Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ NP. I am guessing that the Big 3 kids in your classes were not the ones in the top of the class at their Big 3s, but the W kids were probably at the top of class or closer to it. So you are not comparing the same tier of kids. I have kids who have attended public and Big 3, and am very confident that the top 50% at the Big 3 are at least as strong academically as the top 15-20% at a W school (and we are in a W district).

I doubt it. I don't want to out myself on this board, but there's no way a student not in the top of their class got into the school I teach at. We live in the DC area, I "super commute" when I am teaching in person bc my spouse works in this area. My kids go to a Big 3 but I'm thinking strongly of pulling them before MS.

It's not at all fabrication, but you believe what you want.

Anonymous wrote:^ NP. I am guessing that the Big 3 kids in your classes were not the ones in the top of the class at their Big 3s, but the W kids were probably at the top of class or closer to it. So you are not comparing the same tier of kids. I have kids who have attended public and Big 3, and am very confident that the top 50% at the Big 3 are at least as strong academically as the top 15-20% at a W school (and we are in a W district).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work at a very prestigious university. Strongly agree that recruiting first gen/low income kids is a priority. They strongly prefer to see kids who've overcome obstacles and worked their way through adversity, over kids who've been fed from a silver spoon their whole lives.

On the whole, you'll find those kids more at public schools than at private schools. Obviously there will be some exceptions, but the optics/perception of private HS are not warm in this day and age.

There's also the numbers. Grade inflation really isn't it (all colleges know these grading disparities, they're longstanding), but I guess it makes private parents feel better about the situation. Kids have to be SUPER competitive to make it to the top of their HS class in most publics around here. Once admitted, the Whitman kid tends to outperform the Big 3 kid. The Big 3 kid will, in turn, tend to outperform the Springbrook HS kid.

These patterns are not "new" because of COVID. What *has* changed in the last year are a) more emphasis on a politics of racial justice and equity, along with class politics to an extent and b) lots of deferrals from the class of 2020 filling up (up to 1/3 of) spots in next year's freshman class.

There is some interesting info here but also some utter BS. The level of work at top privates is very high—those students are very prepared for college and always have been.

I am the PP you're responding to, and am a professor. I teach hundreds of undergrads each year. I can tell you I have seen many kids over the years from Big 3 schools who are at best middling students once admitted. Some have struggled mightily with producing adequate work--and I teach in the humanities, not a STEM field.

And here I didn’t realize that professors had access to student records to know what high school they attended. That’s kind of creepy to be honest.

Yes. Something is off. College professors don’t have access to where each of their students went to school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work at a very prestigious university. Strongly agree that recruiting first gen/low income kids is a priority. They strongly prefer to see kids who've overcome obstacles and worked their way through adversity, over kids who've been fed from a silver spoon their whole lives.

On the whole, you'll find those kids more at public schools than at private schools. Obviously there will be some exceptions, but the optics/perception of private HS are not warm in this day and age.

There's also the numbers. Grade inflation really isn't it (all colleges know these grading disparities, they're longstanding), but I guess it makes private parents feel better about the situation. Kids have to be SUPER competitive to make it to the top of their HS class in most publics around here. Once admitted, the Whitman kid tends to outperform the Big 3 kid. The Big 3 kid will, in turn, tend to outperform the Springbrook HS kid.

These patterns are not "new" because of COVID. What *has* changed in the last year are a) more emphasis on a politics of racial justice and equity, along with class politics to an extent and b) lots of deferrals from the class of 2020 filling up (up to 1/3 of) spots in next year's freshman class.

There is some interesting info here but also some utter BS. The level of work at top privates is very high—those students are very prepared for college and always have been.

I am the PP you're responding to, and am a professor. I teach hundreds of undergrads each year. I can tell you I have seen many kids over the years from Big 3 schools who are at best middling students once admitted. Some have struggled mightily with producing adequate work--and I teach in the humanities, not a STEM field.

And here I didn’t realize that professors had access to student records to know what high school they attended. That’s kind of creepy to be honest.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work at a very prestigious university. Strongly agree that recruiting first gen/low income kids is a priority. They strongly prefer to see kids who've overcome obstacles and worked their way through adversity, over kids who've been fed from a silver spoon their whole lives.

On the whole, you'll find those kids more at public schools than at private schools. Obviously there will be some exceptions, but the optics/perception of private HS are not warm in this day and age.

There's also the numbers. Grade inflation really isn't it (all colleges know these grading disparities, they're longstanding), but I guess it makes private parents feel better about the situation. Kids have to be SUPER competitive to make it to the top of their HS class in most publics around here. Once admitted, the Whitman kid tends to outperform the Big 3 kid. The Big 3 kid will, in turn, tend to outperform the Springbrook HS kid.

These patterns are not "new" because of COVID. What *has* changed in the last year are a) more emphasis on a politics of racial justice and equity, along with class politics to an extent and b) lots of deferrals from the class of 2020 filling up (up to 1/3 of) spots in next year's freshman class.

There is some interesting info here but also some utter BS. The level of work at top privates is very high—those students are very prepared for college and always have been.

I am the PP you're responding to, and am a professor. I teach hundreds of undergrads each year. I can tell you I have seen many kids over the years from Big 3 schools who are at best middling students once admitted. Some have struggled mightily with producing adequate work--and I teach in the humanities, not a STEM field.

And here I didn’t realize that professors had access to student records to know what high school they attended. That’s kind of creepy to be honest.

Anonymous wrote:^ NP. I am guessing that the Big 3 kids in your classes were not the ones in the top of the class at their Big 3s, but the W kids were probably at the top of class or closer to it. So you are not comparing the same tier of kids. I have kids who have attended public and Big 3, and am very confident that the top 50% at the Big 3 are at least as strong academically as the top 15-20% at a W school (and we are in a W district).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work at a very prestigious university. Strongly agree that recruiting first gen/low income kids is a priority. They strongly prefer to see kids who've overcome obstacles and worked their way through adversity, over kids who've been fed from a silver spoon their whole lives.

On the whole, you'll find those kids more at public schools than at private schools. Obviously there will be some exceptions, but the optics/perception of private HS are not warm in this day and age.

There's also the numbers. Grade inflation really isn't it (all colleges know these grading disparities, they're longstanding), but I guess it makes private parents feel better about the situation. Kids have to be SUPER competitive to make it to the top of their HS class in most publics around here. Once admitted, the Whitman kid tends to outperform the Big 3 kid. The Big 3 kid will, in turn, tend to outperform the Springbrook HS kid.

These patterns are not "new" because of COVID. What *has* changed in the last year are a) more emphasis on a politics of racial justice and equity, along with class politics to an extent and b) lots of deferrals from the class of 2020 filling up (up to 1/3 of) spots in next year's freshman class.

There is some interesting info here but also some utter BS. The level of work at top privates is very high—those students are very prepared for college and always have been.

I am the PP you're responding to, and am a professor. I teach hundreds of undergrads each year. I can tell you I have seen many kids over the years from Big 3 schools who are at best middling students once admitted. Some have struggled mightily with producing adequate work--and I teach in the humanities, not a STEM field.

And here I didn’t realize that professors had access to student records to know what high school they attended. That’s kind of creepy to be honest.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because Wilson is so gritty

You are rolling your eyes but I agree with you. Wilson isn't gritty to the upper NW kids. They are mostly walled off in their AP courses. Our kid's neighborhood friends at Wilson are the children of doctors, lawyers, journalists, etc. They have every advantage of my my other child's friends at the Big3. Same incomes,
same privileges.
But the AD don't know this. They view my Wilson kid as fighting his/her way through a challenging experience at a diverse, high FARMs urban school (both of which Wilson is) and they LOVE it. They eat this SH%^&T up in admissions. The admission rates (especially this year) are off the charts for kids who have good grades at Wilson and a few leadership activities.
I'm actually worried about my Big3 kid (a few years younger).

Wilson kids are getting in for the same reasons other kids get in: hooks.

Not the ones I know.
They are not connected.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work at a very prestigious university. Strongly agree that recruiting first gen/low income kids is a priority. They strongly prefer to see kids who've overcome obstacles and worked their way through adversity, over kids who've been fed from a silver spoon their whole lives.

On the whole, you'll find those kids more at public schools than at private schools. Obviously there will be some exceptions, but the optics/perception of private HS are not warm in this day and age.

There's also the numbers. Grade inflation really isn't it (all colleges know these grading disparities, they're longstanding), but I guess it makes private parents feel better about the situation. Kids have to be SUPER competitive to make it to the top of their HS class in most publics around here. Once admitted, the Whitman kid tends to outperform the Big 3 kid. The Big 3 kid will, in turn, tend to outperform the Springbrook HS kid.

These patterns are not "new" because of COVID. What *has* changed in the last year are a) more emphasis on a politics of racial justice and equity, along with class politics to an extent and b) lots of deferrals from the class of 2020 filling up (up to 1/3 of) spots in next year's freshman class.

There is some interesting info here but also some utter BS. The level of work at top privates is very high—those students are very prepared for college and always have been.

I am the PP you're responding to, and am a professor. I teach hundreds of undergrads each year. I can tell you I have seen many kids over the years from Big 3 schools who are at best middling students once admitted. Some have struggled mightily with producing adequate work--and I teach in the humanities, not a STEM field.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work at a very prestigious university. Strongly agree that recruiting first gen/low income kids is a priority. They strongly prefer to see kids who've overcome obstacles and worked their way through adversity, over kids who've been fed from a silver spoon their whole lives.

On the whole, you'll find those kids more at public schools than at private schools. Obviously there will be some exceptions, but the optics/perception of private HS are not warm in this day and age.

There's also the numbers. Grade inflation really isn't it (all colleges know these grading disparities, they're longstanding), but I guess it makes private parents feel better about the situation. Kids have to be SUPER competitive to make it to the top of their HS class in most publics around here. Once admitted, the Whitman kid tends to outperform the Big 3 kid. The Big 3 kid will, in turn, tend to outperform the Springbrook HS kid.

These patterns are not "new" because of COVID. What *has* changed in the last year are a) more emphasis on a politics of racial justice and equity, along with class politics to an extent and b) lots of deferrals from the class of 2020 filling up (up to 1/3 of) spots in next year's freshman class.

There is some interesting info here but also some utter BS. The level of work at top privates is very high—those students are very prepared for college and always have been.

Anonymous wrote:I work at a very prestigious university. Strongly agree that recruiting first gen/low income kids is a priority. They strongly prefer to see kids who've overcome obstacles and worked their way through adversity, over kids who've been fed from a silver spoon their whole lives.

On the whole, you'll find those kids more at public schools than at private schools. Obviously there will be some exceptions, but the optics/perception of private HS are not warm in this day and age.

There's also the numbers. Grade inflation really isn't it (all colleges know these grading disparities, they're longstanding), but I guess it makes private parents feel better about the situation. Kids have to be SUPER competitive to make it to the top of their HS class in most publics around here. Once admitted, the Whitman kid tends to outperform the Big 3 kid. The Big 3 kid will, in turn, tend to outperform the Springbrook HS kid.

These patterns are not "new" because of COVID. What *has* changed in the last year are a) more emphasis on a politics of racial justice and equity, along with class politics to an extent and b) lots of deferrals from the class of 2020 filling up (up to 1/3 of) spots in next year's freshman class.