Reply to Does private school give kids a better chance to get into good college?

Forum Index » Schools and Education General Discussion

Reply to "Does private school give kids a better chance to get into good college?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]There are certainly some private schools like Dalton or Harvard Westlake that provide a serious advantage when it comes to top 20 college admissions. But that’s not because of the students. Or the quality of their education. It’s because of the parents, who tend to be wealthy and powerful.

It’s a symbiotic relationship. Elite schools like the children of the elite and vice versa.

In the DC area, however, there is no private that competes with those schools. New York privates in particular inhabit a completely different world. DC has nothing like it.

If you live in the DMV and your only concern is college admissions, there are zero benefits to going to private now. Yes, they might get more hand holding when it comes to ECs, test prep, counseling.

But that’s not necessarily a good thing. All those kids from Whitman and Churchill and Langley who end up at good universities did so because they were self-motivated enough to make their way through an environment with 2000+ kids and overworked teachers and administrators. Those kids tend to find each other and create their own support network. Privileged as they may be, they all demonstrate some gumption and discipline and seem to do pretty well with college acceptances.

But this all depends on what your public option is. I think anyone that lives in the Whitman district and chooses a private for perceived advantages in college admissions is delusional. But if you’re zoned for Eastern, of course it makes sense

And as always, this is dependent on the student’s particular situation. Some students - special needs, etc - will be better served in private

[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics