We are an UMC family with two kids that have attended a "big 3". We were deeply unhappy with MCPS so decided that we'd send our kids to private for HS (didn't have deep enough pockets for ES or MS).

DH and I are 50 and most parents that we know are gen-x or very young boomers). There are definitely families in the lifer crowd who started their kids in the Big 3 to make sure their kids would attend a top college. Most of them have been beaten down by reality over the years, but, when their kids started school a decade ago, many parents still had this mindset. I assume younger parents are making this decision with their eyes wide open. OP may be right that fewer of these parents will be interested in PK-12. Only time will tell.

Anonymous wrote:Did OP ever name the university that rejected her kid's ED application?

3.7 GPA doesn't sound very competitive for any top school. Certainly not T20.

Wasn't there a recent thread about how half of kids have 4.0s??

I am guessing her expectations were really off. A 3.7 in a top private may presumably buy easier access to a desirable, but not top, private university, or public college. I'm not even sure if that would ensure acceptance into a top 50 school honestly.

A 3.7 at NCS or Sidwell is top 25% of the class, possibly top 15%. Just shy of the Ivys, good enough for Chicago. They have grade deflation. NCS has not had a student with a 4.0 in many years.
This is not to say that public or private is better or worse---just that for what it's worth, a 3.7 at some of these schools is a top GPA. They just don't have kids graduating with straight As.

Anonymous wrote:I am amazed at the number of MC and UMC sending their kids to private school in the DMV. Such a sad state of affairs. Public schools around the country seem way better that what you have here. The rigor and breadth of education in public schools in other states do not even compare, and our schools were open the whole time during the pandemic.

My kid did nothing but color for her almost 2 years of public in NOVA. At a desirable school too. Sad doesn't even come close to describing how pathetic FCPS was. Parents pay for private education while enrolled in public, so their kids can learn the basics like Kumon, Spider Math, etc.

Did OP ever name the university that rejected her kid's ED application?

3.7 GPA doesn't sound very competitive for any top school. Certainly not T20.

Wasn't there a recent thread about how half of kids have 4.0s??

I am guessing her expectations were really off. A 3.7 in a top private may presumably buy easier access to a desirable, but not top, private university, or public college. I'm not even sure if that would ensure acceptance into a top 50 school honestly.

I am amazed at the number of MC and UMC sending their kids to private school in the DMV. Such a sad state of affairs. Public schools around the country seem way better that what you have here. The rigor and breadth of education in public schools in other states do not even compare, and our schools were open the whole time during the pandemic.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Im sounding the alarm. The end is near.

For any one of you paying full tuition at a Private School for college admissions purposes (hoping you'll get into a better college), you are 100% wasting your money. I have several children in Big 3's and unless you are URM, QuestBridge, Athlete or Legacy - you are completely wasting your money. No one cares that your school is tough. That a 3.7 is really great. No one cares about ACT/SATs anymore.

You are wasting your money. 100%

The college admissions process is now washed of achievement. And there is backlash against wealth and privilege.

Dont do it. Dont waste your time. And your money. And stop perpetuating the dummying down of our system.

I wish someone would have told me 3 years ago before I enrolled my kids. Total waste of money.

I'm not sending my kid to private so that he can get into college. I'm sending him to private so that he can succeed in college.

In his particular case and based on the quality of the public schools in our area, it's by far the best education.

The comment about succeeding is so true. A better matrix would be a comparison of the number of kids who matriculate from college coming from private vs public high school. My privately schooled DS watched a lot of his public school friends crash and burn freshman year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is hysterical. So much posturing from both sides. To the OP and the other bitter PPs, tough luck that your K-12 tuition dollars don't guarantee your kids a guaranteed glidepath to a T20 school. It's grotesque to see the casual racism and classism that is unleashed by the possible loss of an iota of privilege.

And to those sanctimommies who are insisting you don't give a fig about college outcomes after shelling out $50k a year for 13 years, puhleez. If it was all about "community and service," there's plenty of opportunity for both in public schools. You paid a premium for the cachet and handholding of private kindergarten; you're really going to cheer when your kids go to a third-tier public university?

I agree with you on the grotesqueness of the casual racism and classism, but it's quite something to watch you then jump gleefully into full-blown sexism, which rather weakens your point.

I like you!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is hysterical. So much posturing from both sides. To the OP and the other bitter PPs, tough luck that your K-12 tuition dollars don't guarantee your kids a guaranteed glidepath to a T20 school. It's grotesque to see the casual racism and classism that is unleashed by the possible loss of an iota of privilege.

And to those sanctimommies who are insisting you don't give a fig about college outcomes after shelling out $50k a year for 13 years, puhleez. If it was all about "community and service," there's plenty of opportunity for both in public schools. You paid a premium for the cachet and handholding of private kindergarten; you're really going to cheer when your kids go to a third-tier public university?

It’s so freaking weird how some public school parents refuse to believe that many private school parents are sending their kids to a private school for… the education they will receive. If you say “actually, I care more about the K-12 experience and education than I do about college admissions” they tell you you are lying about what you care about. Bizarre. It’s like there’s just no room in their brain for a world in which anyone isn’t primarily motivated by college acceptance.

Right? So do they think there is ONE private school parent who keeps posting that again and again? I could have all the parents from my kids' private come on here and say the same thing I am to show that we really do care about the day-to-day experiences our kids are having in school, but then I'm sure they'd still say we're lying. Private school parents couldn't care less what public school parents do. So why is the reverse never true?

Anonymous wrote:This thread is hysterical. So much posturing from both sides. To the OP and the other bitter PPs, tough luck that your K-12 tuition dollars don't guarantee your kids a guaranteed glidepath to a T20 school. It's grotesque to see the casual racism and classism that is unleashed by the possible loss of an iota of privilege.

And to those sanctimommies who are insisting you don't give a fig about college outcomes after shelling out $50k a year for 13 years, puhleez. If it was all about "community and service," there's plenty of opportunity for both in public schools. You paid a premium for the cachet and handholding of private kindergarten; you're really going to cheer when your kids go to a third-tier public university?

Whose kids are going from private to a third-tier public university? I'll wait.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:50K a year?

How about free and 5K of tutors. You all are idiots.

Why would I send my kid to an inadequate school all day so they can come home and learn again with tutors? WTF sense does that make?

Right?!? Hardly a ringing endorsement - send your kid to public school so they can spend hours with tutors after being at school all day! Yay for you?

Funny, all of my friends with kids in Big 3 privates have tutors for their HS students. In fact, someone recommended a math teacher at Sidwell as a tutor for my public DC and when I reached out, he said his plate was full tutoring Sidwell students.

Anyway, I’m sure many private parents send their kids to private for reasons other than college admissions, but your assumption that your coddled private school students in their sheltered environments will be “so much better prepared” for college is just nonsense. College (and life) are so much more than whether your child has learned to write research essays in high school. We all justify our decisions, but the notion that public school kids taking rigorous courses universally have crappy, uncaring teachers and go to college unprepared is a load of crap.

Signed,
Public school grad, Ivy grad, biglaw partner who agrees with the PP that all biglaw partners want to brag about are there private school kids college admissions

You mean their, dear?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Im sounding the alarm. The end is near.

For any one of you paying full tuition at a Private School for college admissions purposes (hoping you'll get into a better college), you are 100% wasting your money. I have several children in Big 3's and unless you are URM, QuestBridge, Athlete or Legacy - you are completely wasting your money. No one cares that your school is tough. That a 3.7 is really great. No one cares about ACT/SATs anymore.

You are wasting your money. 100%

The college admissions process is now washed of achievement. And there is backlash against wealth and privilege.

Dont do it. Dont waste your time. And your money. And stop perpetuating the dummying down of our system.

I wish someone would have told me 3 years ago before I enrolled my kids. Total waste of money.

For about the fifth thread on this topic -- we do not send kids to private to get into a better college. That factors into it zero. Probably would do better if at public. Not why we are there.

DP.. so if you spent $$ on private school, and your kid ends up going to some place like... Salisbury univ, you won't mind at all? Not knocking on Salisbury Univ. I went to a B rated state univ myself. I find it hard to believe that private school parents don't have some minimum expectations for their kids and what colleges they end up at after having spent over a 100K on private school.

There are A LOT of schools between Harvard and Salisbury...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here are the 2021 admissions from a Big3 (does not included multiple admits at many of the schools). Is there one college on this list that you wouldn't be happy that your kid is attending?
Personally I think it's awesome and guarantee that my kid will attend a decent college---never mind that they are also learning to to write well and think critically.

Boston College
Boston University
Brown
Bucknell
Colby
Colgate
William and Mary
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Davidson
Duke
Emory
Georgetown
Georgia Tech
Harvard
Johns Hopkins
NYU
Northwestern
Oberlin
Princeton
SMU
Stanford
Syracuse
Tufts
Tulane
UCLA
Chicago
Michigan
Penn
Richmond
Sewanee
USC
St. Andrews
UVA
Wisconsin
Vanderbilt
Wake Forest
Washington and Lee
Wash U
Yale

Is this the complete list?

Yes, complete list from alumni magazine this month

this list looks like the list from my nephew's class at a public high school in howard county except it was a bigger class so 2-3 liberty university (shudder) and like 10 to UMD, a few at towson/umbc but a there was at least one kid going to each of these places plus some to slacs. i think there was one person going to Mcgill not St. Andrew but this was river hill high school so i dunno if "big" 3 is worth it for college admissions alone. How prepared you are when you get there is a whole other consideration. . .

Ha, I bet. Go ahead and post that list.

Anonymous wrote:Im sounding the alarm. The end is near.

For any one of you paying full tuition at a Private School for college admissions purposes (hoping you'll get into a better college), you are 100% wasting your money. I have several children in Big 3's and unless you are URM, QuestBridge, Athlete or Legacy - you are completely wasting your money. No one cares that your school is tough. That a 3.7 is really great. No one cares about ACT/SATs anymore.

You are wasting your money. 100%

The college admissions process is now washed of achievement. And there is backlash against wealth and privilege.

Dont do it. Dont waste your time. And your money. And stop perpetuating the dummying down of our system.

I wish someone would have told me 3 years ago before I enrolled my kids. Total waste of money.

I'm not sending my kid to private so that he can get into college. I'm sending him to private so that he can succeed in college.

In his particular case and based on the quality of the public schools in our area, it's by far the best education.

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Im sounding the alarm. The end is near.

For any one of you paying full tuition at a Private School for college admissions purposes (hoping you'll get into a better college), you are 100% wasting your money. I have several children in Big 3's and unless you are URM, QuestBridge, Athlete or Legacy - you are completely wasting your money. No one cares that your school is tough. That a 3.7 is really great. No one cares about ACT/SATs anymore.

You are wasting your money. 100%

The college admissions process is now washed of achievement. And there is backlash against wealth and privilege.

Dont do it. Dont waste your time. And your money. And stop perpetuating the dummying down of our system.

I wish someone would have told me 3 years ago before I enrolled my kids. Total waste of money.[/quote]



Private school enrollment soars during pandemic
By Noelle Olson/Staff Writer Jul 20, 2021 Updated Aug 17, 2021

https://www.presspubs.com/shoreview/news/private-school-enrollment-soars-during-pandemic/article_954e60a2-e9b5-11eb-87bb-e35f5128a593.html

One sector is flourishing during the pandemic: K-12 private schools

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a tremendous challenge for America's K-12 education system. Schools have struggled to balance the health needs of their communities with the educational needs of their students. But one corner of the K-12 education landscape has shown resilience and, in many cases, has actually managed to thrive - America's independent, or private, school sector.

https://thehill.com/opinion/education/527623-one-sector-is-flourishing-during-the-pandemic-k-12-private-schools


Private school families more satisfied with schools during pandemic, survey finds

Nearly a year after the COVID-19 pandemic began and reshaped the nation’s education system, parents of private and charter school students are more likely to be satisfied with their schools and less likely to report a negative effect on learning than their public school counterparts. That’s a key finding in the latest survey from Education Next.

https://www.reimaginedonline.org/2021/01/private-school-families-more-satisfied-with-schools-during-pandemic-survey-finds/[/quote]

THIS

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:50K a year?

How about free and 5K of tutors. You all are idiots.

Why would I send my kid to an inadequate school all day so they can come home and learn again with tutors? WTF sense does that make?

Right?!? Hardly a ringing endorsement - send your kid to public school so they can spend hours with tutors after being at school all day! Yay for you?

Funny, all of my friends with kids in Big 3 privates have tutors for their HS students. In fact, someone recommended a math teacher at Sidwell as a tutor for my public DC and when I reached out, he said his plate was full tutoring Sidwell students.

Anyway, I’m sure many private parents send their kids to private for reasons other than college admissions, but your assumption that your coddled private school students in their sheltered environments will be “so much better prepared” for college is just nonsense. College (and life) are so much more than whether your child has learned to write research essays in high school. We all justify our decisions, but the notion that public school kids taking rigorous courses universally have crappy, uncaring teachers and go to college unprepared is a load of crap.

Signed,
Public school grad, Ivy grad, biglaw partner who agrees with the PP that all biglaw partners want to brag about are there private school kids college admissions

ig law partners usually know the difference between “there” and “their”. You probably did attend public HS.

Lol, exactly.

+1