Hunter high in NYC which is very similar to STUY has the label of being the saddest spot in NYC. So I guess we can conclude that one would be happier at Rikers Island than STUY.
Also in NYC 70 per cent of the public school children are black or Hispanic. At STUY the number for blacks and Hispanics is 3 per cent. I almost don’t even know what to say about that. I personally think that is awful
I do think that going to prep school can help. I just think like everything in life you need to be careful what you wish for and carefully evaluate all your options
My D, at a top college, notes that prep/BS kids seem to hit the ground running in college. They are comfortable with approaching professors outside of class, know to to ask for help/extensions/whatever when necessary, that sort of thing.
For what it’s worth I turned down Stuyvesant and Trinity for a small Quaker school and did just fine college-wise.
Of course, @OHMomof2 , everyone does just fine at Quaker schools! (Did you see the NY times article about Matt Ryan’s early football career at Penn Charter?!)
These top schools have a high % of applicants who have a serious hook. For example development case, URM, or high level athlete.
My son attends a top boarding school, and I’ve gotten to know the kids and parents quite well. I estimate that in his class approx 10-20% students have a really good hook. So if you subtract out all of these kids, then the 20-30% ivy admit rate doesn’t look so good anymore.
@gardenstategal I admit I had to google him…not a football fan. In fact I’ve never seen a game, at any level, in my life! (neither my high school nor my college had one)
Only if you choose to take courses with repetitious material which most BS kids wouldn’t think of doing. Our son validated many of the freshman courses at his college so he wouldn’t waste time repeating any material. That is not a good educational use of anyone’s time. A great high school education will make college “easier” because it gives you the tools and experience to hit the ground running, not because you’ve seen the material before.
If you’re shooting for any Ivy, you might need to be a bit higher than that.
@sgopal2 's point is well taken: At many prep schools, a high proportion of the students who get accepted to ultra-selective colleges are legacies, or children of very significant donors, or often both. In fact, the top prep schools have so many kids like that, that it’s still super-competitive for them.
A young cousin of mine went to a famous boarding school that has traditionally been a “feeder” to Harvard. His father and grandfather had both gone to Harvard college (and the grandfather had a Harvard PhD, too), and both were fairly prominent in their fields and loyal contributors. The son wasn’t remotely a bad student – he was around the 75th percentile of his extremely competitive prep school class, and he had the additional fillip of having been born, raised, and educated in France, in French schools, until he was 12. Nevertheless, the school informed him and his family before his senior year that he was not really a competitive applicant for Harvard from the school, and the school would not support his application there. Ooof! were his parents and grandparents angry!
Whatever the causation, graduates of highly regarded preparatory schools disproportionately attend Harvard, as well as liberal arts colleges, particularly NESCACs, and other Ivies:
Colleges by Concentration of Representation for One Northeastern Private School, Forbes’ #1 Ranked Trinity School (minimum 5 TS matriculants, 2011-2015)
It can’t hurt. I’d say having a GPA over 4.0, a rigorous AP/IB schedule and test scores (SAT/ACT/Subject Tests) over the 95% while attending a high feeder prep school (my S had 11 accepted to Harvard and 10 the following year from his high school) would set a URM up nicely. Still, it is a crap shoot at best with so many equally deserving students.
@crimsonmom2019 lol those grades are like impossible at my school. A 90 average is considered honor roll, it’s that hard. I think colleges know that though.
@iwantsuccess I completely understand. At my son’s school, you could have a 4.2 and not be in the top 10% of the class. Colleges are very aware of a school’s profile. Good luck to you!
About 40 per cent of the kids at Harvard did not go to a public high school. About 10 per cent of the high schools in the US are private. So in general going to prep boarding school is good but then again it depends on the facts of the individual case.
