Anonymous
Post 10/01/2025 23:57     Subject: Does anyone else feel like this board is nothing like what they are seeing IRL at their kid's public HS?
Anonymous wrote:Virginia has the benefit of having so many good public options. It's basically Virginia, California, Michigan, Texas, and North Carolina that have terrific publics for nearly all the good students.

Why would anyone spend an extra $300,000 for undergrad if you have UVA, Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan, Texas, and UNC as options?

But that's five states out of fifty. Students in New York, Connecticut, Ohio and so on are working with different realities. And the better students in those states tend to look at a lot more OOS schools than students in Virginia do.


What minimum net worth would you think that you need in order to throw an additional $300,000 in to a private college?
Anonymous
Post 10/01/2025 23:50     Subject: Does anyone else feel like this board is nothing like what they are seeing IRL at their kid's public HS?
Some FCPS high schools just have more “impressive” college destinations than others. It’s due to a combination of student achievement and family wealth. And people at those schools are more likely to post on DCUM.

This is nothing new in FCPS.
Anonymous
Post 10/01/2025 23:33     Subject: Does anyone else feel like this board is nothing like what they are seeing IRL at their kid's public HS?
Anonymous wrote:Mid size nova public (300ish graduating class). Handful to top 15, 20 got into UVA, 40 into VT, 80+ into JMU. Now they all didn’t go, but according to our naviance, that’s how many were accepted.


Anonymous
Post 10/01/2025 22:31     Subject: Does anyone else feel like this board is nothing like what they are seeing IRL at their kid's public HS?
Mid size nova public (300ish graduating class). Handful to top 15, 20 got into UVA, 40 into VT, 80+ into JMU. Now they all didn’t go, but according to our naviance, that’s how many were accepted.
Anonymous
Post 10/01/2025 20:32     Subject: Does anyone else feel like this board is nothing like what they are seeing IRL at their kid's public HS?
Op- yes DCUM first our public HS.
Anonymous
Post 10/01/2025 20:09     Subject: Does anyone else feel like this board is nothing like what they are seeing IRL at their kid's public HS?
Anonymous wrote:The DCUM college message board is in all respects a fair and accurate reflection of the reality children and parents face in running the gauntlet of college admissions. Truly it holds the mirror up to nature.

There is no bragging, exaggeration, neuroticism, satire, trolling, competition, sock-puppeting or selection bias here. Anonymity ensures that all you are getting is the pure unvarnished truth, from entirely normal and well-adjusted people.

And sometimes, it seems, the truth hurts.


Anonymous
Post 10/01/2025 19:06     Subject: Does anyone else feel like this board is nothing like what they are seeing IRL at their kid's public HS?
Anonymous wrote:There aren't any top privates within a short drive of here (other than JHU which is attractive only to a specific sort of candidate.) After that would be Princeton, Duke, Penn and Swarthmore - all incredibly difficult to get into (and $$$$) so for high stats kids who don't want to go super far away, UVA/W&M emerge very quickly as strong viable options. I personally don't want to drive 9+ hours one way to get to my child's school nor do I want to be dealing with flights (and then often a drive on the other end) every time I want to visit or they need to get home. I think people really gloss over the hassle that this is and/or don't think there kid will ever want to come home? I was slow to adjust and very homesick for awhile and I'm so glad that my parents could visit me and I could come home as needed until I got comfortable.


This is a really dumb response. The same could be said about nearly every state in the country outside of maybe New England.
Anonymous
Post 10/01/2025 19:04     Subject: Does anyone else feel like this board is nothing like what they are seeing IRL at their kid's public HS?
The DCUM college message board is in all respects a fair and accurate reflection of the reality children and parents face in running the gauntlet of college admissions. Truly it holds the mirror up to nature.

There is no bragging, exaggeration, neuroticism, satire, trolling, competition, sock-puppeting or selection bias here. Anonymity ensures that all you are getting is the pure unvarnished truth, from entirely normal and well-adjusted people.

And sometimes, it seems, the truth hurts.
Anonymous
Post 10/01/2025 18:45     Subject: Does anyone else feel like this board is nothing like what they are seeing IRL at their kid's public HS?
Anonymous wrote:There aren't any top privates within a short drive of here (other than JHU which is attractive only to a specific sort of candidate.) After that would be Princeton, Duke, Penn and Swarthmore - all incredibly difficult to get into (and $$$$) so for high stats kids who don't want to go super far away, UVA/W&M emerge very quickly as strong viable options. I personally don't want to drive 9+ hours one way to get to my child's school nor do I want to be dealing with flights (and then often a drive on the other end) every time I want to visit or they need to get home. I think people really gloss over the hassle that this is and/or don't think there kid will ever want to come home? I was slow to adjust and very homesick for awhile and I'm so glad that my parents could visit me and I could come home as needed until I got comfortable.


What are you talking about?!? Bucknell is just 2.5-3.5hrs away depending on where in DC/MD/VA you are.
Anonymous
Post 10/01/2025 18:36     Subject: Does anyone else feel like this board is nothing like what they are seeing IRL at their kid's public HS?
There aren't any top privates within a short drive of here (other than JHU which is attractive only to a specific sort of candidate.) After that would be Princeton, Duke, Penn and Swarthmore - all incredibly difficult to get into (and $$$$) so for high stats kids who don't want to go super far away, UVA/W&M emerge very quickly as strong viable options. I personally don't want to drive 9+ hours one way to get to my child's school nor do I want to be dealing with flights (and then often a drive on the other end) every time I want to visit or they need to get home. I think people really gloss over the hassle that this is and/or don't think there kid will ever want to come home? I was slow to adjust and very homesick for awhile and I'm so glad that my parents could visit me and I could come home as needed until I got comfortable.
Anonymous
Post 10/01/2025 15:38     Subject: Re:Does anyone else feel like this board is nothing like what they are seeing IRL at their kid's public HS?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Which school?


Not naming the school. A northern virginia public high school that is not bad but not one of the fancy ones.


So ridiculous. Not playing your game unless you name the school. Big difference between West Potomac and Madison. This is anonymous. Why would be secretive?


Agree. Classes are 600 strong. No reason to not share the name. Anyway, I'm sure most of your insider knowledge is bogus. That's probably why you don't want to name the school.


This isn’t an airport. No need to announce your departure from this thread.


Such a tired and unoriginal response.


It's a very appropriate response to someone who feels the need to comment that they won't be commenting.
Anonymous
Post 10/01/2025 15:03     Subject: Does anyone else feel like this board is nothing like what they are seeing IRL at their kid's public HS?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP, yes and no. Too many parents won't think outside the box and aren't willing to pay for out of state, or are afraid their children will settle somewhere out of state, or they've spent too much on multiple kitchen renovations and didn't save for college, or never paid for college themselves because they were military, or signed their kid up for too many AP classes and are shocked with the low gpa convinced the kid doesn't deserve and isn't mature enough for a 4 yr college.

Or hear me out…they did save but not enough to shell out $70-90k/year per kid on private or out of state schools.


+100
Anonymous
Post 10/01/2025 14:04     Subject: Does anyone else feel like this board is nothing like what they are seeing IRL at their kid's public HS?
Anonymous wrote:My DD graduated FCPS in the spring, so she and her friends are college freshmen now. She graduated from a big public secondary school, and only a handful of her classmates are attending Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Wake Forest, W&L, Richmond or other privates. Slightly more at UVA, but not as many as I would have expected. A few at W&M. Many more, including some of the very top students at her school, are attending Virginia Tech, JMU, VCU, and GMU. From what DD says, a lot of them were interested in very specific majors and chose their school based on rep in a particular field, as well as cost. Many got merit aid and are attending with the idea that they’ll use the cost savings for grad school.

Smart kids.
Anonymous
Post 10/01/2025 14:02     Subject: Does anyone else feel like this board is nothing like what they are seeing IRL at their kid's public HS?
Anonymous wrote:OP, yes and no. Too many parents won't think outside the box and aren't willing to pay for out of state, or are afraid their children will settle somewhere out of state, or they've spent too much on multiple kitchen renovations and didn't save for college, or never paid for college themselves because they were military, or signed their kid up for too many AP classes and are shocked with the low gpa convinced the kid doesn't deserve and isn't mature enough for a 4 yr college.

Or hear me out…they did save but not enough to shell out $70-90k/year per kid on private or out of state schools.
Anonymous
Post 10/01/2025 13:32     Subject: Does anyone else feel like this board is nothing like what they are seeing IRL at their kid's public HS?
PP here. I'm compelled to add that sending kids to school in state isn't "provincial" in thinking in my view. It's smart and practical. All of our kids studied abroad while in college, three got graduate degrees out of state (one in the UK), and two actually lived abroad for years after graduation. It's not like a kid who goes to UVA or William & Mary is forever chained to the Commonwealth of Virginia. Both are nationally known and highly respected universities that open doors everywhere -- and that's exactly why both are inundated with out of state applicants.