The myth of sending your kid to selective private and BS in the hopes that admission to top

[Anonymous]

elite colleges will be easier. In actuality, colleges draw from this pool for the following: Full Pay, Legacy, URM, HOOK. MOST will have 3/4 of the aforementioned therefore killing a logo of birds with one stone. If you don't or won't have 3/4 of those criteria, not only shouldn't you send them there, you should also skip TJ and go right to a middle of the road public HS that offers either IB or AP. Have your kid graduate in top 5% of that class. Much easier path.

[Anonymous]

I don't think most people send their kids to selective private in hopes of securing admission to elite colleges.

They send them seeking a better education than they would have received in public school and hope that education will prepare them to succeed at whatever college they attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think most people send their kids to selective private in hopes of securing admission to elite colleges.

They send them seeking a better education than they would have received in public school and hope that education will prepare them to succeed at whatever college they attend.

Merit driven admission? LOL...

[Anonymous]

Not everyone is looking for an easy path to college, especially if they choose select private school for high school. My child learned how to engage with teachers at her private and developed excellent research and writing skills which have served her well in college. She loved the smaller environment and we could afford it so we made it work (not easily).

To me it seems like the people I find going on and on about this on DCUM are usually public school parents trying to warn people that it's a bad idea to choose private. While most students from my daughter's private ended up at great colleges (including my child) , it was not the driving force behind choosing it. People have many reasons and it's silly to think this is the main reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think most people send their kids to selective private in hopes of securing admission to elite colleges.

They send them seeking a better education than they would have received in public school and hope that education will prepare them to succeed at whatever college they attend.

Ok, so, my kid is at a HYP. She went to a middle of the road public school. Her current roommate went to a top 5 BS. DD has been tutoring her in both Calculus and Chem…she is NOT prepared for the scions whatsoever. Anecdotal, yes, but don't think that private HSs are good at everything, bc they are not necessarily better than your local public

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think most people send their kids to selective private in hopes of securing admission to elite colleges.

They send them seeking a better education than they would have received in public school and hope that education will prepare them to succeed at whatever college they attend.

Ok, so, my kid is at a HYP. She went to a middle of the road public school. Her current roommate went to a top 5 BS. DD has been tutoring her in both Calculus and Chem…she is NOT prepared for the scions whatsoever. Anecdotal, yes, but don't think that private HSs are good at everything, bc they are not necessarily better than your local public

Can't be true... because I am paying 30k/year.

[Anonymous]

I sent my DC to private school knowing full well that it would potentially disadvantage them in college admissions. However, I though that going to private school would better prepare them for college and life beyond than the public school they were zoned for. If my kid goes to Michigan instead of Penn life will go on.

[Anonymous]

OP do you actually have a QUESTION?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:elite colleges will be easier. In actuality, colleges draw from this pool for the following: Full Pay, Legacy, URM, HOOK. MOST will have 3/4 of the aforementioned therefore killing a logo of birds with one stone. If you don't or won't have 3/4 of those criteria, not only shouldn't you send them there, you should also skip TJ and go right to a middle of the road public HS that offers either IB or AP. Have your kid graduate in top 5% of that class. Much easier path.

My dd went to one of these schools and is thriving at a SLAC. Yes she applied to some super reaches, but no one "expects" to get in so it was no surprise. It doesn't matter in the end, most kids end up where they are supposed to in the end. I don't disagree with your assertion on who actually gets in bc that was pretty much how it worked out at our HS, but that doesn't mean that for a minute we regret sending her there. Were there some sour grapes parents? Yes, there were, but they had the wrong motivations for sending their kid...

[Anonymous]

I agree that this is true for a lot of parents, although few will admit to it.

I was just talking last week to a parent who felt cheated because part of her decision to send her child to an expensive private was that the school subtly sold the high rate of admission to Ivies. She then realized several years in that precious few students were actually going to top colleges.

Whether families like to think about it or not, there is the expectation that a better K-12 education will lead to increased chances of admission to a top college.
The problem with this thinking is that some public schools are actually far stronger academically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP do you actually have a QUESTION?

Actually I do:

Are you the DCUM police?

[Anonymous]

Frankly, the reason parents spend $40k/year for a top private school is the education they receive K-12, not future college admissions. And the students who do the best are "intellectual" in ways that run-of-the-mill public schools just don't even try to meet. The basic public school curriculum just doesn't come close to the humanities and social science at my DC's school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Frankly, the reason parents spend $40k/year for a top private school is the education they receive K-12, not future college admissions. And the students who do the best are "intellectual" in ways that run-of-the-mill public schools just don't even try to meet. The basic public school curriculum just doesn't come close to the humanities and social science at my DC's school.

I don't disagree with this re the humanities , but privates don't match the publics in the sciences. Hence, the paltry admissions to MIT, and anemic almost nonexistent presence in Intel/Siemens.

[Anonymous]

True story. I went to public school. I tutored my roommate from a top 3 BS through the math and science of our first year of a top 10 engineering school.

The thing was he had a 1550 SAT score back when that actually was crazy high. I was 200 points lower.

I spent my free time on the XC and track teams and trying to sleep at night in a crazy dorm.

He spent his free time drinking and napping while I was in class taking notes we both used.

I burned my candle at both ends but he was just going through the motions he had learned at BS.

The end of both semesters he stopped drinking and his grades went almost straight up.

I was just exhausted from all I was doing and didn't know how to change my priorities to school when it counted.

Our freshman years GPAs were 3.7 and 2.0. Guess which was which?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:True story. I went to public school. I tutored my roommate from a top 3 BS through the math and science of our first year of a top 10 engineering school.

The thing was he had a 1550 SAT score back when that actually was crazy high. I was 200 points lower.

I spent my free time on the XC and track teams and trying to sleep at night in a crazy dorm.

He spent his free time drinking and napping while I was in class taking notes we both used.

I burned my candle at both ends but he was just going through the motions he had learned at BS.

The end of both semesters he stopped drinking and his grades went almost straight up.

I was just exhausted from all I was doing and didn't know how to change my priorities to school when it counted.

Our freshman years GPAs were 3.7 and 2.0. Guess which was which?

Cool story bro... What is your point?