I don't know what is so confounding about the following points:
1. STA did better in early admissions than NCS this year.
2. Sometimes NCS does better than STA in college admissions.
3. Both schools are as good as they've ever been -- college admissions has changed, however.

Anonymous wrote:Both NCS and STA are superior schools. Anyone who gets in is privileged to go there. One thing folks should remember is that boys are being admitted to colleges with lower grades and test scores than girls now because overall -- they're not performing as well. So, if more STA boys get into Ivies than NCS girls -- that fact is just following a national trend of girls performing better overall. The sad thing though is boys/men are still pretty much in charge of everything...not fair!

I don't think that is true. What is true is that fewer boys are applying to college so if a school wants to maintain a 50/50 gender balance in a class they may need to dip farther in to the boy pool to do that. At the Ivies I doubt that shows up since they have enough candidates with 800 SATs and 4.0s to fill the class more than once. But at other schools it can happen.

Both NCS and STA are superior schools. Anyone who gets in is privileged to go there. One thing folks should remember is that boys are being admitted to colleges with lower grades and test scores than girls now because overall -- they're not performing as well. So, if more STA boys get into Ivies than NCS girls -- that fact is just following a national trend of girls performing better overall. The sad thing though is boys/men are still pretty much in charge of everything...not fair!

Anonymous wrote:I don't know...7:49 sounds well informed..."STAs were amazing this year, amazing. BUT I can only think of one of the boys admitted to an ivy that was not big legacy, big money or recruited athlete."

20% of the current STA senior class were National Merit Semifinalists. But if it makes you feel better to assume they were all admitted early to Ivies as athletes, legacies, and development cases, feel free.

Anonymous wrote:And STA is NCS (going downhill) brother school.

By the way, have checked out the coiffers of the Episcopalian doicese lately?

May provide you some answers regarding the negative slope.

coiffers? Is that a reference to hairstyles ala urban dictionary? Are Episcopalian hairstyles going downhill? Were they ever uphill?

And STA is NCS (going downhill) brother school.

By the way, have checked out the coiffers of the Episcopalian doicese lately?

May provide you some answers regarding the negative slope.

Right, Landon is Holton's "brother" school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't that fun -- NCS is riding on St. Alban's, while Holton is distinguishing itself as a unique institution...

How did Holton get into this?

Direct competition to NCS, but would rather distance itself from its "brother" school than promote any linkages.

Inaccurate statement. NCS strongly promotes its coordinate program with STA (co-Ed classes, joint performance arts, some jointly coached teams).

I was referring to Holton.

I don't know...7:49 sounds well informed..."STAs were amazing this year, amazing. BUT I can only think of one of the boys admitted to an ivy that was not big legacy, big money or recruited athlete."

Anonymous wrote:NCS is certainly not riding on STA. Anyone truly affiliated with the school will tell you that. They do not try to be STA, yes they have co ed classes some years but they are not trying to claim to be STA. We have a DD at the school. This years early admissions stats were not stellar, they were good but not amazing. STAs were amazing this year, amazing. BUT I can only think of one of the boys admitted to an ivy that was not big legacy, big money or recruited athlete.

Agree that NCS has nothing to worry about and that generally its college admissions compare very favorably with St. Albans. Agree that it is silly (statistically and otherwise) to focus on one year. Strongly disagree that the 17 early Ivy admits at St. Albans were mostly about sports, legacies or money--fewer than average were sports related and very few legacy either (and one of the few legacies is the likely valedictorian). No need to denigrate the STA results to respond to the mean, off-base shots at NCS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't that fun -- NCS is riding on St. Alban's, while Holton is distinguishing itself as a unique institution...

How did Holton get into this?

Direct competition to NCS, but would rather distance itself from its "brother" school than promote any linkages.

Inaccurate statement. NCS strongly promotes its coordinate program with STA (co-Ed classes, joint performance arts, some jointly coached teams).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't that fun -- NCS is riding on St. Alban's, while Holton is distinguishing itself as a unique institution...

How did Holton get into this?

Direct competition to NCS, but would rather distance itself from its "brother" school than promote any linkages.

NCS has had a few very good years in recent memory, as many as any area school, but OP and others just have to pick on last year's class. I have done alumni interviewing for a HYP school or several years in the DC area, and the big picture is that all of the Big 3 schools have good years and bad years. NCS had a stellar year recently, but people seem to have forgotten that year and are focusing on last year.

I think you mean "reeks".

Ivys are now firmly entrenched as some of the most socially liberal institutions in the country and most liberal institutions want to distance themselves from anything that wreaks of the "1%." So it stands to reason that with every passing year, these schools would be more inclined to take a very smart public school kid over a very smart NCS, Sidwell, or StA kid. Obviously, there are still legacy kids that will have a leg up at the Ivys, but, maybe ironically, the average kid whose parents sacrificed to get their kid that "prestigious private" diploma are the ones who are out of luck. Possible.