Do you think it is easier to get into a top college from public or private?

[Anonymous]

Look at the five-year matriculation list from The Lawrenceville School, one of the top 5 boring schools in America. Class around max 200.
https://www.lawrenceville.org/academics/college-counseling

Do the same from St. Paul's, Andover, Exeter. This is who is taking the spots first.

Let us not forget Harvard-Westlake, sitting out in LA.

Then Sty, TJ, Bronx Sci, and the other national magnet high schools that the Admissions officers get to pick and choose from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will depend on the school. Private schools obviously have an advantage bc they choose their students. That’s not the case at public high schools that educate everyone in their district. That’s their mission.

But the top 10-20 percent of students at well resourced public schools like Langley and the Ws do just as well as the elite private school students when it comes to college admissions. And the STEM kids at public schools are usually much stronger than the private school students. Which is no small thing these days.

Do they all get into top20 schools? This is the question. I don't know as I'm a private school parent. At STA and Sidwell they do. 100%.
Do 100% of the top 20% at Langley and the Ws get into top20 schools?

100 percent of students at STA and Sidwell do not go to top 20 schools. If you're talking about the top 10-20 percent at STA and Sidwell, sure. But you're talking about a few dozen students at most who all went through a competitive admissions process just to go to high school. That's not the case at public schools, where everyone can attend.

The other thing to remember is that STA and Sidwell parents tend to be rich. They don't think about merit scholarships. There are a lot of great students at Langley and the Ws that end up choosing full rides at Maryland or UVA or honors programs elsewhere with significant awards over dropping $400,000 to attend Cornel or Columbia. Most people have more than one kid, and spending $800,000 for college is a big stretch for most working professionals. So professional UMC families make different choices than the STA and Sidwell families who aren't concerned by cost.

But in terms of college admissions, there is no meaningful difference in results between private school students and the strong public school students. And of course there are a lot of wealthy families in the W and Langley districts, so the money issue doesn't apply to everyone. Choose whatever is a better fit for your kid.

Of course, there are differences, you just identified some,

One can reasonably conclude that if one wants to attend an instate public college, doesn’t matter where you go. But private schools do better with top private colleges, it’s obvious from the composition of the class. We have really touched on slacs, but they really love private school kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am from the Bay Area and what I can tell you from my experience is that the 5-10% top students at both the excellent (e.g. Gunn and the like) and the high quality independent privates do very well. Most, though not all will be accepted to a T20, assuming that is what they are trying for and that they have the EC's and character to match their GPA and scores.
The difference I have observed is where the next 10% of the class is accepted. In the case of my DC's private school those students got into Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Rice, Emory, Vanderbilt and Georgetown (none were legacies). That was not the experience of the kids from the public high school-

This is it. If you are top 5% in public or top 5-10% in private, same outcomes - most likely.
If you are top 20-40% (depending on how "feeder" the private is), you'll have T20 outcomes. Just have to be at the "right" private school. They aren't all equal.

I don’t even think this is correct. Very few publics send the top few unhooked kids to a H/Y/P year after year. The top privates schools do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look at the five-year matriculation list from The Lawrenceville School, one of the top 5 boring schools in America. Class around max 200.
https://www.lawrenceville.org/academics/college-counseling

Do the same from St. Paul's, Andover, Exeter. This is who is taking the spots first.

Let us not forget Harvard-Westlake, sitting out in LA.

Then Sty, TJ, Bronx Sci, and the other national magnet high schools that the Admissions officers get to pick and choose from.

Matriculation at Lawrenceville, PEA, PA has declined over the past ten years, but still pumping out amazing results. 10, 20 years ago they have far more ivy admits than now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The real answer is that it's very difficult to know. Poster after poster is throwing out bullshit and treating it as fact, but nobody has been approaching this scientifically.

For example, yes, it's true that at the very top colleges there are a disproportionately high number of private school kids. But no one is controlling for (a) legacies, (b) major donors, or most importantly (c) who is actually applying to these schools. Many public school family just don't have the interest or don't think they have the money for these schools so they don't even apply.

Why do you think everyone insists that applying to an Ivy from a podunk high school in Nebraska can give a student an edge? Because no one applies to Ivies from podunk schools in Nebraska.

You're also not differentiating between acceptances and matriculations. There are posters here saying, for example, that private schools do better with lower top 20 or top liberal arts college admissions. These posters are just looking at matriculation numbers, however. They're not taking into account the possibility -- indeed, the likelihood -- that public school kids are turning down admissions offers to these schools for less expensive options.

Etc

+1

[Anonymous]

Agree with the comment about L-ville. The world has changed, but in the day of risk management, which much of college admissions is really about, these schools still produce reliable students who can do the work, contribute to the classroom, and continue to contribute to the university for years to come.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree with the comment about L-ville. The world has changed, but in the day of risk management, which much of college admissions is really about, these schools still produce reliable students who can do the work, contribute to the classroom, and continue to contribute to the university for years to come.

That's what colleges are looking for at the end of the day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am from the Bay Area and what I can tell you from my experience is that the 5-10% top students at both the excellent (e.g. Gunn and the like) and the high quality independent privates do very well. Most, though not all will be accepted to a T20, assuming that is what they are trying for and that they have the EC's and character to match their GPA and scores.
The difference I have observed is where the next 10% of the class is accepted. In the case of my DC's private school those students got into Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Rice, Emory, Vanderbilt and Georgetown (none were legacies). That was not the experience of the kids from the public high school-

This is it. If you are top 5% in public or top 5-10% in private, same outcomes - most likely.
If you are top 20-40% (depending on how "feeder" the private is), you'll have T20 outcomes. Just have to be at the "right" private school. They aren't all equal.

I don’t even think this is correct. Very few publics send the top few unhooked kids to a H/Y/P year after year. The top privates schools do.

There are plenty of publics that have those kinds of results in the upper echelons of their classes year after year. Take a look at Montgomery Blair’s college admissions IG from ‘25, for example. This board is preoccupied with the NOVA and W publics so it is rarely discussed, but I believe they had five kids go to MIT, among many other T20s. FIVE. Much broader range of schools than you would find at an elite private, but their top kids have great outcomes. That includes kids who might take a step or two down in “prestige” to take advantage of merit money or other scholarships.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am from the Bay Area and what I can tell you from my experience is that the 5-10% top students at both the excellent (e.g. Gunn and the like) and the high quality independent privates do very well. Most, though not all will be accepted to a T20, assuming that is what they are trying for and that they have the EC's and character to match their GPA and scores.
The difference I have observed is where the next 10% of the class is accepted. In the case of my DC's private school those students got into Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Rice, Emory, Vanderbilt and Georgetown (none were legacies). That was not the experience of the kids from the public high school-

This is it. If you are top 5% in public or top 5-10% in private, same outcomes - most likely.
If you are top 20-40% (depending on how "feeder" the private is), you'll have T20 outcomes. Just have to be at the "right" private school. They aren't all equal.

I don’t even think this is correct. Very few publics send the top few unhooked kids to a H/Y/P year after year. The top privates schools do.

I agree that top privates send more kids to H/Y/P - my guess is that a fair number of these students are hooked though (legacy, URM, development cases, recruited athletes). However, if you compare an unhooked kid who is ranked 15 at top private school vs. an unhooked kid who is number 1 at a top public school, I think the results will be the same, or tilted in favor of the top public school kid for HYPSM. H and P love their legacies, but MIT has higher percentage of kids coming from public schools and does not give legacy preference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The big advantage of a private is the college counseling advice. The big suburban publics give you no individualized support, and, indeed, frequently give counterproductive class selection guidance! Poor little teen complaining about how hard foreign language is? "Oh, poor dear, you should drop it next year and take something fun like ceramics!" Also, the competition is fierce and secretive. No one knows where anyone is applying!

As a reader for a college scholarship committee, I will also say that the recommendations from private school couseling offices are typically vastly superior. Public school recs tend to be Timmy is an excellent student, he took the hardest courses, he was a valuable member of our school. It is usually clear that the writer doesn't know the student all that well. Private school recs tend to be way more personal and detailed, highlighting accomplisments, leadership, special circumstances, and framing the candidate in a way that complements the rest of the application package. It is a huge advantage.

Op here. I worry about this for my HS kid. He is a strong student and the counselor absolutely does not know him.

I recommend reaching out to the counselor and talking with them about what the schools your DS is applying to expect.

I’ve heard here elsewhere that even some privates have counselors that send a form home junior year to get this information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The big advantage of a private is the college counseling advice. The big suburban publics give you no individualized support, and, indeed, frequently give counterproductive class selection guidance! Poor little teen complaining about how hard foreign language is? "Oh, poor dear, you should drop it next year and take something fun like ceramics!" Also, the competition is fierce and secretive. No one knows where anyone is applying!

As a reader for a college scholarship committee, I will also say that the recommendations from private school couseling offices are typically vastly superior. Public school recs tend to be Timmy is an excellent student, he took the hardest courses, he was a valuable member of our school. It is usually clear that the writer doesn't know the student all that well. Private school recs tend to be way more personal and detailed, highlighting accomplisments, leadership, special circumstances, and framing the candidate in a way that complements the rest of the application package. It is a huge advantage.

Op here. I worry about this for my HS kid. He is a strong student and the counselor absolutely does not know him.

My DC went to a public. The worse thing is that they absolutely don’t care to know you.

This is sad. This was not true at my son’s CA public,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree with the comment about L-ville. The world has changed, but in the day of risk management, which much of college admissions is really about, these schools still produce reliable students who can do the work, contribute to the classroom, and continue to contribute to the university for years to come.

Lawrenceville is the most expensive school in New Jersey (so, wealthy families) and is flooded with Princeton legacy kids, so I don't think that's a typical comparison. Another school that is not a typical private school is Hopkins School in New Haven, where they had 16 kids go to Yale - I'm sure a good many of these kids were faculty/staff kids so they were hooked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am from the Bay Area and what I can tell you from my experience is that the 5-10% top students at both the excellent (e.g. Gunn and the like) and the high quality independent privates do very well. Most, though not all will be accepted to a T20, assuming that is what they are trying for and that they have the EC's and character to match their GPA and scores.
The difference I have observed is where the next 10% of the class is accepted. In the case of my DC's private school those students got into Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Rice, Emory, Vanderbilt and Georgetown (none were legacies). That was not the experience of the kids from the public high school-

This is it. If you are top 5% in public or top 5-10% in private, same outcomes - most likely.
If you are top 20-40% (depending on how "feeder" the private is), you'll have T20 outcomes. Just have to be at the "right" private school. They aren't all equal.

I don’t even think this is correct. Very few publics send the top few unhooked kids to a H/Y/P year after year. The top privates schools do.

I agree that top privates send more kids to H/Y/P - my guess is that a fair number of these students are hooked though (legacy, URM, development cases, recruited athletes). However, if you compare an unhooked kid who is ranked 15 at top private school vs. an unhooked kid who is number 1 at a top public school, I think the results will be the same, or tilted in favor of the top public school kid for HYPSM. H and P love their legacies, but MIT has higher percentage of kids coming from public schools and does not give legacy preference.

Our private does very well at MIT, in Baltimore.

[Anonymous]

It really is quite funny to me that posters act as if there are no hooked kids at public schools. Legacies, URM/first gen, and athletic recruits exist at both types of schools, not just private schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am from the Bay Area and what I can tell you from my experience is that the 5-10% top students at both the excellent (e.g. Gunn and the like) and the high quality independent privates do very well. Most, though not all will be accepted to a T20, assuming that is what they are trying for and that they have the EC's and character to match their GPA and scores.
The difference I have observed is where the next 10% of the class is accepted. In the case of my DC's private school those students got into Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Rice, Emory, Vanderbilt and Georgetown (none were legacies). That was not the experience of the kids from the public high school-

This is it. If you are top 5% in public or top 5-10% in private, same outcomes - most likely.
If you are top 20-40% (depending on how "feeder" the private is), you'll have T20 outcomes. Just have to be at the "right" private school. They aren't all equal.

I don’t even think this is correct. Very few publics send the top few unhooked kids to a H/Y/P year after year. The top privates schools do.

There are plenty of publics that have those kinds of results in the upper echelons of their classes year after year. Take a look at Montgomery Blair’s college admissions IG from ‘25, for example. This board is preoccupied with the NOVA and W publics so it is rarely discussed, but I believe they had five kids go to MIT, among many other T20s. FIVE. Much broader range of schools than you would find at an elite private, but their top kids have great outcomes. That includes kids who might take a step or two down in “prestige” to take advantage of merit money or other scholarships.

Magnet schools are more similar to private schools, though. Students have been vetted by the school administrations and there is more homogeneity in the kids’ academic levels.