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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I worked in college admissions at a top 15 liberal arts college. With similar test scores and similar programs, Kid x who is in the bottom half of the top 20% at a W school is not getting in while kid y who is in the top 10% at Wheaton IS getting in. [/quote]

At a top 15 LAC, a kid in the top 10% at Wheaton would still have a very low shot of getting in. Get real.  It's not a school exactly bursting with high achievers. [/quote]

You're wrong. It's the Yale or jail phenomenon. Colleges like to see high performers (with objectively good scores on SATs and APs) come out of less than stellar schools because it speaks to initiative, persistence and helps to diversify their acceptance pool. No college or university likes admit too many students from any one particular school so there is somewhat of a penalty for kids at W schools who aren't the absolute best and the brightest. [/quote]

Different poster here. Yale or Jail is a phenomenon at some schools like Wilson, but not at every area high school. I'm not the PP with a kid at Wilson. But Wilson is a known entity with some very high achieving kids in some very well-regarded special programs. Same for MoCo magnets and the W schools - all of these places have great reputations and together they can supply the 30-something kids a college will want to take from the DC area. So the selective colleges may take the top 10% from Whitman or Wilson and the top 2% from Wheaton (I'm making these numbers up, but you see the point).

FWIW, Bethesda Magazine recently published acceptance stats for certain area high schools, although Wheaton isn't among them this year: http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Magazine/September-October-2013/College-Bound/[/quote]

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