<p>The best financially feasible HS is going to make great impact on future. Huge difference in college prep. HS grades are not as important as what they actually teach and teachers are much better at best schools.
I do not have the same stand on UG. I believe that any UG is fine and success in UG and after depends much more on student than the name of UG.<br>
This is based on my D’s experience. She is in Gradute school now.</p>
<p>It is harder to stand out at a great public/private high school and this has its drawbacks. It is much harder to be in the top 5% when there are so many driven and talented students. For competitive kids, this is hugely motivating and stimulating, but for others, it can lead to loss of confidence. However, they will be better prepared for college and the competition level. They also won’t have this transition (from being the top to average) in college.</p>
<p>We know that sending our kids to top private schools makes their lives more challenging than if they had gone to our mediocre local public high school. Will it affect their “Ivy” prospects? Maybe. But if they do get it, I know they will be able to handle the work and competition.</p>
<p>*but I’ve heard that the best college admissions strategy is to send your kids to a tippy top school through 8th grade, and then to a mere above average school for high school. *</p>
<p>Can’t say it is related to college admission- however in our area middle schools are often weak/coping with challenges that are over their head & this is an age where it is easy to get off course- so many emotional/physical/academic changes taking place. Many families opt for private middle schools, then public high school- often driven by the student, who wants to attend with their neighborhood friends or enroll in a comprehensive high school, which private schools often are not ( limited sports & other EC’s- smaller schools also have smaller course selection)</p>
<p>^Not supported (again ) by my D’s experience who graduated #1 from her private prep. Kids at schools like this are getting much more attention from their teachers, relationships are much closer, help is much greater, college advisory is much more supportinve. Couple kids from D’s school went to other schools for one year. One went to great public, another to catholic private. They were desparate to get back right away realizing their mistake, but parents made them stay for whole year. When they came back in a year, they said that the most they were missing at other schools were their teachers and their great support. They just did not see themsleves being as successful at other places.</p>
<p>…to add, college admission is much lesser concern than college prep. D. indicated that her level of prep. even in regular HS classes was much higher than kids in AP classes from some other schools. This was the reason for her being hand picked by Ghemistry prof. to be his SI, the best job on campus. Strategy has always to be geared towards the best possble college prep., not the highest possible GPA. D. has never had a “B” in her life. If she is done it, others can do to. All it takes is great work ethic at any place with the most regorous program, genius is not required.</p>
<p>vermafam- if your D is smart and motivated, she’ll be able to take advantage of the opportunities at the more challenging high school- the better high school will offer more rigorous classes where she will learn more and be better prepared for college. You would be selling her short if you choose the lesser high school in hopes that it would increase her chances of admission to Harvard, etc.</p>
<p>So, to sum up the general consensus on this thread, the best school for your daughter would be the average public, or great public, or small local private day, or public magnet, or highly selective private boarding school. Did I miss anything?</p>
<p>;)</p>
<p>eastcoastcrazy, pretty sure you summed it up. :)</p>
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<p>Camomof3 is so right here. </p>
<p>I don’t think kids should plan their academic careers solely around how they might look on a piece of paper to a stranger on an admissions committee. A committed student who pursues a challenging academic program at a decent school is going to be fine. Valuing high grades over actual learning is foolish.</p>
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<p>I also agree with this, BUT decided the loss of confidence just wasn’t worth it. As a junior, my son has transfered from great high school to the average high school. I’ll report back next year on college admissions. He seems much happier at his average school, but isn’t aiming for the ivies.</p>
<p>I don’t think a kid who loves to learn, sits and consciously makes a decision at a young age to attend this school or that. I also don’t believe that because a kid attends a rigorous highschool they are nothing but grade whores thinking nothing of Ivy or equilvalent schools. The kids who attend schools such as magnets or privates tend to be the same kids who will end up applying to top schools because that is the environment that they have been accustomed to. Just as not every kid is made for top colleges not every kid is made for a rigorous highschools. Parents could generally see what is right for a kid by the time they are in 6th or 7th grade. The great thing about schools in this country is that there is a school for everyone, both on the highchool and college level.</p>
<p>There is one more issue that I don’t think has been mentioned yet.</p>
<p>At some “average” high schools, there is social pressure not to excel academically. This type of pressure is less likely to occur at a “top” high school, regardless of whether it’s a private school, a magnet school, or simply a “regular” public high school that serves an affluent or academically focused neighborhood.</p>
<p>A good student might seem to have a better chance of ending up in the top 5% of an average school than a top school, but there’s also a greater chance that the good student will slack off academically in the average school because that’s what the people around him are doing (or in extreme cases, because he will get beaten up if he gets As).</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, as of a few years ago (I haven’t seen more recent figures) almost 100% of the students going to Ivy League colleges from our school district over the previous decade had come from three high schools (out of about 30, then), with 90% coming from the two most competitive academic magnets. Apart from the occasional athletic recruit, the “average” high schools averaged 0 per year, maybe 1 or 2 per decade. The top two schools were sending 25-35 kids/year (from classes of 500 and 150, respectively). The same is true at private schools – a handful of schools take the lion’s share of the spots.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s hard to stand out at an ultracompetitive school. But it’s also surprisingly hard to stand out a a school without a significant academic culture, and teachers and administrators who emphasize it. What if your child doesn’t LIKE being the odd person out all the time? (Many teens don’t.) What if he gets bored with stupid assignments, and what if the faculty doesn’t understand the difference between that and being a screw-up? What if she doesn’t like performing at a high level ALL the time?</p>
<p>I am convinced there’s only one rational strategy: get the best education you can, the one that teaches, engages, inspires your child the most. That way, if she doesn’t get into Princeton (as is likely for everyone, including every fully qualified applicant), she will be in a great position to find the Princeton in whatever college she attends, not to mention being beautifully set up for a productive life. And – and here’s the bonus – being better educated gives her a better shot at Princeton, too.</p>
<p>There isn’t any other strategy that works.</p>
<p>Oh, and do her a favor: get her off the Princeton kick. It’s fine to aspire to go to a good college, but it’s nothing but heartbreak to be obsessed with one particular one for years. They don’t love you back, really they don’t.</p>
<p>I agree with Marian. Boredom is a big issue. Honors and AP classes tend to foster more kids doing homework and acting civily in classroom. As an aside, my late mother volunteered as an aide and was assigned to regular classes; she often commented on the time wasted in disciplining the kids.</p>
<p>I do think much of the competition is regional. Most of the brightest kids went to the state flagship. At the local private schools, there was much more college talk, visits planned, and applications to LACs and other OOS colleges.</p>
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<p>vermafam: I know from experience that there are children like this. Your child is young enough that you may still be able to change the discussion from “what do I have to do to get into a particular college?” to “what do I want to learn, what do I want to study?” If you can do that the goals may change. It is difficult. In my opinion, it is good for kids to want gold stars but perhaps better to get the gold stars as a result of pursuing a goal maybe a little bit more worthwhile long term than just getting a trophy? </p>
<p>ymmv but just thought I’d toss it out there :)</p>
<p>My D. was at the best possible HS (in our region, including neighboring state). It has prepared her for college better than most kids she has met at college, who she ended up tutoring later (paid position). However, aiming at Ivy was never her goal. If some believe that state public schools are not challenging, sorry to dissapoint. Yes, they are plenty challenging for the very top kids from private preps who are much better prepared than the rest. Plenty, plenty according to my kid who went to state public UG on full tuition Merit, we did not see paying for UG before Med. School, we choose to pay for Med. School. D. was not aspired to apply to Ivy’s and ended up going to highly ranked Med. School after state public UG, was accepted to few of them as well as others from her UG. Most of her Med. School classmates are from Ivy’s and other elite UG’s, which is a proof that name of UG does not matter, what kid accomplishes at UG is everything.</p>
<p>JHS–that’s interesting but also puzzling about your district. Maybe the magnets siphon all the committed students who’d otherwise be more randomly distributed?</p>
<p>My town’s only high school is a Title One school. It’s probably below “average” my most numerical scales, yet several kids in any given year go to Ivies or similar level schools. (last year’s val chose Princeton over Harvard.) There is a core of roughly 30/40, maybe more, high - aspiring students in any given year, and the students in the “tier” below them certainly don’t “pull” them away from their aspirations.</p>
<p>Marian – We probably do have a significant cadre of students with less interest in academics, but they generally socialize among themselves and have no reason to “beat up on” students who are college-bound. I think a school would have to be a long way below average or have specific social issues to make this likely.</p>
<p>My own child decided what college she was going to at the age of 7. She announced it at dinner to her dad and me. We had a hard time refraining from laughter, but did ask the “Why _<em>?” question. “Because it’s the best place to study _</em>.” __ was her passion when she was 7.</p>
<p>I later learned from a local library volunteer that she had taken a short detour on the way home from school and gone up to the help desk. She knew this volunteer so approached her and asked how you find out where the best college to study a particular subject is. This wonderful woman, a former kindergarten teacher, did not laugh but took her to the reference section. They looked up the ranking of programs in that field, and my D decided she wanted to go to the college ranked #1.</p>
<p>It was a “teachable moment” and the volunteer used it to teach my D where the reference section of the adult section of the library was and how to use an index. She also reinforced the idea that the library was a place to go to get answers. </p>
<p>The hilarious part is that, although my D decided not to pursue her passion at the age of 7, that is where she went to college.</p>
<p>garland: Of course the magnets siphon off all the committed students who would otherwise be more randomly distributed. And the magnets are extremely competitive, especially the closer you get to the top of each class. My point was that there is no evidence that avoiding that competition and being a shining star at a regular high school or lesser magnet is a winning strategy if your goal is to attend an elite college. It’s a challenge to succeed at the magnets, but a fair number of kids meet that challenge and get rewarded. At the other schools, few if any kids achieve the same kind of academic success, and if they do it’s not clear at all it will get recognized. But, to be fair, I’m not talking about the difference between the “best” high school in Montgomery County MD vs. the fifth-best high school there. I’m talking about a much wider gap in educational achievement between the school types.</p>
<p>Still want to stress one more time that success at college is many times more important than getting accepted to certain UG. Having low college GPA or worse fail or not being able to keep up with your own dream and switch to some other proffessional goal because of insufficient college prep. will not get a kid whare he wants to be today. I do not know if all of them and their parents understand this. HS class rank is just a game that should not be getting as much attention as sufficient college prep. The same goes for notion of getting into UG that matches well to student personality and wide range of interest. This decision should not be based on college ranking by no means. Everybody can find one that is a good fit for specific applicant.</p>