Is it true the Big 3 kids are getting hammered this year- and by that I mean bad admissions results?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It truly does seem like an upside down year. My kids in public school got into many schools that I never imagined she would get into. No real explanation other than all the things people have put in here before. I honestly feel bad for the top three private school kids.

They're doing ok. I think OP is from Maret and it's not top3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid who is a sophomore at a Big 3 and by that let's say I mean St Albans/NCS, GDS, Sidwell or Maret. I have heard through my school grapevine that this year the kids at the elite privates are having terrible results-
especially the unhooked kids. I have heard that they are negatively affected by test-optional, the elimination of AP's and grade deflation.

Ok please tell me your experiences- Big 3 parents only please...I am not interested in hearing how well your W school kid did, or how stupid you think I am for paying private school tuition.

The rumors are true. It's been horrible. Half a mil in private and ended up exactly where we would have if we stayed with our highly regarded public school.

Actually, our neighbor’s kids at our poorly ranked public school (great schools 2/10) are getting into WAY better schools than my Big 3 senior. The FCPS kids have barely gone to school in a year, gotten all As or P/F on their report cards and went test optional. I am hearing about TONS of top 30 school admits at the public. This school routinely struggles to send kids to top schools or even UVA. My Big 3 kid was rejected/WL at all target schools and rejected at one safety. Sh*tshow indeed.

Um, my kid attends what you would view as mediocre public school and did great in admissions, deservedly, with great grades, stellar (upper 1500s) SATs, and real ECs and honors from opportunities that were open to everyone, not just those willing to pay. The pandemic isn't hurting your private school snowflakes more than anyone else. But, yes, it has been a competitive year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm so confused about these posts complaining how Big 3 kids are getting hammered this year. I thought the whole reason everyone sends their kids to private school is not for college placement but to instill that love of learning? I thought parents didn't care about college outcomes?

So why are so many parents complaining about where their Big 3/private school children and their college outcomes?

I am a parent of a Sidwell junior.

Nobody on DCUM believes it when I've said on here that we. do. not. care. if junior attends a T10, T43 or T81 college. Junior is at Sidwell because all of believe -- on the basis of necessarily limited info -- that junior is getting a better education at Sidwell than junior would at our magnet public option (was admitted) and almost all other independents. Full stop.

From what we can tell so far, the seniors posting to social media about their 2021 acceptances look about the same as in past years. They're not getting hammered. I'm not the college counseling office, which is the only entity that would actually know the answer to OP's question, year-to-year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm so confused about these posts complaining how Big 3 kids are getting hammered this year. I thought the whole reason everyone sends their kids to private school is not for college placement but to instill that love of learning? I thought parents didn't care about college outcomes?

So why are so many parents complaining about where their Big 3/private school children and their college outcomes?

I am a parent of a Sidwell junior.

Nobody on DCUM believes it when I've said on here that we. do. not. care. if junior attends a T10, T43 or T81 college. Junior is at Sidwell because all of believe -- on the basis of necessarily limited info -- that junior is getting a better education at Sidwell than junior would at our magnet public option (was admitted) and almost all other independents. Full stop.

From what we can tell so far, the seniors posting to social media about their 2021 acceptances look about the same as in past years. They're not getting hammered. I'm not the college counseling office, which is the only entity that would actually know the answer to OP's question, year-to-year.

Another parent of a Sidwell junior and I completely agree. (I hope we're friends and our kids are friends!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I lifted this from a thread in the independent school forum. I'm pretty sure it reflects St Albans School college choices so far and it is anticipated there will be movement once the wait lists start moving. I'd add one more for which I have direct knowledge. Princeton.



Agree, lots of deferrals. But the ship righted itself in the end with these deferrals flowering into acceptances. At my kid's school, the list is shaping up like most other years:

Bates
Bowdoin
Berkeley
Columbia
Harvard
Yale
Dartmouth
Cornell
Chicago
Indiana
SMU
Tulane
Wake Forest
Wash U
West Point
W&L
UNC
UVA
UT
Michigan
Wisconsin


The only real surprise, Duke!

Gee. surprise surprise. Things are going to work out out fine for the affluent kids.

Does that list reflect enrollment or just acceptances. In other words, if one kid got into Harvard, Yale and Princeton, does the list reflect all 3? Or is this the list of where kids are actually going to attend.

This is not even a real list. It's a made up list

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have twins --one at DCPS and one who left for a Big3 school in 7th per the child's request (2 years ago). I'd estimate that the public school kid is learning 20% of what the Big3 kid is learning.
The was pre-pandemic and during the pandemic.
My public school kid is getting high As in all classes and is taking the hardest math the school offers (Algebra 2 in 8th grade). She/he does debate and Model UN and
every academic extracurricular I can make him/her do. However, she/he is skating through school with two 45 minutes classes per day and no school on Wednesdays.
Meanwhile, the Big3 kid is working his/her tail off as usual.

I'm a huge public school advocate (I attended them and my 3 kids have attended them for a total of 28 years of instruction). However, there the difference between
learning between private and our public is insane. I care nothing about prestige and we're not wealthy.
I recognize that the public school kid will probably have better college admissions (which is crazy, given that he/she can barely write) but she/he will likely graduate
with a perfect GPA (barely some sort of academic disaster) while the private school kid will end up with something well under 4.0 but with a far, far deeper and broader
understanding of history and literature and a well developed ability to write and reason.

This thread doesn't pertain to me, but my public school kids are working exceedingly hard in 5 day, 8:45-4 pm classes. In 8th grade they'll be offered one of several pre-Calculus options. This is at Basis DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm so confused about these posts complaining how Big 3 kids are getting hammered this year. I thought the whole reason everyone sends their kids to private school is not for college placement but to instill that love of learning? I thought parents didn't care about college outcomes?

So why are so many parents complaining about where their Big 3/private school children and their college outcomes?

I am a parent of a Sidwell junior.

Nobody on DCUM believes it when I've said on here that we. do. not. care. if junior attends a T10, T43 or T81 college. Junior is at Sidwell because all of believe -- on the basis of necessarily limited info -- that junior is getting a better education at Sidwell than junior would at our magnet public option (was admitted) and almost all other independents. Full stop.

From what we can tell so far, the seniors posting to social media about their 2021 acceptances look about the same as in past years. They're not getting hammered. I'm not the college counseling office, which is the only entity that would actually know the answer to OP's question, year-to-year.

I mean if you are paying about $50,000 a year, you better make believe that is true.

[Anonymous]

Good. Your kids shouldn’t get special treatment because you have money.

[Anonymous]

No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it just me or do a whole lot of these posts read as "I paid a ton of money for my privileged kid to go to private high school with the expectation that they'd get into a fancy-ass college and I am big mad that they are being lapped by a bunch of public school kids I do not know who I assume are undeserving and not as worthy as my precious darling."

YIKES.

I feel that this is true, and SOME of these parents on DCUM do not even try to hide their disdain for public school kids and talk about them like they are totally unmotivated, undeserving morons.

And then, there are other Big 3 parents who are completely kind and normal and seem to get that you can be gifted and deserving from a public high school.

Product of public school, parent of a kid in private school here. I see very little disdain for public school kids vs the incredible vitriol that public school parents like to heap upon private school kids. You never see private school parents posting in the public school forums to sneer, but you see public school parents coming to the private school forums all the time to explicitly detail all the ways in which they think that private school kids are inferior. It's weird.

It was a no-brainer that this thread was going to end up populated by gleeful public school parents who are rubbing their hands together, delighted by any perceived disadvantage for private school kids. It's not a good look.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid who is a sophomore at a Big 3 and by that let's say I mean St Albans/NCS, GDS, Sidwell or Maret. I have heard through my school grapevine that this year the kids at the elite privates are having terrible results-
especially the unhooked kids. I have heard that they are negatively affected by test-optional, the elimination of AP's and grade deflation.

Ok please tell me your experiences- Big 3 parents only please...I am not interested in hearing how well your W school kid did, or how stupid you think I am for paying private school tuition.

The rumors are true. It's been horrible. Half a mil in private and ended up exactly where we would have if we stayed with our highly regarded public school.

Haha, nice troll.

[Anonymous]

W school parent and longtime Ivy interviewer here. I haven’t noticed a significant drop in admissions to the very top schools (mainly hypsm). For the big 3 parents, I’d imagine that the increasing access for applicabts from traditionally disadvantaged backgrounds and weaker public is creating a lot of pressure for slots at roughly T30 but not T10 schools. So for the parents of kids who did ok and thought being a Sidwell grad was a kind of insurance policy, they are seeing kids slide further down. It’s also the case that as you get out of T10 you start looking more at admissions policies that downweight the soft parts of the application, where those big 3 kids tend to shine.

For those who think the public kids are all racking up the 4.5w by cheating, that’s offensive and totally untrue. As someone with a degree from an Honor Code university, I won’t tolerate those types of accusations. Trust goes both ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it just me or do a whole lot of these posts read as "I paid a ton of money for my privileged kid to go to private high school with the expectation that they'd get into a fancy-ass college and I am big mad that they are being lapped by a bunch of public school kids I do not know who I assume are undeserving and not as worthy as my precious darling."

YIKES.

I feel that this is true, and SOME of these parents on DCUM do not even try to hide their disdain for public school kids and talk about them like they are totally unmotivated, undeserving morons.

And then, there are other Big 3 parents who are completely kind and normal and seem to get that you can be gifted and deserving from a public high school.

Product of public school, parent of a kid in private school here. I see very little disdain for public school kids vs the incredible vitriol that public school parents like to heap upon private school kids. You never see private school parents posting in the public school forums to sneer, but you see public school parents coming to the private school forums all the time to explicitly detail all the ways in which they think that private school kids are inferior. It's weird.

It was a no-brainer that this thread was going to end up populated by gleeful public school parents who are rubbing their hands together, delighted by any perceived disadvantage for private school kids. It's not a good look.

You're kidding, right? Have you seen the posts about "My (insert favority private school here) DC was doing more (and more advanced) work in 4th grade than seniors at our local public high school....." It's pervasive. The disdain goes both ways.

[Anonymous]

As someone out of the area, I'm wondering who decides the "big 3" (or why they are called that), and why OP listed 4 such schools when it sounds like there should just be 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As someone out of the area, I'm wondering who decides the "big 3" (or why they are called that), and why OP listed 4 such schools when it sounds like there should just be 3.

The 3 most elite privates (or so they keep saying to themselves). Sidwell Friends, St Albans/National Cathedral, Georgetown Day School.

Others like to believe they are also part of this group (hence the reference to Maret).

If you are at all interested, there is an entire DCUM forum dedicated to DMV Independent Schools where you will learn more than you want to know, mainly about how psychotic most of the parents are. I rarely venture there these days. Too scary.