Anonymous wrote:The top 20 percent of my DCs public school class is 110 kids, which is about the same size as the big 3 classes (bigger than St Albans, slightly smaller than SFS). Most of that group at DCs school will be NMSFs or commended scholars (was 85 kids this year). About half will go to Ivy League or other very top schools (Stanford, MIT, etc.). The rest will probably go to very selective schools, as will many of the kids below the top 20%. Yes some will certainly go to UMD because of economics or because they want to, which is less likely in the Big 3.

What public high school is this?

Anonymous wrote:We chose the opposite. Surprise -- we are much, much happier with public than private. Much more rigorous academics, and much more normal people (real diversity instead of buying a few poor kids). And in the meantime, 529 plan has now reached 100% funding for the entirety of any VA state university tuition, room+board, fees, and extras.

We did the same thing. We pulled our kids out of private 2 years ago (after 3 years in private) and are now able to fully fund college plans. At this rate, both children will be set a few years before they start college.

We are in Arlington and find the academics much more rigorous, like you, and you are so right about there being many more normal people. It was the best decision we ever made.

Cheers!

Our public offers many things, but get in line. Very little opportunity for an individual. All the interesting spots taken already, and so many, many students piling up to compete for each thing. Our DS got many more opportunities at private -- much better experience for him. He can compete with the over crowding soon enough (for college) Right now, opportunities are there for him ...not sometime later (or never) after getting on an endless "waiting list."
Still on the waiting list and MS is long over.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, pp....that's a big risk. Guidance counselors at private high schools have zero pull. The kids from most privates who get into top tier schools either had the test scores or they are legacies. Your kid would have a better shot getting into a top college if he was a shining star somewhere...anywhere. And admittedly it's tough to shine at Wooton or Whitman, but perhaps a tad bit easier at another public school.

Guidance counselors at private high schools have zero pull?

I suppose one could go round and round on that one. Impossible to quantify. I can only say that at our private Big-3 school, the bottom half kids all seem to end up at the same schools where the top 20 percenters at the public schools end up. I also know for a fact these college placement directors have a direct connect to admissions folks at many schools.

The top 20 percent of my DCs public school class is 110 kids, which is about the same size as the big 3 classes (bigger than St Albans, slightly smaller than SFS). Most of that group at DCs school will be NMSFs or commended scholars (was 85 kids this year). About half will go to Ivy League or other very top schools (Stanford, MIT, etc.). The rest will probably go to very selective schools, as will many of the kids below the top 20%. Yes some will certainly go to UMD because of economics or because they want to, which is less likely in the Big 3.

I think you need to consider the numbers when making comparisons by percent of the class since the pool in public is so much larger, and the selection critiera so much different (i.e., live in the school boundaries for our public school).

Anonymous wrote:Wow, pp....that's a big risk. Guidance counselors at private high schools have zero pull. The kids from most privates who get into top tier schools either had the test scores or they are legacies. Your kid would have a better shot getting into a top college if he was a shining star somewhere...anywhere. And admittedly it's tough to shine at Wooton or Whitman, but perhaps a tad bit easier at another public school.

Guidance counselors at private high schools have zero pull?

I suppose one could go round and round on that one. Impossible to quantify. I can only say that at our private Big-3 school, the bottom half kids all seem to end up at the same schools where the top 20 percenters at the public schools end up. I also know for a fact these college placement directors have a direct connect to admissions folks at many schools.

Anonymous wrote:Why don't you just move to a good school district and save the money for college? There are so many top notch public schools in MoCo and NoVA this makes no sense to me.

I live in the Wootton cluster, which is really good. Public elementary schools here still teach to the test and don't teach critical thinking to a large extent. The schools look great on paper, but that doesn't mean they are the best fit for every student.

Anonymous wrote:Why don't you just move to a good school district and save the money for college? There are so many top notch public schools in MoCo and NoVA this makes no sense to me.

Lots of people in the top district send their kids to private school. I don't know the percentage but wouldn't be surprised if it was at least 20%.

I wanted to be able to fund something towards college so that was factored into looking at private schools. Looked at starting private school in 3rd versus K, would we send both or just one, considering parochial schools in addition to independent schools, maybe only doing private school until 8th grade etc.

For me, getting my child thru elementary and middle school and having that foundation (academic and social/ emotional) is more important than saving for college. But it is important to add that my attitude has been to try public first and if there is something my child needs and public school is not serving her well, then consider private. So it isn't like I opted for the BMW, when the Honda Civic would get me from point A to point B and now I'm saying there is no college money. I have cousins where my mom, the parents, grandparents etc. talk about how bright they were as little boys and could take apart and put anything back together ...and yet by high school ...I just don't want that to me talking about my daughter 10 years from now when I had the power to try to change that path.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don't you just move to a good school district and save the money for college? There are so many top notch public schools in MoCo and NoVA this makes no sense to me.

Yes, I agree there are many top notch schools in MoCo and NoVa. We live in one of them. Our goal is simple. We want our kids to go to the best ranked college that they can. Flame away all you want, but that was the goal of my parents, and in retrospect it was the key to my success. The fact of the matter is we do not expect our children to be straight-A, top of the class types at a place like Whitman. Any kid who does that well at the public schools will land at the best colleges. Our calculation is that going to a private school, for a variety of different reasons including the college placement director, will allow our kids to end up at a higher ranked school than they would if they remained on the public school track.

I understand where you are coming from and we basically did the same for one kid. The other is a straight A student at a place like Whitman and should end up at a great college. Having done both, I don't think the college placement for the private school kid would actually have been any different had that DC gone to public school. But the private school was in fact a better fit for DCs learning style/LDs and made for a better HS experience for that kid. So you do need to be clear about what you are aiming for.

Wow, pp....that's a big risk. Guidance counselors at private high schools have zero pull. The kids from most privates who get into top tier schools either had the test scores or they are legacies. Your kid would have a better shot getting into a top college if he was a shining star somewhere...anywhere. And admittedly it's tough to shine at Wooton or Whitman, but perhaps a tad bit easier at another public school.

Anonymous wrote:Why don't you just move to a good school district and save the money for college? There are so many top notch public schools in MoCo and NoVA this makes no sense to me.

Yes, I agree there are many top notch schools in MoCo and NoVa. We live in one of them. Our goal is simple. We want our kids to go to the best ranked college that they can. Flame away all you want, but that was the goal of my parents, and in retrospect it was the key to my success. The fact of the matter is we do not expect our children to be straight-A, top of the class types at a place like Whitman. Any kid who does that well at the public schools will land at the best colleges. Our calculation is that going to a private school, for a variety of different reasons including the college placement director, will allow our kids to end up at a higher ranked school than they would if they remained on the public school track.

Sometimes you can't just get up and move. Sometimes you are stuck in a crappy school district because your house has depreciated and you need to wait for the economy to rebound a bit to avoid an appreciable loss. It isn't that simple for a lot of folks...unfortunately.

Anonymous wrote:Why don't you just move to a good school district and save the money for college? There are so many top notch public schools in MoCo and NoVA this makes no sense to me.

Yes so easy to come up with 100K up front, or deal with a horrendous commute from a more affordable home.

We are paying for private for a religious education. We hope we'll be able to contribute the college, the same (and hopefully more) than we contribute to private.

Why don't you just move to a good school district and save the money for college? There are so many top notch public schools in MoCo and NoVA this makes no sense to me.

Choose the correct school for your child NOW - whether it be public or private. If they need smaller class sizes or a focus on the arts etc. You never know what's coming in the future.