What level IQ score would be helpful for admissions to a selective private school?

[Anonymous]

OP - ignore the haters RE the IQ test. It used to be all schools required testing in the past, I don't know which schools require it for age 10...but it would more likely be WISC or WIPPSI.

We also had teachers approach us in this way - we went to speak to an educational consultant (Theodra Washington) to get their opinion on what the teachers were trying to communicate. We let it be known that we were looking for feedback and that we had planned on going public (and she herself had used both public and private in her own decisions). The testing and advice we received was very helpful and we were able to better understand why teachers had recommended private. (plenty of gifted students are very well served in public - including our own cluster) In the end, we had a very good experience with a mix of k-8 and then Big 3 for HS.

As others probably have noted - it's not just test scores. And, not all private school kids are superstars. You should be looking for a match. And, do not expect your child to be on advanced tracks in private. There's generally one track - sometimes it's possible to get 2 math tracks in middle school (but not everywhere by any means) - and high school is sometimes 3 levels (but highest level in that case tends to be theoretically based).

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Three year old bumped thread, folks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My children were tested. Both just under 150.

Very helpful. Thanks for sharing.

Btw, what is your IQ?

80

[Anonymous]

Lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you buying into the premise that gifted children would do better in private school???
Ha ha ha ha.

Impossible to know either way. This varies with the two schools and with the child. There are definitely some high performing privates that will be better choices than some low performing publics for even average children. For an MCPS W pyramid vs private — much harder to know which is best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My children were tested. Both just under 150.

Sure, Jan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, please don't let your kid think that having a high IQ is the be-all-end-all. Sure, it's great, but discipline and work ethic are going to be more indicative of both success and personal satisfaction in the long run.

My IQ was tested on different occasions at 145, 148, and 150, and I do extremely well on standardized tests. (Whoop de doo, right?) I still flunked three classes in my first semester of undergrad. Now I'm in a job with a whole bunch of other very smart people, and it's the ones who work hard and don't procrastinate who do the best, not the smartest people. In fact, I think it's the people who are smarter than average but not "highly gifted" who are the highest achievers.

There are A LOT of former gifted children out there who are now anxious adults whose perfectionism makes them give up on new tasks because they're not immediately awesome at them.

This is why, when I praise my son, I make an effort to say "Wow, you worked really hard!" instead of "Wow, you're so smart!" I'd rather he developed a strong work ethic than a belief that because he's smart, things will come easily to him.

lol. You think the “whoop de doo” will fool us into thinking your post is anything but excitement over an opportunity to brag? lol, not so smart…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unless it is a school for the highly gifted like Feynman it doesn’t help at all and your child would be better off in highly gifted programs through public school. I speak from experience.
A child with a very high IQ will NOT find a like peer group at DC privates. There will be a few others like them perhaps, but the rest are nice enough average to above average kids with money or an admissions hook who work hard. Teachers at these DC privates know nothing about how to teach very high IQ students. It’s actually painful at times.

Clearly you don’t have a high IQ. If you did, you wouldn’t have dreamed this up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP you should explore private. Child will need to take an entrance test. Should do well. Good luck!

FWIW, my child took an entrance test at age 3. Tester wrote that she was low intelligence (I recently found the report and shredded it. My child graduated from Princeton last year.

Yep! IQ is meaningless on a child less than 12. Your kid had a bad day that day. Inhad my kid tested at 4 and again at 7 (she has an anxiety disorder, which we were trying to understand). Her test at 4 said she was average (105). Her test at 7 said fsiq 145. Both testers told me IQ doesn't change significantly. Ha! Yeah it did. Plus that kid is older now - she's probably realistically 120 or so, but very engaged and social.

Private was helpful for many reasons - iq was not one of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Three year old bumped thread, folks.

Lol this is lost on nearly every single poster.

[Anonymous]

As many posters have said, it probably won’t make a difference. Most schools teach to the average, and being outside of that in either direction can actually be detrimental. This is particularly true at small privates that may lack the resources or programs for gifted children you may find at public or specialty schools. I’m sure this isn’t always the case, but my experience with high IQ is that it’s usually accompanied by some other learning difference like ADHD or autism and that can create it’s own set of complications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless it is a school for the highly gifted like Feynman it doesn’t help at all and your child would be better off in highly gifted programs through public school. I speak from experience.
A child with a very high IQ will NOT find a like peer group at DC privates. There will be a few others like them perhaps, but the rest are nice enough average to above average kids with money or an admissions hook who work hard. Teachers at these DC privates know nothing about how to teach very high IQ students. It’s actually painful at times.

Clearly you don’t have a high IQ. If you did, you wouldn’t have dreamed this up.

PP is right. High IQ kids won’t find a peer group at most dc privates (or most schools in general) b/c most people are average IQ. You only get the false impression that everyone is above average on this forum lol. The math ain’t mathing lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless it is a school for the highly gifted like Feynman it doesn’t help at all and your child would be better off in highly gifted programs through public school. I speak from experience.
A child with a very high IQ will NOT find a like peer group at DC privates. There will be a few others like them perhaps, but the rest are nice enough average to above average kids with money or an admissions hook who work hard. Teachers at these DC privates know nothing about how to teach very high IQ students. It’s actually painful at times.

Clearly you don’t have a high IQ. If you did, you wouldn’t have dreamed this up.

PP is right. High IQ kids won’t find a peer group at most dc privates (or most schools in general) b/c most people are average IQ. You only get the false impression that everyone is above average on this forum lol. The math ain’t mathing lol.

The math ain't mathing? What? Of course most people have an average IQ. But folks with a high IQ can enjoy playing with/working with/getting to know all kinds of people--they don't need everyone (or even anyone) to be to the right of the bell in order to find and enjoy a friend group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 10 year old has an IQ test recently and two teachers and one administrator at their public school said to me something like "I shouldn't be telling you this, but you're selling yourself short. Look to private."

We've never considered private for financial reasons, unfamiliarity with that world, etc., but their comments made me curious. Is there a certain level IQ score that would really help a child get in? Or get financial aid if accepted? Sorry if this is a clueless question. I know very little about private school admissions.

That's bizarre and they are ill-informed.

~former Big Three teacher, now teaches in public school

[Anonymous]

THREE YEAR OLD THREAD.

You’ve all failed your IQ tests.