Anonymous
02/25/2026 20:49
Subject: college outcomes for those who don't get in your chosen school
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Reflecting on the "GDS Rejection" 4 Years Later-
I wanted to share a quick update and some perspective for anyone currently navigating the stress of private school admissions.
A few years ago, when my child didn't get into Georgetown Day School (GDS) for 9th grade, it felt like a major blow. Fast forward to today: that rejection was actually a blessing in disguise.
We pivoted to our local area public school, and it turned out to be the perfect environment. Our child didn't just survive; they thrived.
The Opportunities: The depth of extracurriculars and the "big pond" environment gave our kid the room to find their own voice.
The Financials: We saved an incredible amount of money on tuition, which we were then able to put toward college.
The Result: My child was just accepted into Wharton.
If you look at the admissions data for area publics this year compared to some of the elite privates, the public schools are holding their own and in many cases, seeing even better engagement from top-tier universities.
While I know some students truly need the smaller class sizes and specialized attention of a private school, I want to encourage parents who are dealing with a rejection: Know that there are wonderful things about our area's public schools. Sometimes, the path you didn't choose is the one that leads exactly where they need to go.
We are so happy with that 9th-grade rejection today!
I do think the students from public who get into these top schools are more impressive than the kids from private schools.
They are all kids, each kid is just different. The most defining thing about them isn’t public vs private school. You really need to get out more.
That is the message for Friday. It is the kid. Not the school. The kid can thrive in many different environments.
Anonymous
02/25/2026 20:30
Subject: Re:college outcomes for those who don't get in your chosen school
Anonymous wrote:Echoing another poster above. Private school parent here (since LS) and it's really not about college placement for us. We know our kid will go somewhere that will be a good fit for her.
Private is and always has been about a lot more than that -- primarily safety and feeling like our kid will never slip through the cracks. Of course there are plenty of kids that go to ivies from publics (my husband and I both did) but we don't put our kids in private school for college placement opportunities.
+1. HYP from public but kids in private since K. I care more about fit than college rankings and DCs certainly don’t need to go Ivy.
Anonymous
02/25/2026 20:03
Subject: college outcomes for those who don't get in your chosen school
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Reflecting on the "GDS Rejection" 4 Years Later-
I wanted to share a quick update and some perspective for anyone currently navigating the stress of private school admissions.
A few years ago, when my child didn't get into Georgetown Day School (GDS) for 9th grade, it felt like a major blow. Fast forward to today: that rejection was actually a blessing in disguise.
We pivoted to our local area public school, and it turned out to be the perfect environment. Our child didn't just survive; they thrived.
The Opportunities: The depth of extracurriculars and the "big pond" environment gave our kid the room to find their own voice.
The Financials: We saved an incredible amount of money on tuition, which we were then able to put toward college.
The Result: My child was just accepted into Wharton.
If you look at the admissions data for area publics this year compared to some of the elite privates, the public schools are holding their own and in many cases, seeing even better engagement from top-tier universities.
While I know some students truly need the smaller class sizes and specialized attention of a private school, I want to encourage parents who are dealing with a rejection: Know that there are wonderful things about our area's public schools. Sometimes, the path you didn't choose is the one that leads exactly where they need to go.
We are so happy with that 9th-grade rejection today!
I do think the students from public who get into these top schools are more impressive than the kids from private schools.
They are all kids, each kid is just different. The most defining thing about them isn’t public vs private school. You really need to get out more.
Anonymous
02/25/2026 19:58
Subject: college outcomes for those who don't get in your chosen school
Anonymous wrote:Reflecting on the "GDS Rejection" 4 Years Later-
I wanted to share a quick update and some perspective for anyone currently navigating the stress of private school admissions.
A few years ago, when my child didn't get into Georgetown Day School (GDS) for 9th grade, it felt like a major blow. Fast forward to today: that rejection was actually a blessing in disguise.
We pivoted to our local area public school, and it turned out to be the perfect environment. Our child didn't just survive; they thrived.
The Opportunities: The depth of extracurriculars and the "big pond" environment gave our kid the room to find their own voice.
The Financials: We saved an incredible amount of money on tuition, which we were then able to put toward college.
The Result: My child was just accepted into Wharton.
If you look at the admissions data for area publics this year compared to some of the elite privates, the public schools are holding their own and in many cases, seeing even better engagement from top-tier universities.
While I know some students truly need the smaller class sizes and specialized attention of a private school, I want to encourage parents who are dealing with a rejection: Know that there are wonderful things about our area's public schools. Sometimes, the path you didn't choose is the one that leads exactly where they need to go.
We are so happy with that 9th-grade rejection today!
I do think the students from public who get into these top schools are more impressive than the kids from private schools.
Anonymous
02/25/2026 19:38
Subject: college outcomes for those who don't get in your chosen school
Congrats OP. Getting into Wharton is impressive!
Anonymous
02/25/2026 18:49
Subject: college outcomes for those who don't get in your chosen school
A lot of tone deaf threads in the Private School forum. This is one of them. Elite concerns and "problems".
Anonymous
02/25/2026 13:40
Subject: college outcomes for those who don't get in your chosen school
Funny how easy it is to say go public when you have a good public option. Not all of us do.
Anonymous
02/25/2026 11:27
Subject: college outcomes for those who don't get in your chosen school
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Humblebrag but congrats!
College admissions seems to be the focus of public school parents, while private school parents focus more on life outcome, i.e. 10 years out of college. Hope they enjoy the undergrad b-school.
This. It's a different perspective that is obvious once you're at a top private. There is not a grinder or "holy crap my kid needs to get into a top college at all cost" mentality. There is a huge percentage of kids at these privates that don't need a tippy-top name brand undergraduate degree because their family connections will get them where they need to go.
If your kid needs the degree because they don't have the connections then it's good they're going to Wharton. My kid needed the degree (we have no connections) so it's good that he's at a different Ivy. It's striking because now a few years into their degrees, my kid's DC private high school classmates who attend lower ranked colleges are getting better summer internships, etc through family connections than my kid and Ivy classmates are getting, despite the fact that the Ivy kids were always much better students, are now getting As, doing all the things. Such is life.
Something doesn't compute. Go look at Sidwell's class of 2025 college placements and literally 60% are attending top 20 schools (including top SLACs) and like 85% attending top 50 schools. There was a group of like 6 kids choosing Tulane, and then some D1 athletic recruits at Kentucky and ODU...it's a no-brainer for the basketball player going to Kentucky...which are outside the top 50.
That leaves a small %age attending a random college. Perhaps they don't care if their kid is at Harvard...Dartmouth will do...or Northwestern...or WashU...but they certainly care about a generally high level of college placement.
Anonymous
02/25/2026 11:01
Subject: college outcomes for those who don't get in your chosen school
Lotta sour grades on this thread!
Anonymous
02/25/2026 09:53
Subject: college outcomes for those who don't get in your chosen school
And one more: getting into your dream college doesn’t mean your life is set, and going to your second or third choice college doesn’t mean your life is doomed.
Anonymous
02/25/2026 09:51
Subject: college outcomes for those who don't get in your chosen school
Anonymous wrote:I mean, good for you OP. But it shouldn't be a great surprise that (1) top private schools don't focus solely on academic potential in selecting applicants and (2) top public school grads get into good colleges.
Yeah, and both of these things are magnified for high-scoring kids in the high school Class of 26 (of which I assume OP’s kid is one), because they applied to 9th grade when scores were worth the least (colleges were making noises like they’d all stay test optional forever, and private high schools were taking their pointers from Harvard’s arguments in the SFFA case), and they’re applying to college amidst the sudden return of test mandatory (in a year where it seems like even the colleges that stayed test optional are worried they’ll lose all their high-scorers to the test mandatory schools). Once college admissions settles down, the private high schools will again be better at picking the kids who the colleges will want four years hence, and everyone will go back to attributing the results to the private high schools.
Anonymous
02/25/2026 09:49
Subject: college outcomes for those who don't get in your chosen school
Wherever your kid goes college, please teach them that more important than where they go, is what they do with their time there. The same can be said of high school if your child is mature enough to process this ideal.
Anonymous
02/25/2026 09:35
Subject: college outcomes for those who don't get in your chosen school
I mean, good for you OP. But it shouldn't be a great surprise that (1) top private schools don't focus solely on academic potential in selecting applicants and (2) top public school grads get into good colleges.
Anonymous
02/25/2026 09:16
Subject: college outcomes for those who don't get in your chosen school
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Humblebrag but congrats!
College admissions seems to be the focus of public school parents, while private school parents focus more on life outcome, i.e. 10 years out of college. Hope they enjoy the undergrad b-school.
I bet all the strivers who wants to get in Big 3 absolutely do not care about college placements.
Oh for sure, totally.