Do you think it is easier to get into a top college from public or private?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will depend on the school. Private schools obviously have an advantage bc they choose their students. That’s not the case at public high schools that educate everyone in their district. That’s their mission.

But the top 10-20 percent of students at well resourced public schools like Langley and the Ws do just as well as the elite private school students when it comes to college admissions. And the STEM kids at public schools are usually much stronger than the private school students. Which is no small thing these days.

Your first point is important. You should really be looking at the outcomes for the top 10-20% of public students vs. private school students as your comparison. I don't have an answer on the outcomes, but this would be the comparison to do.

It’s an easy analysis. The top 20 percent of class at Langley is 104 kids, they aren’t all going to T20s.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:For super smart kids who want T5, they probably have a better chance at a competitive public high school. If T5 is not the goal, it’s easier to get into T20 at a good private school as long as the kid stays on top.

The ratio of private high school to public high schools kids, given how many more kids are public school kids, suggests the contrary.

For the T5 kids, they do well in private or public schools. These are the selected few, truly outstanding. But public schools provide a larger platform for leadership, whereas private schools often have more legacies and other hooks. They stand a slightly better chance at a public school.

This is based on nothing but your own opinion, and is nonsense. Schools like Langley and the Ws will have just as many legacies.

Nice try but false.

As a percentage, private schools will be higher but in pure numbers, publics probably do have just as many, if not more legacies. A public school will have 500+ kids per class vs ~100 for privates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will depend on the school. Private schools obviously have an advantage bc they choose their students. That’s not the case at public high schools that educate everyone in their district. That’s their mission.

But the top 10-20 percent of students at well resourced public schools like Langley and the Ws do just as well as the elite private school students when it comes to college admissions. And the STEM kids at public schools are usually much stronger than the private school students. Which is no small thing these days.

Do they all get into top20 schools? This is the question. I don't know as I'm a private school parent. At STA and Sidwell they do. 100%.
Do 100% of the top 20% at Langley and the Ws get into top20 schools?

Langley has a class of 525 kids. I don’t even need to look at the data to know that there are not 104 kids at Langley each year admitted to a T20 school.

Because you don't have access to the data, for one thing. But this much is obvious: dozens of Langley students get admitted to UVA every year, and virtually all of them could likely be admitted to a top 20 as well.

You think private school kids don’t get into UVA? That isn’t what we mean by T20.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For super smart kids who want T5, they probably have a better chance at a competitive public high school. If T5 is not the goal, it’s easier to get into T20 at a good private school as long as the kid stays on top.

The ratio of private high school to public high schools kids, given how many more kids are public school kids, suggests the contrary.

For the T5 kids, they do well in private or public schools. These are the selected few, truly outstanding. But public schools provide a larger platform for leadership, whereas private schools often have more legacies and other hooks. They stand a slightly better chance at a public school.

This is based on nothing but your own opinion, and is nonsense. Schools like Langley and the Ws will have just as many legacies.

Nice try but false.

I know about a gazillion HYP legacies at the Ws. My husband is one of them.

There are no public data on parental alma maters at public schools and private schools, so you're all just guessing. That said, less than 20% of students are enrolled in private school in the USA, so it could be that the number of HYP legacies at public and private high schools in this area are similar while the % of HYP legacies at privilieged private schools is higher.
Signed--One of many HYP alum parents with kids in the MCPS BCC cluster

+1

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Fo course it’s easier, at least from the most academically rigorous private schools going to private colleges, especially when you look at admissions on per capita basis. Also disagree with the last poster, my spouse gets sent the results for our region as an interviewer for one of Y/P/H/S and the private schools do better.

For large public colleges, probably a wash.

Because of legacies. And there's nothing more annoying than an Ivy alumni interviewer. They can't get over their "glory days" and it's pretty pathetic.

Also, it's obvious you're not posting from the DMV and don't know anything about Langley High School.

All of this is false, and you are clearly triggered. Perhaps step away until you can participate in a rational, as opposed to crazy emotional, manner.

Are you posting from the DMV or not?

Yes, I am in the DMV.

And you and your husband now parse the limited data from the "glory days" college that your husband attended years ago and make broad generalizations from it.

Got it.

Says the person whose offered zero data, but plenty of hostility and rudeness.

You're not offering data. You're offering anecdotes. If you ran your "data" by your husband's "glory days" college admissions office and what the two of you are concluding from it I bet they'd disagree with you.

[Anonymous]

Your question is specific to your public High School.
For DC, it might be easier to get in from a DCPS - colleges love having "urban" and use high school zip code as a proxy for a lot of stuff.

My student was in bottom 1/2 of class from SWW and is enrolled at a top 25 SLAC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will depend on the school. Private schools obviously have an advantage bc they choose their students. That’s not the case at public high schools that educate everyone in their district. That’s their mission.

But the top 10-20 percent of students at well resourced public schools like Langley and the Ws do just as well as the elite private school students when it comes to college admissions. And the STEM kids at public schools are usually much stronger than the private school students. Which is no small thing these days.

Do they all get into top20 schools? This is the question. I don't know as I'm a private school parent. At STA and Sidwell they do. 100%.
Do 100% of the top 20% at Langley and the Ws get into top20 schools?

Langley has a class of 525 kids. I don’t even need to look at the data to know that there are not 104 kids at Langley each year admitted to a T20 school.

Because you don't have access to the data, for one thing. But this much is obvious: dozens of Langley students get admitted to UVA every year, and virtually all of them could likely be admitted to a top 20 as well.

You think private school kids don’t get into UVA? That isn’t what we mean by T20.

You're missing the point, moron. I'm not saying that at all. What I'm saying is that most of the kids at Langley admitted to UVA could have also gotten into a top 20 but either didn't apply or did apply and got in and didn't go.

Clearly there are many posters on this thread who underestimate the impact that the existence of UVA has on college applications and matriculations from NOVA public high schools. If a NOVA public high school kid thinks their Ivy material, sure, they'll apply to an Ivy, but if they're thinking they're just top 20 material they'll either just apply to UVA or apply to a top 20, get in, and decide on UVA anyway. So the numbers are skewed.

The mindset of the typical public school family when it comes to college admissions and matriculation is just plain different.

[Anonymous]

The big advantage of a private is the college counseling advice. The big suburban publics give you no individualized support, and, indeed, frequently give counterproductive class selection guidance! Poor little teen complaining about how hard foreign language is? "Oh, poor dear, you should drop it next year and take something fun like ceramics!" Also, the competition is fierce and secretive. No one knows where anyone is applying!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Public MD from our Public my kids got into

Harvard, Stanford, CMU, MIT, RICE, Michigan, Yale, Georgia Tech, Princeton.......

And they had no issues with coursework

Private LOL no

Doubtful, but nice rationalization of your decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will depend on the school. Private schools obviously have an advantage bc they choose their students. That’s not the case at public high schools that educate everyone in their district. That’s their mission.

But the top 10-20 percent of students at well resourced public schools like Langley and the Ws do just as well as the elite private school students when it comes to college admissions. And the STEM kids at public schools are usually much stronger than the private school students. Which is no small thing these days.

Do they all get into top20 schools? This is the question. I don't know as I'm a private school parent. At STA and Sidwell they do. 100%.
Do 100% of the top 20% at Langley and the Ws get into top20 schools?

Langley has a class of 525 kids. I don’t even need to look at the data to know that there are not 104 kids at Langley each year admitted to a T20 school.

Because you don't have access to the data, for one thing. But this much is obvious: dozens of Langley students get admitted to UVA every year, and virtually all of them could likely be admitted to a top 20 as well.

You think private school kids don’t get into UVA? That isn’t what we mean by T20.

You're missing the point, moron. I'm not saying that at all. What I'm saying is that most of the kids at Langley admitted to UVA could have also gotten into a top 20 but either didn't apply or did apply and got in and didn't go.

Clearly there are many posters on this thread who underestimate the impact that the existence of UVA has on college applications and matriculations from NOVA public high schools. If a NOVA public high school kid thinks their Ivy material, sure, they'll apply to an Ivy, but if they're thinking they're just top 20 material they'll either just apply to UVA or apply to a top 20, get in, and decide on UVA anyway. So the numbers are skewed.

The mindset of the typical public school family when it comes to college admissions and matriculation is just plain different.

Op here. Many kids do go to UVA, VT and W&M. My kid is only a junior so I only know a handful of kids who went to college in the past few years from Langley. There seem to be a lot of going to good publics like UVA, Berkeley, UMich, etc. I don’t know where else they applied or got in.

I do think money makes a difference. Not everyone can pay $90k per year for college. Our professional colleagues can afford the $50k tuition for private and then $90k for college and grad school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will depend on the school. Private schools obviously have an advantage bc they choose their students. That’s not the case at public high schools that educate everyone in their district. That’s their mission.

But the top 10-20 percent of students at well resourced public schools like Langley and the Ws do just as well as the elite private school students when it comes to college admissions. And the STEM kids at public schools are usually much stronger than the private school students. Which is no small thing these days.

Do they all get into top20 schools? This is the question. I don't know as I'm a private school parent. At STA and Sidwell they do. 100%.
Do 100% of the top 20% at Langley and the Ws get into top20 schools?

Langley has a class of 525 kids. I don’t even need to look at the data to know that there are not 104 kids at Langley each year admitted to a T20 school.

Because you don't have access to the data, for one thing. But this much is obvious: dozens of Langley students get admitted to UVA every year, and virtually all of them could likely be admitted to a top 20 as well.

You think private school kids don’t get into UVA? That isn’t what we mean by T20.

You're missing the point, moron. I'm not saying that at all. What I'm saying is that most of the kids at Langley admitted to UVA could have also gotten into a top 20 but either didn't apply or did apply and got in and didn't go.

Clearly there are many posters on this thread who underestimate the impact that the existence of UVA has on college applications and matriculations from NOVA public high schools. If a NOVA public high school kid thinks their Ivy material, sure, they'll apply to an Ivy, but if they're thinking they're just top 20 material they'll either just apply to UVA or apply to a top 20, get in, and decide on UVA anyway. So the numbers are skewed.

The mindset of the typical public school family when it comes to college admissions and matriculation is just plain different.

The same can be said for the top private schools. I know 4 kids who chose UVA over an Ivy or other top20 admission in 2025.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will depend on the school. Private schools obviously have an advantage bc they choose their students. That’s not the case at public high schools that educate everyone in their district. That’s their mission.

But the top 10-20 percent of students at well resourced public schools like Langley and the Ws do just as well as the elite private school students when it comes to college admissions. And the STEM kids at public schools are usually much stronger than the private school students. Which is no small thing these days.

Do they all get into top20 schools? This is the question. I don't know as I'm a private school parent. At STA and Sidwell they do. 100%.
Do 100% of the top 20% at Langley and the Ws get into top20 schools?

Langley has a class of 525 kids. I don’t even need to look at the data to know that there are not 104 kids at Langley each year admitted to a T20 school.

Because you don't have access to the data, for one thing. But this much is obvious: dozens of Langley students get admitted to UVA every year, and virtually all of them could likely be admitted to a top 20 as well.

You think private school kids don’t get into UVA? That isn’t what we mean by T20.

You're missing the point, moron. I'm not saying that at all. What I'm saying is that most of the kids at Langley admitted to UVA could have also gotten into a top 20 but either didn't apply or did apply and got in and didn't go.

Clearly there are many posters on this thread who underestimate the impact that the existence of UVA has on college applications and matriculations from NOVA public high schools. If a NOVA public high school kid thinks their Ivy material, sure, they'll apply to an Ivy, but if they're thinking they're just top 20 material they'll either just apply to UVA or apply to a top 20, get in, and decide on UVA anyway. So the numbers are skewed.

The mindset of the typical public school family when it comes to college admissions and matriculation is just plain different.

Op here. Many kids do go to UVA, VT and W&M. My kid is only a junior so I only know a handful of kids who went to college in the past few years from Langley. There seem to be a lot of going to good publics like UVA, Berkeley, UMich, etc. I don’t know where else they applied or got in.

I do think money makes a difference. Not everyone can pay $90k per year for college. Our professional colleagues can afford the $50k tuition for private and then $90k for college and grad school.

Remember that -30% of the Sidwell/STA kids get significant aid for high school and I'd guesstimate another 20% are living lean to be able to afford tuition. These populations are not entirely wealthy either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The big advantage of a private is the college counseling advice. The big suburban publics give you no individualized support, and, indeed, frequently give counterproductive class selection guidance! Poor little teen complaining about how hard foreign language is? "Oh, poor dear, you should drop it next year and take something fun like ceramics!" Also, the competition is fierce and secretive. No one knows where anyone is applying!

As a reader for a college scholarship committee, I will also say that the recommendations from private school couseling offices are typically vastly superior. Public school recs tend to be Timmy is an excellent student, he took the hardest courses, he was a valuable member of our school. It is usually clear that the writer doesn't know the student all that well. Private school recs tend to be way more personal and detailed, highlighting accomplisments, leadership, special circumstances, and framing the candidate in a way that complements the rest of the application package. It is a huge advantage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will depend on the school. Private schools obviously have an advantage bc they choose their students. That’s not the case at public high schools that educate everyone in their district. That’s their mission.

But the top 10-20 percent of students at well resourced public schools like Langley and the Ws do just as well as the elite private school students when it comes to college admissions. And the STEM kids at public schools are usually much stronger than the private school students. Which is no small thing these days.

Do they all get into top20 schools? This is the question. I don't know as I'm a private school parent. At STA and Sidwell they do. 100%.
Do 100% of the top 20% at Langley and the Ws get into top20 schools?

Langley has a class of 525 kids. I don’t even need to look at the data to know that there are not 104 kids at Langley each year admitted to a T20 school.

Because you don't have access to the data, for one thing. But this much is obvious: dozens of Langley students get admitted to UVA every year, and virtually all of them could likely be admitted to a top 20 as well.

You think private school kids don’t get into UVA? That isn’t what we mean by T20.

You're missing the point, moron. I'm not saying that at all. What I'm saying is that most of the kids at Langley admitted to UVA could have also gotten into a top 20 but either didn't apply or did apply and got in and didn't go.

Clearly there are many posters on this thread who underestimate the impact that the existence of UVA has on college applications and matriculations from NOVA public high schools. If a NOVA public high school kid thinks their Ivy material, sure, they'll apply to an Ivy, but if they're thinking they're just top 20 material they'll either just apply to UVA or apply to a top 20, get in, and decide on UVA anyway. So the numbers are skewed.

The mindset of the typical public school family when it comes to college admissions and matriculation is just plain different.

Op here. Many kids do go to UVA, VT and W&M. My kid is only a junior so I only know a handful of kids who went to college in the past few years from Langley. There seem to be a lot of going to good publics like UVA, Berkeley, UMich, etc. I don’t know where else they applied or got in.

I do think money makes a difference. Not everyone can pay $90k per year for college. Our professional colleagues can afford the $50k tuition for private and then $90k for college and grad school.

This. You don't know and you can't know. But we can be pretty confident that many of the kids attending the outstanding public schools that you have identified could have gotten into excellent private colleges. They're either not applying or getting in and not going.

My kids didn't go to Langley. But they did attend another top ranked public school. One went to UVA over a top 20 private admit. Another went to William and Mary over a top 10 private liberal arts college admit. We're not unique. This happens all the time in NOVA publics. It's why you have to consider the actual matriculations being reported with a grain of salt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think it’s easy to get into HYPMS from private schools. Outside T5, it becomes easier, especially for T15-T30. Some liberal arts colleges outside SWAP also like to take private school kids.

40% of Stanford are admitted based on some disability per latest data..

Is disability the new hook? Feckless school counselors want to know