My son attended a Jesuit HS that has sent several boys to elite colleges, but transferred to our local public school after 9th grade. I was lamenting the decision when he was wait listed at ND and Chicago, as I felt the private school offered much more in preparing for college applications. It is a major part of the marketing campaign, after all. The public school offers only a handful of APs and has two councilors for the entire student body. He was later accepted at Northwestern and Amherst and wait listed at Stanford, so now I am wondering if “overcoming” the limitations of his public school was some sort of hook? Another student was accepted at Northwestern and Notre Dame from a graduating class of 120 where barely 50% will even go to college.
No point in regretting now since your son made it to excellent schools regardless…in any case, coming from a below average public school is not really a ‘hook’ and makes being valedictorian in that context nothing particularly special. Going to a private school which the top colleges are familiar with might have been advantageous but who knows how any alternative path would have played out. As long as your son made the most of his opportunities and continues down that path, you should be a happy parent!
That is one of those age old questions. How did the private school do this year? There is your answer
I think that if you go to one of the truly elite private schools (For random sample Chapin, St Ann’s, possibly Exeter or Andover) you will always do better. An ordinary quality private school such as you describe or even the more ordinary ones in Manhattan, depends on the year, the quality of the kids for that year, and whether they have real connections. Five years ago every private school had strong connections, as colleges are changing their reps that seems to be changing. If the principal can call UPenn and get a couple of seats, does not seem to happen as much.
Public school districts fall in and out of favor, the one near us has, they could not even get Einstein into Brown. However, certain top school districts have gotten so competitive I have to wonder what it takes to be at the top.
I think being at the top of a public school is better than an ordinary private unless it has real connections
Your kid was accepted at Northwestern and waitlisted at Stanford without you having to pay tens of thousands in private school tuition - that is a major victoryin my opinion.