College Acceptance/Matriculation Stats: NCS/STA, Holton/Landon

[Anonymous]

I'm pretty tired of the recurring claims of GDS boosterism in contexts where similar comments about StA or Sidwell aren't considered annoying.

It'd be one thing if the GDS hater(s) would post a substantive critique of the school but the claim that anything favorable said about GDS must have been posted by staff is just content-free mudslinging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:... just content-free mudslinging ...

Great description. Totally agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:17:25 - had a cousin in that class and agree with 18:16. The school and family agreed to have him withdraw voluntarily so he wouldn't HAVE to be kicked out. Apparently that's the courtesy you get for being from that family/position.

Whatever. The incident highlights a key difference between Sidwell and STA. T and A didn't like being talked to by STA when Lil' A had unacceptable behavior. behaviors continued at Sidwell but the school looked the other way. Who wants their kids in a school where money, power, and position can result in any given student creating a negative environment? What's a school supposed to do? Not even mention the fact to a parent?

[Anonymous]

Now, I bet you and your husband would gladly trade in your 4 Ivy diplomas for 4 State U diplomas!

[Anonymous]

My daughter graduated Holton. When she was in the seventh grade, Jay Matthews, WP, came to talk about his book "Harvard Schmarvard". In that book, he wrote it is actually much harder to get into an Ivy from an eclusive private school than a lower-tiered public school. That's because they're too many smart kids at St.A, NCS, HAS... (I really think Landon is on a much lower level tier). All of the smart kids are vying for a very few spots at the Ivies. Now the Ivies feel much better about accepting a kid from a no-name school vs. some elite private school. It is a sort of reverse snobbery.

My daughter got into an Ivy even though my husband & I went to no-name schools. She was a recruited athlete. I would certainly say if you want your kid to be accepted into an Ivy -- spend more time/money are trainers than tutors. Kids with perfect grades/SAT scores were rejected. Their parents actually wrote nasty letters to the Ivies/Stanford saying they let the wrong kids in. We couldn't believe it...spoiled sports. The only kids who got into Harvard were legacy kids. Many parents were upset their kids "had to go to Northwestern or U. of Chicago" over some "lesser kids" going to the Ivies.

[Anonymous]

PP, I disagree with you that Landon is on a lower level tier. I've lived in DC for 30 years, and Landon has excellent college placement. Quite a few of their grads get athletic scholarhsips, so that may skew their results a bit, but Landon is highly regarded by the top colleges.

[Anonymous]

13:57 -- Dont' take my word for it...look at the WSJ -- Landon doesn't even rank...Holton was ranked highest in the area. The only Landon kids getting into Ivies are indeed recruited athletes...good for them! Since sports are so important at Landon -- academics take a back seat. At Holton, NCS, and ST.A -- the kids are expected to be great not only at sports -- but everything as well including sports.

[Anonymous]

Landon is not in the top tier. Landon is in a lower tier. Compare the college placements over the last 5 years. Compare the number of students that are National Merit Semi-finalists over the last 5 years. Compare the number of students with scores of 4 or 5 on AP exams over the last 5 years. Compare the number of their students winning Maryland Math awards, Math Counts, MOEMS, AMC awards over the last 5 years. Compare the number of students that enter "little three", Ivies, Stanford, MIT/Cal Tech, Univ of Chicago over the last 5 years.

If top tier refers to top 100. I concede. If top tier refers to tuition or local lacrosse player production, I concede. But, if top tier is top 5 (D.C. metropolitan or any other national region) then Landon falls short.

[Anonymous]

H.A.S. Parent -- I agree with you about recruited athletes. If someone is neither a legacy or under-represented minority -- their best ticket into an Ivy is to be a recruited athlete.

A normal white kid -- (non-athlete)-- from an upscale private school is a bore to Ivy Admission Officers. My daughter graduated HAS as well (maybe before yours -- I can't tell). The African American students really rocked on getting into great schools. So did the recruited athletes. The "normal white kids" with top scores in everything ... and who were the heads of all of the ECs -- were "stuck" going to lesser-ranked schools. The tables have turned.

To the people who say "oh it doesn't matter where you go" -- well those people tend to be Baby Boomers who had an easier time getting jobs than this generation will have . In a tough job market --it will matter where this generation goes to school as jobs are hard to find. Employers can and will be selective in hiring.

BTW -- my daughter didn't get into an Ivy even though my husband & I both graduated from 2 different Ivies -- our families gave money -- she had top scores/grades/ECs, etc. She was just "too boring" I suppose for the Admissions people. And, no, she didn't love where she went -- Davidson.

[Anonymous]

The college counselors at St.A, NCS, HAS, etc. don't take any chances. They push for the legacies, minorities and recruited athletes to apply to Ivies to totally maximize their numbers to keep their rankings on the private h.s. ranking lists. The college counselors are bigger snobs than the Ivy Admissions people. They "pre-select" who they think will be admitted and that leaves some really great kids on the sidelines even before they have a chance at applying to the Ivies and other very highly select schools.

[Anonymous]

The boom years you and I enjoyed may have been at the expense of a tough job and employment market for African Americans who had minimal to no access to the Ivy League schools we attended.

[Anonymous]

Since when did higher education cease to be a business?

[Anonymous]

PP -- Of course higher ed is a business -- why do you ask?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The college counselors at St.A, NCS, HAS, etc. don't take any chances. They push for the legacies, minorities and recruited athletes to apply to Ivies to totally maximize their numbers to keep their rankings on the private h.s. ranking lists. The college counselors are bigger snobs than the Ivy Admissions people. They "pre-select" who they think will be admitted and that leaves some really great kids on the sidelines even before they have a chance at applying to the Ivies and other very highly select schools.

Since when do college counselors at these schools or any other school have the power to block a student from applying to whatever college she wants? That seems to be what you're suggesting here. Even if a particular college counselor has such a strong force of personality that she possibly could discourage a somewhat weak-willed student from applying, I suspect that parents of most of those schools are fairly involved in their kids college considerations, and that most parents would encourage their children to apply to whatever colleges the kids want (regardless of the college counselor's views).

[Anonymous]

PP --14:47 --

Ah, you'd be surprised how much power these college counselors amass. My husband & I fought hard to get our daughter's application into the Ivy even though they wanted to recruit her for a sport. We were so insulted by the college counselor. Both my husband & I are highly successful by any standards -- we were made to feel as though our daughter 'wasn't good enough'. We actually had to have the lovely Ivy Coach call the college counselor to "call of the dogs". The counselors control everything. Kids can't just apply to schools on their own. The counselors control the rec. process, who applies, etc. It's appalling. If we had listened to the college counselor -- she wanted our daughter to go to the US Naval Academy. Now, there's nothing wrong with that...but we're pacifists and against war. Plus, if you could get into any Ivy -- would you go to the Naval Academy?