Anonymous wrote:Since Sidwell does not release their matriculation stats like most other elite privates, we don't know.

For better or worse, as far as I can tell, Sidwell is not alone. I don't see NCS or GDS publishing matriculation stats. So STA is all we have to go on, but that's ok because I suspect it's pretty representative of the others.

Anonymous wrote:So let's look at St Albans which does, graduating #20 out of 80 from St Alban's does not get you into an Ivy, MIT or Stanford either ...

I think you're wrong here. If you look at the 5-year averages STA publishes, you see 93 total matriculations at Ivies+Stanford (but not including MIT or Brown). STA only publishes the most common colleges, so let's conservatively assume there are 3-4 each at MIT and Brown over those 5 years, which brings us to 100 total matriculations. In other words, on average 20 per year to Ivies+Stanford+MIT, or roughly 25% of the class. That's certainly less as a raw number than the 40-45 students TJ might send to those same colleges, but since TJ has 5-6 times more students submitting applications, those 40-45 students represent only roughly 10% of the school.

... and the bottom 20% certainly do not go to UVA or Berkley.

You're right we don't know where the bottom 20% of the STA class went to college. But because TJ publishes full matriculation data, we can see where the bottom 20% of TJ goes, and it's clearly not UVA or Berkeley. When I look at TJ's list, I see plenty to schools like Indiana, UCSD, Kalamazoo, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Alabama, Stony Brook, VCU, Miami, etc. Those are all perfectly respectable colleges IMHO, and I suspect they're not too dissimilar to where the bottom 25% of STA might go.

30 kids per year from GDS to Ivies? Having seen matriculation lists off and on for years now (my DCs are lifers), I'm skeptical of that claim. What always strikes me about the list is its length and the the diversity of schools represented.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That TJ mom dropped the mic with that list! All I hear are crickets from the Big3.

It's the same list from earlier in this thread. Bottom line is that TJ sends about 10% of students to Ivies+MIT+Stanford, while Big 3 sends about 20-25%. In other words, 1-in-10 kids roaming the halls of TJ will end up at those top colleges, while 1-in-4 at a Big 3 will go. If you want to favor TJ, you'll argue that TJ has high raw numbers than the much smaller private schools.

Speaking for myself, I think neither approach is demonstrably better than the other, and each family should pick the option that's best for its individual child. But for some reason, TJ supporters want to keep insisting it should be a competition. Quite frankly, it's that hyper-competitive approach to education that I find most unattractive about TJ.

Keep telling yourself that. Nowadays, no one who is top 25% at a Big 3 is getting into an Ivy, MIT, or Stanford... not even legacies.

That's absolutely not true. The top 25% at Sidwell, however measured, gets into Ivies. The percentage could be even higher this year.

Par for the course at GDS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That TJ mom dropped the mic with that list! All I hear are crickets from the Big3.

It's the same list from earlier in this thread. Bottom line is that TJ sends about 10% of students to Ivies+MIT+Stanford, while Big 3 sends about 20-25%. In other words, 1-in-10 kids roaming the halls of TJ will end up at those top colleges, while 1-in-4 at a Big 3 will go. If you want to favor TJ, you'll argue that TJ has high raw numbers than the much smaller private schools.

Speaking for myself, I think neither approach is demonstrably better than the other, and each family should pick the option that's best for its individual child. But for some reason, TJ supporters want to keep insisting it should be a competition. Quite frankly, it's that hyper-competitive approach to education that I find most unattractive about TJ.

Keep telling yourself that. Nowadays, no one who is top 25% at a Big 3 is getting into an Ivy, MIT, or Stanford... not even legacies.

That's absolutely not true. The top 25% at Sidwell, however measured, gets into Ivies. The percentage could be even higher this year.

Since Sidwell does not release their matriculation stats like most other elite privates, we don't know. So let's look at St Albans which does, graduating #20 out of 80 from St Alban's does not get you into an Ivy, MIT or Stanford either and the bottom 20% certainly do not go to UVA or Berkley.

Anonymous wrote:FYI, 25% of the entering class at Harvard this fall had perfect, 2400, SAT scores.

And 75%did not. Harvard could fill the class with perfect scorers; they choose not to.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That TJ mom dropped the mic with that list! All I hear are crickets from the Big3.

It's the same list from earlier in this thread. Bottom line is that TJ sends about 10% of students to Ivies+MIT+Stanford, while Big 3 sends about 20-25%. In other words, 1-in-10 kids roaming the halls of TJ will end up at those top colleges, while 1-in-4 at a Big 3 will go. If you want to favor TJ, you'll argue that TJ has high raw numbers than the much smaller private schools.

Speaking for myself, I think neither approach is demonstrably better than the other, and each family should pick the option that's best for its individual child. But for some reason, TJ supporters want to keep insisting it should be a competition. Quite frankly, it's that hyper-competitive approach to education that I find most unattractive about TJ.

Keep telling yourself that. Nowadays, no one who is top 25% at a Big 3 is getting into an Ivy, MIT, or Stanford... not even legacies.

That's absolutely not true. The top 25% at Sidwell, however measured, gets into Ivies. The percentage could be even higher this year.

FYI, 25% of the entering class at Harvard this fall had perfect, 2400, SAT scores.

#20 out of 80 kids is not very impressive. #20 out of 500 NOW that is impressive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That TJ mom dropped the mic with that list! All I hear are crickets from the Big3.

It's the same list from earlier in this thread. Bottom line is that TJ sends about 10% of students to Ivies+MIT+Stanford, while Big 3 sends about 20-25%. In other words, 1-in-10 kids roaming the halls of TJ will end up at those top colleges, while 1-in-4 at a Big 3 will go. If you want to favor TJ, you'll argue that TJ has high raw numbers than the much smaller private schools.

Speaking for myself, I think neither approach is demonstrably better than the other, and each family should pick the option that's best for its individual child. But for some reason, TJ supporters want to keep insisting it should be a competition. Quite frankly, it's that hyper-competitive approach to education that I find most unattractive about TJ.

Keep telling yourself that. Nowadays, no one who is top 25% at a Big 3 is getting into an Ivy, MIT, or Stanford... not even legacies.

Anyone who give a sh** about which schools are HYP feeders should read this Atlantic piece on the suicide cluster in Palo Alto's high schools:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/12/the-silicon-valley-suicides/413140/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's also notable that the most impressive overall matriculation list school in the DMV is Thomas Jefferson in Fairfax Co. In the past 5 years TJ has placed more kids to M.I.T. than the Big 3 combined.

What happens next is someone writes that M.I.T. isn't an Ivy. Well, neither is Stanford. TJ also sends more kids to Stanford than any Big 3. Same for UVA, Univ Michigan, Univ Cal Berkeley. See what I did there? Just saved this board 4-7 pages of pathetic one-up poster tennis.

Proof please. I don't think your summary is accurate.

Below are the numbers for attendances, not just acceptances for TJ's 2015 class. It's for one year only. Does anyone have the numbers for big 3?

http://thebullelephant.com/college-destinations-for-tjhsst-class-of-2015/

Harvard 3
MIT 8
Williams 1
Cal Tech 1
Pomona 1
Stanford 6
UC Berkeley 6
U. of Chicago 8
Johns Hopkins 5
Carnegie Mellon 16
UPenn 2
Yale 5
Vanderbilt 3
Duke 9
Columbia 4
Cornell 14
Princeton 5
Darmouth 2
Washington University 8

Does this include the poor girl who pretended she got accepted to Stanford and Harvard and that mark Zuckerberg called her personally? That is the kind of kid that TJ (and probably soon GDS) produces with its emphasis on Ivy League admission being the be all end all.

No, I don't think the list would include her since she didn't attend; I hope she's OK.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's also notable that the most impressive overall matriculation list school in the DMV is Thomas Jefferson in Fairfax Co. In the past 5 years TJ has placed more kids to M.I.T. than the Big 3 combined.

What happens next is someone writes that M.I.T. isn't an Ivy. Well, neither is Stanford. TJ also sends more kids to Stanford than any Big 3. Same for UVA, Univ Michigan, Univ Cal Berkeley. See what I did there? Just saved this board 4-7 pages of pathetic one-up poster tennis.

Proof please. I don't think your summary is accurate.

Below are the numbers for attendances, not just acceptances for TJ's 2015 class. It's for one year only. Does anyone have the numbers for big 3?

http://thebullelephant.com/college-destinations-for-tjhsst-class-of-2015/

Harvard 3
MIT 8
Williams 1
Cal Tech 1
Pomona 1
Stanford 6
UC Berkeley 6
U. of Chicago 8
Johns Hopkins 5
Carnegie Mellon 16
UPenn 2
Yale 5
Vanderbilt 3
Duke 9
Columbia 4
Cornell 14
Princeton 5
Darmouth 2
Washington University 8

Does this include the poor girl who pretended she got accepted to Stanford and Harvard and that mark Zuckerberg called her personally? That is the kind of kid that TJ (and probably soon GDS) produces with its emphasis on Ivy League admission being the be all end all.

Anonymous wrote:I posted several times earlier. I'm not a TJ supporter or parent. We live in Maryland and couldn't have TJ as an option. I went to Andover a long time ago, have a son in another NE prep and another son considering high schools now. I don't aim to make a competition of it, but even the most ardent GDS supporter should be humbled to read that TJ record. For a public magnet school, it is incredible. Richard Montgomery on the Maryland side is also terrific.

I got on this board to try and learn more about the local strong preps. Some of what I read here is very misleading and is also off-putting. GDS is a good school, but frankly I don't put it above STA or Sidwell. I see those as more of a homogenous group separated by the cultures of the schools.

I find your repeated comments odd, because you admittedly have no directly experience with TJ or GDS or any other local high school, and yet you're supremely confident sitting in judgment of them all. You also keep citing your Andover connection as if it provides you with some sort of magical power to rank high schools ... or perhaps you're just name-dropping.

FWIW, I have no connection whatsoever to GDS, to TJ, or to Andover. I'm sure you're much smarter than I am, but I don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

I posted several times earlier. I'm not a TJ supporter or parent. We live in Maryland and couldn't have TJ as an option. I went to Andover a long time ago, have a son in another NE prep and another son considering high schools now. I don't aim to make a competition of it, but even the most ardent GDS supporter should be humbled to read that TJ record. For a public magnet school, it is incredible. Richard Montgomery on the Maryland side is also terrific.

I got on this board to try and learn more about the local strong preps. Some of what I read here is very misleading and is also off-putting. GDS is a good school, but frankly I don't put it above STA or Sidwell. I see those as more of a homogenous group separated by the cultures of the schools.

Anonymous wrote:That TJ mom dropped the mic with that list! All I hear are crickets from the Big3.

It's the same list from earlier in this thread. Bottom line is that TJ sends about 10% of students to Ivies+MIT+Stanford, while Big 3 sends about 20-25%. In other words, 1-in-10 kids roaming the halls of TJ will end up at those top colleges, while 1-in-4 at a Big 3 will go. If you want to favor TJ, you'll argue that TJ has high raw numbers than the much smaller private schools.

Speaking for myself, I think neither approach is demonstrably better than the other, and each family should pick the option that's best for its individual child. But for some reason, TJ supporters want to keep insisting it should be a competition. Quite frankly, it's that hyper-competitive approach to education that I find most unattractive about TJ.