<p>In several of my past posts, in which I've questioned whether the Ivies give preference to the wealthy and connected, I've been told by numerous CC participants that indeed the "regular guy" (financially speaking) has just as good of a chance of being admitted as the wealthy and connected student.</p>
<p>But.....approximately 1 out of 10 students nationally attends a private high school, yet 30-40% of incoming freshmen at every Ivy graduated from a private high school. </p>
<p>And, the students who come from private high schools typically come from the most costly private high schools. The same private high schools are represented year after year after year. Rarely, do you see someone from a "new and different" high school admitted unless it's a legacy, underrepresented minority student or a recruited athlete.</p>
<p>Is the Ivy admission system really fair to the "regular guy.?"</p>
<p>Of course, you can get into an Ivy! The inner-city schools where I live, sent kids to Brown, Stanfod and Harvard last year! In fact, Harvard wants kids from public schools whose families make under 60k a year.</p>
<p>This hinges on "fair"......could you elaborate? I mean if you are saying that publics get lesser presence but have better credentials ....is that it?</p>
<p>Well, the small private schools tend to be the most rigorous and prepare their students well to be Ivy-caliber. I don't think it's so much a financial preference as a preference for very strong applicants. (Not to say that public-schoolers can't be strong applicants, either.)</p>
<p>Bobby: (1) Thanks for supporting my argument that private high schools are overrepresented at Ivies.</p>
<p>(2) The term "TROLL" has two different meanings: (a) magical and (b) malignant. I assume you are referring to me as magical. No one on CC would think I am the other!</p>
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Well, the small private schools tend to be the most rigorous and prepare their students well to be Ivy-caliber. I don't think it's so much a financial preference as a preference for very strong applicants. (Not to say that public-schoolers can't be strong applicants, either.)
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<p>Who's a stronger candidate: the class president and lacrosse team captain from the elite private with a 3.8 GPA including AP Honors in Calculus, History, Physics or the inner-city kid who has to work five hours a day to help out the family but still achieves a strong academic record though little in the way of extracurriculars.</p>
<p>^Way to completely polarize a set of comparisons that are actually more complex than connected private school kid vs. poor public school kid.</p>
<p>Sure there are poor kids in publics and rich kids in privates. But where I come from, there are hard workers, slackers, rich kids, poor kids, college-savvy kids, and lackluster kids at both public AND private schools, even though they might be better represented at certain ones. Besides, the fact still remains that a lot of private schools do a lot to prepare the kids that go there. If they don't, then they aren't doing their jobs as prep schools. Private funding means they have a leg up in resources over the often terribly underfunded publics like mine, for example. For that reason, it's to be expected that they have a better chance of preparing their students better, or at least giving them opportunities that not everyone can have.</p>
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Yes, but only 7% of kids go to private, non parochial schools!! They are way overrepresented.
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<p>Many of these private schools have selective admissions. They don't take the kinds of kids whose academic records put them in the bottom half of their middle school classes. Public schools do. So directly comparing private schools with public schools can be misleading.</p>
<p>Full disclosure: I'm a parent. I went to a public high school and an Ivy League college.</p>
<p>The bottom line is this: Graduates of the elite (and very expensive) private high schools are tremendously overrepresented at the Ivies. Yes, you will find a few inner-city students attending Ivies, and some public school grads.
If you don't count public school grads with some sort of a hook (recruited athletes, underrepresented minorities, legacies, etc.), public school grads are drastically underrepresented at the Ivies.</p>
<p>Hmm. Jews make up approximately 3% of the population, yet many of the elite schools are up to 40% jewish. Can a non-jewish student get into an ivy??</p>
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^^also true. THe kid in the 10th percentile at the expensive private school could be in the 90th percentile at a public.
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<p>That's usually not the case. Private prep schools are a lot more rigorous than nearly all public schools. A student in the 50th percentile at Andover could be in the top 3% at a local public school.</p>
<p>Oh, and it costs about $40,000 per year to go to Choate, but around 30% of the kids on are on financial aid and the acceptance rate to even attend the school is about 20%.</p>
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In several of my past posts, in which I've questioned whether the Ivies give preference to the wealthy and connected, I've been told by numerous CC participants that indeed the "regular guy" (financially speaking) has just as good of a chance of being admitted as the wealthy and connected student.</p>
<p>But.....approximately 1 out of 10 students nationally attends a private high school, yet 30-40% of incoming freshmen at every Ivy graduated from a private high school. </p>
<p>And, the students who come from private high schools typically come from the most costly private high schools. The same private high schools are represented year after year after year. Rarely, do you see someone from a "new and different" high school admitted unless it's a legacy, underrepresented minority student or a recruited athlete.</p>
<p>Is the Ivy admission system really fair to the "regular guy.?"
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<p>Old<em>but</em>wise, why do you care anyway? You have yourself stated that you don't believe that the Ivies offer any advantages, and that Ivy students do well because of the quality of the students, not because of the schools themselves (your words, not mine). So if that's really true, then who really cares whether Ivy admissions are 'unfair'? Why do you care so much about something that, according to your own logic, is irrelevant?</p>