Some great perspective in previous comments. I would add that given most (all?) schools, the majority of students do NOT end up at "elite" colleges. So, without knowing to what extent a student will meet the institutional priorities of the school (the ultimate metric), the question is will you be happy with a decision given the strong likelihood they don't get into the school of preference - or decide thats not an environment they would thrive in. Pick the one that is best for your child in terms of fit, mental health and educational opportunity. Do that you will be satisfied with this decision regardless of the outcome.

Look up the MIT applying sideways blog post from several years ago. It's a gem.

Anonymous wrote:It depends on the college. No for HYPSM. Yes for Uchicago and a few others.

Been at this a few years for my kids. Every year parents misinterpret private high school placements, which are often heavily influenced by VIP families and other hooks. Every year parents enroll their kids and push them to grind away to be at the top of their classes. Every year they head out on Spring Break junior year and make a beeline for HYP, Brown and Columbia, believing this is the kids’ destiny. And every year almost all those great kids get mowed down.

I keep wondering when people are going to start figuring out that this equation does not result in success.

So so true.

Don’t go to private school for college admissions purposes! Go for the education or whatever else you like about it, but not this.

My kids went to private. One went to a private HS with sub 10% admission rate (not in the DMV). Guess what! Super competitive and very hard to be at the top of the class. She was at the top through middle school in our public school. She got into great colleges (not T-20) with a “low” unweighted GPA but I honestly think she would have had better results at our local public and with a lot less work. This school prides itself on having a lot of homework (an hour a night for each regular class and 1.5 hours for each “honors” — no APs offered, block schedule so average of 5 hours a night). The kids at our public school doing APs were doing way less work.

I feel she could have gotten a “better” college result from public, where she would have a weighted GPA and would be higher up in the class, but I don’t regret our decision (and the $200k) for a minute. She got an amazing education and was very well prepared for college.

My other kid absolutely needed the smaller class sizes in private and would have gotten most at a large public school (we know because she was in public for elementary and needed a ton of remediation when she switched). I don’t know if public college acceptances would have been better or worse. Really hard to say. I do feel like the private tried to keep her expectations in check and had her apply to lower ranked schools.

I’m very pro private school for the right reasons, but to me, those reasons do not include college admissions

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly it depends on your kid’s stats. What are the target types of schools based on gpa/stats/profile.


But imo yes, it does help. My kid w/ a 3.8 unweighted GPA at a non-DMV private got into colleges (including Ivy) that he wouldn’t have gotten into at a public. Maybe his GPA would’ve been higher at the public, but there’s no way he could’ve stood out.

Search for a thread here with 3.8 GDS in title…

His unweighted GPA would not have been higher at a good DMV public with the highest level of rigor available to him. Please stop the nonsense.

It would be higher at APS and MCPS. At APS, 90-100 is 4.0. And at MCPS a A+B= A/4.0. My kid’s private gives a 3.7 for —A. Not to mention the retakes available at all these schools. My kid gets a 60 - it stays a 60 in the grade book. I think private schools’ college acceptances are skewed by athletes, family connections, and the superstars they admit in 9th grade. One advantage I think the private has over public is admissions to SLACs. If you are going to do private just for college - DON’T. My kid and their friends at other private schools have way more homework than their public peers. And the mandatory afterschool activities all year round mean they are starting their homework much later than public school kids. Private was right for my Kid for a number of reasons, but as I look toward college I have slight regrets.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private school helps if you want to end up at private college , esp mid range (eg Tulane, BU, Emory etc)
Private school does not help if you want to get into tippy top (unless your kid is #1-#5 at the school). If your kid is #20, they will discourage you from applying to HYPSM because it might hurt the top kids chances.

Public school is great if your kid would otherwise be upper middle of the road at private but can be the top in the public.

Yes but much much much easier to get into these schools from a private HS if full pay:
Cornell, U Chicago, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, Wash u, Emory, Georgetown, Rice, CMU, USC, NYU, BC, Tufts,

OP here. We would be happy with these college outcomes for any of our three children. DH and I both attended T30 colleges and ivy grad schools. We have a seven figure income and paying tuition will not be a problem.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private school helps if you want to end up at private college , esp mid range (eg Tulane, BU, Emory etc)
Private school does not help if you want to get into tippy top (unless your kid is #1-#5 at the school). If your kid is #20, they will discourage you from applying to HYPSM because it might hurt the top kids chances.

Public school is great if your kid would otherwise be upper middle of the road at private but can be the top in the public.

Yes but much much much easier to get into these schools from a private HS if full pay:
Cornell, U Chicago, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, Wash u, Emory, Georgetown, Rice, CMU, USC, NYU, BC, Tufts,

But then ask yourself, would my kid have gotten in to these schools from public anyway? Probably, yes. And saved a boatload of money in high school which can go towards the college or grad school

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private school helps if you want to end up at private college , esp mid range (eg Tulane, BU, Emory etc)
Private school does not help if you want to get into tippy top (unless your kid is #1-#5 at the school). If your kid is #20, they will discourage you from applying to HYPSM because it might hurt the top kids chances.

Public school is great if your kid would otherwise be upper middle of the road at private but can be the top in the public.

Yes but much much much easier to get into these schools from a private HS if full pay:
Cornell, U Chicago, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, Wash u, Emory, Georgetown, Rice, CMU, USC, NYU, BC, Tufts,

These are the schools.
Plus some lower ranked ones (Tulane; Wake; etc) and SLACs

Add U Miami

Yes for most NESCACs, NYU, Chicago, Tufts, but not every school. Also, I think if it’s not too much of a financial burden, I think some private schools help with connections in the future. Schools like Sidwell, GDS, St. Albans, etc. can help with internships, post grad jobs, etc. You meet a lot of people with parents who have influence and can connect to other private school alums.

I would agree that less kids are posting on “commitment” instagram accounts; our public high school has very few students who have done so despite pretty awesome acceptances.

To answer your question, I don’t think a private will help you per se.

The most important thing is to have a high income and/or fully funded 529s. Having the ability to afford $95k each year opens up a lot of opportunities; for example your kid can then apply ED, which helps their chances.

Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private school helps if you want to end up at private college , esp mid range (eg Tulane, BU, Emory etc)
Private school does not help if you want to get into tippy top (unless your kid is #1-#5 at the school). If your kid is #20, they will discourage you from applying to HYPSM because it might hurt the top kids chances.

Public school is great if your kid would otherwise be upper middle of the road at private but can be the top in the public.

Yes but much much much easier to get into these schools from a private HS if full pay:
Cornell, U Chicago, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, Wash u, Emory, Georgetown, Rice, CMU, USC, NYU, BC, Tufts,

These are the schools.
Plus some lower ranked ones (Tulane; Wake; etc) and SLACs

Don’t switch your kid who is doing well at a public school into a private school on the hopes of better college admission. Where they end up would probably not change anyway and just add stress to the high school experience.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah I wouldn't decide based on insta pages. My kid goes to a dcum unregarded public and has friends going to Harvard, mit, BU, Dartmouth, Middlebury etc. they do not allow post on the insta pages.

Kids who aren't recruited athletes or URMs? Name the school or it didn't happen.

PP, please do not respond to this. People like this are precisely why it's bothersome to post results at all. Also, if the school is a hidden gem, it's better off staying that way.

Anonymous wrote:Private school helps if you want to end up at private college , esp mid range (eg Tulane, BU, Emory etc)
Private school does not help if you want to get into tippy top (unless your kid is #1-#5 at the school). If your kid is #20, they will discourage you from applying to HYPSM because it might hurt the top kids chances.

Public school is great if your kid would otherwise be upper middle of the road at private but can be the top in the public.

Yes but much much much easier to get into these schools from a private HS if full pay:
Cornell, U Chicago, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, Wash u, Emory, Georgetown, Rice, CMU, USC, NYU, BC, Tufts,

You're so naive, OP. Here are some hard truths:

1. Top privates select at entry. It stands to reason that the student body would therefore be more capable and go to better universities on average than students in public.

2. Top privates are expensive, and the parents there are more often graduates of elite universities than parents in public. Having an alumni parent gives the kid an edge during college admissions. If you did not graduate from an elite institution you are targeting for your kid, your kid has practically ZERO chance of getting in from a top private school, because these universities have quotas for each high school, and they will prioritize the top students from each school, *who also have* hooks. Most of the time, it's stellar athletic performance and/or having an alumni parent. There is too much academic excellence in every school, public and private, for Ivies to admit solely based on that. In public, the competition is equally fierce but seems more "equitable" on the surface: the kids who go to Harvard may not have alumni parents, but maybe they created a thriving non-profit (see multiple threads on that controversial issue).

3. Money: your goal should be building generational wealth for your kids. With the galloping prices of a college education, private universities are not within the reach of most middle class families. If your kid has to pay back expensive loans for decades, this will set them back significantly in their wealth growth. A lot of private universities are in the 90-100K a year range, total cost of attendance (tuition, room and board). State colleges are in the 30-40K a year range.

4. Due to the rising education costs for the middle class, state colleges have become more selective, because more students are enrolling, due to being financially shut out of more expensive options. Your State U was maybe considered a safety a few years, and now your kid might not even get in! Ex: UMD rejected kids last year who had a 4.2 weighted GPA, multiple APs and decent extra-curriculars.

5. Therefore it becomes a matter of economic necessity to have an overall attractive profile to keep costs down, either in State U or with merit aid in private university, with the long-term goal of not wasting money on branding that might not be worth the very high price. And as it happens, you can built yourself a very nice profile, with academics, ECs, etc, in public.

Private schools that do well with admissions to highly ranked schools do so in large part because they are already screening in their own admissions for candidates who have a high chance of doing well in selective college admissions. Going to that school if you aren't already a very strong candidate does not mean you will become a very strong candidate for T10 schools.