Exactly. If your son likes his current school you should let him stay. Otherwise you are punishing him. He will be fine. He will have a much better chance getting into a top school from private. If you said which one, I could "better game" his chances for you OP. Also, let me know his ECs, grades, etc. I'm a college counselor and am great at "guestimating".

Anonymous wrote:They are not the same pool of kids. The average MoCo public school student has a combined SAT of 1,650, while the average at the Big 3 is closer to 2,050. Not comparable. This is not to say that the same student in either environment would end up at the same set of colleges. But to say that a middle of the pack public school kid would have the same set of college options as a Sidwell student with a 2100 SAT just doesn't hold water.

I used to think it really didn't matter where a kid went to high school ( private or good public) but I have changed my view comparing my sons to their cousins. They all entered with roughly the same scores and grades. The two boys who went to the Sidwell came out with a superior education, much higher test scores and slightly lower GPAs. The got much better mentoring, counseling, and I suspect better recommendations from teachers who knew them extremely well and had time to write each carefully. They result is that the Sidwell boys are going to an Ivy and the top SLAC and felt extremely well prepared. The public school kids all got into to top 50 universities. Two of five are going to top 20 schools. Each has said they have have had gaps in their preparation, especially in writing at the college level. In the long run these differences may not matter. We will see.

They are not the same pool of kids. The average MoCo public school student has a combined SAT of 1,650, while the average at the Big 3 is closer to 2,050. Not comparable. This is not to say that the same student in either environment would end up at the same set of colleges. But to say that a middle of the pack public school kid would have the same set of college options as a Sidwell student with a 2100 SAT just doesn't hold water.