2008 College Placement for "Elite" DC Area Private Schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a little confused by the assertion that upper/upper-middle class African Americans won't send their kids to Wilson. Will they send them to Banneker?

Furthermore, why won't the same upper/upper-middle class whites who have no problems with a public school (Wilson) overwhelmingly reject magnet school Banneker? Isn't Banneker in fact the more competitive school?

I see mostly black kids at Banneker
White parents are basically unwilling to
1. have their kids be a minority
2. send the kids to a less pretty side of NW...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell

C L A S S O F 2 0 0 5 – S U M M A RY R E P O RT

8 number of schools that will enroll more than four SFS students (Columbia, Harvard, Michigan, NYU, U. Pennsylvania, Princeton and Yale)

http://www.sidwell.edu/data/files/news/AlumniMagazine/summer_fall_2005.pdf, p22

This is, of course, the telling statistic and an impressive one.

One reason Sidwell's ivy enrollments look that high is that its senior class is much larger than many of the other independent schools, which have similar placement statistics when looked at porportionately. I'd agree with those who say, however, that the most impressive thing these schools do is not improving their own statistics by linking the kid up with an ivy, but supporting each student as an individual with her own unique gifts and abilities -- these days, most truly well-rounded students don't go to ivies anyway, as those schools tend to be looking for well-rounded classes made up of students with talented extremes.

[Anonymous]

The decision to go to private school should not be about getting into an Ivy League college. If you want to do that, go to a DC public school. Honestly, the chances are better. I'm sending my children to a top private school (Sidwell) so they will get great educations -- recognizing that it will make the admissions process for college a little bit more difficult.

[Anonymous]

In case any of you wanted to know, here are some of the figures for the St. Albans class of 2008, found somewhere else on the web. Class size was ~75 FYI

Harvard - 4
Yale - 4
Princeton - 1
University of Pennsylvania - 3
Columbia - 4
Brown - 1
Cornell - 1
Stanford - 1
Northwestern - 2
University of Chicago - 2
Georgetown - 3
Johns Hopkins - 3
Washington University (St. Louis) - 1
Bowdoin - 2
University of Virginia - 4
Swarthmore - 1
University of Michigan - 1
Davidson - 1
Boston College - 1
University of Maryland - 2
William & Mary - 2
Vanderbilt - 1
Washington & Lee - 1
Wesleyan - 1
Kenyon - 1
Carnegie Mellon - 1
RISD - 1
Colgate - 1
Bucknell - 1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The decision to go to private school should not be about getting into an Ivy League college. If you want to do that, go to a DC public school. Honestly, the chances are better. I'm sending my children to a top private school (Sidwell) so they will get great educations -- recognizing that it will make the admissions process for college a little bit more difficult.

So true -- my child just switched from DCPS to a private school and I think her chances of getting into college will be lessened by that -- but that's not why I'm sending her to a private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In case any of you wanted to know, here are some of the figures for the St. Albans class of 2008, found somewhere else on the web. Class size was ~75 FYI

Harvard - 4
Yale - 4
Princeton - 1
University of Pennsylvania - 3
Columbia - 4
Brown - 1
Cornell - 1
Stanford - 1
Northwestern - 2
University of Chicago - 2
Georgetown - 3
Johns Hopkins - 3
Washington University (St. Louis) - 1
Bowdoin - 2
University of Virginia - 4
Swarthmore - 1
University of Michigan - 1
Davidson - 1
Boston College - 1
University of Maryland - 2
William & Mary - 2
Vanderbilt - 1
Washington & Lee - 1
Wesleyan - 1
Kenyon - 1
Carnegie Mellon - 1
RISD - 1
Colgate - 1
Bucknell - 1

If accurate, this is an astounding list. No wonder all these DCUMers obsess over Beauvoir/STA.

[Anonymous]

Agree. And anyone who thinks otherwise is seriously delusional about private schools and their college acceptances!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree. And anyone who thinks otherwise is seriously delusional about private schools and their college acceptances!

I think that the point such people are making is not that it's not impressive that so many got into Ivy schools. But that no one would spend $300K just so that their kids could get accepted to Univ of Maryland, Univ of Michigan, Bucknell, Weslyan, or Davidson.

Two of own colleges are on this list, and if our kids can get in as legacies, then it eliminates college placement as a reason to push so hard for a top private. We're putting our money instead into lots of enrichment, travel, and a country house. The kid is going to a top public instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree. And anyone who thinks otherwise is seriously delusional about private schools and their college acceptances!

I think that the point such people are making is not that it's not impressive that so many got into Ivy schools. But that no one would spend $300K just so that their kids could get accepted to Univ of Maryland, Univ of Michigan, Bucknell, Weslyan, or Davidson.

Two of own colleges are on this list, and if our kids can get in as legacies, then it eliminates college placement as a reason to push so hard for a top private. We're putting our money instead into lots of enrichment, travel, and a country house. The kid is going to a top public instead.

It's not just the end product - though all of the schools you seem to deride are all excellent, even arguably elite institutions. The 300K "buys" you a network of life-long friends who will be there for you, help you, and provide the proverbial "connections" that we public school graduates both mock and envy.

[Anonymous]

Our son was in public (MCPS) through 6th-grade, then moved to Sidwell. We made this choice despite the likelihood that he'll have a tougher time with college admissions than if he'd stayed in public school. I think most parents at Sidwell have their eyes wide open on this. Eventually, too, the kids figure this out. Just yesterday my son, who's now in high school, commented that he knows of 4 seniors -- all guys and all on one sports team -- who are applying to the same Ivy. Obviously, it's unlikely that all 4 will be accepted. So, if you take the view that the only reason to send your child to an independent school is to get him/her into that marquee-name school, you probably shouldn't bet the farm (or country house) on the prospect that you'll have that fancy-college decal on your rear window.

My husband and I aren't particularly interested in the decal-- we don't have one for Sidwell, nor do we have them for our own marquee-name alma maters. And, no, we didn't send our son to Sidwell in the hope that he'd make all kinds of connections. (Our experience has been that the most valuable connections professionally are those we made in grad school and on the job.) Instead, we chose Sidwell because the school's culture fits our family values of community service and respect for everyone, and because the educational program is really focused on teaching kids to ask questions and think out of the box. We didn't see that in MCPS, although our son had great teachers and got a very good basic elementary school education and our daughter is now in the same public elementary.

[Anonymous]

Clueless here, forgive me, but why would it be "harder" to get into top colleges if you graduate from a private school than it would be if you went to a public school??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Clueless here, forgive me, but why would it be "harder" to get into top colleges if you graduate from a private school than it would be if you went to a public school??

Fewer applicants from the public school and they stand out more. Also, a public school background would be seen to add to diversity, given the high percentage of people applying from private schools. For example, in DC, even if you're a white student, you went to school in a majority black system. The vast majority of white applicants won't bring that with them.

Of course, this is just speculation on my part. If anyone has direct knowledge of this, please share with us.

[Anonymous]

Another thing to consider, when looking at these placement stats, is that the "top" privates select in part for parents who went to Ivies. This means that a larger percentage of their graduating classes are legacies.

[Anonymous]

I don't know that most privates ask on the application where the parents attended college. Sidwell did ask, which I found somewhat offensive. Beauvior did not. My guess is that most schools do not ask.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree. And anyone who thinks otherwise is seriously delusional about private schools and their college acceptances!

I think that the point such people are making is not that it's not impressive that so many got into Ivy schools. But that no one would spend $300K just so that their kids could get accepted to Univ of Maryland, Univ of Michigan, Bucknell, Weslyan, or Davidson.

Two of own colleges are on this list, and if our kids can get in as legacies, then it eliminates college placement as a reason to push so hard for a top private. We're putting our money instead into lots of enrichment, travel, and a country house. The kid is going to a top public instead.

It's not just the end product - though all of the schools you seem to deride are all excellent, even arguably elite institutions. The 300K "buys" you a network of life-long friends who will be there for you, help you, and provide the proverbial "connections" that we public school graduates both mock and envy.

Public schools also provide a "network of life-long friends who will be there for you....." For free.