Don't Send Your Kid To Big 3 For Ivy Admissions. Send Them To Public Or Less Competitive Private

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read this board and freaked out (for a minute) about sending my DC to a Big 3 for US. I tried to look deeper at this question to insure I was not harming my child’s academic options. My analysis was that I was not. Private schools publish their college matriculation data and, while public schools do not, admissions data is available. Giving every benefit of the doubt to the public school admission data, I still came to the conclusion that Big 3 certainly doesn’t harm you and probably helps you with college. And I don’t care about Ivies so I didn’t look at that angle. I don’t think USNWR is at all correct (but I had to use some metric), so I used its Top 15–places like UChicago, Northwestern, Duke, Rice, Georgetown. I hear all this message board nonsense about “hooked” kids at the Big3, but I know that’s equally true at my fancy local public high school where I know just as many parents who are alumnae of these places/potential big donors/etc. as well. So do your own homework future readers.

My conclusion was that it really depends on the specific public school. I can easily believe that if you aren’t in one of these few little bubble MCPS/FCPS/APS fancy public schools then maybe you actually do get a public school bump. I wouldn’t know since I haven’t looked at that question.

You are clueless. Wait after March of your child's senior year to give this board a conclusion.

+1 the PP is clueless if they think Rice Duke Northwestern admits are not all hooked. And Chicago would need to be ED plus high rigor - high GPA - high test scores.

You’re equally clueless to assume that they are and to assume that public schools don’t have a ton of hooked students.

[Anonymous]

I generally agree with OP, with the caveat that Ivy League schools are a lottery for anyone these days, and that what s/he writes is more appropriate for second tier universities.

Now if parents wish to send their kids to excellent, academic private schools just for the intellectual environment, or for the social connections, I think that's a perfectly valid reason... as long as they can afford to. I really don't think there is much return on investment to bleeding yourself dry just for those schools, and I seriously question the judgment of families on financial aid at these types of institutions. There are better ways to get ahead in life, both intellectually and socially, if you are on a lower income.

[Anonymous]

The super elite Top 15 private boarding schools will still be feeders to the Ivies, along with the elite NYC private schools. But yeah, if you're an UMC family at one of those schools you're getting shunted for the kid of a C-suite executive, politico, or foreign oligarch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These schools are not "deflating" grades; the public schools have inflated them.

When basically no one graduates with a 4.0, how can that be anything but grade deflation?

A 4.0 is a perfect average. How many students should have a perfect average in any single class? When many students have a 4.0, it means nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These schools are not "deflating" grades; the public schools have inflated them.

When basically no one graduates with a 4.0, how can that be anything but grade deflation?

A 4.0 is a perfect average. How many students should have a perfect average in any single class? When many students have a 4.0, it means nothing.

NCS has an award for students who graduate with the highest GPA (always 4.0). The past two years, there have been two winners. So, yes, it's possible to graduate NCS with a 4.0. Most do not, and that is absolutely fine!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please do not send your kid to Sidwell/GDS/NCS/STA with the expectation they will get into an Ivy or top 20 school. You are likely to end up very, very disappointed. There *used to be* an advantage in going to a feeder school, but not anymore. These schools deflate GPAs and don't weight. Your kid will also be in direct competition with the children of extremely powerful and connected people. People gush at the idea of sending their son/daughter to school alongside the children of White House cabinet members....until you have to compete with them in college admissions.

If you are a standard, upper-middle class family, send your kid to public school or a less competitive private like Visitation, St. John's College Prep, Gonzaga, etc. These schools actually weight GPAs and are much easier to graduate with the straight-A's necessary for Ivy admissions in 2023.

Getting into an Ivy is no longer about the name of the school on your transcript. It's about being the most outstanding applicant in your school group. It's far easier to do that at a public school where most kids don't care about going to an elite university. Your kid will also have time to focus on extracurriculars due to having easier homework and grade inflation.

For the 456,896th time - I don't send my child to a top private to get into HYP. I send them for smaller class size, better EC programming, impressive teaching staff. When will people get it through their heads that private school does not equal your snowflakes feeding into Yale? If you don't see the value in sending your kids to private for what the school offers, don't do it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I generally agree with OP, with the caveat that Ivy League schools are a lottery for anyone these days, and that what s/he writes is more appropriate for second tier universities.

Now if parents wish to send their kids to excellent, academic private schools just for the intellectual environment, or for the social connections, I think that's a perfectly valid reason... as long as they can afford to. I really don't think there is much return on investment to bleeding yourself dry just for those schools, and I seriously question the judgment of families on financial aid at these types of institutions. There are better ways to get ahead in life, both intellectually and socially, if you are on a lower income.

Ooh. Please tell me more about how you question my judgement. What "better ways to get ahead" are you recommending?

[Anonymous]

I agree with this. My DD is at a title 1 school (I am somewhat UMC) and she has been fast tracked academically from first grade and on because she is above average grade wise and is one of the higher performing kids. I think she would be totally average if she were in a typical UMC setting.

Anonymous wrote:This has been true for decades. If you want an amazing education, send your kid to the “big 3”. If you are a double legacy with status and a sport, you will still get into an ivy. But if you’re a normal family and ivy is the goal, you’re much better off at something like an Alexandria or south Arlington public high school - where you can stand out more easily and you get the benefit of a high free lunch and very diverse population. Colleges love this. They act like they’re doing something good by taking “disadvantaged” kids from low scoring/failing high schools but really all they did was take one of the handful of UMC kids. That same kid at Langley would be 50/50 for UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are these mythical public schools without high-achieving students gunning for Ivies? Not in Moco.

Honestly, Einstein is a good place. There are students who apply to Ivies and other top tier schools, but not a ton of them. The Ivy legacy kids whom I’ve met are Donut Hole and won’t be going to Ivies themselves. Top students tend to go to Canada or schools with merit.

Why Canada?

Canadian schools are less expensive than most U.S. private universities, of course. They also probably value the IB diploma?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I generally agree with OP, with the caveat that Ivy League schools are a lottery for anyone these days, and that what s/he writes is more appropriate for second tier universities.

Now if parents wish to send their kids to excellent, academic private schools just for the intellectual environment, or for the social connections, I think that's a perfectly valid reason... as long as they can afford to. I really don't think there is much return on investment to bleeding yourself dry just for those schools, and I seriously question the judgment of families on financial aid at these types of institutions. There are better ways to get ahead in life, both intellectually and socially, if you are on a lower income.

Ooh. Please tell me more about how you question my judgement. What "better ways to get ahead" are you recommending?

PP you responded to. Well, the biggest driver of generational wealth and economic opportunity today is inheritance and pre-inheritance family donations. This is an important truth that families need to know. What you could be doing is sending your kids to your local public (perhaps it's fine, or perhaps you can afford to move to a slightly better district without breaking the bank), and investing the money in the stock market. It's had incredible returns these past decades. This is what we've done. We can now afford to pay for college and grad school for our kids (they won't need loans), and in the future, downpayments on homes, and hopefully further gifts. Instead of being burdened with education loans and rent, they will be able to invest in turn, or take risks in their careers that might pay off later. And all this on a not-wealthy income, which we did not further deteriorate with private school tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I generally agree with OP, with the caveat that Ivy League schools are a lottery for anyone these days, and that what s/he writes is more appropriate for second tier universities.

Now if parents wish to send their kids to excellent, academic private schools just for the intellectual environment, or for the social connections, I think that's a perfectly valid reason... as long as they can afford to. I really don't think there is much return on investment to bleeding yourself dry just for those schools, and I seriously question the judgment of families on financial aid at these types of institutions. There are better ways to get ahead in life, both intellectually and socially, if you are on a lower income.

Ooh. Please tell me more about how you question my judgement. What "better ways to get ahead" are you recommending?

PP you responded to. Well, the biggest driver of generational wealth and economic opportunity today is inheritance and pre-inheritance family donations. This is an important truth that families need to know. What you could be doing is sending your kids to your local public (perhaps it's fine, or perhaps you can afford to move to a slightly better district without breaking the bank), and investing the money in the stock market. It's had incredible returns these past decades. This is what we've done. We can now afford to pay for college and grad school for our kids (they won't need loans), and in the future, downpayments on homes, and hopefully further gifts. Instead of being burdened with education loans and rent, they will be able to invest in turn, or take risks in their careers that might pay off later. And all this on a not-wealthy income, which we did not further deteriorate with private school tuition.

That’s great that it worked for you. Our local public was really bad and we couldn’t afford to move, for what would only have been a marginally better one, so we sent our kid to a wonderful independent school with FA.

I think my kid will do just fine all by himself.

There are many paths.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are these mythical public schools without high-achieving students gunning for Ivies? Not in Moco.

Honestly, Einstein is a good place. There are students who apply to Ivies and other top tier schools, but not a ton of them. The Ivy legacy kids whom I’ve met are Donut Hole and won’t be going to Ivies themselves. Top students tend to go to Canada or schools with merit.

Why Canada?

Canadian schools are less expensive than most U.S. private universities, of course. They also probably value the IB diploma?

The Canadian universities also tend to be more predictable in their admissions, for what it's worth, and place less of an emphasis on extracurriculars.