Anonymous wrote:There's more to education than just STEM classes and test scores. How about the humanities and writing. Things which are not measured in test scores.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is dumb. The vast majority of private school students in DC wouldn’t even get into Thomas Jerfferson.

And the opposite is true too, insofar as the most selective DC private schools are concerned. What's your point? They're two completely different animals aiming for two distinct types of student bodies. Neither is better.

100% agree that TJ and the top privates are very different schools that are looking for different things as part of their admissions process. And no one is saying that TJ or the top privates aren't good (at least I hope no one is saying that, as it would be ridiculous) - obviously they both are, and several kids from both regularly gain admission to HYPMS and other top colleges and universities each year. Rather, they are just different.

It seems the point several PPs have tried to make, which I believe is a narrow albeit valid one, is that strictly in terms of the academic ability of the students, the difference between TJ and the top DC privates is immense. A very small proportion of the students at Sidwell/STA/NCS/GDS/other top privates could possibly gain admission to TJ, and an even smaller proportion could realistically handle the work. Probably just the very top students at those schools would be capable of getting into TJ (let alone thriving there). While it's true that most TJ students would not get into those same top DC privates either, the reason has nothing to do with those students' academic ability/smarts. Every single student who makes it into TJ could more than easily handle the academics at Sidwell/STA/NCS/etc. (whether they can thrive in high-pressure environments, whether TJ or the top privates, is another question, but what isn't in question if they got accepted to TJ in the first place is their smarts). This isn't to say that the academics at the top privates are bad by any stretch - given their selectivity, the average SAT scores of their students, and their track record getting kids into top colleges, they obviously attract students that are academically stronger than the average at most other schools. TJ is just an extreme outlier in that sense - it's a generalization to be sure, but take the top 10% of the kids at the top DC privates (based on grades/testing/smarts alone) and the majority of them would likely fall in the bottom half at TJ.

NMSF is about 30% of the class in TJ and 13% in Sidwell in 2018. The cut-off score is probably 1 point higher in DC than in VA. TJ students are generally better test takers because they are selected by test scores. Therefore, the difference between TJ and private students may not be as big as people think.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is dumb. The vast majority of private school students in DC wouldn’t even get into Thomas Jerfferson.

And the opposite is true too, insofar as the most selective DC private schools are concerned. What's your point? They're two completely different animals aiming for two distinct types of student bodies. Neither is better.

100% agree that TJ and the top privates are very different schools that are looking for different things as part of their admissions process. And no one is saying that TJ or the top privates aren't good (at least I hope no one is saying that, as it would be ridiculous) - obviously they both are, and several kids from both regularly gain admission to HYPMS and other top colleges and universities each year. Rather, they are just different.

It seems the point several PPs have tried to make, which I believe is a narrow albeit valid one, is that strictly in terms of the academic ability of the students, the difference between TJ and the top DC privates is immense. A very small proportion of the students at Sidwell/STA/NCS/GDS/other top privates could possibly gain admission to TJ, and an even smaller proportion could realistically handle the work. Probably just the very top students at those schools would be capable of getting into TJ (let alone thriving there). While it's true that most TJ students would not get into those same top DC privates either, the reason has nothing to do with those students' academic ability/smarts. Every single student who makes it into TJ could more than easily handle the academics at Sidwell/STA/NCS/etc. (whether they can thrive in high-pressure environments, whether TJ or the top privates, is another question, but what isn't in question if they got accepted to TJ in the first place is their smarts). This isn't to say that the academics at the top privates are bad by any stretch - given their selectivity, the average SAT scores of their students, and their track record getting kids into top colleges, they obviously attract students that are academically stronger than the average at most other schools. TJ is just an extreme outlier in that sense - it's a generalization to be sure, but take the top 10% of the kids at the top DC privates (based on grades/testing/smarts alone) and the majority of them would likely fall in the bottom half at TJ.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is dumb. The vast majority of private school students in DC wouldn’t even get into Thomas Jerfferson.

And the opposite is true too, insofar as the most selective DC private schools are concerned. What's your point? They're two completely different animals aiming for two distinct types of student bodies. Neither is better.

100% agree that TJ and the top privates are very different schools that are looking for different things as part of their admissions process. And no one is saying that TJ or the top privates aren't good (at least I hope no one is saying that, as it would be ridiculous) - obviously they both are, and several kids from both regularly gain admission to HYPMS and other top colleges and universities each year. Rather, they are just different.

It seems the point several PPs have tried to make, which I believe is a narrow albeit valid one, is that strictly in terms of the academic ability of the students, the difference between TJ and the top DC privates is immense. A very small proportion of the students at Sidwell/STA/NCS/GDS/other top privates could possibly gain admission to TJ, and an even smaller proportion could realistically handle the work. Probably just the very top students at those schools would be capable of getting into TJ (let alone thriving there). While it's true that most TJ students would not get into those same top DC privates either, the reason has nothing to do with those students' academic ability/smarts. Every single student who makes it into TJ could more than easily handle the academics at Sidwell/STA/NCS/etc. (whether they can thrive in high-pressure environments, whether TJ or the top privates, is another question, but what isn't in question if they got accepted to TJ in the first place is their smarts). This isn't to say that the academics at the top privates are bad by any stretch - given their selectivity, the average SAT scores of their students, and their track record getting kids into top colleges, they obviously attract students that are academically stronger than the average at most other schools. TJ is just an extreme outlier in that sense - it's a generalization to be sure, but take the top 10% of the kids at the top DC privates (based on grades/testing/smarts alone) and the majority of them would likely fall in the bottom half at TJ.

Keep telling yourself that and maybe you'll believe it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is dumb. The vast majority of private school students in DC wouldn’t even get into Thomas Jerfferson.

And the opposite is true too, insofar as the most selective DC private schools are concerned. What's your point? They're two completely different animals aiming for two distinct types of student bodies. Neither is better.

100% agree that TJ and the top privates are very different schools that are looking for different things as part of their admissions process. And no one is saying that TJ or the top privates aren't good (at least I hope no one is saying that, as it would be ridiculous) - obviously they both are, and several kids from both regularly gain admission to HYPMS and other top colleges and universities each year. Rather, they are just different.

It seems the point several PPs have tried to make, which I believe is a narrow albeit valid one, is that strictly in terms of the academic ability of the students, the difference between TJ and the top DC privates is immense. A very small proportion of the students at Sidwell/STA/NCS/GDS/other top privates could possibly gain admission to TJ, and an even smaller proportion could realistically handle the work. Probably just the very top students at those schools would be capable of getting into TJ (let alone thriving there). While it's true that most TJ students would not get into those same top DC privates either, the reason has nothing to do with those students' academic ability/smarts. Every single student who makes it into TJ could more than easily handle the academics at Sidwell/STA/NCS/etc. (whether they can thrive in high-pressure environments, whether TJ or the top privates, is another question, but what isn't in question if they got accepted to TJ in the first place is their smarts). This isn't to say that the academics at the top privates are bad by any stretch - given their selectivity, the average SAT scores of their students, and their track record getting kids into top colleges, they obviously attract students that are academically stronger than the average at most other schools. TJ is just an extreme outlier in that sense - it's a generalization to be sure, but take the top 10% of the kids at the top DC privates (based on grades/testing/smarts alone) and the majority of them would likely fall in the bottom half at TJ.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is dumb. The vast majority of private school students in DC wouldn’t even get into Thomas Jerfferson.

And the opposite is true too, insofar as the most selective DC private schools are concerned. What's your point? They're two completely different animals aiming for two distinct types of student bodies. Neither is better.

Anonymous wrote:But we're talking about two numbers that are already both low. For example, I think only 14 percent of Harvard's undergraduate student body is legacy. So the chances that a private school admit's parents were legacy are pretty low too.

Anonymous wrote:What a terrible analogy that has nothing to do with college admissions.

The implication upthread was that private school legacy admits should somehow be dismissed or discounted in some way. But if there are more public school legacy applicants (total number, not percentage at the school) for the exact same colleges, why aren't they dismissed or discounted in the same way as those at private schools? The legacy bump received is the same no matter whether the applicant is coming from a public or private school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is dumb. The vast majority of private school students in DC wouldn’t even get into Thomas Jerfferson.

And the opposite is true too, insofar as the most selective DC private schools are concerned. What's your point? They're two completely different animals aiming for two distinct types of student bodies. Neither is better.