Reply to NCS college admissions if kid is not a legacy, URM, or athletic recruit

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The problem with private school and top college admissions is that colleges are going to take the top academic kids from each school. So if you are middle of the pack at private you are behind the top public school kids in the pecking order.  And by the time admissions goes through the top public school kids all of the seats are allocated. So the bottom 70% of private school kids are at a disadvantage. I think that is the issue in a nutshell.[/quote]

No, did the read the OP?  Audi missed the point entirely  
The issue is that the top academic kids at NCS (this year) year are not getting spots in top 30 or top 40 schools,  The top spots are going entirely (or 95%)  to athletes, legacy and URM. There is of course some overlap of course (athletes, legacies or URN with top academics)  but if you're not one of these categories, you're not getting in to a top college from NCS--even if you are a TOP academic student.  OP was asking where the top 20 academic kids can apply because the top colleges are off the table if you don't have a hook  [/quote]

I actually don’t think this statement is true -   The kids who gained admission at those schools ARE the top kids (for the most points) and they all also happen to benefit from a hook.  I look at that list and I can only think of maybe 2 kids where I am surprised at the placement.  The issue is the other maybe 2-3 top kids, truly top cum laude, terminal math in advanced calculus etc.  are not getting into top 30 colleges.   The kids at the BU/BC/Tulane/WM are more the “top 40%” kids who at NCS are still exceptional.   10 years ago that group would be at UMich, Tufts etc.  5 years ago Tufts, Davidson, Wake etc.  and now it’s like the B+\A- kids are BU/BC level which to some seems less impressive.  
[/quote]

I would say that there is about 75% overlap. A decent 25% of the kids graduating as top academic kids are not getting into top 30 schools because they lack a hook.  Some other things I would like to mention:
1)legacy is also not just ordinary legacy at NCS, especially this year.  It's big donor legacy or 2-3 generation legacy.  Plenty of legacy grads do not (and did not) get in, even with very good stats. 
2)I know that NO kid is guaranteed a spot in a top 30 school but it's pretty crazy that you can graduate with an A-/B+ average at NCS and not crack the top 40 schools.  I have a daughter at NCS and also have a public school graduate and can say that the work load, discipline, and shear smarts required to get A-/B+ average at NCS is 5 times what it required my 
public school kid to get for straight As. My kid does not attend NCS for a boost in college admissions but this is sobering (? not sure that is word I'm looking for) none-the-less.   [/quote]

How are you defining “top academic kids?” Are you defining that as Cum Laude society, or something broader? And how are you defining Top 40? Coming up with any sort of Top 40 is sort of arbitrary. Not every kid wants every school. Some kids don’t want SLACs. Some don’t want to leave the East Coast or attend a UC other than UCLA or Berkeley even though, for example, UCSB and UCSD are great schools. Some kids might have been looking for great Merit Aid, even at NCS. That’s the problem with making these generalizations when you don’t really know why people made the decisions they made. And the idea that its a material difference in outcome if some attends Tufts instead of BC or BU seems based on outdated thinking based on what admissions was like for us, not for our kids. I agree that NCS often seems overly rigorous. My DD just got through what was probably the toughest stretch of her NCS experience, and it is remarkably difficult to maintain the type of high average needed to get into some top schools. But there are also so many great options for these girls, and they seem to understand that better than their parents do. My DD knows so many stories of parents putting insane pressure on their kids about college. Does it not give you pause that the school feels the need to give a session for Junior Parents reminding them to love their daughters no matter where they get into college? Did that not embarrass you at all? [/quote]

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