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

[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.

Haha, nice troll.

Yeah, I don't know any private school parents who think they're buying HYP. That's a weird stereotype (or public-school-parent fear, perhaps) and it's just not true. What we're buying is a different educational experience, and we get it. College admissions are another story. Honestly, my kid would probably get into a better college coming from our local mediocre public school... but it ain't worth trading 12 years of meh secondary education for a somewhat more prestigious college.

Agree that that the "half a mil" poster is a troll/private school hater. There are a lot of 'em. FOMO, I guess.

[Anonymous]

Most elite . . . tells you all you need to know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

There's no make believe about it. I've had kids in both public and private and can 100% assure you that it is true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

My DC has friends who opening admit to cheating! Obviously not everyone is doing it, but you can't be serious that you think it's not happening to a moderate extent.

[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?

It’s one thing to know that the $400k you spent does not confer an advantage. It’s another thing to find out that it’s a disadvantage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

There's no make believe about it. I've had kids in both public and private and can 100% assure you that it is true.

DP.
My kid's in public and I agree that Sidwell HS education is superior to that of any good public school. Especially in- and after - the pandemic. Wish we could afford it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

My DC has friends who opening admit to cheating! Obviously not everyone is doing it, but you can't be serious that you think it's not happening to a moderate extent.

Pp is naive. My very much the rule follower kid told me that cheating was pervasive during distance learning, and she goes to a private with a strictly enforced honor code.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

My DC has friends who opening admit to cheating! Obviously not everyone is doing it, but you can't be serious that you think it's not happening to a moderate extent.

Pp is naive. My very much the rule follower kid told me that cheating was pervasive during distance learning, and she goes to a private with a strictly enforced honor code.

I’m the OP in this sub thread. I’m not naive. Big 3 students cheat too. (Plenty of public news on this, Google is your friend.)

The upthread implication was that the public school kids were taking slots at top schools by cheating their way to a 4.5w. Saying that is a bad look, at a minimum, and might be worse.

Having an Honor Code also means no accusations without proof AND no or no excessive monitoring during testing. If your DDs “honor code” means you signed something acknowledging you would only turn in your own work and the school proceeded to treat all the kids like they had zero ethics, that’s not an Honor Code, it’s just a piece of paper acknowledging you already know the consequences for getting caught.

[Anonymous]

I reject the statement that public school students are cheating their way to a 4.5 or 5.0 or whatever.

On the other hand, there is no such weighted scale at my kid's private, and for better or worse (mainly worse), the school takes the position that As are not to be doled out like candy. In a class of 15, maybe a third ended up with As. I hated this fact, but our college counselor kept soothing us by saying that the "colleges know." My kid ended up fine, though not Ivy, where both DH and I hailed from, he being double Ivy.

We are at peace with this. Kid still landed at a Top 20 school and the Ivy or bust mentality I know recognize is a notion from a bygone era.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

It is not fiction. Between my son's friend group and my mom group, I can verify almost every entry on this list. Moreover, this list does not reflect schools with multiple enrollees. Chicago for instance usually enrolls 10% of every STA graduating class. I know for a fact that at least 4 grads will be heading to Dartmouth, 2 to Bowdoin, etc.

I'm not trying to defend the private school track. I do think stating accurate facts is important to inform the debate.

[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.

Too bad, because this forum is full of people just panting to do exactly that. Ignore them.

I mean, if the shoe fits.... parents on this forum love to say how it's all about the experience and not the college admissions. Right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

There's no make believe about it. I've had kids in both public and private and can 100% assure you that it is true.

DP.
My kid's in public and I agree that Sidwell HS education is superior to that of any good public school. Especially in- and after - the pandemic. Wish we could afford it.

50k a year better? Eh.
- SFS grad

[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.

As has been pointed out, in this very thread there are people assuming that public school students cheat their way to a good GPA.

[Anonymous]

Another private school parent here who didn’t send her kids to private for college admission purposes. We don’t know whether we made the right decision, but the kids turned out to have great critical thinking skills and the ability to write and this has proven to be beneficial in college. My senior has many public school friends and it’s been a hard year for them as well. However, they all (private and public) have great choices. The ridiculous emphasis on a tiny number of colleges is truly insane.

[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.

Because OPs kid goes to Maret so she included it. No one else does. Big 3 has always been Sidwell, GDS and STA/NCS.