Bethesda Magazine College Acceptance Data for Bethesda/Potomac-Area High Schools

[Anonymous]

I don't know where this data comes from, and I'm sure it's not totally accurate. However, it's worth noting that at BCC, seniors are required to update their info on Naviance in order to receive their diplomas. So schools aren't quite as clueless as some of the PPs here suggest, and I suspect these numbers published by Bethesda magazine are at least directionally accurate. Most importantly, especially for those of you who haven't been through this process before, the top 10-20 most competitive colleges receive an insane number of applications and take a tiny proportion - most of whom are legacies, athletes or have some other hook.

Also I'm surprised by the disparities in application numbers even between HS with similar demographics. BCC seems to throw in more applications to many colleges, as compared to WJ, Whitman or even Churchill. Not for the uber-elite schools or for UMD, where there's generally some consistency. But look at Bowdoin, Emory, Univ of Miami, Tufts, Tulane and a bunch of other schools that are competitive but not T10 - BCC has 50% more applications than most of the other Bethesda HS, in some case 2x as many or more. As a BCC parent, that seems very curious.

[Anonymous]

I honestly have no idea how Bethesda magazine got these numbers, but whoever did this piece did a horrible job. I had a kid who graduated from Whitman last year and the “data” here is not at all consistent with the Naviance data.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know where this data comes from, and I'm sure it's not totally accurate. However, it's worth noting that at BCC, seniors are required to update their info on Naviance in order to receive their diplomas. So schools aren't quite as clueless as some of the PPs here suggest, and I suspect these numbers published by Bethesda magazine are at least directionally accurate. Most importantly, especially for those of you who haven't been through this process before, the top 10-20 most competitive colleges receive an insane number of applications and take a tiny proportion - most of whom are legacies, athletes or have some other hook.

Also I'm surprised by the disparities in application numbers even between HS with similar demographics. BCC seems to throw in more applications to many colleges, as compared to WJ, Whitman or even Churchill. Not for the uber-elite schools or for UMD, where there's generally some consistency. But look at Bowdoin, Emory, Univ of Miami, Tufts, Tulane and a bunch of other schools that are competitive but not T10 - BCC has 50% more applications than most of the other Bethesda HS, in some case 2x as many or more. As a BCC parent, that seems very curious.

Well I know the data for Whitman, including applications numbers, is way off from what was in Naviance. It’s almost as if someone is purposely trying to stir the pot so to speak.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know where this data comes from, and I'm sure it's not totally accurate. However, it's worth noting that at BCC, seniors are required to update their info on Naviance in order to receive their diplomas. So schools aren't quite as clueless as some of the PPs here suggest, and I suspect these numbers published by Bethesda magazine are at least directionally accurate. Most importantly, especially for those of you who haven't been through this process before, the top 10-20 most competitive colleges receive an insane number of applications and take a tiny proportion - most of whom are legacies, athletes or have some other hook.

Also I'm surprised by the disparities in application numbers even between HS with similar demographics. BCC seems to throw in more applications to many colleges, as compared to WJ, Whitman or even Churchill. Not for the uber-elite schools or for UMD, where there's generally some consistency. But look at Bowdoin, Emory, Univ of Miami, Tufts, Tulane and a bunch of other schools that are competitive but not T10 - BCC has 50% more applications than most of the other Bethesda HS, in some case 2x as many or more. As a BCC parent, that seems very curious.

Well I know the data for Whitman, including applications numbers, is way off from what was in Naviance. It’s almost as if someone is purposely trying to stir the pot so to speak.

PP here - really? You think someone at Bethesda magazine is "trying to stir the pot" - how and why would they do that? Isn't it more likely that any inaccuracies are just a result of whatever less-than-rigorous process through which this data is collected? You sound a little paranoid PP.

[Anonymous]

BTW Bethesda magazine has been publishing this chart annually for years, maybe decades - do you really think it's all a plot to demonize or denigrate Whitman?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BTW Bethesda magazine has been publishing this chart annually for years, maybe decades - do you really think it's all a plot to demonize or denigrate Whitman?

It’s clearly a plot to make Whitman parents uncomfortable, since they all spent a ton of money on their houses so they could send their kids to a vaunted W school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These lists are useless because many qualified students don't apply to schools they cannot afford to attend.

That is so not true. Ivies and other top colleges give better financial aid packages then many average middle of the road-priced colleges.

It is true. There are a lot of families who don't qualify for FA but can't pay full price for multiple children.

Why do you think that half of the Blair Magnet kids go to UMD?

UMD is also very very strong in math and computer science so that may have something to do with it. Last year UMD placed fourth in the Putnam Math Competition behind MIT, Harvard, and Stanford.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’re not quite there but I’m curious looking at these data. How much involvement does the high school have in which schools each student applies to? Obviously schools are motivated to show higher yields to the more selective schools right? If my B, unhooked student wants to apply to Harvard just for kicks and giggles, would they be allowed to?

Obviously yes, there was not 58 kids at Wooten who had a realistic shot at Harvard but that’s how many applied.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If this info is not accurate is there any way to find accurate numbers for these schools?

No. How are you going to require students to report where they got in/where they didn't to anyone? At smaller schools, private schoos, maybe (counselors could probably call their 30 students or so and ask if it wasn't reported). But MCPS has 400-800 per class, and each counselor has way too many students each to be able to do this. Believe me, they email and remind students and families to report results, but many forget and many don't for privacy reasons, or maybe embarrassment.

They know who applies where, because the school has to send recommendation letters and transcripts, but not the results

[Anonymous]

PP here - some schools do have decently accurate info about results because of requirements like the one at BCC (update Naviance or else no diploma.)

For others, Naviance or similar systems are the best source for data. The data is not perfect but it gives a reasonably good idea of who applies, who gets accepted/rejected/waitlisted, and what their stats are. Kids and parents usually have access from grade 9 onward, maybe even earlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP here - some schools do have decently accurate info about results because of requirements like the one at BCC (update Naviance or else no diploma.)

For others, Naviance or similar systems are the best source for data. The data is not perfect but it gives a reasonably good idea of who applies, who gets accepted/rejected/waitlisted, and what their stats are. Kids and parents usually have access from grade 9 onward, maybe even earlier.

Whitman has this requirement as well — not diploma being withheld, I don’t think they can do that. But they won’t send final transcript unless you update where you are attending. But there is nothing that requires you to input your admissions results for all the schools you applied to.
But even with this, the data in the article doesn’t come anywhere close to matching Naviance data. Tons of kids attending wide range of schools that are listed as having no one accepted or attending. And then significant undercounting at others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If this info is not accurate is there any way to find accurate numbers for these schools?

No. How are you going to require students to report where they got in/where they didn't to anyone? At smaller schools, private schoos, maybe (counselors could probably call their 30 students or so and ask if it wasn't reported). But MCPS has 400-800 per class, and each counselor has way too many students each to be able to do this. Believe me, they email and remind students and families to report results, but many forget and many don't for privacy reasons, or maybe embarrassment.

They know who applies where, because the school has to send recommendation letters and transcripts, but not the results

They have to send a final transcript so the school knows where a student is enrolled, they may know less about acceptances that don’t lead to enrollment. But most schools try hard to get this info reported so that Naviance is useful.

[Anonymous]

Doesn’t the school based naviance data for parents go back 3 years? That’s what I see when I log on. I don’t see how the Whitman poster can say that the article doesn’t match what she seems on naviance if naviance aggregates three years of data/. I think the counselors can see the disaggregated data.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Doesn’t the school based naviance data for parents go back 3 years? That’s what I see when I log on. I don’t see how the Whitman poster can say that the article doesn’t match what she seems on naviance if naviance aggregates three years of data/. I think the counselors can see the disaggregated data.

The scattergram is aggregated. The bar graphs are by year. You can see how many people applied, accepted, and enrolled. The applied can be off because based on transcripts sent. My kid and I’m sure others sent transcripts and then ended up no applying because got into ED school. The accepted is self reported and might not be 100% accurate. But the attending should be pretty close to 100%.

[Anonymous]

The Einstein data is interesting because there were students who got in places and didn’t attend. Like 2 people in at Brown for example. (I realize that these students chose other schools but there were few if any acceptances to other schools that students might choose over Brown).