Does going to Big 3 really improve college admissions chances?

[Anonymous]

Controlling for things like standardized test scores, athletic ability, legacy status, underrepresented minority status, and accomplishment in extracurricular activities, does going to a Big 3 school help students get in to very selective colleges?

I've heard parents at MoCo public schools, especially the ones other than Whitman and BCC, say the answer is yes. They point to the fact that some colleges almost never accept students from certain public schools that churn out high achievers every year.

I've also heard parents at Big 3 schools say the answer is no. They say that students who would be at the top of some other school end up in the middle at a Big 3 schools and get rejected more often than they should. They also say that Big 3 schools have lots of students whose parents went to Harvard and Yale, etc., which means they get the benefit of more legacy admissions.

Let the fireworks begin!

[Anonymous]

I think it used to be an advantage, but things have changed in just the last 2 or 3 years. Now maybe even a slight disadvantage.

[Anonymous]

? why is this in the money and finance section?

[Anonymous]

If you are in the top 10-20 kids maybe but otherwise it could be a huge disadvantage as all the kids are applying to similar schools and each school is only going to accept so many kids from that school. Harvard isn't going to accept 30 kids from a big 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it used to be an advantage, but things have changed in just the last 2 or 3 years. Now maybe even a slight disadvantage.

+1. Colleges are finally working to gain economic/class diversity as well as racial diversity, and that works against expensive private schools. Add in the fact that the internet and the common app make it easier for kids to apply from other regions of the country, the pipeline from the private schools to the Ivy League/etc. just isn't what it used to be.

[Anonymous]

Grass is always greener.

Unless you are from a disadvantaged community or are a first-generation student, going to an elite private isn't going to change your admissions chances much. For these students succeeding at the more rigorous school (compared to their public options) demonstrates they can handle the college work.

The middle and upper-middle class kids who get into elite colleges from privates are the same kinds of hooked kids who get in from public --legacies, athletes, or who have some other notable skills.

[Anonymous]

Above poster has it right. Private for high school these days should be only if you have a child that needs closer assistance. It’s not a ticket to Yale and hasn’t been in thirty years. Better to go to Wilson if college admissions is your sole focus. This can’t end up being a long thread as these factors are not really debatable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Above poster has it right. Private for high school these days should be only if you have a child that needs closer assistance. It’s not a ticket to Yale and hasn’t been in thirty years. Better to go to Wilson if college admissions is your sole focus. This can’t end up being a long thread as these factors are not really debatable.

Moderator: please lock this thread. This is an incredibly persuasive post.

PP: could you please go through the other posts and tell us what other topics are not debatable?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Above poster has it right. Private for high school these days should be only if you have a child that needs closer assistance. It’s not a ticket to Yale and hasn’t been in thirty years. Better to go to Wilson if college admissions is your sole focus. This can’t end up being a long thread as these factors are not really debatable.

Moderator: please lock this thread. This is an incredibly persuasive post.

PP: could you please go through the other posts and tell us what other topics are not debatable?

Haha. So what private school in the DC area is a lock for an Ivy League admission? Because it certainly isn’t a big three school. Private school is good for the concierge service and admission to schools that you continue to pay full freight like Wash U, Wesleyan, Amherst, Bowdoin, maybe a large big ten, but the privates here can’t compare at all to the large public schools when you compare comparable AP public student to private (maybe no longer have AP) student.

Tell me the factors that are up for debate? Compare a Wilson AP student parents both high GS, not a minority. A student. Rower. Compare that make students changes to an STA boy of similar smarts. I’d put my money on the Wilson boy’s chances at ivy as much higher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Above poster has it right. Private for high school these days should be only if you have a child that needs closer assistance. It’s not a ticket to Yale and hasn’t been in thirty years. Better to go to Wilson if college admissions is your sole focus. This can’t end up being a long thread as these factors are not really debatable.

Moderator: please lock this thread. This is an incredibly persuasive post.

PP: could you please go through the other posts and tell us what other topics are not debatable?

Haha. So what private school in the DC area is a lock for an Ivy League admission? Because it certainly isn’t a big three school. Private school is good for the concierge service and admission to schools that you continue to pay full freight like Wash U, Wesleyan, Amherst, Bowdoin, maybe a large big ten, but the privates here can’t compare at all to the large public schools when you compare comparable AP public student to private (maybe no longer have AP) student.

Tell me the factors that are up for debate? Compare a Wilson AP student parents both high GS, not a minority. A student. Rower. Compare that make students changes to an STA boy of similar smarts. I’d put my money on the Wilson boy’s chances at ivy as much higher.

I don’t know - I was looking to you for the answers. I just still haven’t heard anything other than your gut and a bunch of conclusions without actual evidence. What do the numbers look like? How do students in middle 50% do comparatively? You say they can’t compare -why not? You could be right but your support seems to be nothing more than repeating your original belief.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Above poster has it right. Private for high school these days should be only if you have a child that needs closer assistance. It’s not a ticket to Yale and hasn’t been in thirty years. Better to go to Wilson if college admissions is your sole focus. This can’t end up being a long thread as these factors are not really debatable.

Moderator: please lock this thread. This is an incredibly persuasive post.

PP: could you please go through the other posts and tell us what other topics are not debatable?

Haha. So what private school in the DC area is a lock for an Ivy League admission? Because it certainly isn’t a big three school. Private school is good for the concierge service and admission to schools that you continue to pay full freight like Wash U, Wesleyan, Amherst, Bowdoin, maybe a large big ten, but the privates here can’t compare at all to the large public schools when you compare comparable AP public student to private (maybe no longer have AP) student.

Tell me the factors that are up for debate? Compare a Wilson AP student parents both high GS, not a minority. A student. Rower. Compare that make students changes to an STA boy of similar smarts. I’d put my money on the Wilson boy’s chances at ivy as much higher.

I don’t know - I was looking to you for the answers. I just still haven’t heard anything other than your gut and a bunch of conclusions without actual evidence. What do the numbers look like? How do students in middle 50% do comparatively? You say they can’t compare -why not? You could be right but your support seems to be nothing more than repeating your original belief.

The private schools have their admissions on their websites. Lots of expensive middling schools. It’s no longer send your young man to STA to get into Yale then your country club. These schools are designed to cater to kids who need small classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Above poster has it right. Private for high school these days should be only if you have a child that needs closer assistance. It’s not a ticket to Yale and hasn’t been in thirty years. Better to go to Wilson if college admissions is your sole focus. This can’t end up being a long thread as these factors are not really debatable.

Moderator: please lock this thread. This is an incredibly persuasive post.

PP: could you please go through the other posts and tell us what other topics are not debatable?

Haha. So what private school in the DC area is a lock for an Ivy League admission? Because it certainly isn’t a big three school. Private school is good for the concierge service and admission to schools that you continue to pay full freight like Wash U, Wesleyan, Amherst, Bowdoin, maybe a large big ten, but the privates here can’t compare at all to the large public schools when you compare comparable AP public student to private (maybe no longer have AP) student.

Tell me the factors that are up for debate? Compare a Wilson AP student parents both high GS, not a minority. A student. Rower. Compare that make students changes to an STA boy of similar smarts. I’d put my money on the Wilson boy’s chances at ivy as much higher.

I don’t know - I was looking to you for the answers. I just still haven’t heard anything other than your gut and a bunch of conclusions without actual evidence. What do the numbers look like? How do students in middle 50% do comparatively? You say they can’t compare -why not? You could be right but your support seems to be nothing more than repeating your original belief.

The private schools have their admissions on their websites. Lots of expensive middling schools. It’s no longer send your young man to STA to get into Yale then your country club. These schools are designed to cater to kids who need small classes.

Links please. And that for Wilson, too. I’d like to see it for myself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Above poster has it right. Private for high school these days should be only if you have a child that needs closer assistance. It’s not a ticket to Yale and hasn’t been in thirty years. Better to go to Wilson if college admissions is your sole focus. This can’t end up being a long thread as these factors are not really debatable.

Moderator: please lock this thread. This is an incredibly persuasive post.

PP: could you please go through the other posts and tell us what other topics are not debatable?

Haha. So what private school in the DC area is a lock for an Ivy League admission? Because it certainly isn’t a big three school. Private school is good for the concierge service and admission to schools that you continue to pay full freight like Wash U, Wesleyan, Amherst, Bowdoin, maybe a large big ten, but the privates here can’t compare at all to the large public schools when you compare comparable AP public student to private (maybe no longer have AP) student.

Tell me the factors that are up for debate? Compare a Wilson AP student parents both high GS, not a minority. A student. Rower. Compare that make students changes to an STA boy of similar smarts. I’d put my money on the Wilson boy’s chances at ivy as much higher.

I don’t know - I was looking to you for the answers. I just still haven’t heard anything other than your gut and a bunch of conclusions without actual evidence. What do the numbers look like? How do students in middle 50% do comparatively? You say they can’t compare -why not? You could be right but your support seems to be nothing more than repeating your original belief.

I think the college odds are higher coming from Wilson unless your kid is at the very top academically of the top private schools (which is really hard to accomplish). I have a kid who was a top student at Deal and went on to a big3 private. She/he now works 2-3 times as hard as at Deal and gets A-/B+ grades but is probably at the 80% for her private school class. Her friends with similar Deal grades who stayed at Wilson are at the tippy top of their class. Neither group is going to get into the Ivy League. The big3 kid at the 80-90% like my child will likely get into places like Michigan, Wisconsin, UCLA, etc. And those are EXACTLY the same schools that the top (white, unhooked) kids I know from Wilson are applying to (if you drill down and see who is going to the Ivy League from Wilson it's almost all athletes or minorities--not kids getting in on academics alone). So essentially we're paying $45K a year for the same college outcome. We didn't make the switch for college reasons at all but if your'e strictly talking college outcomes I'm definitely seeing this play out. A top student in DCPS should stay in DCPS unless they are so much of an academic outlier that they will be in the very, very top percentages of a big3 school (and that is exceedingly hard to be!). We have two other kids and we have no intention of transferring them to private and they currently have no desire to go.

[Anonymous]

As someone who pays for an expensive private school, I don't think my child's admissions chances will be greater than the local public. Probably worse, actually. But he is learning how to read and write effectively and enjoy learning, which wasn't the case when he was in public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Above poster has it right. Private for high school these days should be only if you have a child that needs closer assistance. It’s not a ticket to Yale and hasn’t been in thirty years. Better to go to Wilson if college admissions is your sole focus. This can’t end up being a long thread as these factors are not really debatable.

Moderator: please lock this thread. This is an incredibly persuasive post.

PP: could you please go through the other posts and tell us what other topics are not debatable?

Haha. So what private school in the DC area is a lock for an Ivy League admission? Because it certainly isn’t a big three school. Private school is good for the concierge service and admission to schools that you continue to pay full freight like Wash U, Wesleyan, Amherst, Bowdoin, maybe a large big ten, but the privates here can’t compare at all to the large public schools when you compare comparable AP public student to private (maybe no longer have AP) student.

Tell me the factors that are up for debate? Compare a Wilson AP student parents both high GS, not a minority. A student. Rower. Compare that make students changes to an STA boy of similar smarts. I’d put my money on the Wilson boy’s chances at ivy as much higher.

I don’t know - I was looking to you for the answers. I just still haven’t heard anything other than your gut and a bunch of conclusions without actual evidence. What do the numbers look like? How do students in middle 50% do comparatively? You say they can’t compare -why not? You could be right but your support seems to be nothing more than repeating your original belief.

The private schools have their admissions on their websites. Lots of expensive middling schools. It’s no longer send your young man to STA to get into Yale then your country club. These schools are designed to cater to kids who need small classes.

+1. This. I remember being shocked at how few admits from Sidwell actually were HyPS bound. These schools can’t take lots of kids from any one school as they need a diverse class and particularly if you’re not wealthy enough to be a major donor or a legacy, your kid will be at a disadvantage.