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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Yeahhh-responding only as I was called an unknowing troll in earlier post. I saw that other confirmed that Sheridan posts not only where alumni go to college but of course where they are accepted for HS (it is kind of the job to sell the school to track results on students! I think you'll find that at every private no matter whether they have HS or like Sheridan as a K-8.) As I stated in my original - I have pretty much zero interest in whether or not my kid goes to a ivy, coveted school, whatever but I do think it pretty interesting that we are paying $34,000 a year (yep-I am a real parent and know our renewal is due!) for K-8 and except for a very very nice 9 years - it doesn't SEEM to be setting up our kids for amazing colleges later. Of course the acceptance to the local private HS has good showings spread across all the expected. My point was that the kids, 4 years after Sheridan are not going to Ivies at a high rate (esp given all the legacies in the parent population) or even schools you'd think, given crunchy granola/political demographics, places like Oberlin, Kenyon, Hampshire, Davidson, UChicago. It seems alumni more run of mill which to me is just fine if good fit for my kid and colleges not why I sent DC or hopefully #2 either![/quote]

I think a previous PP raised this, but the broader issue is simply that you can't buy this anymore--college admissions have changed, and the number of students applying has ballooned while the number of spots at the "elite" schools has remained pretty constant. I'm an HYP alum and interview for my school and can tell you that while the caliber of kids coming out of the big schools hasn't changed, the number getting in (at least of the kids I interview--maybe I need to write stronger reports!) has absolutely fallen. Even 10 years ago, if I had an amazing kid and gave a strong "you want this kid!" type of rec, it was pretty likely that the admissions office would see the same thing and the kid would get in. Now it's 50/50 at best. We have also been short of interviewers for the last several years because so many students are applying, and most years I get some little follow-up at the end of the admissions season exclaiming that the number of applications shattered the previous record (set all of a year ago, usually...) It's just incredibly competitive, and admission is less and less a reflection on which schools kids are coming from than on the fact that there are dozens of others coming from similar schools with similar qualifications and there just aren't enough seats. (The good news is that my alma mater, at least, is expanding for the first time in many years, so is expecting a slightly higher acceptance rate this year, but it's barely enough to matter.)[/quote]

Exactly. There is an abundance of alum from these schools, particularly the Harvard graduate programs like HBS and HLS. Additionally, whereas just getting a degree was at one time an achievement in and of itself, now it seems it MUST be an Ivy or bust. The bar is so high now (e.g., speak 9 languages, develop cure for Guinea worm at 9) that it's becoming farcical. Some of these Ivies used to be a combo of an old boys' club and a draw for the best and the brightest. And now they are attracting freaks of nature, tiger children or kids of uber wealthy donors.

There is such a keep-up-with-the-Jones' culture that it permeates down to preschool and finding that feeder to a Big 3, which will ultimately pave the way to HYP. Is this race to the top sustainable? Does the pressure help or hurt the kids (striving for excellence versus erosion of confidence)?[/quote]

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