Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“You may have more data at NCS but there are plenty of unhappy parents and students regarding college outcomes at NCS. Yes, the education is outstanding but it is hard for students not to question why they worked so hard in HS to end up at a school like Bates or Wisconsin. “

I am an NCS parent of a senior. We would be dancing on the rooftops if our DD got into Wisconsin. It was a rejection. We are looking at options much, much lower on the USNWR list. Think 75-120.

As a parent struggling with sending our kids to private or keeping them in our strong public, I’m starting to think we may as well save our 150k per year for our 3 kids. While we can afford tuition, college is our one and main goal for secondary schools.

Of course you don’t waste your money that way!!! Save it all to pay for med school for the three of them.

Pp here. I know some people can afford or prioritize the learning experience and consider that worth 50k per year. I also want my children to have a positive school experience. My children are getting good grades, have lots of friends and are happy. I’m not sure the extra commute and 50k per year is worth it for a potentially worse college outcome. We are relatively new to the DC area. Dh and I are public school kids. DH graduated top 5 of his regular high school and I attended a magnet high in another state. I go back and forth between just keeping my kids where they are or which private school to strategically send them to. DH only cares about college outcome so not sold on shelling out the money. He has friends who did attend top colleges and their children are not getting j to their parents’ alma maters even with legacy status.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“You may have more data at NCS but there are plenty of unhappy parents and students regarding college outcomes at NCS. Yes, the education is outstanding but it is hard for students not to question why they worked so hard in HS to end up at a school like Bates or Wisconsin. “

I am an NCS parent of a senior. We would be dancing on the rooftops if our DD got into Wisconsin. It was a rejection. We are looking at options much, much lower on the USNWR list. Think 75-120.

As a parent struggling with sending our kids to private or keeping them in our strong public, I’m starting to think we may as well save our 150k per year for our 3 kids. While we can afford tuition, college is our one and main goal for secondary schools.

Of course you don’t waste your money that way!!! Save it all to pay for med school for the three of them.

Pp here. I know some people can afford or prioritize the learning experience and consider that worth 50k per year. I also want my children to have a positive school experience. My children are getting good grades, have lots of friends and are happy. I’m not sure the extra commute and 50k per year is worth it for a potentially worse college outcome. We are relatively new to the DC area. Dh and I are public school kids. DH graduated top 5 of his regular high school and I attended a magnet high in another state. I go back and forth between just keeping my kids where they are or which private school to strategically send them to. DH only cares about college outcome so not sold on shelling out the money. He has friends who did attend top colleges and their children are not getting j to their parents’ alma maters even with legacy status.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“You may have more data at NCS but there are plenty of unhappy parents and students regarding college outcomes at NCS. Yes, the education is outstanding but it is hard for students not to question why they worked so hard in HS to end up at a school like Bates or Wisconsin. “

I am an NCS parent of a senior. We would be dancing on the rooftops if our DD got into Wisconsin. It was a rejection. We are looking at options much, much lower on the USNWR list. Think 75-120.

As a parent struggling with sending our kids to private or keeping them in our strong public, I’m starting to think we may as well save our 150k per year for our 3 kids. While we can afford tuition, college is our one and main goal for secondary schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“You may have more data at NCS but there are plenty of unhappy parents and students regarding college outcomes at NCS. Yes, the education is outstanding but it is hard for students not to question why they worked so hard in HS to end up at a school like Bates or Wisconsin. “

I am an NCS parent of a senior. We would be dancing on the rooftops if our DD got into Wisconsin. It was a rejection. We are looking at options much, much lower on the USNWR list. Think 75-120.

As a parent struggling with sending our kids to private or keeping them in our strong public, I’m starting to think we may as well save our 150k per year for our 3 kids. While we can afford tuition, college is our one and main goal for secondary schools.

Of course you don’t waste your money that way!!! Save it all to pay for med school for the three of them.

Anonymous wrote:

You just had unrealistic expectations from the beginning. The locus of Ivy-bound kids in this area has always been TJ and the MCPS magnets/RMIB. If your kid wasn’t going to get in there, they weren’t going to get into an Ivy. When you pay for private school you do not actually pay for the strivers and the “smartest” - those kids have always been in public. What you pay for is getting into a namebrand SLAC of some sort, especially if your child is less impressive. In some ways your kid working hard at the private was a waste. They could have coasted with the same result - that is actually what you paid for!

This is complete bs. The smartest kids have definitely never “always been in public,” any more than they have always been in private. Most kids don’t want or try to get into TJ or RM, it has nothing to do with not being able to get in. Your scenario is a fantasy, since 30-40% of Ivy classes come from private. And what private school families pay for is a rigorous curriculum with smaller classes that teach students how (not what) to think and write, not college admissions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“You may have more data at NCS but there are plenty of unhappy parents and students regarding college outcomes at NCS. Yes, the education is outstanding but it is hard for students not to question why they worked so hard in HS to end up at a school like Bates or Wisconsin. “

I am an NCS parent of a senior. We would be dancing on the rooftops if our DD got into Wisconsin. It was a rejection. We are looking at options much, much lower on the USNWR list. Think 75-120.

As a parent struggling with sending our kids to private or keeping them in our strong public, I’m starting to think we may as well save our 150k per year for our 3 kids. While we can afford tuition, college is our one and main goal for secondary schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“You may have more data at NCS but there are plenty of unhappy parents and students regarding college outcomes at NCS. Yes, the education is outstanding but it is hard for students not to question why they worked so hard in HS to end up at a school like Bates or Wisconsin. “

I am an NCS parent of a senior. We would be dancing on the rooftops if our DD got into Wisconsin. It was a rejection. We are looking at options much, much lower on the USNWR list. Think 75-120.

Sorry to hear that. Her solid education at NCS will serve her for life.
I hope she is happy with her choices but she can always transfer to a more selective school in a year or two if she wants

I had an old colleague who used to brag about her daughter ALL the time. Daughter went to NCS. I didn’t talk to them during Covid and her daughter ended up at third tier school. I thought for sure she would be Ivy material. Now that I have kids approaching high school, I realize how competitive the college universe has become. While her daughter may have been a superstar as a child, I guess she didn’t shine at NCS.

If the kid graduated 2020-2023, the deck was stacked against her. Unfair to say she didn’t shine. Institutional priorities changed and a private school coastal kid was on the wrong side of that change. Especially a white kid, no hooks, just a a good student with solid ECs. Since 2020, that’s been a formula for lottery ticket top 30, else outcome most likely is 50-150 ranked college

Just the facts. Look at the instas for this year and last year for all private schools around here. Of course they are incomplete and we don’t know accomplishments, but take our kids who have a sport next to their name (recruits), and I’d wager the median admit is far lower ranked school than 5 years ago. It’s why none of the top privates even publicly report matriculation data by class like they used to. They bunch it into “in the last 5 years, NCS students have attended XYZ schools”

We all know what’s happening. Not fair to say kid didn’t “shine”

Plus NCS has gone grade deflationary in last few years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“You may have more data at NCS but there are plenty of unhappy parents and students regarding college outcomes at NCS. Yes, the education is outstanding but it is hard for students not to question why they worked so hard in HS to end up at a school like Bates or Wisconsin. “

I am an NCS parent of a senior. We would be dancing on the rooftops if our DD got into Wisconsin. It was a rejection. We are looking at options much, much lower on the USNWR list. Think 75-120.

what is your child's approx. GPA? NCS parent here.

GPA is 3.4. ACT is 33

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“You may have more data at NCS but there are plenty of unhappy parents and students regarding college outcomes at NCS. Yes, the education is outstanding but it is hard for students not to question why they worked so hard in HS to end up at a school like Bates or Wisconsin. “

I am an NCS parent of a senior. We would be dancing on the rooftops if our DD got into Wisconsin. It was a rejection. We are looking at options much, much lower on the USNWR list. Think 75-120.

what is your child's approx. GPA? NCS parent here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“You may have more data at NCS but there are plenty of unhappy parents and students regarding college outcomes at NCS. Yes, the education is outstanding but it is hard for students not to question why they worked so hard in HS to end up at a school like Bates or Wisconsin. “

I am an NCS parent of a senior. We would be dancing on the rooftops if our DD got into Wisconsin. It was a rejection. We are looking at options much, much lower on the USNWR list. Think 75-120.

Sorry to hear that. Her solid education at NCS will serve her for life.
I hope she is happy with her choices but she can always transfer to a more selective school in a year or two if she wants

I had an old colleague who used to brag about her daughter ALL the time. Daughter went to NCS. I didn’t talk to them during Covid and her daughter ended up at third tier school. I thought for sure she would be Ivy material. Now that I have kids approaching high school, I realize how competitive the college universe has become. While her daughter may have been a superstar as a child, I guess she didn’t shine at NCS.

If the kid graduated 2020-2023, the deck was stacked against her. Unfair to say she didn’t shine. Institutional priorities changed and a private school coastal kid was on the wrong side of that change. Especially a white kid, no hooks, just a a good student with solid ECs. Since 2020, that’s been a formula for lottery ticket top 30, else outcome most likely is 50-150 ranked college

Just the facts. Look at the instas for this year and last year for all private schools around here. Of course they are incomplete and we don’t know accomplishments, but take our kids who have a sport next to their name (recruits), and I’d wager the median admit is far lower ranked school than 5 years ago. It’s why none of the top privates even publicly report matriculation data by class like they used to. They bunch it into “in the last 5 years, NCS students have attended XYZ schools”

We all know what’s happening. Not fair to say kid didn’t “shine”

Plus NCS has gone grade deflationary in last few years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“You may have more data at NCS but there are plenty of unhappy parents and students regarding college outcomes at NCS. Yes, the education is outstanding but it is hard for students not to question why they worked so hard in HS to end up at a school like Bates or Wisconsin. “

I am an NCS parent of a senior. We would be dancing on the rooftops if our DD got into Wisconsin. It was a rejection. We are looking at options much, much lower on the USNWR list. Think 75-120.

Sorry to hear that. Her solid education at NCS will serve her for life.
I hope she is happy with her choices but she can always transfer to a more selective school in a year or two if she wants

I had an old colleague who used to brag about her daughter ALL the time. Daughter went to NCS. I didn’t talk to them during Covid and her daughter ended up at third tier school. I thought for sure she would be Ivy material. Now that I have kids approaching high school, I realize how competitive the college universe has become. While her daughter may have been a superstar as a child, I guess she didn’t shine at NCS.

Anonymous wrote:This may be a bit off topic, I moved to this area 30 pus years ago. I went to public school and turned out ok. However, when we looked at public schools in the DC area, we found results similar to these that were reported last year.

Fairfax County, VA public schools have an average cost per student of $16,505. Math proficiency score of 61%, and reading proficiency score of 74%.

Montgomery County Public Schools spends $20,648 per student each year. 87% of high school students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 91% tested at or above that level for math.

DC spends $22,856 per student per year. 33% of high school students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 20% tested at or above that level for math.

We chose to live in DC and chose to send our kid to a private. Our kid was a lifer at a Big 3. Our kid is admitted to 8 schools, all amazing in what the colleges offer. Our kid will be fine. My point is that I'm not sure if your kid went to a public school with the stats I mentioned above, they would have the same options my kid has today. I

I think it is foolish to say that public school kids can't compete with private school kids and get some of the same admission results.

Anonymous wrote:“You may have more data at NCS but there are plenty of unhappy parents and students regarding college outcomes at NCS. Yes, the education is outstanding but it is hard for students not to question why they worked so hard in HS to end up at a school like Bates or Wisconsin. “

I am an NCS parent of a senior. We would be dancing on the rooftops if our DD got into Wisconsin. It was a rejection. We are looking at options much, much lower on the USNWR list. Think 75-120.