I think the aha that all of these families that are flocking to these select few high schools will have for the next generation is exactly the Big Fish Little Pond thing. The top colleges aren’t taking any more kids from our competitive high school; it’s just the numbers the students need to hit keep going up every year as the hard core families spend more and more money on tutors and Russian math and summer prep classes.
I think it’s different for each kid and city. The school my son went to is a selective enrollment public all honors high school that you test into. If you get like 99.6 % you might get in. There are like 5 of these schools but then many take lower stats. (yes, like applying to college… College was much less stressful). Their avg Act is 31. They are the number 1 rated school like 15 years in a row and ranked nationally. So in this case this mostly academic school is truly competitive but with itself. My son never felt like he was competing. They all helped and pushed each other to so better. All the regional AO 's are aware of the rigor of this school. This is why I think the kids are judged to kids from their school itself.
In my state, all public schools are compared against each other and things like pass rates, SATs, APs, etc are easily comparable. So you do know if you go to a top school or not.
@sahmkc, wow - at my son’s high school, there was no announcement of any sort about NMF, Presidential Scholar nomination (perfect SAT score), etc. . . . the idea that ll students who had a 30+ on the ACT would have their names posted is fascinating. It’s always so interesting to me to see the huge variations in how high schools handle this sort of information.
We had an academic hall of fame at our daughter’s high school. Students with 98 percentile + on standardized tests and 3.8 GPA or higher every semester were engraved on plaque on the wall. This past year they also finally made an academic display case for all the trophies for the academic teams. The valedictorian got a standing ovation at the awards assembly and graduation by his fellow classmates. Frankly it was nice to see the academics celebrated as much as the athletics.
@Propinquity I think there are positives and negatives to everything. My older kids go to a very competitive public high school. The annual awards ceremony only gives awards for things like perfect ACT/SAT scores and top 10% for each grade. The top 10% is divided by about .05. So one standard class beyond the required freshman PE class means falling out of the top 10%. Want to take art, music, theater? Enjoy your trip to a lower tier. Only those taking AP Fine Arts will be able to stay in the top 10%.
The pressure became crazy. People were taking classes in the summer to pack in as many APs as possible. The school district voted two years ago to do away with rank to try to turn down the pressure, but the kids continue to pressure themselves just as hard (although the upperclassman are still getting ranked, so maybe it will have a bigger impact when there are 4 years of this rule in effect.)
My big kids have been really fortunate to do well enough to get awards and hit the top 10%, but the awards ceremony always makes me sad. The school is packed with smart kids that would easily be in the top at other schools but will never be recognized at our school.
We are considering sending our youngest somewhere with less pressure across the board. We would love a smaller, medium-smart school with good class offerings and more personal attention. And he loves sports, so maybe somewhere where people didn’t have to specialize in one sport at age 6 and pay for private coaching and summer camps every year to make basketball, baseball, etc.
My youngest is still in elementary, so we may change our mind, but right now a smaller, less competitive school sounds pretty nice.