<p>There is no chance Irvine does better than Harvard-Westlake on a per capita basis. It’s very impressive, but not THAT impressive. Other than tiny elite NYC private schools like Trinity or Brearley, where you can see half or more of the class going to Ivies or the equivalent (and maybe there are a few similar schools elsewhere), I don’t know of any school anywhere that consistently does better than Harvard-Westlake. Last year, it sent 66 kids to the Ivy League, Stanford, or MIT, out of a class of about 220. And that was well below par for them – its average for the previous four years was 82.</p>
<p>Chipoh, thanks for adding your insight to this thread. It seems like students from your school apply heavily to the UCs, USC, Stanford and the Ivies. It also seems like students apply at a less-than-expected rate to East Coast LACs. Do you have any thoughts about that?</p>
<p>Not to be compared with non-magnets, but since Harvard-Westlake was mentioned earlier… 
For a sample of 13 universities and 5 LAC’s,</p>
<p>Harvard-Westlake (Matriculation in 2007-2011 combined)</p>
<p>Brown University 45 California Institute of Technology 1
Columbia University 57 Cornell University 45
Dartmouth College 17 Duke University 11
Harvard University 26 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 13
Princeton University 26 Stanford University 53
University of Chicago 14 University of Pennsylvania 70
Yale University 41 Amherst College 14
Harvey Mudd College 1 Pomona College 7
Swarthmore College 4 Williams College 8</p>
<p>453 Matriculation over 5 years for a graduating class of about 280, which gives about 0.32 Matriculation per senior, [Matriculation[/url</a>] .</p>
<p>Harker (Acceptance in 2009-2011 combined)</p>
<p>Brown University 25 California Institute of Technology 24
Columbia University 17 Cornell University 49
Dartmouth College 26 Duke University 43
Harvard University 13 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 25
Princeton University 41 Stanford University 31
University of Chicago 26 University of Pennsylvania 31
Yale University 11 Amherst College 18
Harvey Mudd College 12 Pomona College 14
Swarthmore College 11 Williams College 9</p>
<p>426 Acceptance over 3 years for a graduating class of about 160, which gives about 0.89 Acceptance per senior, [url=<a href=“College Acceptances | Upper School | The Harker School”>College Acceptances | Upper School | The Harker School]The</a> Harker School: College Enrollment](<a href=“Matriculation”>Matriculation) .</p>
<p>Although Matriculation isn’t equivalent to Acceptance, Harker’s placement is probably comparable, unless average overlapping is way more than 1-to-2.75 .</p>
<p>Well, I thought Harker was smaller than that (but I thought H-W was smaller, too). Harker would definitely spring to mind as similar in admissions success (although I suspect the average overlap for those schools could well be higher than 2.75). But that’s not a non-magnet public school.</p>
<p>Anyway, I didn’t mean to get embroiled in the street fight over who’s the baddest elite private school in California. The point was that even a great public school doesn’t quite play in the same league.</p>
<p>No street fight here. Only pondering where to send EvenGreener for MS and up. :-)</p>
<p>I just checked the Harvard-Westlake web site, specifically tuition. I was expecting maybe $15K per year. When I saw $30+K/year I knew I had finally found the excuse I needed to tell D she can attend any private for which she gains admission as compensation for attending crummy public schools her whole life.</p>
<p>Harvard-Westlake is for Hollywood kids. I heard that if a kid is invited for a birthday party, he/she should bring a gift that costs at least $100 (5 years ago).</p>
<p>Well, this is what H-W says, “Even though we believe that Harvard-Westlake offers opportunities that are second to none, we work hard to keep our tuition second to many. In fact, it consistently ranks below the median of other leading independent day schools, both locally and nationally.”. And wait till you check out Harker’s tuition… :-)</p>
<p>$25K/year for KINDERGARTEN at Harker. That’s putting the dough in Play-doh.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Oh that’s nothing! </p>
<p>K @ BB&N (MA) - $26,330
K @ Beauvoir (DC) - $28,550
K @ Grace Church (NY) - $34,800
K @ Chapin (NY) - $35,100
K @ Nightingale-Bamford (NY) - $37,150
K @ Ethical Culture (NY) - $37,825
K @ Allen-Stevenson (NY) - $37,850
K @ Browning (NY) - $37,900
K @ Buckley (NY) - $38,000
K @ Friends Seminary (NY) - $38,055
K @ Riverdale (NY) - $38,500</p>
<p>^Send your kids to these schools if you’re afraid they’ll get poor kid germs on them. You know poverty is contagious after all.</p>
<p>There are a group of about 20 schools in the US that routinely send 30 plus percent to ivies, another 30% to top 20 schools and the vast majority of the rest to top 30 colleges. They are all private. H-W’s $30K plus is standard for day schools (more in NYC). Boarding schools, some of the very top US high schools, are about $50K now. And all of these schools could fill up 5 or more times. People claw to get in.</p>
<p>It should be noted though that many of these schools have strong endowments and provide a great deal of financial aid. It’s very much like a top college admissions process and these schools are looking for the same things top colleges are.</p>
<p>It’s also important to note that the success in college admission is helped by the large numbers of recruited athletes, top college legacies and top URMs that have come from special programs at these schools. Not to take anything away from the fine educations they provide.</p>
<p>skip this rant if you like, but I feel like venting.</p>
<p>When I think of how all these selective schools crow about the importance of and need for diversity, and see that they accept so many kids from the same private high school, it drives me a little crazy. I know these kids often pay full tuition and their parents may give money for buildings, but still – so many spots that go to such a small number of schools does not spell diversity to me.</p>
<p>OTOH, I know that the numbers are way down from years past and that parents who send their kids to these schools bemoan the fact that “only” 10-15 kids get into Yale. </p>
<p>Rant over, move on.</p>
<p>Fire, what you need to understand is that these schools are quite diverse. I worked in college counseling at one of them for many years. The unhooked white and Asian kids would have had a better chance at top ivies from any local public school.</p>
<p>These high schools look a lot alike the top colleges. Pretty much the same distribution ethnically and socioeconomically through slightly weighted more towards wealth. They also have a lot of recruitable athletes because they were recruited by the HS.</p>
<p>But the wealthy unhooked kids have no advantage until they get below top 20 schools. And then the advantage comes because they can pay
and they are well prepared.</p>
<p>I sent 8 or so to H most years and the breakdown typically looked like this: 3 athletes, 2 high scoring/GPA URMs, 2 top student legacies, 1 unbelievable, off the charts white or Asian student. And we had many, many who would have looked outstanding at any school that didn’t have all of the hooked applicants.</p>
<p>The rest of the ivies, Stanford, Duke, Chicago and top LACs looked about the same. Only MIT and Cal Tech applicants didn’t face this.</p>
<p>"“The unhooked white and Asian kids would have had a better chance at top ivies from any local public school.”"</p>
<p>Granted that much of the results in college placement, is already built-in from the selective admissions of these private HS, can a counselor help to tip a candidate off the waitlist of an Ivy Plus, based on the history of funneling students toward these universities?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I don’t underestimate public schools. But it’s not easy for public school kids. Public school class size ranges from 200 to 1000. Private school class size ranges from 20 to 100.</p>
<p>Thank you bovertine for clearing up the whole grade inflation situation!</p>
<p>Just looking at the statistics from PVPHS, you’d probably assume that it’s a pretty cut-throat place to be. However, the students really do support each other and everyone gets along pretty well. We’re all (usually) willing to come together, study together, and just reach our respective goals while still maintaining a pleasant environment. Yes, it is hard to hear that nearly everyone in your AP math class has scored over 2100 on the SAT, but it really just make one want to work a lot harder to “fit in”. It’s not that bad, really. I love going to school there.</p>
<p>As I mentioned earlier, there are A LOT of asians…and I have to admit that the group I hang out with is composed of nearly all Asian students. It does seem that there are a bunch of ethnic cliques, many of which are broken down even further (mainly Asian and White cliques). However, there are a few groups that mix together, and there’s usually a handful of Asian/White couples every year. </p>
<p>I am not really friends with the “smartest of the smart”, I hang out with people who are very intelligent, hard-working, and talented, but I do know some people who don’t put as much of themselves into their schoolwork. I’d say I’m on a middle/upper level when it comes to coursework load/grades. I think it’s a great place to be because you get a taste of all different types of students.</p>
<p>I do not speak much to my guidance counselor; however, that’s because I don’t really need to. All of the counselors are very helpful when you need them, but for college admissions/selections questions, we have a separate office called the College and Career Center which provides a bunch of information for students. You can just walk in and ask questions, so it’s much easier to get in touch with them than with your guidance counselor.</p>
<p>What I love most about the school is the people. Most of teachers actually care about teaching the material effectively, not just giving out high grades. My AP teachers don’t particularly teach to the test, but rather they just want us to learn. The students are amazing too. There are so many bright students that I sometimes can’t believe it. Group discussions are always interesting because everyone always has something interesting to say.</p>
<p>There actually isn’t much at all that I would change about PVPHS. It’s a great, high-performing school with great faculty and students. Everyone really cares for each other and I believe that it shows. I actually really like going to school everyday.</p>
<p>I believe that most of the students at PVPHS would prefer to stay in nice, sunny California. Peninsula is located in a pretty affluent area; therefore, the debt-ridden, falling-apart California isn’t one that most families here are familiar with. So, it just feels right to stay in-state. Obviously, at a high school like this there are bound to be many students wanting to attend an elite Ivy League school…and I feel that this would be the only reason why they would leave the west coast (I know a couple of people in this situation). I prefer to stay on this side of the country. I don’t think I’ve discussed east coast LACs with anyone…it’s just not a common topic or an option that many considered (but perhaps it’s just the people I know). Something to ponder…</p>
<p>So after 13 years in private K-12 more than half a million $ will have been spent on Junior’s education. I think I need to send DD off to her private LAC in a Maybach…</p>
<p>The lack of LAC’s doesn’t surprise me, particularly after finding that this school has a lot of Asian kids.</p>
<p>My kids went to a similar school on the east coast. The usual high-achiever applied to something like “Harvard, Yale, and Maryland”. Mom and Dad of the public school kid would shell out for the ivies, but not for Williams or Tufts.</p>
<p>The private schools around here are the ones that send kids to Amherst, Dickinson, Colgate, etc.</p>