Fewer Public School Applicants for 9th

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I bet the public school applicants will continue to trend down, especially at the elite, $55k schools.

The word is increasingly out that college admissions for a smart but unhooked kid are better from DCPS than they are for the same kid at Sidwell, NCS, etc. Plus you have to work your a$$ off through all of high school at these privates. I had kids come from DCPS and this is definitely what people are talking about and coming to realize in mass. These are close communities, neighborhoods and communities--word travels.

STJ is sort of it's own animal--it will always get a bunch of families who are skittish about Jackson Reed and figure that paying under $23k for the guarantee of order in the classroom is worth it. Interestingly, some of these kids end up transferring out to JR later in high school.

LOL, so you really think a college is going to have preference for a public school kid who coasted through HS vs a private school kid who "works his a$$ off through all of high school." Colleges know that kids coming out of schools like Sidwell are significantly more prepared for the rigors of college. Sorry, but your your statement is not very convincing at all.

Actually, yes. A lot of private school parents are delusional about how the modern world of college admissions works. Elite colleges don't want to be filled with $55k/year prep school kids. They view your child's STA/NCS/Sidwell education as a marker of "privilege" (read: bad). They would much rather admit the low-income, child of a single mother J-R student than 3.9 GPA Sidwell kid.

Anyone who has gone through this process knows that you will get much better results being in the top 5% of the J-R graduating class than in the top 50% of an elite private school. This is largely because universities cap the number of students they admit per high school, and the elite privates are filled with legacies, VIPs, donor children, etc. There's no way a regular kids is competing with that, no matter how good their grades are.

More fan fiction.

If you think that elite colleges want to fill their classes with poor, high achieving students, then you don’t understand that college is a business. These colleges would also cease to be “elite.”

Despite what you’ve heard, there’s nothing new under the sun. These colleges will continue to favor the wealthy and well-connected for admissions purposes. If you don’t believe me, check the percentages of top public vs. top private students heading to top 20 colleges.

The kids from Big 3 elite schools going to the T10 colleges usually are legacy, VIPs, and children of donors. The typical kid with affluent parents usually doesn't have the same admissions outcomes. The Big 3 kids who make it into an Ivy, especially HYPSM, without hooks, are insanely well-qualified and have perfect grades along with insanely impressive extracurricular accomplishments such as journal publications, national awards, etc. These kids would have gotten the same college results from anywhere.

If your kid is just a standard Lisa Simpson-esque overachiever, they will likely have worse college results from a Big 3 school than being the superstar at their public school. Applicants are judged directly against their competition within the school.

Based on what data? You sound broke and bitter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I bet the public school applicants will continue to trend down, especially at the elite, $55k schools.

The word is increasingly out that college admissions for a smart but unhooked kid are better from DCPS than they are for the same kid at Sidwell, NCS, etc. Plus you have to work your a$$ off through all of high school at these privates. I had kids come from DCPS and this is definitely what people are talking about and coming to realize in mass. These are close communities, neighborhoods and communities--word travels.

STJ is sort of it's own animal--it will always get a bunch of families who are skittish about Jackson Reed and figure that paying under $23k for the guarantee of order in the classroom is worth it. Interestingly, some of these kids end up transferring out to JR later in high school.

LOL, so you really think a college is going to have preference for a public school kid who coasted through HS vs a private school kid who "works his a$$ off through all of high school." Colleges know that kids coming out of schools like Sidwell are significantly more prepared for the rigors of college. Sorry, but your your statement is not very convincing at all.

Again, like I said before, the admissions results are largely due to the types of children these prep schools admit. When around half the kids are a legacy to a T10 school, when you recruit high-scoring URMs, when you have top athletes, it should not be shocking that you have great college results. The lions' share of elite college admissions goes to URM, legacy, and athletes. If you aren't in one of those groups, you are *not* benefitted from going to a prep school. If anything, your individual chances are hurt because you are competing with other students in those groups vying for the same spot.

Public schools make it easier to get into an elite college, because the competition is far more lax. If Harvard is taking 5 kids maximum from any school, it's a lot easier to be the shining star at Jackson-Reed than it is at Sidwell or STA.

Of course everyone gets into a "good" college. But the truth is that a lot of Big 3 kids end up at Tulane or Wisconsin, when they would've ended up at Penn or Columbia had they gone to a public school with easier competition, assuming they maintain the same SAT scores.


Actually, yes. A lot of private school parents are delusional about how the modern world of college admissions works. Elite colleges don't want to be filled with $55k/year prep school kids. They view your child's STA/NCS/Sidwell education as a marker of "privilege" (read: bad). They would much rather admit the low-income, child of a single mother J-R student than 3.9 GPA Sidwell kid.

Anyone who has gone through this process knows that you will get much better results being in the top 5% of the J-R graduating class than in the top 50% of an elite private school. This is largely because universities cap the number of students they admit per high school, and the elite privates are filled with legacies, VIPs, donor children, etc. There's no way a regular kids is competing with that, no matter how good their grades are.

More fan fiction.

If you think that elite colleges want to fill their classes with poor, high achieving students, then you don’t understand that college is a business. These colleges would also cease to be “elite.”

Despite what you’ve heard, there’s nothing new under the sun. These colleges will continue to favor the wealthy and well-connected for admissions purposes. If you don’t believe me, check the percentages of top public vs. top private students heading to top 20 colleges.

This isn't "fan fiction." It's the reality of modern college admissions. Most admissions officers are very progressive, and applicants are being advised to hide all indicators of economic or social privilege.

I'm also not making this up out of nowhere. Here's an article by one of the most successful college admissions consultants saying that he advises wealthy parents to not enroll in prep school because of the intense competition: https://nypost.com/2023/11/16/lifestyle/kids-ditching-prep-schools-for-public-to-get-into-the-ivy-league/

What people (admissions officers) say and what they actually do are two different things. Compare public and private school admissions to these highly selective colleges. Private school students continue/will continue to be significantly over represented. Facts are facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I bet the public school applicants will continue to trend down, especially at the elite, $55k schools.

The word is increasingly out that college admissions for a smart but unhooked kid are better from DCPS than they are for the same kid at Sidwell, NCS, etc. Plus you have to work your a$$ off through all of high school at these privates. I had kids come from DCPS and this is definitely what people are talking about and coming to realize in mass. These are close communities, neighborhoods and communities--word travels.

STJ is sort of it's own animal--it will always get a bunch of families who are skittish about Jackson Reed and figure that paying under $23k for the guarantee of order in the classroom is worth it. Interestingly, some of these kids end up transferring out to JR later in high school.

LOL, so you really think a college is going to have preference for a public school kid who coasted through HS vs a private school kid who "works his a$$ off through all of high school." Colleges know that kids coming out of schools like Sidwell are significantly more prepared for the rigors of college. Sorry, but your your statement is not very convincing at all.

Again, like I said before, the admissions results are largely due to the types of children these prep schools admit. When around half the kids are a legacy to a T10 school, when you recruit high-scoring URMs, when you have top athletes, it should not be shocking that you have great college results. The lions' share of elite college admissions goes to URM, legacy, and athletes. If you aren't in one of those groups, you are *not* benefitted from going to a prep school. If anything, your individual chances are hurt because you are competing with other students in those groups vying for the same spot.

Public schools make it easier to get into an elite college, because the competition is far more lax. If Harvard is taking 5 kids maximum from any school, it's a lot easier to be the shining star at Jackson-Reed than it is at Sidwell or STA.

Of course everyone gets into a "good" college. But the truth is that a lot of Big 3 kids end up at Tulane or Wisconsin, when they would've ended up at Penn or Columbia had they gone to a public school with easier competition, assuming they maintain the same SAT scores.


Actually, yes. A lot of private school parents are delusional about how the modern world of college admissions works. Elite colleges don't want to be filled with $55k/year prep school kids. They view your child's STA/NCS/Sidwell education as a marker of "privilege" (read: bad). They would much rather admit the low-income, child of a single mother J-R student than 3.9 GPA Sidwell kid.

Anyone who has gone through this process knows that you will get much better results being in the top 5% of the J-R graduating class than in the top 50% of an elite private school. This is largely because universities cap the number of students they admit per high school, and the elite privates are filled with legacies, VIPs, donor children, etc. There's no way a regular kids is competing with that, no matter how good their grades are.

More fan fiction.

If you think that elite colleges want to fill their classes with poor, high achieving students, then you don’t understand that college is a business. These colleges would also cease to be “elite.”

Despite what you’ve heard, there’s nothing new under the sun. These colleges will continue to favor the wealthy and well-connected for admissions purposes. If you don’t believe me, check the percentages of top public vs. top private students heading to top 20 colleges.

This isn't "fan fiction." It's the reality of modern college admissions. Most admissions officers are very progressive, and applicants are being advised to hide all indicators of economic or social privilege.

I'm also not making this up out of nowhere. Here's an article by one of the most successful college admissions consultants saying that he advises wealthy parents to not enroll in prep school because of the intense competition: https://nypost.com/2023/11/16/lifestyle/kids-ditching-prep-schools-for-public-to-get-into-the-ivy-league/

What people (admissions officers) say and what they actually do are two different things. Compare public and private school admissions to these highly selective colleges. Private school students continue/will continue to be significantly over represented. Facts are facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I bet the public school applicants will continue to trend down, especially at the elite, $55k schools.

The word is increasingly out that college admissions for a smart but unhooked kid are better from DCPS than they are for the same kid at Sidwell, NCS, etc. Plus you have to work your a$$ off through all of high school at these privates. I had kids come from DCPS and this is definitely what people are talking about and coming to realize in mass. These are close communities, neighborhoods and communities--word travels.

STJ is sort of it's own animal--it will always get a bunch of families who are skittish about Jackson Reed and figure that paying under $23k for the guarantee of order in the classroom is worth it. Interestingly, some of these kids end up transferring out to JR later in high school.

LOL, so you really think a college is going to have preference for a public school kid who coasted through HS vs a private school kid who "works his a$$ off through all of high school." Colleges know that kids coming out of schools like Sidwell are significantly more prepared for the rigors of college. Sorry, but your your statement is not very convincing at all.

Actually, yes. A lot of private school parents are delusional about how the modern world of college admissions works. Elite colleges don't want to be filled with $55k/year prep school kids. They view your child's STA/NCS/Sidwell education as a marker of "privilege" (read: bad). They would much rather admit the low-income, child of a single mother J-R student than 3.9 GPA Sidwell kid.

Anyone who has gone through this process knows that you will get much better results being in the top 5% of the J-R graduating class than in the top 50% of an elite private school. This is largely because universities cap the number of students they admit per high school, and the elite privates are filled with legacies, VIPs, donor children, etc. There's no way a regular kids is competing with that, no matter how good their grades are.

More fan fiction.

If you think that elite colleges want to fill their classes with poor, high achieving students, then you don’t understand that college is a business. These colleges would also cease to be “elite.”

Despite what you’ve heard, there’s nothing new under the sun. These colleges will continue to favor the wealthy and well-connected for admissions purposes. If you don’t believe me, check the percentages of top public vs. top private students heading to top 20 colleges.

This isn't "fan fiction." It's the reality of modern college admissions. Most admissions officers are very progressive, and applicants are being advised to hide all indicators of economic or social privilege.

I'm also not making this up out of nowhere. Here's an article by one of the most successful college admissions consultants saying that he advises wealthy parents to not enroll in prep school because of the intense competition: https://nypost.com/2023/11/16/lifestyle/kids-ditching-prep-schools-for-public-to-get-into-the-ivy-league/

What people (admissions officers) say and what they actually do are two different things. Compare public and private school admissions to these highly selective colleges. Private school students continue/will continue to be significantly over represented. Facts are facts.

Again, like I said before, the admissions results are largely due to the types of children these prep schools admit. When around half the kids are a legacy to a T10 school, when you recruit high-scoring URMs, when you have top athletes, it should not be shocking that you have great college results. The lions' share of elite college admissions goes to URM, legacy, and athletes. If you aren't in one of those groups, you are *not* benefitted from going to a prep school. If anything, your individual chances are hurt because you are competing with other students in those groups vying for the same spot.

Public schools make it easier to get into an elite college, because the competition is far more lax. If Harvard is taking 5 kids maximum from any school, it's a lot easier to be the shining star at Jackson-Reed than it is at Sidwell or STA.

Of course everyone gets into a "good" college. But the truth is that a lot of Big 3 kids end up at Tulane or Wisconsin, when they would've ended up at Penn or Columbia had they gone to a public school with easier competition, assuming they maintain the same SAT scores.

[Anonymous]

College matriculation has little to do with the school itself and a lot more to do with the quality of student.

I think a lot of parents in this group are deluded in thinking an Ivy will take their 3.6 GPA kid from a Big 3 because their school's prestige or rigor.

That's just not the way this works. Parents who have gone through the process with these schools usually learn the hard way that the Ivy spots are reserved for special cases and the very top students.

If your kid is in the 3rd decile at Sidwell/STA/NCS/GDS they're probably going to NYU, Colby, Colgate. Maybe UChicago if they apply ED1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I bet the public school applicants will continue to trend down, especially at the elite, $55k schools.

The word is increasingly out that college admissions for a smart but unhooked kid are better from DCPS than they are for the same kid at Sidwell, NCS, etc. Plus you have to work your a$$ off through all of high school at these privates. I had kids come from DCPS and this is definitely what people are talking about and coming to realize in mass. These are close communities, neighborhoods and communities--word travels.

STJ is sort of it's own animal--it will always get a bunch of families who are skittish about Jackson Reed and figure that paying under $23k for the guarantee of order in the classroom is worth it. Interestingly, some of these kids end up transferring out to JR later in high school.

LOL, so you really think a college is going to have preference for a public school kid who coasted through HS vs a private school kid who "works his a$$ off through all of high school." Colleges know that kids coming out of schools like Sidwell are significantly more prepared for the rigors of college. Sorry, but your your statement is not very convincing at all.

Actually, yes. A lot of private school parents are delusional about how the modern world of college admissions works. Elite colleges don't want to be filled with $55k/year prep school kids. They view your child's STA/NCS/Sidwell education as a marker of "privilege" (read: bad). They would much rather admit the low-income, child of a single mother J-R student than 3.9 GPA Sidwell kid.

Anyone who has gone through this process knows that you will get much better results being in the top 5% of the J-R graduating class than in the top 50% of an elite private school. This is largely because universities cap the number of students they admit per high school, and the elite privates are filled with legacies, VIPs, donor children, etc. There's no way a regular kids is competing with that, no matter how good their grades are.

Things slow at your government job today? I know it is hard to accept that all of us rich private school families have a leg up on your kids. Why do you think people pay $50K a year? It is a major advantage especially when zoned for schools like JR.

You pay $50k/year for the status and to brag to others about your child's education. People pay $50k/year for private school for the same reason they pay so much for cars, clothing, jewelry, and other luxury items.

Has your kid actually gone through the college admissions process yet? Many, many families from these schools will tell you outright that the high school pedigree did not help their children land a spot at an elite university. Just looking at NCS's matriculation, and only 2 girls got into Harvard, Yale, and Princeton each in the past 4 years, and I'm willing to bet they were URM, athlete, legacy, or well-connected. There are way more girls matriculating at Syracuse, Tulane, and Boston College.

I also know a Sidwell alum who went on to graduate from Boston College (gasp), and then Harvard Law. She’s now a partner in Big Law (one of the top 10 firms based on PPP). I bet her Sidwell education helped a lot—even though you only initially saw her heading to BC. That private school education/foundation continues to pay dividends decades later.

[Anonymous]

If you look at public school matriculations, the schools that are having more success are from wealthy white neighborhoods. The typical MCPS school is not having the same success, probably because there are no legacies at those schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I bet the public school applicants will continue to trend down, especially at the elite, $55k schools.

The word is increasingly out that college admissions for a smart but unhooked kid are better from DCPS than they are for the same kid at Sidwell, NCS, etc. Plus you have to work your a$$ off through all of high school at these privates. I had kids come from DCPS and this is definitely what people are talking about and coming to realize in mass. These are close communities, neighborhoods and communities--word travels.

STJ is sort of it's own animal--it will always get a bunch of families who are skittish about Jackson Reed and figure that paying under $23k for the guarantee of order in the classroom is worth it. Interestingly, some of these kids end up transferring out to JR later in high school.

LOL, so you really think a college is going to have preference for a public school kid who coasted through HS vs a private school kid who "works his a$$ off through all of high school." Colleges know that kids coming out of schools like Sidwell are significantly more prepared for the rigors of college. Sorry, but your your statement is not very convincing at all.

Actually, yes. A lot of private school parents are delusional about how the modern world of college admissions works. Elite colleges don't want to be filled with $55k/year prep school kids. They view your child's STA/NCS/Sidwell education as a marker of "privilege" (read: bad). They would much rather admit the low-income, child of a single mother J-R student than 3.9 GPA Sidwell kid.

Anyone who has gone through this process knows that you will get much better results being in the top 5% of the J-R graduating class than in the top 50% of an elite private school. This is largely because universities cap the number of students they admit per high school, and the elite privates are filled with legacies, VIPs, donor children, etc. There's no way a regular kids is competing with that, no matter how good their grades are.

More fan fiction.

If you think that elite colleges want to fill their classes with poor, high achieving students, then you don’t understand that college is a business. These colleges would also cease to be “elite.”

Despite what you’ve heard, there’s nothing new under the sun. These colleges will continue to favor the wealthy and well-connected for admissions purposes. If you don’t believe me, check the percentages of top public vs. top private students heading to top 20 colleges.

This isn't "fan fiction." It's the reality of modern college admissions. Most admissions officers are very progressive, and applicants are being advised to hide all indicators of economic or social privilege.

I'm also not making this up out of nowhere. Here's an article by one of the most successful college admissions consultants saying that he advises wealthy parents to not enroll in prep school because of the intense competition: https://nypost.com/2023/11/16/lifestyle/kids-ditching-prep-schools-for-public-to-get-into-the-ivy-league/

What people (admissions officers) say and what they actually do are two different things. Compare public and private school admissions to these highly selective colleges. Private school students continue/will continue to be significantly over represented. Facts are facts.

Again, like I said before, the admissions results are largely due to the types of children these prep schools admit. When around half the kids are a legacy to a T10 school, when you recruit high-scoring URMs, when you have top athletes, it should not be shocking that you have great college results. The lions' share of elite college admissions goes to URM, legacy, and athletes. If you aren't in one of those groups, you are *not* benefitted from going to a prep school. If anything, your individual chances are hurt because you are competing with other students in those groups vying for the same spot.

Public schools make it easier to get into an elite college, because the competition is far more lax. If Harvard is taking 5 kids maximum from any school, it's a lot easier to be the shining star at Jackson-Reed than it is at Sidwell or STA.

Of course everyone gets into a "good" college. But the truth is that a lot of Big 3 kids end up at Tulane or Wisconsin, when they would've ended up at Penn or Columbia had they gone to a public school with easier competition, assuming they maintain the same SAT scores.

Again, fan fiction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you look at public school matriculations, the schools that are having more success are from wealthy white neighborhoods. The typical MCPS school is not having the same success, probably because there are no legacies at those schools.

Yes, but the internal competition is insane. If your kid is the seventh-best application to Penn that year, the odds are that they are getting rejected. If they apply from a second-tier public school, they will have a better chance at standing out.

People have a hard time understanding this. A school can collectively have great college results, but that has to do with the pre-selected quality of students. Individual high-achievers always have better results from less-competitive high schools. It's the "big fish in a small pond" hypothesis.

[Anonymous]

Yes but that pond is infested with substandard education and gun violence. If you want to expose your kid to that for a better chance, have at it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you look at public school matriculations, the schools that are having more success are from wealthy white neighborhoods. The typical MCPS school is not having the same success, probably because there are no legacies at those schools.

Yes, but the internal competition is insane. If your kid is the seventh-best application to Penn that year, the odds are that they are getting rejected. If they apply from a second-tier public school, they will have a better chance at standing out.

People have a hard time understanding this. A school can collectively have great college results, but that has to do with the pre-selected quality of students. Individual high-achievers always have better results from less-competitive high schools. It's the "big fish in a small pond" hypothesis.

Percentages. You’re competing with more students in a class of 500, compared to a class of 75 to 125. I’d much rather take my chances competing against fewer classmates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you look at public school matriculations, the schools that are having more success are from wealthy white neighborhoods. The typical MCPS school is not having the same success, probably because there are no legacies at those schools.

Yes, but the internal competition is insane. If your kid is the seventh-best application to Penn that year, the odds are that they are getting rejected. If they apply from a second-tier public school, they will have a better chance at standing out.

People have a hard time understanding this. A school can collectively have great college results, but that has to do with the pre-selected quality of students. Individual high-achievers always have better results from less-competitive high schools. It's the "big fish in a small pond" hypothesis.

Percentages. You’re competing with more students in a class of 500, compared to a class of 75 to 125. I’d much rather take my chances competing against fewer classmates.

Fewer classmates, but much stronger and influential ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you look at public school matriculations, the schools that are having more success are from wealthy white neighborhoods. The typical MCPS school is not having the same success, probably because there are no legacies at those schools.

Yes, but the internal competition is insane. If your kid is the seventh-best application to Penn that year, the odds are that they are getting rejected. If they apply from a second-tier public school, they will have a better chance at standing out.

People have a hard time understanding this. A school can collectively have great college results, but that has to do with the pre-selected quality of students. Individual high-achievers always have better results from less-competitive high schools. It's the "big fish in a small pond" hypothesis.

Percentages. You’re competing with more students in a class of 500, compared to a class of 75 to 125. I’d much rather take my chances competing against fewer classmates.

Fewer classmates, but much stronger and influential ones.

I would rather my kid be around other kids with influential families than gang members. Just sayin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I bet the public school applicants will continue to trend down, especially at the elite, $55k schools.

The word is increasingly out that college admissions for a smart but unhooked kid are better from DCPS than they are for the same kid at Sidwell, NCS, etc. Plus you have to work your a$$ off through all of high school at these privates. I had kids come from DCPS and this is definitely what people are talking about and coming to realize in mass. These are close communities, neighborhoods and communities--word travels.

STJ is sort of it's own animal--it will always get a bunch of families who are skittish about Jackson Reed and figure that paying under $23k for the guarantee of order in the classroom is worth it. Interestingly, some of these kids end up transferring out to JR later in high school.

LOL, so you really think a college is going to have preference for a public school kid who coasted through HS vs a private school kid who "works his a$$ off through all of high school." Colleges know that kids coming out of schools like Sidwell are significantly more prepared for the rigors of college. Sorry, but your your statement is not very convincing at all.

Actually, yes. A lot of private school parents are delusional about how the modern world of college admissions works. Elite colleges don't want to be filled with $55k/year prep school kids. They view your child's STA/NCS/Sidwell education as a marker of "privilege" (read: bad). They would much rather admit the low-income, child of a single mother J-R student than 3.9 GPA Sidwell kid.

Anyone who has gone through this process knows that you will get much better results being in the top 5% of the J-R graduating class than in the top 50% of an elite private school. This is largely because universities cap the number of students they admit per high school, and the elite privates are filled with legacies, VIPs, donor children, etc. There's no way a regular kids is competing with that, no matter how good their grades are.

More fan fiction.

If you think that elite colleges want to fill their classes with poor, high achieving students, then you don’t understand that college is a business. These colleges would also cease to be “elite.”

Despite what you’ve heard, there’s nothing new under the sun. These colleges will continue to favor the wealthy and well-connected for admissions purposes. If you don’t believe me, check the percentages of top public vs. top private students heading to top 20 colleges.

This isn't "fan fiction." It's the reality of modern college admissions. Most admissions officers are very progressive, and applicants are being advised to hide all indicators of economic or social privilege.

I'm also not making this up out of nowhere. Here's an article by one of the most successful college admissions consultants saying that he advises wealthy parents to not enroll in prep school because of the intense competition: https://nypost.com/2023/11/16/lifestyle/kids-ditching-prep-schools-for-public-to-get-into-the-ivy-league/

What people (admissions officers) say and what they actually do are two different things. Compare public and private school admissions to these highly selective colleges. Private school students continue/will continue to be significantly over represented. Facts are facts.

Again, like I said before, the admissions results are largely due to the types of children these prep schools admit. When around half the kids are a legacy to a T10 school, when you recruit high-scoring URMs, when you have top athletes, it should not be shocking that you have great college results. The lions' share of elite college admissions goes to URM, legacy, and athletes. If you aren't in one of those groups, you are *not* benefitted from going to a prep school. If anything, your individual chances are hurt because you are competing with other students in those groups vying for the same spot.

Public schools make it easier to get into an elite college, because the competition is far more lax. If Harvard is taking 5 kids maximum from any school, it's a lot easier to be the shining star at Jackson-Reed than it is at Sidwell or STA.

Of course everyone gets into a "good" college. But the truth is that a lot of Big 3 kids end up at Tulane or Wisconsin, when they would've ended up at Penn or Columbia had they gone to a public school with easier competition, assuming they maintain the same SAT scores.

Not true by a long shot! The magnets are so much more competitive than the privates. The kids have great grades, extras, test scores, etc. Pretty sure if you take the kids from say the Blair Magnet program they'd be the top kids at a top private. The opposite is probably not so certain. A lot of kids are at private schools because they need more individual attention. Nothing wrong with that. But don't act like the Big 3 is filled with 95% superstars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you look at public school matriculations, the schools that are having more success are from wealthy white neighborhoods. The typical MCPS school is not having the same success, probably because there are no legacies at those schools.

Yes, but the internal competition is insane. If your kid is the seventh-best application to Penn that year, the odds are that they are getting rejected. If they apply from a second-tier public school, they will have a better chance at standing out.

People have a hard time understanding this. A school can collectively have great college results, but that has to do with the pre-selected quality of students. Individual high-achievers always have better results from less-competitive high schools. It's the "big fish in a small pond" hypothesis.

Percentages. You’re competing with more students in a class of 500, compared to a class of 75 to 125. I’d much rather take my chances competing against fewer classmates.

Fewer classmates, but much stronger and influential ones.

So there are no legacies or wealthy families at W schools, McLean, Langley, etc? That’s news to me!

Those schools have 3 to 5x more students than Big 3 schools.