Where to go from Big3

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wasn’t saying is private school worth it - I was asking is it worth it to send your child to the private schools that pride themselves on being ‘so hard’ ie hours and hours of homework Sidwell, STA, NCS, Visitation when kids from those and the kids from other private schools seem to be ending up at the same colleges.

The reality is that these schools are not that hard for the brightest kids. They're not doing "hours and hours" of homework. My kid is at Sidwell/STA/NCS (rising senior in top classes at one of these schools) and does maybe an hour of homework per night and is in the top 10% or so in the class. He/she is really, really smart--photographic memory, writes extraordinarily well, etc. AND there are kids in the class who are even smarter and excel while doing even less work. They are taking the very top classes and they are breezing through. The issue is that there are many kids who came in when they were in PK or 7th grade or even 9th and the school is not a great fit academically but they have friends in the class or siblings at the school or their parents like the prestige or whatever and so they stay but have to work exceedingly hard to keep up.

Not everyone at Sidwell/STA/NCS is slaving away for hours and hours. If a kid is, it's frankly probably not the best fit.

Actually - this isn't true. Even the brightest kids we knew who went to Ivy schools (not on legacy status) were putting in very late nights to get those rare very high grades. Maybe your kid is brilliant though.

Three posters have responded to this BS post. I’ve got a top kid at one of these and let me tell you child and child’s peers are grinding. They talk. And let me also say before the trolls hit, this is my child and my child’s choice. I couldnt care less where child goes to college. Child is, unsurprisingly, totally self driven. I have other children that fit different molds.

[Anonymous]

The grade inflation at many high schools is real but I don't get the connection people are making to that helping the kids at those schools with college admissions. The lack of differentiation isn't necessarily a positive, especially for the best students.
Top colleges are looking for a lot more than As and parents are dreaming if they just assume their kids can quickly transition to a totally different academic and social environment and automatically stand out. Kids who have been in a tiny school for years could struggle with the totally different atmosphere and the competitiveness for leadership in extracurriculars.

[Anonymous]

My concern is less about college placement at a Big3 and more about nurturing an enjoyment of learning that will serve a child for life. As college admissions has changed over the last 35 years, the school I'm most familiar with has clearly become much more of a grind for the kids who are now far more concerned about potential mistakes and just doing what they need to in order to craft a great college app.

[Anonymous]

Most kids at Sidwell, for example, would have more than a 4.0 GPA with APs and honors classes at a public school. If rigor is seen as a virtue, and differentiation important, why not just make the GPA scale out of 5.0 (as some NE boarding schools do) to reflect that these are highly selected students being made to work very hard?

Wouldn’t help the top 10-20% who already do well in college admissions - but would help the 60% in the middle (potentially at the expense of the 20% at the bottom). The 3.6 with 1550 sats kid getting into Tufts or BC is now a 4.5/1550 kid with a shot at Columbia or UCLA.

The reason not to? Because the market demand for the big3 is high. No need for these schools to innovate (on the relatively short time horizon of a HOS) - multiple applicants for every place with the current product offering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most kids at Sidwell, for example, would have more than a 4.0 GPA with APs and honors classes at a public school. If rigor is seen as a virtue, and differentiation important, why not just make the GPA scale out of 5.0 (as some NE boarding schools do) to reflect that these are highly selected students being made to work very hard?

Wouldn’t help the top 10-20% who already do well in college admissions - but would help the 60% in the middle (potentially at the expense of the 20% at the bottom). The 3.6 with 1550 sats kid getting into Tufts or BC is now a 4.5/1550 kid with a shot at Columbia or UCLA.

The reason not to? Because the market demand for the big3 is high. No need for these schools to innovate (on the relatively short time horizon of a HOS) - multiple applicants for every place with the current product offering.

.

I agree. I think one benefit of private school is the real ability of colleges to see who is where in the class. (It harms public school applicants that they lose this ability.) But it really disincentives the harder/ap/honors coursework. I mean, of course you need some, but I do think not giving a gpa bump means the calculus becomes: where am I most likely to get As. So that our child for example will take honors/apps in classes child expect to do very well but is very reticent to take them in classes where they feel this is riskier. And for colleges I don’t think it matters so long as you can tell a narrative like: I’m not going to be an engineer so I focused on my time on the other hard thing.

[Anonymous]

I went to a Big 3 equivalent in another city and ended up at a top liberal arts school. My kids go to the Cathedral schools. If they end up at Ohio State (which is a great school), I still think it's worth it. Even more than my very good liberal arts college, my elementary, middle, and high school esp taught me how to think, learn, and write. The education was the strongest foundation I can imagine in skills that I use every day in my career. It's not just about college, it's about setting kids up for life. Would HYP be great? Sure. So would a whole host of colleges. I'm paying private school tuition to support not just the 18 year old, but the 30 year old, the 60 year old, etc. that they will be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most kids at Sidwell, for example, would have more than a 4.0 GPA with APs and honors classes at a public school.

If rigor is seen as a virtue, and differentiation important, why not just make the GPA scale out of 5.0 (as some NE boarding schools do) to reflect that these are highly selected students being made to work very hard?

Wouldn’t help the top 10-20% who already do well in college admissions (only hooked) - but would help the 60% in the middle (potentially at the expense of the 20% at the bottom). The 3.6 with 1550 sats kid getting into Tufts or BC (I don't think this describes the stats for kids that got into these schools) is now a 4.5/1550 kid with a shot at Columbia or UCLA (there are top kids in top 10-20% not getting into these schools without a hook - so it's nuts to think the 3.6 kids should be).

The reason not to? Because the market demand for the big3 is high. No need for these schools to innovate (on the relatively short time horizon of a HOS) - multiple applicants for every place with the current product offering.

The reason not is because the HOS sees all is well - the legacy, donors, and URM do great and he's ok with that. Also - the school sends no GPA to colleges - so it makes no sense that you are referring to a 5 point scale. And, they will throw back at you that it is not Quakerly to assign higher value to some students over others in any way.

In addition - I think you are not quite in touch with reality.

1) There is more variation in the abilities of students at Sidwell than you are aware of. And, the DMV is filled with educated and wealthy families - many of whom send their children to public school. So it's just not the case you can assume most students would get A's in public. Of course this will depend on your public district - but this blanket statement is just false.

2) Your examples are "off" on who does well and the stats associated with acceptances at different tiers of schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kid is lifer at a big3. Entering 8th in September and we are starting to realize staying for high-school may give a good education but will seriously harm college chances (especially as school is highly selective, has not kept up with grade inflation elsewhere, and when other schools have many graduating at ABOVE 4.0).

APs and 4.0+ can help in getting past initial screens in bigger schools like UCLA - that our school can rarely get kids into.

We love the school experience otherwise but not willing to sacrifice college chances just because “only so many from one school can go T20”. Safety, access to varsity team participation, and teacher ratio all are factors that nudge us personally away from transfer to local public.

What is the best.private school in DC area that still offers AP classes and gives out grades at a level equivalent to public schools?

Thanks in advance for sincere advice.

To go back to the original question, I'd look at St. John's as an option -- good school, they offer APs, etc if that's the focus. More "public school" like in many respects, although considerably larger. It can be far more selective for certain sports, and has a large sports-focus, if that's an issue.

But respectfully if your child is doing well at their current school, and it fits with your family's needs/goals, why the change? There's no guarantee that making the move will result in more college choices, and respectfully again who cares? We're a "Big 3" family and selected it for the rigor and focus on thriving in the next stage, not merely getting into the highest-ranked one (and we have no illusions that a "Big 3" diploma is in any way a golden ticket to an Ivy/T20 or other schools beyond preparing for the application process (SAT/ACT/AP etc)).

I went to a T300 school, loved it, did great, and made lifelong friends (as OSU keeps coming up, they probably would have rejected me). Once you have your first job, or go on to graduate school, nobody cares.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most kids at Sidwell, for example, would have more than a 4.0 GPA with APs and honors classes at a public school. If rigor is seen as a virtue, and differentiation important, why not just make the GPA scale out of 5.0 (as some NE boarding schools do) to reflect that these are highly selected students being made to work very hard?

Because college admissions offices already know that selective schools are selective and often don't weight GPA.

(I went to a NE boarding school back in the day and that school has & has absurdly good college outcomes, despite not weighting or even calculating official GPAs. I just checked their college profile to be sure this is still true!)

[Anonymous]

As a Big3 alum my advice is to — focus on what would be a good high school experience for your kid. Their future will work out one way or another. Have happy and unhappy and successful and “unsuccessful” classmates who went to top school … and Vice versa. Range of tech entrepreneurs to I-bankers to policy wonks to yoga teachers to floating around on parents funding their documentaries to all sorts of other pathways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Huh? Have you seem the instagrams for the Big3 and compared them to other schools adjusted for numbers?

UC's are an exception, I will grant you that, but state schools in the other 49 states, and private schools in all 50 states, take kids from Big3's all the time.

I personally know kids at these schools that ended up at places like Michigan, NYU, Tufts, Wesleyan, etc. (all amazing colleges). But, these same kids were definitely Ivy material if they weren't applying from within the cutthroat applicant pool of these prep schools.

It's not uncommon at all to see kids in their senior year openly say "I would have a better shot at an Ivy if I weren't applying from Sidwell/NCS/STA, etc." The competition to get into an Ivy from these schools is extremely fierce because applicants are compared to others from their same school.

Why are people so obsessed with ivies? Do they all want their kids to be consultant? I have been to an IVY as a graduate student, honestly, if one wants to make real world impact, especially in the science and research field, there is no need for an IVY. The top 50 might be good enough. Ivy education helps but not deterministic at all. One can always go to graduate schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kid is lifer at a big3. Entering 8th in September and we are starting to realize staying for high-school may give a good education but will seriously harm college chances (especially as school is highly selective, has not kept up with grade inflation elsewhere, and when other schools have many graduating at ABOVE 4.0).

APs and 4.0+ can help in getting past initial screens in bigger schools like UCLA - that our school can rarely get kids into.

We love the school experience otherwise but not willing to sacrifice college chances just because “only so many from one school can go T20”. Safety, access to varsity team participation, and teacher ratio all are factors that nudge us personally away from transfer to local public.

What is the best.private school in DC area that still offers AP classes and gives out grades at a level equivalent to public schools?

Thanks in advance for sincere advice.

Your rational for switching schools is misguided. If your kid is thriving, has friends and is engaged in activities, then switching because of your perception around college admissions is misplaced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The grade inflation at many high schools is real but I don't get the connection people are making to that helping the kids at those schools with college admissions. The lack of differentiation isn't necessarily a positive, especially for the best students.
Top colleges are looking for a lot more than As and parents are dreaming if they just assume their kids can quickly transition to a totally different academic and social environment and automatically stand out. Kids who have been in a tiny school for years could struggle with the totally different atmosphere and the competitiveness for leadership in extracurriculars.

100% this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Huh? Have you seem the instagrams for the Big3 and compared them to other schools adjusted for numbers?

UC's are an exception, I will grant you that, but state schools in the other 49 states, and private schools in all 50 states, take kids from Big3's all the time.

I personally know kids at these schools that ended up at places like Michigan, NYU, Tufts, Wesleyan, etc. (all amazing colleges). But, these same kids were definitely Ivy material if they weren't applying from within the cutthroat applicant pool of these prep schools.

It's not uncommon at all to see kids in their senior year openly say "I would have a better shot at an Ivy if I weren't applying from Sidwell/NCS/STA, etc." The competition to get into an Ivy from these schools is extremely fierce because applicants are compared to others from their same school.

Why are people so obsessed with ivies? Do they all want their kids to be consultant? I have been to an IVY as a graduate student, honestly, if one wants to make real world impact, especially in the science and research field, there is no need for an IVY. The top 50 might be good enough. Ivy education helps but not deterministic at all. One can always go to graduate schools.

+ 1. I went to an SEC school for undergrad and had a blast. Then went to HYP for grad school

[Anonymous]

Thread is over a year old, folks.