Early Decision Results at Top DC Privates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell got 2 into Harvard, 2 into Columbia, 2 into Brown, 3 into Duke, and 5+ into Wesleyan

But virtually all those kids who got in had serious hooks. Sidwell is not having a good year. Quite a large number of outstanding kids were rejected from the Ivies early. College counseling is the weak link at Sidwell. The administration always stresses that Sidwell kids have an easy time in college. That's because they are over prepared for the colleges they end up attending.

People are awfully quick on the trigger. Princeton, Yale, Cornell hadn't even announced yet when the quoted post was written.

[Anonymous]

OP -- my serious advice to you is to forget thinking about what are the "top DC privates" and just find the school that feels like the right match for your child and where you have confidence in the administration/faculty. If your DD is a strong student and you put her into that setting where she will be happy and thrive, that's the best chance she will have to be successful in every way -- including college admissions. At least it worked out that way for our child who attended a fabulous school that most DCUM'rs would not consider a "top DC private." It is really true -- not propaganda -- fit and match are what really matter.

[Anonymous]

many colleges sent out responses this week. any updates?

[Anonymous]

Dartmouth, Yale, Chicago, Georgetown, Conn. College -- from St. Andrew's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They actually looked at this a few years ago and all things being equal, its easier to get in from a public school. The colleges don't want to fill their classes with elite kids.

"they" did no such thing with respect to NCS, Sidwell and GDS.

You are pulling stories out of your butt, or more likely, thinking of some USA Today headline that referred to some quasi-national study with iffy data sets that include every challenged catholic inner-city high school.

[Anonymous]

I'm pretty sure it is easier to get into top colleges from a public high school. I am an SFS parent and I believe that to be true. I just know my kids are getting a great education and hope it will serve them well regardless of where they go to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm pretty sure it is easier to get into top colleges from a public high school. I am an SFS parent and I believe that to be true. I just know my kids are getting a great education and hope it will serve them well regardless of where they go to college.

It's so hard to answer this question. I think it's true that it's easier to get into top colleges from a public high school in an area that's underrepresented. But I'm not sure it's easier to get into a top college from Whitman/BCC than from a top private. It seems to me the problem is an overrepresentation (from the college's perspective), which is present at either Sidwell (or similar) or Whitman. But at least at Sidwell you have built-in test prep and college counseling. And teachers that know you well enough to write recommendations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm pretty sure it is easier to get into top colleges from a public high school. I am an SFS parent and I believe that to be true. I just know my kids are getting a great education and hope it will serve them well regardless of where they go to college.

It's so hard to answer this question. I think it's true that it's easier to get into top colleges from a public high school in an area that's underrepresented. But I'm not sure it's easier to get into a top college from Whitman/BCC than from a top private. It seems to me the problem is an overrepresentation (from the college's perspective), which is present at either Sidwell (or similar) or Whitman. But at least at Sidwell you have built-in test prep and college counseling. And teachers that know you well enough to write recommendations.

There's no built-in test prep at Sidwell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm pretty sure it is easier to get into top colleges from a public high school. I am an SFS parent and I believe that to be true. I just know my kids are getting a great education and hope it will serve them well regardless of where they go to college.

It's so hard to answer this question. I think it's true that it's easier to get into top colleges from a public high school in an area that's underrepresented. But I'm not sure it's easier to get into a top college from Whitman/BCC than from a top private. It seems to me the problem is an overrepresentation (from the college's perspective), which is present at either Sidwell (or similar) or Whitman. But at least at Sidwell you have built-in test prep and college counseling. And teachers that know you well enough to write recommendations.

There's no built-in test prep at Sidwell.

College prep. I know some posters pooh-pooh it, but it's weeks long, so it can't be completely useless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm pretty sure it is easier to get into top colleges from a public high school. I am an SFS parent and I believe that to be true. I just know my kids are getting a great education and hope it will serve them well regardless of where they go to college.

It's so hard to answer this question. I think it's true that it's easier to get into top colleges from a public high school in an area that's underrepresented. But I'm not sure it's easier to get into a top college from Whitman/BCC than from a top private. It seems to me the problem is an overrepresentation (from the college's perspective), which is present at either Sidwell (or similar) or Whitman. But at least at Sidwell you have built-in test prep and college counseling. And teachers that know you well enough to write recommendations.

Good post. The overrepresentation thing is real, as colleges for this generation are interested in geographic diversity as a subset of socio-economic diversity. There is also the issue that the same admissions rep presents to the committee the applications that come from any one school, and the more experienced the rep is, the more they can draw distinctions between applications that might look similar on the surface (this applicant ducked the hardest courses; this applicant got a great rec letter from a teacher who is very sparing with over the top praise; etc.).

With that said, a kid with all As and great scores (National Merit Semifinalist) will get into top colleges -- an Ivy, if not "the Ivy" that person is fixed upon -- whether they come from public or private school in the D.C. area. If you transplant your A student with 2300 SATs to North Dakota, will he/she stand out even more? Of course! The fact that the National Merit corporation has to set different award thresholds for different states makes this very clear (and this region is up at the top along with Massachusetts). But, as the prior poster said, the quality of the education at the North Dakota public high school is probably not as strong. If you transplant that same student to Whitman from Sidwell/NCS/STA/Holton/GDS/Maret, they will just join a different cohort of highly talented students with great grades and great scores. At Wilson in DC? They will stand out a bit more, but there will be some opportunities (small class sizes, getting to play sports, stronger arts programs) lost from the private school experience.

Most people come around to realizing when it comes to their child's high school education, it's better to focus on the journey (a challenging, stimulating education at a place where they are happy) than the hoped-for destination. Given the expense of private school, of course, I get that some people start getting antsy if they think that the choice of private school did not materially change the child's college outcome (or they think that it put the child at a disadvantage). For those people, I will just repeat: once the student is in college, s/he needs to do the work. If they excel, they will have excellent opportunities.

[Anonymous]

It is definitely true that colleges have relationships with certain schools. I was speaking with a friend who is a head here in DC and they said "we rarely get kids into Oberlin but we usually get kids into U. Washington St. Louis" So if you have a college in mind for your kid and you don't see it on the matriculation list, might want to go elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is definitely true that colleges have relationships with certain schools. I was speaking with a friend who is a head here in DC and they said "we rarely get kids into Oberlin but we usually get kids into U. Washington St. Louis" So if you have a college in mind for your kid and you don't see it on the matriculation list, might want to go elsewhere.

This is very true. Our private has a veritable pipeline to certain top 25s, but we routinely strike out with others. The relationship/reputation the school has with the regional rep seems to really matter.

[Anonymous]

You people are nuts if you are sending kids to private to get into a top school. My kids both graduated public schools and are in Princeton & Yale. School is just part of the equation. Doing your job as parents, genetics and grit will get your kid into an Ivy. And believe me and ivy is not the end all.

[Anonymous]

I totally agree that learning to write well is a top benefit of privates. My kids have been amazed by how poorly their college classmates write.

[Anonymous]

DD is attending SFS. We are not a well connected or affluent family. I do not believe she would have the same opportunities at a public. Benefits go far beyond college admittance. She feels like a kid in a candy shop, there are so many wonderful teachers who have connected with her, and so many extra-curricular activities where she can play a significant role, in part because the school is smaller. She is gaining in independent thinking and genuine intellectual interest daily. Plus she has great friends and loves the diversity. She will take all this with her to college wherever she goes. We will look for a great learning environment at that time, with a good financial aid package. College rankings don't mean much to me. They may measure the wrong thing.