Did private schools get a bump in elite college admissions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private school helps if you want to end up at private college , esp mid range (eg Tulane, BU, Emory etc)
Private school does not help if you want to get into tippy top (unless your kid is #1-#5 at the school). If your kid is #20, they will discourage you from applying to HYPSM because it might hurt the top kids chances.

Public school is great if your kid would otherwise be upper middle of the road at private but can be the top in the public.

Yes but much much much easier to get into these schools from a private HS if full pay:
Cornell, U Chicago, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, Wash u, Emory, Georgetown, Rice, CMU, USC, NYU, BC, Tufts,

But then ask yourself, would my kid have gotten in to these schools from public anyway? Probably, yes. And saved a boatload of money in high school which can go towards the college or grad school

Def don’t think they would have gotten in from a very competitive stem focused public.

My kid non-stem. Private worded out great - I’d be pissed if the outcome was Pitt or Wisconsin.
It’s a private T20.

But you do what works for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My take on this is that high-end independent schools has a pretty good outing this year, which actually kind of surprised me. I thought all of the uncertainty re: affirmative action and test optional was going to cut the other way. In general, I think that most students take a small hit by going private, and they would actually do slightly better coming from most public schools if you are solely concerned with optimizing college prospects.

Very very true.
It’s been a fabulous year with more Ivy admits than in the past 5 years for our school.

[Anonymous]

You don't send your kid to private to get them into a college. You send them for the experience that will set them up to succeed in college and beyond.

[Anonymous]

Just a counterpoint. I went to Princeton from a very fancy private school and was burnt out and didn’t do amazing in college. My friends who went to public did just fine and had equal outcomes (successful in their fields) to everyone else. Heck my husband and I had the same GPA in college. He barely studied in high school while I was pulling all-nighters so idk if that’s a good enough reason. Anyone smart enough to get into an Ivy will rise to the occasion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just a counterpoint. I went to Princeton from a very fancy private school and was burnt out and didn’t do amazing in college. My friends who went to public did just fine and had equal outcomes (successful in their fields) to everyone else. Heck my husband and I had the same GPA in college. He barely studied in high school while I was pulling all-nighters so idk if that’s a good enough reason. Anyone smart enough to get into an Ivy will rise to the occasion.

I have heard exact opposite. Public school kids get cakewalk in public but then can’t handle he workload in top universities. Private school kids much better prepared and find college to be easier than high school.

[Anonymous]

Private May work best for non-stem, niche majors/interests. Easy to stand out and get those insane LOR

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My take on this is that high-end independent schools has a pretty good outing this year, which actually kind of surprised me. I thought all of the uncertainty re: affirmative action and test optional was going to cut the other way. In general, I think that most students take a small hit by going private, and they would actually do slightly better coming from most public schools if you are solely concerned with optimizing college prospects.

Very very true.
It’s been a fabulous year with more Ivy admits than in the past 5 years for our school.

Op here. In my short time looking at these college pages, there definitely seems to be a bump at the privates. I was wondering if there was a bump this year after the Supreme Court case. I guess it is too soon to say but it seems like privates got a boost this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just a counterpoint. I went to Princeton from a very fancy private school and was burnt out and didn’t do amazing in college. My friends who went to public did just fine and had equal outcomes (successful in their fields) to everyone else. Heck my husband and I had the same GPA in college. He barely studied in high school while I was pulling all-nighters so idk if that’s a good enough reason. Anyone smart enough to get into an Ivy will rise to the occasion.

I have heard exact opposite. Public school kids get cakewalk in public but then can’t handle he workload in top universities. Private school kids much better prepared and find college to be easier than high school.

I went to a public magnet. I went to Harvard. I honestly wasn’t paying attention to where people went to high school. I don’t think anyone discussed this in real life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just a counterpoint. I went to Princeton from a very fancy private school and was burnt out and didn’t do amazing in college. My friends who went to public did just fine and had equal outcomes (successful in their fields) to everyone else. Heck my husband and I had the same GPA in college. He barely studied in high school while I was pulling all-nighters so idk if that’s a good enough reason. Anyone smart enough to get into an Ivy will rise to the occasion.

I have heard exact opposite. Public school kids get cakewalk in public but then can’t handle he workload in top universities. Private school kids much better prepared and find college to be easier than high school.

I went to a public magnet. I went to Harvard. I honestly wasn’t paying attention to where people went to high school. I don’t think anyone discussed this in real life.

+1


It's cringe to harp on where you went to high school, what your SAT score was, etc. You don't want to start off sounding like someone destined to have peaked in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just a counterpoint. I went to Princeton from a very fancy private school and was burnt out and didn’t do amazing in college. My friends who went to public did just fine and had equal outcomes (successful in their fields) to everyone else. Heck my husband and I had the same GPA in college. He barely studied in high school while I was pulling all-nighters so idk if that’s a good enough reason. Anyone smart enough to get into an Ivy will rise to the occasion.

I have heard exact opposite. Public school kids get cakewalk in public but then can’t handle he workload in top universities. Private school kids much better prepared and find college to be easier than high school.

So, to state the obvious...college is not a monolith. Two kids at the same college (including any top college) can take completely different classes with different workloads.

To the second point...why would anyone want their HS to be so painful that college is easier than HS? This is really not possible if you pursue a STEM major (maybe it is easy for the first year, but as far as I am aware there is no HS teaching upper level college STEM material), so you have to be referring to primarily humanities subjects.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My take on this is that high-end independent schools has a pretty good outing this year, which actually kind of surprised me. I thought all of the uncertainty re: affirmative action and test optional was going to cut the other way. In general, I think that most students take a small hit by going private, and they would actually do slightly better coming from most public schools if you are solely concerned with optimizing college prospects.

Very very true.
It’s been a fabulous year with more Ivy admits than in the past 5 years for our school.

Op here. In my short time looking at these college pages, there definitely seems to be a bump at the privates. I was wondering if there was a bump this year after the Supreme Court case. I guess it is too soon to say but it seems like privates got a boost this year.

Obviously anecdotal, however in our circles here in DMV (close-in beltway) the privates have done much much better than the publics. From where we sit the top stat/resume URMS (from both private & public) are not doing as well as non-urms with the 'elite' colleges, perhaps signs of the SC case manifesting or schools 'playing it safe' this round.

[Anonymous]

Haters, including a consultant I went to, will say no. My kids are at Ivies and I think they would have been lost in the shuffle at publics.

Can you get top schools from publics? Of course. But you need to do more to find your way.

[Anonymous]

UMC/wealthy kids with highly educated connected parents that have demonstrated the ability/willingness to pay a boatload for an exclusive primary/secondary school education. Seems like a natural transition to exclusive university education.
-public school parent

[Anonymous]

Most of the nonhooked Ivy admits are our private are URM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My take on this is that high-end independent schools has a pretty good outing this year, which actually kind of surprised me. I thought all of the uncertainty re: affirmative action and test optional was going to cut the other way. In general, I think that most students take a small hit by going private, and they would actually do slightly better coming from most public schools if you are solely concerned with optimizing college prospects.

Very very true.
It’s been a fabulous year with more Ivy admits than in the past 5 years for our school.

Op here. In my short time looking at these college pages, there definitely seems to be a bump at the privates. I was wondering if there was a bump this year after the Supreme Court case. I guess it is too soon to say but it seems like privates got a boost this year.

Obviously anecdotal, however in our circles here in DMV (close-in beltway) the privates have done much much better than the publics. From where we sit the top stat/resume URMS (from both private & public) are not doing as well as non-urms with the 'elite' colleges, perhaps signs of the SC case manifesting or schools 'playing it safe' this round.

+1