Why am I paying for private when Wilson HS (DCPS) admits are this good?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My kid is at Deal and we’re about to pay $$ for a big3 school instead of Wilson. However, this week is DCPS spring break and many people I know are taking their kids around to accepted schools to make their college decisions. These kids from Wilson were accepted at Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern, Michigan, UCLA, NYU, Vassar, Pomona, Cornell, Brown, Oberlin and Swarthmore. Typical smart white kids. Nothing out of the ordinary. And this is just the handful of kids I know from my block and/or siblings of kids from our DCPS elementary. So why am I paying for private next year again? I’ve found Deal to be uneven at best but it doesn’t seem to make one bit of difference (if college admission is the end game).

Community, safety, small classes, hands on learning, small advisory groups, few behavioral issues - nothing like in public, beautiful campus and buildings, resources, and reinforcement of our values are what we are looking for in private. Top of the list my child is not worried about being jumped in the bathroom anymore because they posed off the wrong group of kids.

Parent of a Wilson senior here: WTH are you talking about??? Oh wait, now I remember. This is the lie you tell yourself to feel better about dropping tens of thousands of dollars for private.

#GoTigers!

I’m grateful I don’t have to worry about my kid getting jumped by kids in the bathroom yes kids worry about this and my kid also doesn’t need to worry about their peers overdosing while at school and watching the ambulance come. Also our school doesn’t keep kids in the school that were caught on video gang attacking someone on the subway. There’s a video of it and they were allowed to stay in school. Safety first.

As a parent of a private school student, this is just embarrassing.

+1.


Don’t forget the daycare centers at school.

-a parent who has done public and private

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Because only 20% of Wilson students meet basic proficiency standards for reading and math.
Hopefully your private can beat that.

https://www.niche.com/k12/woodrow-wilson-high-school-washington-dc/

If you attend a public high school like this in DC, you may get into an elite college to meet its holistic admissions goals (including geographical diversity), but you're more likely to struggle academically.

I doubt it. If they do have to catch up, they'll do it quickly. There's really no difference in intelligence or motivation between Wilson and private students, so it's really just a matter of content.

In answer to OP's question: you're paying more because you believe that it offers something additional to your child that's worth the price. But clearly, that additional thing is not college admissions. Given that research pretty clearly shows that public school kids have the same outcomes as private, it's a good question to ask.

How do you define outcomes? Top private schools have better college placement records than virtually all public schools, other than magnets.

In terms of job success, I have no idea. I don't know if anyone's done a study that proves it one way or the other.

what is "better college placement" to you? my overall point is that Wilson should be counted as a very top public school due to the highly intellectual cohort -- and the college placement shows that. I'm sure given the money and influence available at privates, they have better placement rates on the margins (kids pushed up a notch into "better" categories). but this by and large reflects money. if for an essentially average student, you think paying full freight at a SLAC in the 20s is "better" than UMD, that really comes down to money, not the high school.

the difference between public and private is illusory (except to your wallet!) https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2018/08/27/public-private-school-family-income-study

It takes more than an Ivy League education to be successful. Think of how many people you know that went to top schools that have mediocre jobs. You need to be polished, have a certain social ease, and be able to conduct oneself on a sophisticated level overall to be successful. This comes from being in a private school community and you absorb the culture whether you are a wealthy or poor student you still absorb the polished culture.

ha ha, ok. so I see it isn't actually about intellectual or cultural achievement for you. creativity and intellect have little to do with the "polished culture" you purchase at a private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“My guess is that the Wilson kids families are likely more elite (intellectually) than most private school families.“

The arrogance is shocking.

Lol. Why? Do you think intelligence and academic achievement are correlated to money? How may Ivy League *professors* do you think went to public v private? The intellectual elite usually don't have the money to send their kids to privates. My public HS was filled to the brim with extremely smart kids of professors and scientists.

So in your view, the article that PP just posted about the correlation of family income and success is full of crap?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“My guess is that the Wilson kids families are likely more elite (intellectually) than most private school families.“

The arrogance is shocking.

Lol. Why? Do you think intelligence and academic achievement are correlated to money? How may Ivy League *professors* do you think went to public v private? The intellectual elite usually don't have the money to send their kids to privates. My public HS was filled to the brim with extremely smart kids of professors and scientists.

So in your view, the article that PP just posted about the correlation of family income and success is full of crap?

The income is top-coded. Meaning, it correlates with income, but it's not like the richer you get, the smarter you get, after a certain point. If you've never attended or had your kids attend a public full of the intellectual elite, children of very smart people who willingly work for much less than they could get as investment bankers, then I guess it's hard for you to picture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“My guess is that the Wilson kids families are likely more elite (intellectually) than most private school families.“

The arrogance is shocking.

Your guess is wrong. Perhaps about 10 families of the over 1500 at Wilson are more "elite" (whatever that really means), but the vast majority are not. For OP to cite about 10 kids out of over 600 as examples of great "placement" just shows what lack of critical thinking skills have been developed. Over 50% of kids graduating from schools like Sidwell, St. Albans, Potomac, NCS will go to schools like those she mentioned. Fewer than 1% from Wilson will. I'm a public school parent, by the way, but maintaining some common sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“My guess is that the Wilson kids families are likely more elite (intellectually) than most private school families.“

The arrogance is shocking.

Your guess is wrong. Perhaps about 10 families of the over 1500 at Wilson are more "elite" (whatever that really means), but the vast majority are not. For OP to cite about 10 kids out of over 600 as examples of great "placement" just shows what lack of critical thinking skills have been developed. Over 50% of kids graduating from schools like Sidwell, St. Albans, Potomac, NCS will go to schools like those she mentioned. Fewer than 1% from Wilson will. I'm a public school parent, by the way, but maintaining some common sense.

Yes, let's use some critical thinking skills. If OP is to be believed, she said that these college admissions results are all from kids on her block, or siblings of her kids' friends. Sure, it's not a random sample, but what's the likelihood that all the kids OP knows just happen to be part of the 1% who had great college admissions?

I suspect that for kids at Wilson who are taking challenging courses, the percentage is much higher than 1%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“My guess is that the Wilson kids families are likely more elite (intellectually) than most private school families.“

The arrogance is shocking.

Your guess is wrong. Perhaps about 10 families of the over 1500 at Wilson are more "elite" (whatever that really means), but the vast majority are not. For OP to cite about 10 kids out of over 600 as examples of great "placement" just shows what lack of critical thinking skills have been developed. Over 50% of kids graduating from schools like Sidwell, St. Albans, Potomac, NCS will go to schools like those she mentioned. Fewer than 1% from Wilson will. I'm a public school parent, by the way, but maintaining some common sense.

By elite I mean as smart, if not smarter. Yes, numerically the privates will send more kids to top schools because those privates by definition select for smart students with money to pay for the top schools. But the top cohort at Wilson is just as good.

Again, professor kid-types don't go to private schools, because professors usually can't afford it (except for the very very top professors.) Those are the top kids at Wilson.

But yeah, if OP wants to pay for her kid to be surrounding only by top and high-average kids, and no average or struggling kids, then private is worth it to her. If she's concerned only about absolute performance, then it's not worth the money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is at Deal and we’re about to pay $$ for a big3 school instead of Wilson. However, this week is DCPS spring break and many people I know are taking their kids around to accepted schools to make their college decisions. These kids from Wilson were accepted at Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern, Michigan, UCLA, NYU, Vassar, Pomona, Cornell, Brown, Oberlin and Swarthmore. Typical smart white kids. Nothing out of the ordinary. And this is just the handful of kids I know from my block and/or siblings of kids from our DCPS elementary. So why am I paying for private next year again? I’ve found Deal to be uneven at best but it doesn’t seem to make one bit of difference (if college admission is the end game).

Because you're completely loaded, and dropping $50,000 for ninth grade is no biggie? Otherwise, I have no idea.

+1

This is the only reason to do it.

If you have to stretch and sacrifice other things that are important to you (like travel, college savings, retirement savings, etc.) it's so not worth it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“My guess is that the Wilson kids families are likely more elite (intellectually) than most private school families.“

The arrogance is shocking.

Lol. Why? Do you think intelligence and academic achievement are correlated to money? How may Ivy League *professors* do you think went to public v private? The intellectual elite usually don't have the money to send their kids to privates. My public HS was filled to the brim with extremely smart kids of professors and scientists.

So in your view, the article that PP just posted about the correlation of family income and success is full of crap?

The income is top-coded. Meaning, it correlates with income, but it's not like the richer you get, the smarter you get, after a certain point. If you've never attended or had your kids attend a public full of the intellectual elite, children of very smart people who willingly work for much less than they could get as investment bankers, then I guess it's hard for you to picture.

Oh, I'm sorry, didn't realize you performed the study and have first-hand knowledge about any particular top income threshold that was used. Because it's certainly not mentioned in the article or to the link to sagepub.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is at Deal and we’re about to pay $$ for a big3 school instead of Wilson. However, this week is DCPS spring break and many people I know are taking their kids around to accepted schools to make their college decisions. These kids from Wilson were accepted at Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern, Michigan, UCLA, NYU, Vassar, Pomona, Cornell, Brown, Oberlin and Swarthmore. Typical smart white kids. Nothing out of the ordinary. And this is just the handful of kids I know from my block and/or siblings of kids from our DCPS elementary. So why am I paying for private next year again? I’ve found Deal to be uneven at best but it doesn’t seem to make one bit of difference (if college admission is the end game).

You don't know much about statistics, do you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, numerically the privates will send more kids to top schools because those privates by definition select for smart students with money to pay for the top schools. But the top cohort at Wilson is just as good.

Wait, I'm so confused...public school parents on DCUM are accusing private schools all the time of accepting only rich kids who are mediocre at best academically or intellectually. And that they're not getting into top colleges on smarts, but rather legacy status or other hooks. Which is it?

[Anonymous]

P.S. All the college admissions of the so-called "elite" families from Wilson HS should be discounted. I mean, the kids of these college professors are fairly likely to be legacies, and we all know that when you're a legacy...

[Anonymous]

I think we are paying close to $50k/year for my DC to play on the sports' teams. There is no way my DC would make the tea at public school. Sad, but true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, numerically the privates will send more kids to top schools because those privates by definition select for smart students with money to pay for the top schools. But the top cohort at Wilson is just as good.

Wait, I'm so confused...public school parents on DCUM are accusing private schools all the time of accepting only rich kids who are mediocre at best academically or intellectually. And that they're not getting into top colleges on smarts, but rather legacy status or other hooks. Which is it?

NP. These are a consistent narrative, can’t you see?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:P.S. All the college admissions of the so-called "elite" families from Wilson HS should be discounted. I mean, the kids of these college professors are fairly likely to be legacies, and we all know that when you're a legacy...

Op here. Interesting point but the Wilson kids I Know are getting into elite schools that their parents didn’t attend. Their parents are all highly educated professionals (to a person) but went to different schools. Or in some cases the kid got into the parent legacy school but also another elite without any hooks.