Reply to BASIS high school versus middle school

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Spots at the very Ivies and MIT are a lottery.  Perfect grades and perfect test scores get you a ticket to the lottery.  Then you can put your finger on the scale of the lottery with a combination of other things: 
URM, legacy, succeeding at an extracurricular at a regional/national level, coming from a particular school (both a big urban public like JR or a top private like St. Albans may get you this bump), but you really need a few of these things.  You're not going to routinely get in if you just happen to have the perfect grades, be an URM and be involved in city politics at a high school level.  OR have the perfect grades, be legacy and have attended Jackson Reed.  Or have the perfect grades, attend St. Albans AND be a chemistry olympiad champion.

I think sometimes a very challenging school like Basis (my kids are not there but are at NCS which also gives a ton (3-4 hours nightly) of homework) hurts it's graduates for spots at the top schools because the school work is so consuming the kids don't have time to really develop extracurriculars to a regional/national level.  So this potential bump is completely off the table for most kids.  And remember, you can't get in on grades/test scores alone----regardless of where you go to school (Basis, JR, Sidwell, St. Albans, etc).  [/quote]

Actually, if you're talking the actual USNCO, then actually yes, absent extreme disqualifying factors, you absolutely will get in wherever you want to go.

FWIW I got into HYPS (in an admittedly less competitive era) by basically following your advice though... Half assed school so only did OK and spent a ton of time on extra curriculars. Excellent standardized test scores helped schools overlook mediocre grades and extra curriculars were my hook (not "hook" as it's used on this board, just reason for admission).[/quote]

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