I agree with those who would not consider such a move. This was excellent advice:
I know people who have sent their kids to each of the Naperville schools. I have also attended a selective admission Chicago school. (Lane Tech, when there was only Lane and Whitney Young) I will PM you with specific anecdotes specific to Naperville if you’re concerned about college outcomes from these public high schools.
@Knowsstuff that is an awful commute…though on the bright side, at least you’re not driving into the sun!
Indeed it is harder for “Elite” high school students to be administered to “top” colleges if you think about the factor that, the elite high school selects one out of 10 or 20 applicants and these applicants normally are almost already the top academic performers in their middle schools, so your kid will compete with all these “brilliant” kids, while any Elite high school doesn’t product 10 times more matriculations for top colleges than any other good public school, if also consider, legacy, recruited athletes, big donors.
So it is all about what is the best fit to make the student become the best version of themselves, top college administration is just small part of the outcome.
The son was the “top” scholar awardee from the top middle school in the district, however, we still had him enrolled to a private high school, without expectation that he has to make to the top college though he might have much better chance to make it if he stayed. He is thriving in any aspect in the private school, certainly that is kind of results from your education “investment”, if we had 3rd or 4th kid, we will still do that.
Thank you @Knowsstuff for providing such a detailed response. Given your familiarity with both Chicago and Naperville, definitely very helpful getting your insights. Will PM you for any further inputs. Thanks again!
I would not pick a high school based on where the graduates attend college. I strongly believe that who you are and what you do can lead to the same colleges, no matter where one attends high school. The high school does not get the student “in.” If the high school, such as one like Payton, has a high number of kids going to very selective colleges, it has something to do with that the high school itself has selected very high achieving students to attend, and so they have a lot of students who would be contenders at very selective colleges. The local public school doesn’t choose its students.
In my view, your child’s chances at particular colleges will not be greater if she goes to Payton. I also think that is not a good reason to switch school districts. If you think the program at Payton has something to offer that better fits your kid, then maybe choose it. But in your situation, to move for this reason, when a great public school is in your town, seems unnecessary. Payton would have to offer a lot of things that differ from your high school to even consider moving, in my view.
I’m an independent college consultant and I worked with a Payton student the past two years. I’m very familiar with the stats and college matriculations at this high school. My student applied EA to Yale and was denied. This student then applied ED2 to UChicago and was admitted. One thing I will say is that Payton seems to be a bit of a feeder school to UChicago and Northwestern, with an unusually high number matriculating each year at these two colleges. I suppose if these two colleges are the goal, there might be some advantage at Payton. But how would a rising freshman know what college she wants to attend already?
I’m not you, but I would never move for this reason.
As a parent, and a point of reference, my own kid went to an Ivy League college and went to a rural public high school not really known for sending kids to Ivies. I truly believe who you are and what you do matters more than the name of the high school from where you came. We did not “select” our high school. It was the only game in town (well, actually six towns fed into it). Both my kids were well prepared for the very selective colleges they attended and were top students at their respective colleges (awards and such in college).
I just want to add…there are many many colleges that are not Ivy League or Top 20 where a student can get an excellent education. And have a fabulous and productive career.
Put your child where they will thrive. For some that might be the magnet school with teachers that are inspiring and peers that are competitive. For others, it might be finding an extracurricular activity that they become completely passionate about.
Has your daughter been able to spend time at both schools? What’s her take? Does she do well under pressure? Does she need downtime? Will growing up in the city be value-added for her? Or does she crave open space and solitude? What are the other family dynamics (siblings and jobs)? How would she feel about navigating public transportation?
I sent my kid to boarding school. I often joke that I could have just bought him a house or bought a house in whatever school district we wanted to live in with that money and at least it would have been an investment. I still get sick when I think of the financial cost. But, I also knew that my kid would completely thrive where we sent him and we even discussed what would happen if for some reason he decided not to go to college at all as Ivies and T20 weren’t our goal. For us, we knew this was where he belonged and that he would not have done well at our LPS. And, yes, moving was on the table so I get where you are coming from.
But, from what I’m seeing, you have two really good options. It’s been 25 years since I lived in Illinois, but from what I remember Naperville schools were good schools and also had many extracurricular opportunities. If you can see her thriving there, I’d stay. The next four years shouldn’t be about getting into a certain school or one with a certain label but about figuring out who she is, how she learns, what makes her happy and what she might want to do when she graduates. She can find challenging opportunities in many places if she is one to seek them out. Unless you can come up with a very specific list of why your daughter would thrive at Payton over Naperville (type of instruction, opportunities, specific programs, class size, workload, philosophy) rather than just college outcomes, I’d take it off the table.
Edited to add: What is your daughter’s take on it? Was it her idea to take the exam? Is she absolutely dying to go to Payton? If she’s indifferent about it, another reason to take it off the table.
Thanks @soozievt . Very helpful to hear about your firsthand experience with a Payton kid. Broadly from my research, I am aware that my LPS does offer many AP classes and has multiple clubs.
However the class size is, of course,much larger and possibly the level of instruction is not comparable to Payton.
We felt that a school like Payton can open up a lot of opportunities which we may not have been even aware of (Ex: Summer bridge programs at UChicago which I read about in the Payton course manual) and was a big reason to apply to the school. However I do see your point as well.
Appreciate your insights!
Thank you @vwlizard. My daughter is pretty much exposed to her suburban school district only and city life will definitely be a big change for her. As to how she will take it, if we decide to move, is anybody’s guess.
I have to say taking the selective prep exam was more my idea than hers. My daughter is the kind of kid who excels at things she applies herself to but is not exactly going to proactively research and find out about new programs or things to do.
While we were looking for good high school options for her, I came across the Chicago magnet schools and considered them to be worth a try (we just had to provide her 7th grade results and take an entrance test while applying).
Now that we are at a stage where we need to make a decision and move from our town, we are of course thinking a lot more. Thanks for all your pointers on things we should consider while making our decision.
I just want to say that there are summer programs at UChicago for high school students that any student from anywhere in the US or internationally can apply and attend. I have had students do that. You really don’t need Payton for that kind of experience.
When we moved my D out of our local public HS (not in Chicago) her close friend also considered moving but in the end decided it wasnt for her. My D’s school was much more intense and the friend didn’t think she would thrive there.
IMO the driver here should be the student first and then figuring out if a move makes financial sense for the family.
I will echo the other posters who said you should be focusing on the high school experience and not if it will get your child into elite colleges.
To me, Northside and schools like IMSA are truly magnet schools. Or the Lab school. But to me, from my family member’s experience, having lived in Lincoln Park with a score in the high 90s did not get the student accepted to Payton, Lane Tech, or Jones. I think the district determined that Lincoln Park high school was “enough” and LPHS has an IB program and other honors programs. But my relative’s friends who lived in “lesser tiers” were able to gain acceptance to Lane, Payton, etc with scores in the 80s. So not all the kids are “elite”. Just a very good mix of solid students. For that, I wouldn’t uproot my kid to go to Payton. But I would for the math and science centric schools. And yes, based on my anecdotal experience, lots of the higher performing kids I know that went to Payton are going to Northwestern or UChicago. That would be my only reason to think it would be an advantage to uproot my kid if those schools are dream schools and you ED to them.
So it’s not a guarantee to get in. The first 30% goes to the high scoring students then it comes down to tiers. My son as an example had his choice of schools and was in that top 30%.He is 2 years out of college now so don’t know if it’s slightly different now. Think you might choose your school first now? Don’t know… I think now it might be slightly different.
Lincoln IB is great and know many that successfully went there.
The scores to get in are in this article. 898-900/900 for Tier 4 to get in the highest 2 schools. But then it goes much lower due to what socioeconomical area you live in. I think the theory is this levels the playing field to get into one of these selective enrolment school. All I can tell you these kids excel since they are put into a situation to excel. My son had many friends from the South side/etc that took trains and busses over an hour to school each way. All of them got full or close to full scholarship to college. All of them are computer engineers or something similar now. All are great kids and Uber smart. The school does a great job of matching kids to college scholarships but that’s another story
Just as an aside so people understand the “why” of going to a selective enrollment school. The local high schools when my kids were of age (they are 24/26 now), were just not good. So many in my neighborhood go religious private /private school of some type it seems. (yes, we are privledged). There is like one really good local high school that if you don’t live in the district then good luck. All the local elementary schools/middle schools have really improved in the last 10 years to the point that most of the local families seem to NOW send their kids there. Now there is strong family involvement. This was true of my kids private schools since pre school through middle school. Even at these selective enrollment schools there is very strong family involvement. 99% of people we knew moved to the suburbs once they have kids for their school system. Or at least it seemed that way… Lol. Many did the opposite also for high school. If their kid didn’t get into a selective enrolment school and couldn’t afford a private high school they moved to the burbs for schooling. So the OP asking the question is not odd to me at all since families do do it in both directions. I wouldn’t but I loved raising our family in the city. It’s not what most people in the suburbs actually think. My whole area is young families or established families. We have houses with back yards and garages for our cars… Lol. It’s very quite but I can walk to anything I need. Many choose to live in a condo etc.
Anyway, I would save the money for college and not spend it moving into the city unless there was a reason to do so. Both school send lots of kids to Uchicago and NW. But also to other great schools. Jones does a great job as well and in a much cooler area of the city. Lol
Going to a selective high school can be the right decision for kids. Let’s face it, lots of families send their kids to private boarding schools for whatever reasons.
There are a couple of things that trouble me about the scenario presented here.
The student wasn’t driving this. The parent says the student did this because the parent wanted them to.
The public school district they are in is a highly regarded one with a very very good high school.
The family needs to sell their home, and basically uproot the whole family for this to happen. What happens to friendships this student has in their current town? What about things the parents do in their community? I think this bothers me more than anything else. The need to sell a home and move to make this school happen.
Anecdote of one. We looked at prep schools for one of our kids at HIS asking…not ours. We live in a location where there are plenty of either day school or boarding school options. The kid was a huge part of this search. If a school had not been close enough, the kid would have been a boarding student. In the end, the KID decided not to pursue this because none of the prep schools in this area had strong enough instrumental music programs compared to our public high school…and he would have had to give up his precollege program altogether. We let our kid drive this search…with help from us.
Our second kid was offered the chance to look at private high school options. She declined.
Thanks for those score breakdowns. I was too lazy to remember if tier 1 or 4 was living in Lincoln Park and if the score was 90 or 900. My relative unfortunately was in that top 30% but not accepted to any of those magnets. It worked out in the end- as the student is now at Michigan. Go Blue! But having seen where all the Payton kids end up- sure there are many good schools, but it’s not earth shattering (except for NU and Chicago). To me, it’s just like any great public suburban high school, and schools like Naperville, New Trier, or Hinsdale Central are great!