There are many top private schools, but especially Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, that give very generous financial aid to families earning up to $200,000 to 300,000, and bringing in first gen or low income families remains a priority.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The results from some of the top private schools (e.g., Sidwell, GDS) are really impressive. It doesn't look like a lot of these kids are athletic recruits. Presumably the vast majority are full pay but I don't think that's really much of a hook (a lot of full pay kids in public schools in the area too). I'm wondering if a lot of these kids are legacies? Or are they just really, really disproportionately impressive so that they can overcome the lottery-level admissions rates to top schools.

Private school families are more likely to be able to pay for their child to actually attend the top schools. Most likely many top public school students also get in at similar rates but wind up attending state schools or less expensive non-ivy schools. That os where you see the difference in the outcomes of who actually attends what school and why kids from privates dispeoportionately attend top rated, pricier private schools.

PP here - and you can see phenomena very clearly if you look at what colleges students in area public schools go to in what is considered "wealthier" area publics vs. less wealthy publics - for example, you can see that students at Churchill and Whitman have a higher number of students going to Princeton, Cornell, Harvard, etc. than students from Gaithersburg HS or even Richard Montgomery - certainly we know that a number of students at those schools, particularly at RM given the IB program are high stats and high qualified, but you see most students on the school's instagram going to lesser known/public schools whereas the Churchill, Whitman, and BCC clusters have families with much higher incomes on average and you see many more final commits to schools like

It money and ability for a family to afford a particular school - that's the difference - that's the "hook" not because kids at Sidwell and GDS are inherently better, smarter, or have some je ne sais quoi that other kids don't have.

If my family could have afforded it, I would have attended NYU in the 90s, but they couldn't, so I didn't. Look at other messages on this board - the subset of families who ask about whether they should send their children to their "dream school" or one they can afford/is less expensive are not the ones attending Sidwell and GDS - the families at Sidwell and GDS don't have that dilemma, so they can disproportionately choose the top schools and those are the only results you see on Instagram or the school's website - you don't see the other 10 schools the kids who commit to UMD get into.

The question is how many kids are really like that? 10 admits, but committing to UMD that you know? I know very, very few. Mostly, the public-school kids don't get in or are WL.

Reminds me of a story my history professor told years ago about going into work at the small New England liberal arts college where he was then employed following Nixon's victory in the 1972 election and having the Dean say "Can't believe he won -- I don't know anyone who voted for him."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The results from some of the top private schools (e.g., Sidwell, GDS) are really impressive. It doesn't look like a lot of these kids are athletic recruits. Presumably the vast majority are full pay but I don't think that's really much of a hook (a lot of full pay kids in public schools in the area too). I'm wondering if a lot of these kids are legacies? Or are they just really, really disproportionately impressive so that they can overcome the lottery-level admissions rates to top schools.

Smart, connected and willing/able to pay $95k/year. 99% of college applicants and families couldn't fathom that bill. We're in a bubble.

there?

Why not if saving in a 529 since kids were little?

Many people don't have the means to rack up $400k + in a 529 even if saving from the time a child is little, and many in public schools do not have parents who have been able to save from the time kids were little. Parents with kids in privates have a very skewed sense of what other families can afford...

Uh huh

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The results from some of the top private schools (e.g., Sidwell, GDS) are really impressive. It doesn't look like a lot of these kids are athletic recruits. Presumably the vast majority are full pay but I don't think that's really much of a hook (a lot of full pay kids in public schools in the area too). I'm wondering if a lot of these kids are legacies? Or are they just really, really disproportionately impressive so that they can overcome the lottery-level admissions rates to top schools.

Smart, connected and willing/able to pay $95k/year. 99% of college applicants and families couldn't fathom that bill. We're in a bubble.

there?

Why not if saving in a 529 since kids were little?

Many people don't have the means to rack up $400k + in a 529 even if saving from the time a child is little, and many in public schools do not have parents who have been able to save from the time kids were little. Parents with kids in privates have a very skewed sense of what other families can afford...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The results from some of the top private schools (e.g., Sidwell, GDS) are really impressive. It doesn't look like a lot of these kids are athletic recruits. Presumably the vast majority are full pay but I don't think that's really much of a hook (a lot of full pay kids in public schools in the area too). I'm wondering if a lot of these kids are legacies? Or are they just really, really disproportionately impressive so that they can overcome the lottery-level admissions rates to top schools.

Smart, connected and willing/able to pay $95k/year. 99% of college applicants and families couldn't fathom that bill. We're in a bubble.

there?

Why not if saving in a 529 since kids were little?

So don't forget the affinity score - that matters as much as personal and academic scores.

Affinity gives them the likelihood that you (based on your profile) will attend. This is where your HS comes into play.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The results from some of the top private schools (e.g., Sidwell, GDS) are really impressive. It doesn't look like a lot of these kids are athletic recruits. Presumably the vast majority are full pay but I don't think that's really much of a hook (a lot of full pay kids in public schools in the area too). I'm wondering if a lot of these kids are legacies? Or are they just really, really disproportionately impressive so that they can overcome the lottery-level admissions rates to top schools.

Private school families are more likely to be able to pay for their child to actually attend the top schools. Most likely many top public school students also get in at similar rates but wind up attending state schools or less expensive non-ivy schools. That os where you see the difference in the outcomes of who actually attends what school and why kids from privates dispeoportionately attend top rated, pricier private schools.

PP here - and you can see phenomena very clearly if you look at what colleges students in area public schools go to in what is considered "wealthier" area publics vs. less wealthy publics - for example, you can see that students at Churchill and Whitman have a higher number of students going to Princeton, Cornell, Harvard, etc. than students from Gaithersburg HS or even Richard Montgomery - certainly we know that a number of students at those schools, particularly at RM given the IB program are high stats and high qualified, but you see most students on the school's instagram going to lesser known/public schools whereas the Churchill, Whitman, and BCC clusters have families with much higher incomes on average and you see many more final commits to schools like

It money and ability for a family to afford a particular school - that's the difference - that's the "hook" not because kids at Sidwell and GDS are inherently better, smarter, or have some je ne sais quoi that other kids don't have.

If my family could have afforded it, I would have attended NYU in the 90s, but they couldn't, so I didn't. Look at other messages on this board - the subset of families who ask about whether they should send their children to their "dream school" or one they can afford/is less expensive are not the ones attending Sidwell and GDS - the families at Sidwell and GDS don't have that dilemma, so they can disproportionately choose the top schools and those are the only results you see on Instagram or the school's website - you don't see the other 10 schools the kids who commit to UMD get into.

The question is how many kids are really like that? 10 admits, but committing to UMD that you know? I know very, very few. Mostly, the public-school kids don't get in or are WL.

What is your sample size? How many kids have told you their admit lists from public schools in the area? Hundreds?

Even accounting for hooks, private and public magnet schools do better with college matriculation at top schools, per capita. Colleges put some weight on the fact that the schools have already screened the kids once though admissions and there is a very competitive peer group.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The results from some of the top private schools (e.g., Sidwell, GDS) are really impressive. It doesn't look like a lot of these kids are athletic recruits. Presumably the vast majority are full pay but I don't think that's really much of a hook (a lot of full pay kids in public schools in the area too). I'm wondering if a lot of these kids are legacies? Or are they just really, really disproportionately impressive so that they can overcome the lottery-level admissions rates to top schools.

Private school families are more likely to be able to pay for their child to actually attend the top schools. Most likely many top public school students also get in at similar rates but wind up attending state schools or less expensive non-ivy schools. That os where you see the difference in the outcomes of who actually attends what school and why kids from privates dispeoportionately attend top rated, pricier private schools.

PP here - and you can see phenomena very clearly if you look at what colleges students in area public schools go to in what is considered "wealthier" area publics vs. less wealthy publics - for example, you can see that students at Churchill and Whitman have a higher number of students going to Princeton, Cornell, Harvard, etc. than students from Gaithersburg HS or even Richard Montgomery - certainly we know that a number of students at those schools, particularly at RM given the IB program are high stats and high qualified, but you see most students on the school's instagram going to lesser known/public schools whereas the Churchill, Whitman, and BCC clusters have families with much higher incomes on average and you see many more final commits to schools like

It money and ability for a family to afford a particular school - that's the difference - that's the "hook" not because kids at Sidwell and GDS are inherently better, smarter, or have some je ne sais quoi that other kids don't have.

If my family could have afforded it, I would have attended NYU in the 90s, but they couldn't, so I didn't. Look at other messages on this board - the subset of families who ask about whether they should send their children to their "dream school" or one they can afford/is less expensive are not the ones attending Sidwell and GDS - the families at Sidwell and GDS don't have that dilemma, so they can disproportionately choose the top schools and those are the only results you see on Instagram or the school's website - you don't see the other 10 schools the kids who commit to UMD get into.

The question is how many kids are really like that? 10 admits, but committing to UMD that you know? I know very, very few. Mostly, the public-school kids don't get in or are WL.

Anonymous wrote:Most early admits at our Big3 are legacies. Ignore the “non-DMV private” PP they are unhelpful and irrelevant to this discussion of the Big3

No one cares about your “Big3”. The rest of America is taking over this site. And the obsession with three schools is truly sad. So glad I don’t live in your tiny little bubble.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The results from some of the top private schools (e.g., Sidwell, GDS) are really impressive. It doesn't look like a lot of these kids are athletic recruits. Presumably the vast majority are full pay but I don't think that's really much of a hook (a lot of full pay kids in public schools in the area too). I'm wondering if a lot of these kids are legacies? Or are they just really, really disproportionately impressive so that they can overcome the lottery-level admissions rates to top schools.

Private school families are more likely to be able to pay for their child to actually attend the top schools. Most likely many top public school students also get in at similar rates but wind up attending state schools or less expensive non-ivy schools. That os where you see the difference in the outcomes of who actually attends what school and why kids from privates dispeoportionately attend top rated, pricier private schools.

PP here - and you can see phenomena very clearly if you look at what colleges students in area public schools go to in what is considered "wealthier" area publics vs. less wealthy publics - for example, you can see that students at Churchill and Whitman have a higher number of students going to Princeton, Cornell, Harvard, etc. than students from Gaithersburg HS or even Richard Montgomery - certainly we know that a number of students at those schools, particularly at RM given the IB program are high stats and high qualified, but you see most students on the school's instagram going to lesser known/public schools whereas the Churchill, Whitman, and BCC clusters have families with much higher incomes on average and you see many more final commits to schools like

It money and ability for a family to afford a particular school - that's the difference - that's the "hook" not because kids at Sidwell and GDS are inherently better, smarter, or have some je ne sais quoi that other kids don't have.

If my family could have afforded it, I would have attended NYU in the 90s, but they couldn't, so I didn't. Look at other messages on this board - the subset of families who ask about whether they should send their children to their "dream school" or one they can afford/is less expensive are not the ones attending Sidwell and GDS - the families at Sidwell and GDS don't have that dilemma, so they can disproportionately choose the top schools and those are the only results you see on Instagram or the school's website - you don't see the other 10 schools the kids who commit to UMD get into.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The results from some of the top private schools (e.g., Sidwell, GDS) are really impressive. It doesn't look like a lot of these kids are athletic recruits. Presumably the vast majority are full pay but I don't think that's really much of a hook (a lot of full pay kids in public schools in the area too). I'm wondering if a lot of these kids are legacies? Or are they just really, really disproportionately impressive so that they can overcome the lottery-level admissions rates to top schools.

Private school families are more likely to be able to pay for their child to actually attend the top schools. Most likely many top public school students also get in at similar rates but wind up attending state schools or less expensive non-ivy schools. That os where you see the difference in the outcomes of who actually attends what school and why kids from privates dispeoportionately attend top rated, pricier private schools.

And most importantly, on yield - colleges look at past rates from your HS and cohort and can estimate the chances they can convert you. Yield and the EM software is critical here; more likely to WL many public school top stats students than admit if past performance indicates unlikely matriculation.

Anonymous wrote:The results from some of the top private schools (e.g., Sidwell, GDS) are really impressive. It doesn't look like a lot of these kids are athletic recruits. Presumably the vast majority are full pay but I don't think that's really much of a hook (a lot of full pay kids in public schools in the area too). I'm wondering if a lot of these kids are legacies? Or are they just really, really disproportionately impressive so that they can overcome the lottery-level admissions rates to top schools.

Private school families are more likely to be able to pay for their child to actually attend the top schools. Most likely many top public school students also get in at similar rates but wind up attending state schools or less expensive non-ivy schools. That os where you see the difference in the outcomes of who actually attends what school and why kids from privates dispeoportionately attend top rated, pricier private schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've had 4 kids between two different Big3 schools. On average, 50% of Ivy admits from
the schools have been legacies. 20% are athletes. 30% are in on brains alone.

What % fit some other institutional priority (theater; music) not relevant to “brains alone”?

Like a true music recruit? Like one every other year maybe.

I’m seeing a lot of music double majors listed for RD Ivy/Ivy+ admits from various east coast private and boarding schools.

Duke’s newspaper had an article about how they’re looking for more music majors. Don’t think they are just looking for “talent recruits”….at some schools they need someone to fill the music classes too.

Do you have a link to that article?