The myth of sending your kid to selective private and BS in the hopes that admission to top

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's so funny that people think DC privates are on the same level as selective BSs. No one outside of DC has even heard of these local schools. You're wasting your money.

Plus there’s a huge difference between DC’s very top privates and the rest of the pack. It’s not necessarily true that a mid-level private in this area provides better instruction than a private. We know, we did the mid-level private for a few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Poster with the story here. Back in college, I did believe that BS kids were more likely to be slackers with inflated SAT scores. Now it has become clear that the BS taught my roommate how to survive in the real world with the least effort. Colleges know that BS students have learned this efficiency and every year they seek out and admit a group of student who are really good at this skill. They want these really efficient "slackers" to kick the #$%#$# out of sheltered grinds like I was in college so the grinds can reach higher levels than they would by only working harder.

"Do you have comprehension issues? It's clear the point was that BS kids are a bunch of slackers who can prep for an SAT but can't function in college STEM classes."

The only thing I can take away from your story is that you have a chip on your shoulder. So I'm not inclined to put much merit into what you want to believe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Frankly, the reason parents spend $40k/year for a top private school is the education they receive K-12, not future college admissions. And the students who do the best are "intellectual" in ways that run-of-the-mill public schools just don't even try to meet. The basic public school curriculum just doesn't come close to the humanities and social science at my DC's school.

No, frankly the reason parents chose to spend $40k for private is to make "connections" and separate their children from the unwashed masses.

Sigh. There is nothing anyone could say that would change your mind about this.

Nope nothing written here will address the underlying insecurity that drives threads of this type.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is a BS, as in top 5 BS?

I presume he/she was talking about boarding school.

And used an anecdotal experience with one graduate of a boarding school to make a blanket assumption of all boarding school kids.

And now I will offer mine. I went to a private school. Went to Ivy. Roommate was from a public school. I was far better prepared and basically taught her how to write proper essays and research papers. If it weren’t for me she’d have flunked out. Therefore public schools are terrible and should be avoided at all costs.

Or spend a fraction of the cost on TJ prep for a year or so and get your kid into TJ. TJ excels all DC privates in STEM AND Social sciences (not many kids there choose to go in-depth however but some do).

[Anonymous]

My reason for private: they expel behavior problems, they fire burnt-out, lazy teachers, they keep parents informed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My reason for private: they expel behavior problems, they fire burnt-out, lazy teachers, they keep parents informed.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a highly selective LAC (AWS), and found that the students who went to excellent independent schools (not parochial schools) were far better prepared academically than the kids who went to public schools for the first year or so of college. Many of the public schools kids had never written a paper longer than 5 pages or had to read a novel a week. Many of the independent school kids (including the BS ones) had already written at least a couple of 20-page papers, used to 4-6 hours of homework nightly, and were fast readers. HOWEVER, by the end of four years, you could not tell the difference.

I find it odd that so many posters were paying such close attention to where their classmates went to high schools
and thus how academically prepared they were for college. I'm sure that this is not a subject I gave a second's thought to when I was in college.

When I was in college I paid more attention to where the students were from. I remember thinking how some of the students from small towns seemed to struggle and o do think some attended private schools.

[Anonymous]

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

"The only thing I can take away from your story is that you have a chip on your shoulder. So I'm not inclined to put much merit into what you want to believe."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

"The only thing I can take away from your story is that you have a chip on your shoulder. So I'm not inclined to put much merit into what you want to believe."

You're likely the person who posted the original story. I don't doubt what you said but the way you seemed to extrapolate from a single student and apply it to all boarding school kids was where the chip on your shoulder comment likely came from. There are many kids from all sorts of schools, public and private, who crash and burn in college. Is it a reflection of the college, the high school or the kid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think most people send their kids to selective private in hopes of securing admission to elite colleges.

They send them seeking a better education than they would have received in public school and hope that education will prepare them to succeed at whatever college they attend.

Ok, so, my kid is at a HYP. She went to a middle of the road public school. Her current roommate went to a top 5 BS. DD has been tutoring her in both Calculus and Chem…she is NOT prepared for the scions whatsoever. Anecdotal, yes, but don't think that private HSs are good at everything, bc they are not necessarily better than your local public

All this means is that you don't have to be that smart to get into HYP if you came from a great school. It actually completely reinforces the myth the OP is trying break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My reason for private: they expel behavior problems, they fire burnt-out, lazy teachers, they keep parents informed.

+1

Smaller classrooms, teachers that have autonomy and not a terrible curriculum, class days not set aside for standardized testing, more PE, science, arts, and music in lower school, safer environment with better security, uniforms (at least for mine.) and so many little extras like study skills, extensive writing, speech, etc...

I absolutely don't care if my private school kid goes to UMD. I really don't. I didn't send her to private for college. I sent her because she was a quiet kid who needed teachers that cared to bring out the best in her. She hated school before switching and since then she has loved it. There is 13 years of education. Their childhood, health, and happiness is important to me. Most of her friends in public hate school. I mean really hate school. The kids are happy in her school and it is cool to be smart and involved. Best decision we ever made.

[Anonymous]

I have children in both private and public schools. Guess I only want some of them to attend college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My reason for private: they expel behavior problems, they fire burnt-out, lazy teachers, they keep parents informed.

Parent of both private and public. I think this is maybe true for non-parochial private schools. Most of the teachers at my kids' catholic private school are parents from the church and there is very little education or experience required to teach. As for the OP question about private vs public, unless you attend a school like Sidwell, private school is not worth it. The public schools in this area are superior compared to the cost spent at private. If you look at the numbers, this area produces an astounding number of college bound students. This is based on money cost and product. You can achieve the same at public as private school for zero cost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think most people send their kids to selective private in hopes of securing admission to elite colleges.

They send them seeking a better education than they would have received in public school and hope that education will prepare them to succeed at whatever college they attend.

Ok, so, my kid is at a HYP. She went to a middle of the road public school. Her current roommate went to a top 5 BS. DD has been tutoring her in both Calculus and Chem…she is NOT prepared for the scions whatsoever. Anecdotal, yes, but don't think that private HSs are good at everything, bc they are not necessarily better than your local public

All this means is that you don't have to be that smart to get into HYP if you came from a great school. It actually completely reinforces the myth the OP is trying break.

Colleges are not stupid. If they admit a student they do so with the expectation that the student can perform well, academically. They would not continue to take in dozens of candidates from the top private schools (or public schools) if there was a repeated pattern of students being ill-prepared and not keeping up with the coursework. They take in the kids from Andover/Exeter or Thomas Jefferson because they have a history that proves these kids do well in college. Even if some of them might need additional specialized help for difficult STEM courses, which is not unusual. I would not make too much judgement on what school a kid comes from and the amount of time or outside support they may need for a college level calculus class or organic chemistry, especially when it is very anecdotal. I remember my college math and science classes. Some students, regardless of whether they went to a fancy private school or a top public/magnet, have much quicker aptitudes and can quickly grasp the concepts, while other kids from the same schools need a bit more time and it's really not a reflection of the school or the instruction before college but more due to the particular student's aptitudes. When it comes to subjects like English the ability to write a good paper is, in a way, more telling of the high school quality, than the ability to pass a college level Calculus class / being able to absorb a certain amount of organic chemistry lessons within a certain amount of time.

[Anonymous]

This wasn't even on our list of why we decided this year it was time to send DK to private for the last years of high school. Quality of teachers/teaching is way above our local public and class sizes are way down - just what our kid seems to need. Most all students are there to learn not goof off like local public.

There are many other reasons people choose private that have nothing to do with college placement. However, it just so happens that most kids at said middle tier school do get admitted to top SLACs. As far as Ivies, it's a long shot for most without hooks/legacy status due to sheer numbers.