Reply to can you get into a top college if you don't do CAP/Magnet/IB?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am certain this is true. It is also undoubtedly true that a high achieving kid will find a bigger peer group at the W schools. But in terms of college admissions, there's also a numbers game to consider. For example, let's say an admissions officer at Ideal U is looking at 35 strong applicants from Whitman, and 2 strong applicants from Northwood (just to use as an example). [b]Who will have the better chance at admission, the Northwood kids, or #s 34 and 35 from the Whitman pool?[/b]

Obviously the W schoosl have many advantages over Wheaton, Kennedy, Rockville, etc. But it's an interesting argument.[/quote]

Probably neither. They compete against each other in the same school but they also compete against everyone that the application officer reads. Changing schools isn't magically going to make the kid a better applicant. The Ws have more competition, but they also get more kids into top colleges. This is precisely BECAUSE their top of the classes is above the other schools. 2 kids from Churchill and Whitman each might get into Harvard/Yale/Princeton while 0 get in from Northwood.

Also I was talking to Harvard admissions officer when I was visiting. They explicitly said that grades and SAT scores are only used to see whether or not the applicant is qualified to go to Harvard, then they are ignored. They estimated that 3/4 of the kids applying are qualified to go. Being #35 as opposed to #1 isn't the crippling disadvantage that you think it is. The applicant will be accepted (or rejected) for some other reason.

I vote for a W school. The environment there is great for a high achiever. DS has had a lot of success finding friends of similar interests as him that I doubt he would be able to find anywhere else.

Of course if you just care about your child getting into a college you can brag about and your child inherits that attitude, I would say that no matter where s/he goes to high school s/he's going to have no chance. The admissions officers can tell. [/quote]

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