College admissions from APS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of our kids attend or went to unremarkable out of state flagships for free, essentially. Places like Tennessee, South Carolina, and Alabama. All of them got into UVA and passed because they got zero aid.

All of them made this choice because they want to pursue grad school (one is in medical school, one is applying to law school and one wants to be a vet). They are all using 529 money to offset grad school costs so they have less debt. This is the smartest choice when you are trying to balance cost, program, and debt. Not everyone wants to pay 120K for a bachelor's degree.

Honestly, as a Harvard undergrad alum, I found the undergrad experience to be wildly overrated. My kids' experience in their honor colleges seem pretty great and did I mention they are free? Yeah.

Odd, if you're paying for graduate school you probably don't deserve to be there (professional degrees excepted).

Did you read my post? All three of my kids want to obtain professional graduate degrees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of our kids attend or went to unremarkable out of state flagships for free, essentially. Places like Tennessee, South Carolina, and Alabama. All of them got into UVA and passed because they got zero aid.

All of them made this choice because they want to pursue grad school (one is in medical school, one is applying to law school and one wants to be a vet). They are all using 529 money to offset grad school costs so they have less debt. This is the smartest choice when you are trying to balance cost, program, and debt. Not everyone wants to pay 120K for a bachelor's degree.

Honestly, as a Harvard undergrad alum, I found the undergrad experience to be wildly overrated. My kids' experience in their honor colleges seem pretty great and did I mention they are free? Yeah.

Good for you. Smart decision-making. You have thought this through and had/have a good plan for your family.

The downside risk of this approach is that one's kids don't feel challenged at schools like this, get caught up in the partying scene at these big schools and end up nowhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS does a great job getting lots of kids into UVA, W&M, Tech, and JMU. They don't care about Harvard. Depending on your needs, this could be great or terrible.

Same is true for FCPS, aside from TJ. The college lists from both school systems are mediocre.

I doubt you'll find many public school systems that do much better. The kids from APS who deserve to go to top 10 USNWR schools get in. APS doesn't hold them back relative to other public systems.

You do if you look in the Northeast. My nephews just went through the college application process and their HS in NJ sends gobs of kids to top 10-25. Same is true for my cousin's kids in MA.

They aren't any brighter than the kids down here. It's bizarre. Are kids just not applying? Are the supersized school systems down here hurting college admissions?

Rutgers isn't comparable to UVA, W&M, or Tech. It's a bad option. So you'll have way more kids NJ with $$$ applying to privates in 10-25 range than you find in VA.

And UMASS sucks, too. So same thing in MA.

Yes, AFAIK none of these kids seriously considered public schools. They may have applied just as a safety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS does a great job getting lots of kids into UVA, W&M, Tech, and JMU. They don't care about Harvard. Depending on your needs, this could be great or terrible.

Same is true for FCPS, aside from TJ. The college lists from both school systems are mediocre.

I doubt you'll find many public school systems that do much better. The kids from APS who deserve to go to top 10 USNWR schools get in. APS doesn't hold them back relative to other public systems.

You do if you look in the Northeast. My nephews just went through the college application process and their HS in NJ sends gobs of kids to top 10-25. Same is true for my cousin's kids in MA.

They aren't any brighter than the kids down here. It's bizarre. Are kids just not applying? Are the supersized school systems down here hurting college admissions?

One reason that APS suffers in its applications to colleges in the Northeast is that APS is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. This stigma matters less to colleges in the Midwestern and Western states.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS does a great job getting lots of kids into UVA, W&M, Tech, and JMU. They don't care about Harvard. Depending on your needs, this could be great or terrible.

Same is true for FCPS, aside from TJ. The college lists from both school systems are mediocre.

I doubt you'll find many public school systems that do much better. The kids from APS who deserve to go to top 10 USNWR schools get in. APS doesn't hold them back relative to other public systems.

+1

I am an Arlington parent with 1 who just graduated from college and two currently at UVa. I have lived and breathed APS college admissions for the past 5 years.

Have any of you posters who are so critical of what colleges APS and FCPS students are accepted at and attend actually had or have a high school student at any of these high schools? I doubt it or you would not sound so ignorant.

Getting accepted is a very different landscape and much more difficult than when most of us applied to college 20+ years ago for a variety of reasons which you will find out soon enough when your kids are high school juniors.

And then there's the fact that a top college or university costs $65K or more per year for one child. Many parents in Arlington that I know don't even give their child the option of applying to schools that cost that much when their child can go to William & Mary or UVa for less than half of that.

I think this last point is especially key when you're comparing APS to the Bethesda schools someone else cited above. A top student at APS can go to UVa for a fraction of what it will cost to go to an Ivy, and the diploma still has a great reputation. If you're a top student at a Bethesda high school, you're probably not viewing University of Maryland the same way.

I wouldn’t say great. More like good to very good.

But it isn’t like your opinion is valid or anything.

Sure it is.

Really, it's not. You sound like a dotard.

UVA is a fine school for undergrad. The fourth best public university in the nation. That makes it very good. Ivies are great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS does a great job getting lots of kids into UVA, W&M, Tech, and JMU. They don't care about Harvard. Depending on your needs, this could be great or terrible.

Same is true for FCPS, aside from TJ. The college lists from both school systems are mediocre.

I doubt you'll find many public school systems that do much better. The kids from APS who deserve to go to top 10 USNWR schools get in. APS doesn't hold them back relative to other public systems.

You do if you look in the Northeast. My nephews just went through the college application process and their HS in NJ sends gobs of kids to top 10-25. Same is true for my cousin's kids in MA.

They aren't any brighter than the kids down here. It's bizarre. Are kids just not applying? Are the supersized school systems down here hurting college admissions?

One reason that APS suffers in its applications to colleges in the Northeast is that APS is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. This stigma matters less to colleges in the Midwestern and Western states.

Interesting. Are FCPS and ACPS also accredited through that organization? Are the standards lower compared to others?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS does a great job getting lots of kids into UVA, W&M, Tech, and JMU. They don't care about Harvard. Depending on your needs, this could be great or terrible.

Same is true for FCPS, aside from TJ. The college lists from both school systems are mediocre.

I doubt you'll find many public school systems that do much better. The kids from APS who deserve to go to top 10 USNWR schools get in. APS doesn't hold them back relative to other public systems.

You do if you look in the Northeast. My nephews just went through the college application process and their HS in NJ sends gobs of kids to top 10-25. Same is true for my cousin's kids in MA.

They aren't any brighter than the kids down here. It's bizarre. Are kids just not applying? Are the supersized school systems down here hurting college admissions?

One reason that APS suffers in its applications to colleges in the Northeast is that APS is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. This stigma matters less to colleges in the Midwestern and Western states.

Watchutalkinaboutwillis? APS is accredited by the Virginia Department of Education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS does a great job getting lots of kids into UVA, W&M, Tech, and JMU. They don't care about Harvard. Depending on your needs, this could be great or terrible.

Same is true for FCPS, aside from TJ. The college lists from both school systems are mediocre.

I doubt you'll find many public school systems that do much better. The kids from APS who deserve to go to top 10 USNWR schools get in. APS doesn't hold them back relative to other public systems.

You do if you look in the Northeast. My nephews just went through the college application process and their HS in NJ sends gobs of kids to top 10-25. Same is true for my cousin's kids in MA.

They aren't any brighter than the kids down here. It's bizarre. Are kids just not applying? Are the supersized school systems down here hurting college admissions?

One reason that APS suffers in its applications to colleges in the Northeast is that APS is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. This stigma matters less to colleges in the Midwestern and Western states. /quote]

You don't have the vaguest clue what you are talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS does a great job getting lots of kids into UVA, W&M, Tech, and JMU. They don't care about Harvard. Depending on your needs, this could be great or terrible.

Same is true for FCPS, aside from TJ. The college lists from both school systems are mediocre.

I doubt you'll find many public school systems that do much better. The kids from APS who deserve to go to top 10 USNWR schools get in. APS doesn't hold them back relative to other public systems.

You do if you look in the Northeast. My nephews just went through the college application process and their HS in NJ sends gobs of kids to top 10-25. Same is true for my cousin's kids in MA.

They aren't any brighter than the kids down here. It's bizarre. Are kids just not applying? Are the supersized school systems down here hurting college admissions?

One reason that APS suffers in its applications to colleges in the Northeast is that APS is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. This stigma matters less to colleges in the Midwestern and Western states.

Interesting. Are FCPS and ACPS also accredited through that organization? Are the standards lower compared to others?

Not interesting because pp is wrong. First, SACS doesn't do accreditation of k-12 schools, that's been handed over to AdvancED (which covers not just the southeast but also north central and northwest). Second, AdvancED accreditation is entirely voluntary in many states, including Virginia, and many public schools don't participate at all because it's expensive; it's really more valuable for private, online and for-profit schools that aren't subject to the same requirements as public schools and thus need a different means of proving their worthiness. Third, APS doesn't participate in AdvancED accreditation at all. FCPS and LCPS do, but ACPS and FCCPS also do not.

[Anonymous]

I'm from CA and college placement from APS seems very similar to what I see from the HS's my nephews attend. Highly affluent, competitive area. The largest share of students go to community colleges (35%), aiming for guaranteed transfer to UCs. About 20% manage to get into UCs/Cal States, with the highest numbers going to Berkeley and Cal Poly. Slightly fewer than that go to OOS publics. Only a handful go to Ivys/Stanford.

The biggest change I see from when I went to a very affluent, competitive HS there 20 yrs ago is that a lot more now go to OOS publics because it's gotten so difficult to get into the UCs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS does a great job getting lots of kids into UVA, W&M, Tech, and JMU. They don't care about Harvard. Depending on your needs, this could be great or terrible.

Same is true for FCPS, aside from TJ. The college lists from both school systems are mediocre.

I doubt you'll find many public school systems that do much better. The kids from APS who deserve to go to top 10 USNWR schools get in. APS doesn't hold them back relative to other public systems.

You do if you look in the Northeast. My nephews just went through the college application process and their HS in NJ sends gobs of kids to top 10-25. Same is true for my cousin's kids in MA.

They aren't any brighter than the kids down here. It's bizarre. Are kids just not applying? Are the supersized school systems down here hurting college admissions?

One reason that APS suffers in its applications to colleges in the Northeast is that APS is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. This stigma matters less to colleges in the Midwestern and Western states.

Watchutalkinaboutwillis? APS is accredited by the Virginia Department of Education.

Who is Willis?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS does a great job getting lots of kids into UVA, W&M, Tech, and JMU. They don't care about Harvard. Depending on your needs, this could be great or terrible.

Same is true for FCPS, aside from TJ. The college lists from both school systems are mediocre.

I doubt you'll find many public school systems that do much better. The kids from APS who deserve to go to top 10 USNWR schools get in. APS doesn't hold them back relative to other public systems.

You do if you look in the Northeast. My nephews just went through the college application process and their HS in NJ sends gobs of kids to top 10-25. Same is true for my cousin's kids in MA.

They aren't any brighter than the kids down here. It's bizarre. Are kids just not applying? Are the supersized school systems down here hurting college admissions?

One reason that APS suffers in its applications to colleges in the Northeast is that APS is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. This stigma matters less to colleges in the Midwestern and Western states.

Watchutalkinaboutwillis? APS is accredited by the Virginia Department of Education.

Who is Willis?

You must be under 30.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of our kids attend or went to unremarkable out of state flagships for free, essentially. Places like Tennessee, South Carolina, and Alabama. All of them got into UVA and passed because they got zero aid.

All of them made this choice because they want to pursue grad school (one is in medical school, one is applying to law school and one wants to be a vet). They are all using 529 money to offset grad school costs so they have less debt. This is the smartest choice when you are trying to balance cost, program, and debt. Not everyone wants to pay 120K for a bachelor's degree.

Honestly, as a Harvard undergrad alum, I found the undergrad experience to be wildly overrated. My kids' experience in their honor colleges seem pretty great and did I mention they are free? Yeah.

It's funny you say that. Was just talking with a friend who did undergrad at Penn & he says something similar: that the grad school/law school/business school is tremendously valuable, but undergrad not nearly as much. Although he felt doing undergrad at Penn gave him a leg up in applying to grad school at other Ivy League schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS does a great job getting lots of kids into UVA, W&M, Tech, and JMU. They don't care about Harvard. Depending on your needs, this could be great or terrible.

Same is true for FCPS, aside from TJ. The college lists from both school systems are mediocre.

I doubt you'll find many public school systems that do much better. The kids from APS who deserve to go to top 10 USNWR schools get in. APS doesn't hold them back relative to other public systems.

+1

I am an Arlington parent with 1 who just graduated from college and two currently at UVa. I have lived and breathed APS college admissions for the past 5 years.

Have any of you posters who are so critical of what colleges APS and FCPS students are accepted at and attend actually had or have a high school student at any of these high schools? I doubt it or you would not sound so ignorant.

Getting accepted is a very different landscape and much more difficult than when most of us applied to college 20+ years ago for a variety of reasons which you will find out soon enough when your kids are high school juniors.

And then there's the fact that a top college or university costs $65K or more per year for one child. Many parents in Arlington that I know don't even give their child the option of applying to schools that cost that much when their child can go to William & Mary or UVa for less than half of that.

Why is admission allegedly so much more difficult now?

Many Ivies and schools such as MIT and Stanford have low single digit acceptance rates now. When I was applying in the early 90s, UChicago was practically a safety school with acceptance rate around 50%. U Chicago now accepts about 7%. My alma mater Stanford accepted over 20% back then and now accepts less than 5%. Further, it is MUCH tougher for students coming out of areas like ours and getting into a top 25 college than even 10 years ago.

Well said. I don't think most parents realize how difficult it really is. The Arlington Magazine numbers are a dose of reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:http://www.arlingtonmagazine.com/where-arlington-grads-applied-and-were-accepted-to-college/

The Arlington Magazine stats actually make the situation look BETTER than it really is. The reason is that they report acceptances and not matriculations. This means that, for a given school, the reported acceptances from Dartmouth, Duke, Denison and Davidson could all be attributed to the same student.

I think we're all aware of this. It doesn't answer the original question, though, of how APS compares to other public school systems. If this is simply the pattern for a solid public school system and not a sign that APS is failing compared to comparable school systems, then this data doesn't concern me. If APS is lagging behind peer systems, though, that's cause for concern and we need to identify why.

For at least the last 10 years, HB Woodlawn, Washington-Lee and Yorktown all lag behind McLean HS and Langley and well behind Walt Whitman, BCC and Churchill (in Montgomery Co, MD). Not sure why, but it is disturbing.

Source? This is the kind of data I'd like to see, but I want to see actual data rather than rumor, reputation and speculation.

There has been some discussion of these sorts of questions on the College forum. I think there was a VA-related spinoff to this thread, which discusses results in the Bethesda schools: http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/669618.page

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/669618.page

That's a little hard to compare because they're looking at only select high schools in the system (and some of the strongest at that) whereas the APS data looks at the entire school system.

Arlington Magazine breaks it down by high school: HBW, W-L, Ytown, Wakefield. Compare those rates against the Montgomery County School rates quoted below, and APS doesn't measure up. I would feel better if the Arlington Magazine numbers were all wrong, but that's wishful thinking.

***

Bethesda Magazine made its annual chart for college acceptances public to non-subscribers recently: http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Magazine/...er-October-2017/College-Bound/ Here are some acceptance rates for top schools with the 2017 acceptance rate overall in parentheses as comparison. Seems like a strong year overall.

Acceptance rates at some top universities:
Brown- 5.6% (compared to 9% overall)
Caltech- 12.5% (8%)
Columbia- 7.1% (6%)
Carnegie Mellon- 31.9% (14%)
Dartmouth- 12.1% (10%)
Cornell- 17.2% (13%)
Duke- 13.1% (10%)
Emory- 23.1% (22%)
Georgetown- 22.5% (16%)
Harvard- 4.2% (5%)
Hopkins- 9.5% (11%)
MIT- 10.4% (7%)
Northwestern- 8.9% (9%)
Rice- 15.6% (16%)
Stanford- 5% (5%)
Berkeley- 23.5% (18%)
UCLA- 28.3% (16%)
UChicago- 9.4% (8%)
U of M- 30% (27%)
UPenn- 10.6% (9%)
USCal- 22.4% (17%)
UVA- 14% (27%)
Vanderbilt- 11.1% (10%)
WashU- 26.9% (17%)
Yale- 11.2% (7%)

Acceptance rates at some top SLACs:
Amherst- 13.2% (12%)
Bowdoin- 8.2% (15%)
Carleton- 34% (21%)
Claremont McKenna College- 0% (11%)
Davidson- 29.7% (20%)
Middlebury-22.8% (20%)
Pomona- 6.1% (8%)
Swarthmore- 11.5% (10%)
Wellesley- 36.3% (22%)
Williams- 12.7% (15%)