Many here are opining or speculating. That doesn’t make it reality. It isn’t even the level of thinking tippy tops need to find in their applicants.
The advantage to an expensive prep school is not the wealth. It’s the fact those GCs tend to pre-vet or fine comb for their best applicants. And foster the best, facilitating great internships, certain better sorts of comm service, the chance to stand out, in the right ways. Those who are not as able generally get steered to a host of alternatives, from “2nd tier” down to no-names.
NYC does have a critical mass of bright and deserving appliants, of any SES. (Sure, Montgomery County and Northern VA, too. The standards are high there.) Many of the kids in NYC schools, even smaller parochials, earn their positives. Kids who’ve stretched and accomplished, and put forth a well tuned app/supp. Some other areas, too, including very poor areas. At some of the DC suburban hs, the level of work, maturity and thinking is notable. It’s so incomplete to assume this is about Mommy’s or Daddy’s job.
More legacies get denied than approved. Over the years, I came to see just how much this is “the kid’s to win or lose,” how he stretches, accomplishes, and more- and not just titles. Gotta remember that just having the stats and some ECs you think are great, doesn’t equate to the whole the tippy tops look for. Legacy, wealth or not. It’s much more intense to filter for a class than many of you imagine. Many kids never get what the college is about, what those adcoms seek, and/or what a good presentation actually is. That’s all SES, connections or not.