Reply to Do you think it is easier to get into a top college from public or private?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There is data on this topic.   ~88% of US kids go to public high schools,  the remainder are in private and religious schools.  Yet if you look up the percentage at elite colleges which report the data, the public school students are clearly under represented.  
For example at Yale around 60% are from the publics and 40% are from private high schools.  
[/quote]

I've thought about this a lot because my kids attend(ed) a FCPS public high school (Title I, very diverse, many ESOL/FARMS students), and we've seen strong outcomes for some students. The data does show private schools are overrepresented at T20s, but the reasons are more complicated than just "private is better."

[b]Private schools send more students to elite colleges because of who attends them.[/b]
These schools have far more legacy families, donor families, and full-pay families. That creates a pipeline effect. It's less about the school's quality and more about social capital.

[b]Ability to pay shapes who actually enrolls at elite colleges.[/b]
Many high-achieving public school students turn down elite offers because they can't pay for it and don't qualify for enough aid. Private school families tend to have more financial flexibility, so their students are more likely to attend when admitted.

[b]At competitive public schools, the peer group is the main admissions challenge.[/b]
Places like Langley have many high-achieving students who look similar on paper. Colleges evaluate applicants in the context of their high school, so in-school competition is intense.

[b]Public schools at the other end of the spectrum also send students to Ivies, but for different reasons.[/b]
At our Title I school, Ivy admits (recently Harvard, Princeton, Brown, Yale, and Cornell) often come through QuestBridge or similar ways that align with specific institutional priorities. These students have extraordinary stories and achievements. Besides the Ivies, students have also gone on to a wide range of colleges, including Northwestern, MIT, Williams, Duke, Georgetown, Pomona, Wake Forest, Wesleyan, NYU, Boston College, Boston University, Villanova, Emory, Washington & Lee, Bucknell, Lehigh, and many others across the spectrum. However, most college-bound students end up at VA publics like UVA, William & Mary, Virginia Tech, JMU, George Mason, Mary Washington, etc.

[b]Private school does not guarantee stronger admissions odds.[/b]
Private schools also have extremely competitive internal pools filled with legacies, athletes, and full-pay applicants. A strong student at a good public can be just as successful; the comparison group is just different.

[b]Where private schools can help is in preparation and structure.[/b]
Smaller class sizes (although our Title I schools have small classes), consistent rigor, strict deadlines, extensive writing instruction, and more built-in support for college applications can absolutely help some kids. But that is a distinct issue from admissions odds.

[b]From my own family:[/b]
We have three kids. Two attend SLACs (not T20 schools). One will likely attend our state flagship (but could probably get into a higher-ranked SLAC that we can't afford). I don't think their college outcomes would have been much different if they had gone to private schools or "better" public schools, though they might have gained some organizational (getting used to [i]real[/i] deadlines as been a learning curve for them) or writing advantages at a private school.

[b]Bottom line:[/b]
Private schools can offer a strong environment for some kids. Public schools can be just as strong for others. The real question is which setting allows your child to thrive, rather than which system "gets kids into top colleges."

In our case, we could have moved to a more competitive pyramid, but our kids were doing great where they were. Despite the school's (undeserved) reputation, we've loved the community. They’ve had access to real opportunities, including clubs and sports that aren't cutthroat, and a peer group that is diverse in culture and socioeconomic background. They've also had some outstanding teachers and administrators. Their experience at a majority-minority school has really impacted them, and I think colleges recognize and value that context.

[/quote]

Lots of grandiose opinion that you seem to think is fact.  Not sure you wasted your or our time with this.

Just a quick fyi: most top private schools are far more economically, racially, and ethnically diverse than high income, suburban public schools.[/quote]

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