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<p>While the size might be relevant, the issue is really about how a school presents its students. Catholic schools are known for offering a solid core of classes, tough grading, and resisting to jump of the popular educational gimmicks such as IB, or even jumping onto the costly AP bandwagon. All in all, the “marketing” of students is often lacking, albeit the results are more … honest. Unfortunately, in the ultra competitive world of high selective admissions, the packaging and marketing have become as ubiquitous as necessary, especially since it WORKS so well with adcoms.</p>
<p>If guidance counselors are typically pretty weak in understanding the changes, it seems that catholic schools have had the hardest time adjusting. With salaries that are much lower than at their public counterparts, the guidance profession at catholic schools does not attract many young, dedicated, and highly educated and competent professionals. Too often, GC at catholic schools are borrowing pages from the past, as well as clinging to yesterday’s notions of academic success and core values. For instance, many catholic schools will proudly share that 100% of their students DO attend a college, showing a great concern for their bottom half. On the other hand, the competing public school, as a direct result of the various “school within a school” tricks, might send its top students to highly selective schools and not be overly concerned about dropouts and their bottom half. </p>
<p>Different missions, different objectives! And alas, also different results.</p>