Forum Index
»
Private & Independent Schools
Analysis of Percentage of National Merit Semifinalists at Different Schools
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
"What State universities do STA graduates attend, if any?"
I don't know but I'm sure someone will come up with 1 year's data (not a decade) on exmission to State University. Alternatively, if the question is how many go to Ivy league someone will gather data over a 10-year span. It appears from the board, they really don't attend State universities. Those destinations are entitlements for graduates of TJ and Blair Magnet. Sounds like the same private school rock and roller from the mid-west that choked on the stench of public school bathrooms in pre-K before she was salvaged by private schools. |
Anonymous
Christ, you are an insufferable putz. If I ever meet you, I might have to punch you in the nose. Here's StA's list: http://www.stalbansschool.org/contentPage.aspx?pageId=42341§ionId=961. Do the math yourself. |
Anonymous
Temper...temper... |
Anonymous
Wow...the list that you provided is not as impressive as I would have thought. For $33,000/year (or a total of $297,000 for grades 4-12), you would think that everyone ended up at Harvard or Yale. TJ has similar exmissions yet they are free--assuming you live in the right neighborhood. Makes you wonder whether that $297K is worth it, doesn't it? |
Anonymous
| OP: I could not open my link so I have not responded to the pugilist. |
Anonymous
| Why all of the criticisms of St. Alban's and the comparison to TJ? There are people from all over the world who move to Fairfax in order to have their children have the chance to test for and apply to TJ. In fact, I know of a family who split up the family and had the mom move to Virginia while the husband remained in Asia so that the kids would have a chance to gain the residency to apply for TJ. It is frequently ranked the top high school in the country. Of course the kids there have great scores, and are very impressive in many ways. Good for them. If my kids are gifted in the ways that would make them thrive at TJ, I'd love for them to go. I don't see how the existence of this fabulous public school is seen as calling into question parents' decision to send their children to another school. Good grief, TJ essentially sweeps in a large portion of the top student in Fairfax County (and elsewhere), and it's free. So I would think it selects from a significantly higher number of potential students than St. Alban's, or any other private or non-magnet public. It applaud the success of its students, but this shining star of a school doesn't detract from my thinking about other privates in the area. I just feel lucky that it's another option that kids in teh area may have it they are so talented and so inclined. |
Anonymous
| We agree there are many excellent public and private schools in the area. |
Anonymous
I've seen the list, yes, it's just okay. No a STA $300k+ education is not worth it. Though for some there is a bit of networking potential through all that warm & cozy STA brotherhood and ball playing socializing. Adcoms are not impressed with mediocre test scores & average gpas from STA boys. Only students with some sort of hook will end up at a Harvard, Yale or some top liberal arts college with a less than competitive package. |
Anonymous
My link still does not open. But you are preaching to the choir. This is the 21st century. Who knows whether the preferential and grade-blind treatment of the earlier part of the 20th century will return. |
Anonymous
Of course not. They'd get beat up. |
Anonymous
Yes, the poster did provide raw data and then proceeded with an analysis without description of methods. What was done with missing data? Garbage in -- garbage out. The message this analysis sent made absolutely no credible sense. |
Anonymous
By which public school kids, Blair Magnet or TJ? |
SAM2
Member Offline
Member Offline
PP, I did not exclude any data. I think you must not be reading my prior posts where I ask everyone to give me more data to fill those gaps. Here's one example:
If you want more data in the spreadsheet, then spend your time finding some more data sources for me. I've already added some extra data that other people found and posted. Can you find some too? I'm not sure what you don't understand about my calculations. As someone else helpfully pointed out, you can just click on various spreadsheet cells to see the exact formulas I used to average the data. The simple summary is that I divided the average number of NMSFs by the average class size to get a sense of what percentage of each school reaches NMSF. I'm also not sure what "message" you think I'm trying to send with these percentages. I've tried to make clear that I'm just offering up some data I pulled together, and I'm volunteering to supplement that data if people will find more sources. I don't have any links to any of these high schools, so I don't care about individual schools. If I have any "message," it's that people should quit making bullshit claims about any school and instead back up their claims with verifiable data. I hope this explanation helps you. I look forward to your contributions to fill any missing-data gaps. |
Anonymous
|
I'm the first, "gentle" poster who asked about 10 years. I haven't posted since then, and I really don't have a dog in the St.A vs. TJ fight. In fact, I'm not sure the St.A and Sidwell data is statistically significant over any time range, so you could make it Sidwell vs. Blair for all I care.
I do want to take issue with the carp that TJ students are just "good test takers". My kid is in the Takoma math and science magnet, so I've seen the entry process up close. Teacher recommendations are very important -- there are lots of bright kids, but not all bright kids will apply themselves. Also, the magnet kids are put into honors English and Soc. Studies automatically, unless you request otherwise. They are a pretty well-rounded group of kids, at DC's MS magnet. Not sure many of you care. But I couldn't let these slurs go by without comment. FWIW, Blair has 2 "magnets", if by magnet you mean test-driven entrance. The 2nd Blair competitive-entrance program is the Communication Arts Program. There are a total of 3 magnets in MoCo -- Blair's 2 plus the IB program at Richard Montgomery. The CAP program has had 2 of Blair's NMSFs over the past two years: http://cap.mbhs.edu/about.html. There are many talented kids in the non-magnet program, too, but it may be fair to say that most of the NMSFs are in the magnet program. The magnet has 100 kids: http://www.mbhs.edu/departments/magnet/apply.php. |
Anonymous
| I appreciate the elaboration. |