Reply to Which DC area private school have the highest acceptances to Harvard?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=baltimoreguy]It seems logical that the most selective private schools will probably have the most students accepted to highly selective colleges and universities. These students are getting into STA, or Sidwell, or wherever, in large part because of their high test scores and strong academic aptitude. These attributes will carry over into the college admissions process.

I wonder about whether there's an edge to be gained by being a bigger fish in a smaller pond. At, for example, Sidwell, there are going to be dozens of kids scoring in the 99th percentile on the SAT (which went down to 2290 in 2013) and fighting to be at the top of the class. But a kid with that kind of ability at a less selective/competitive school is going to stand out more, be at the top of the class, get great recommendations, etc. Schools won't admit it, but at a certain point, they're going to cap the number of students they admit from any one school.[/quote]

I think there is something to be said for that.  The schools definitely look at all applicants from the same school together (and standard practice is to have dedicated admissions officers by region).  However, you still have to show as very, very bright, with high scores and fantastic recommendations.  A fair amount of good private schools around here don't generally have many (or sometimes any) National Merit Semifinalists in a given year, so maybe if a kid is that kind of top scorer/top student they really will stand out.  Or, the local admissions rep will say -- "hmmm, only 1 NMSF at School X -- competition is a lot tougher at [insert school with lots of high scorers]."

In the end, as trite as it is, much of it is about the fit and feel.  Some kids will love being pushed intellectually by lots of hard charging peers; others will blossom and thrive better if they do not perceive their environment as quite so competitive.  I continue to believe that the faculty is comparable at the well-established schools, even outside of the "Big X," and think kids will get a great education.
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