATH she would have been considered URM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Andover, Exeter, Brearley… oh wait, you meant DC private schools? None.

+1.

+2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone done a breakout before deciding where to send their child?

NCS, Sidwell and STA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone done a breakout before deciding where to send their child?

NCS, Sidwell and STA

It does not matter because you do not know the connection the kids have- ie some kids will end up at a top 20 college no matter where they go to high school.