Fewer Public School Applicants for 9th

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.[/quote]

Who said this?

[Anonymous]

Some people have already said it on here but I think there is a misunderstanding re: legacies at the wealthy white public high schools. There are just as many legacies. If you haven’t attended these schools, you may be deluding yourself but HLS alums, etc, fills the hallways. The problem is this area is saturated with people who fancy educations (perhaps that is because those same people probably cannot succeed in other markets where beauty or money or whatnot are the metric for success).

[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.

yes. if you don't believe this then you have your head in the sand. Colleges LOVE kids from Walls and Jackson Reed. They love them. It is far, far easier to get in unhooked to top 50 colleges from Jackson Reed or Walls in 2023 than from NCS or Sidwell. If you don't believe this, go talk to the parent of a senior at your Big3. Go talk to college counseling.
I wish this wasn't the case. My kids left DCPS for Big3 schools. They're now learning twice as much and they are doing well. But I know 100% that they would have gone to better colleges out of DCPS. We're applying to colleges now. Their friends who were mediocre students in middle school and barely studied in high school have better college options and are getting into better schools.
I agree this seems unjust (shouldn't the kids who are better prepared be more prized by colleges?) but it is reality.

It’s YOUR reality. It sounds like your misery is trying to find company—lol. Sucks for your kid that you didn’t put them in a position to be “hooked.” My daughters attend a Big 3 and their legacies at two different Ivies (and we donate annually). Plus, they both play a niche sport. Next time, plan ahead.

Hope the big 3 is teaching them when to use their, there or they’re.

It was a typo, and I corrected it in a second post. I guess it’s a good thing that I already earned my Ivy degree, and my children are double Ivy legacies. Otherwise, my typo could have reduced their ED chances to those of the unhooked (aka “the masses”). 🙄

Wow. Could you be more of a snob? This is just gross.

[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.

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.

This is my understanding as well. Not sold on whether private school is worth it for my kids since our budget isn't unlimited. But my impression is that the solid preparation will pay off no matter where they go to undergrad. Heck -- the private school education may be MORE important if they don't go to a top-20 or whatever school.

[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.

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.

This is my understanding as well. Not sold on whether private school is worth it for my kids since our budget isn't unlimited. But my impression is that the solid preparation will pay off no matter where they go to undergrad. Heck -- the private school education may be MORE important if they don't go to a top-20 or whatever school.

This has become our thinking. We'll likely not be able to choose where our kid goes to college but we could control the education he is getting in high school. He went from public to STA for high school and has grown in leaps and bounds in his ability to read, write, think, reason, interact with adults, etc. Wherever he ends up for college we don't regret these 4 years. They've been a finishing school of sorts (really, a starting and finishing school). He told us the other day "you know mom, I never really learned anything before high school." Granted, he was a public school Covid kid through half of middle school but I found this to be striking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

This is my understanding as well. Not sold on whether private school is worth it for my kids since our budget isn't unlimited. But my impression is that the solid preparation will pay off no matter where they go to undergrad. Heck -- the private school education may be MORE important if they don't go to a top-20 or whatever school.

This has become our thinking. We'll likely not be able to choose where our kid goes to college but we could control the education he is getting in high school. He went from public to STA for high school and has grown in leaps and bounds in his ability to read, write, think, reason, interact with adults, etc. Wherever he ends up for college we don't regret these 4 years. They've been a finishing school of sorts (really, a starting and finishing school). He told us the other day "you know mom, I never really learned anything before high school." Granted, he was a public school Covid kid through half of middle school but I found this to be striking.

I’ll give the kid a pass as he’s still apparently learning critical thinking. But the fact that you would repeat the statement here makes me wonder some things. Clearly he learned many things before HS or he would not have been prepared for HS. And even if we took the statement with a degree of nuance to mean he didn’t think the learning very challenging, that’s still more a function relating to stage of learning and thus necessary depth. One hopes you explained that.

[Anonymous]

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.

yes. if you don't believe this then you have your head in the sand. Colleges LOVE kids from Walls and Jackson Reed. They love them. It is far, far easier to get in unhooked to top 50 colleges from Jackson Reed or Walls in 2023 than from NCS or Sidwell. If you don't believe this, go talk to the parent of a senior at your Big3. Go talk to college counseling.
I wish this wasn't the case. My kids left DCPS for Big3 schools. They're now learning twice as much and they are doing well. But I know 100% that they would have gone to better colleges out of DCPS. We're applying to colleges now. Their friends who were mediocre students in middle school and barely studied in high school have better college options and are getting into better schools.
I agree this seems unjust (shouldn't the kids who are better prepared be more prized by colleges?) but it is reality.

Unjust? Why? Because some public school kid took your kid’s spot? Next you will be complaining about all the disadvantages of private school for college admissions.

Public school is the new DEI

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I grew up here and switched part way through 9th from one of these top high schools to a k-12 that’s often mentioned on here. I ended up at a top liberal arts school and reconnected w/ 2 former classmates from the public school who had been at the top of their class. The difference in college was that these kids were ill prepared for the writing, group collaborations and presentations in college. They had glided by public school with straight As in classes where there was a lot of memorization and testing. I had really had to work my tail off at the k-12 bc I was bit used to all of the presentations, public speaking, writing assignments dissected down to the word, etc. Yes we ended up at the same school, but I was over prepared while they struggled. One needed an extra year to graduate

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

This is my understanding as well. Not sold on whether private school is worth it for my kids since our budget isn't unlimited. But my impression is that the solid preparation will pay off no matter where they go to undergrad. Heck -- the private school education may be MORE important if they don't go to a top-20 or whatever school.

This has become our thinking. We'll likely not be able to choose where our kid goes to college but we could control the education he is getting in high school. He went from public to STA for high school and has grown in leaps and bounds in his ability to read, write, think, reason, interact with adults, etc. Wherever he ends up for college we don't regret these 4 years. They've been a finishing school of sorts (really, a starting and finishing school). He told us the other day "you know mom, I never really learned anything before high school." Granted, he was a public school Covid kid through half of middle school but I found this to be striking.

I’ll give the kid a pass as he’s still apparently learning critical thinking. But the fact that you would repeat the statement here makes me wonder some things. Clearly he learned many things before HS or he would not have been prepared for HS. And even if we took the statement with a degree of nuance to mean he didn’t think the learning very challenging, that’s still more a function relating to stage of learning and thus necessary depth. One hopes you explained that.

I won't give you a pass because you claim to be an adult. You're either a douche or really dense. It's clear what the kid meant. You have a chip on your shoulder and it isn't a good look. I hope. Someone explains that to you in real life.

[Anonymous]

We went to dozens of Open Houses (for Upper Schools) in the DMV area and my impression was there were public school students more than I’ve imagined. For each tour, about 30-40% was a public school family. Of course this depends on the school and I don’t know if they actually applied, but most of the schools did say they have more applicants than ever this year.

That said, I wonder if this is the trend, would privates expand the class a bit per grade or so?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We went to dozens of Open Houses (for Upper Schools) in the DMV area and my impression was there were public school students more than I’ve imagined. For each tour, about 30-40% was a public school family. Of course this depends on the school and I don’t know if they actually applied, but most of the schools did say they have more applicants than ever this year.

That said, I wonder if this is the trend, would privates expand the class a bit per grade or so?

How would you know this? When we went to open houses last year, except for the handful of parents I knew from our own school, I had no idea where any of the other families were currently enrolled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I grew up here and switched part way through 9th from one of these top high schools to a k-12 that’s often mentioned on here. I ended up at a top liberal arts school and reconnected w/ 2 former classmates from the public school who had been at the top of their class. The difference in college was that these kids were ill prepared for the writing, group collaborations and presentations in college. They had glided by public school with straight As in classes where there was a lot of memorization and testing. I had really had to work my tail off at the k-12 bc I was bit used to all of the presentations, public speaking, writing assignments dissected down to the word, etc. Yes we ended up at the same school, but I was over prepared while they struggled. One needed an extra year to graduate

A whole extra year of tuition? So his family still came out financially ahead of yours by a lot.

I was one of these over prepared prep school kids, and I too felt I was blowing everyone out of the water when I got to college. And then, a few months into college, when they all had the same high-level opportunities I had been lucky to have… they all caught up, and then some.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We went to dozens of Open Houses (for Upper Schools) in the DMV area and my impression was there were public school students more than I’ve imagined. For each tour, about 30-40% was a public school family. Of course this depends on the school and I don’t know if they actually applied, but most of the schools did say they have more applicants than ever this year.

That said, I wonder if this is the trend, would privates expand the class a bit per grade or so?

How would you know this? When we went to open houses last year, except for the handful of parents I knew from our own school, I had no idea where any of the other families were currently enrolled.

Because we introduced our selves and we spoke which MS are we from. Some schools only had a bit but for some, more than half was public school parents. I can’t tell for all the tours of course. This is not Big 3 or whatever people call.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We went to dozens of Open Houses (for Upper Schools) in the DMV area and my impression was there were public school students more than I’ve imagined. For each tour, about 30-40% was a public school family. Of course this depends on the school and I don’t know if they actually applied, but most of the schools did say they have more applicants than ever this year.

That said, I wonder if this is the trend, would privates expand the class a bit per grade or so?

How would you know this? When we went to open houses last year, except for the handful of parents I knew from our own school, I had no idea where any of the other families were currently enrolled.

Or maybe it was just the date public student family were easier to attend the open house. (No test or major school event day for public families)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We went to dozens of Open Houses (for Upper Schools) in the DMV area and my impression was there were public school students more than I’ve imagined. For each tour, about 30-40% was a public school family. Of course this depends on the school and I don’t know if they actually applied, but most of the schools did say they have more applicants than ever this year.

That said, I wonder if this is the trend, would privates expand the class a bit per grade or so?

How would you know this? When we went to open houses last year, except for the handful of parents I knew from our own school, I had no idea where any of the other families were currently enrolled.

Because we introduced our selves and we spoke which MS are we from. Some schools only had a bit but for some, more than half was public school parents. I can’t tell for all the tours of course. This is not Big 3 or whatever people call.

You said for each tour. Or was it not for all tours?

And dozens of open houses? For HS/US?

?