The assumption on this thread is that OP is local and talking about the Big 3. I don’t think either is the case. And I don’t think any of the Big 3 is “elite” on the national level.

The reality is you'll never know, and it will vary from year to year, class to class, and kid to kid.

Have your child go to the HS that's best for them, and then the college/university that's best for them. Then you can't go wrong.

I think the advantage comes when it’s down to your kid and one other. Private schools give admissions officers a guarantee that your child can likely keep up in college. There’s also the fact that private schools have relationships with certain colleges so the counselor has a direct line to the admissions office. Finally, because they have smaller classes, teachers and counselors can write more tailored LORs.

They are also getting admitted to Ivy League schools where their parents did not attend.

I have kids in public and private, a disproportionate number of the private school kids are Ivy legacies sometimes double legacy or have famous parents so even with similar grades, those kids have an advantage.

Anonymous wrote:No, that's just rich people cope.

Being at the bottom of a small class hurts your elite college admissions, no matter how high your class average SAT is, while being at the top of that class gives you a decent shot, but no guarantee. However, being at the bottom of that class is not the same as being at the bottom of the class of a huge school, so it does give you better admissions and merit aid chances outside of the highly rejective colleges range.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, that's just rich people cope.

Are the very top students at Big 3 schools not getting into Ivy League schools?

A few do. Most don’t. It is absolutely not a guarantee. So if that is the reason you want to go, you may be disappointed in the outcome.

Not our experience with 2 kids at 2 different Big3 schools in the past 2 years. If you are top10 in the class then an Ivy is almost a guarantee. This is where attending a Big3 can be an advantage over public. At a public there is a far greater percentage of kids at the top of the class and these kids' college admissions are sorted by their extracurriculars, random chance, etc. Some get an Ivy or other top20 spot, some do not. That all said, it's incredibly hard to be top10 in a Big3 class.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, that's just rich people cope.

Are the very top students at Big 3 schools not getting into Ivy League schools?

A few do. Most don’t. It is absolutely not a guarantee. So if that is the reason you want to go, you may be disappointed in the outcome.

Anonymous wrote:No, that's just rich people cope.

Are the very top students at Big 3 schools not getting into Ivy League schools?

Anonymous wrote:If my kid wants to attend an Ivy League or similar university after high school, will a top private school hurt their chances due to the intense competition?

Unless you have identical twins, with similar strengths and weaknesses, and one goes to NCS and the other goes to a significantly less competitive option … I truly don’t think you could know the answer to this.

If you’re fortunate enough to have choices, your best bet is to pick the school where your kid will thrive and be challenged. That’s much more likely to give them strong college options than trying to game the competition. (I totally get the impulse. I just don’t think it’s that straightforward or accurate.)

The goal posts are going to move many times for your DC. What Ivy League schools want always changes. Private schools have been an advantage in the past but then other times it was being URMs, then living in a low income zip code. Well rounded students were hot until pointy ones were. Test scores seem to be the most important thing this upcoming year but weren’t the past few years.

Making too many decisions with Ivy admissions in mind isn’t the way to go.

No, that's just rich people cope.

But being the very top student at an elite private generally does give you a better shot at getting into at least one Ivy, whereas there are no such guarantees at a run of the mill school.

Yes, because the internal competition is much tougher and colleges will only admit a set quota from each prep school. Families see the matriculation numbers and are misled into believing there's a "connection" between the school and the elite universities. In reality, most kids admitted to top colleges are either hooked or the very top students in the school.

If my kid wants to attend an Ivy League or similar university after high school, will a top private school hurt their chances due to the intense competition?