<p>I have a 8th grader. For HS, we have a choice to go to a feeder school. Actually two feeder programs: one is a gifted program in a public school and the other is a private school that produced Bill Gates. We can also go to a decent public school that is top 100 in the country. </p>
<p>So the question is should my kid go to that decent school to be #1 or go to a feeder program and be one of the top 5%? Which one will have more weight during admission?</p>
<p>The gifted program has been sending 50% of the students to the tier-1 schools: the likes of HYPSMCC. The likes of Berkeley, Cornell, NYU, Dartmouth, Columbia are usually their safeties. But need all the stars to aligned to be the #1 in the program just because of the talent pool. </p>
<p>What are your experiences? I believe that at tier-1 schools, admission officers use the rigor of curriculum as a diffetentiator because the majority of the applicants have SAT/ACT/GPA way above the threshhold. So I am leaning towards being one of the top students instead of being THE best student in HS, but does a class rank of #15 out of 500 students look bad?</p>
<p>Why don’t you ask your kid. Bill Gates didn’t become Bill Gates just because he went to a private school. If you look at the statistics, almost 70% of MIT undergrads went to public school. The majority of us didn’t go to any feeder program because our parents didn’t spoil us.</p>
<p>“We can also go to a decent public school that is top 100 in the country.”</p>
<p>lol</p>
<p>I am jealous of your options. QQ</p>
<p>Send him through the strongest, most rigorous program that he can possibly handle. If you think the emphasis is to be placed on coming out in first place, and not to get the best college preparatory education available, then your values are painfully misplaced.</p>
<p>Because in the end, he’s competing with those kids at the gifted schools no matter what high school he attends.</p>
<p>Well, placement is the means to the end and I am not sure about that theory some told me about the undergraduate admissions, hence the question.</p>
<p>I have done own competing with the best. Kind of becoming softened by the “happiness concept” when it comes to my kids.</p>
<p>It’s good to set expectations, but only if your children wants to meet those expectations. </p>
<p>Basically, you have to let your children know that it’s OKAY if they end up at a school that is not HYPMSC. Just having that assurance can mean a lot.</p>
<p>Wow - I think people are being a bit harsh here on this thread. amfoust - they’re talking about an 8th grader, not a college student. Would you agree that most parents control their kids’ lives (totally) when they’re younger? Isn’t that the point of having parents? It’s a gradual weaning process, but I don’t think making decisions for a 13/14 year old about something as important as this is completely helicoptering or unreasonable. Go check out the boarding school threads and tell all those parents there to just let their kids go to the local public school and stop “pushing”! ;)</p>
<p>We moved to a new state when my oldest son was starting HS and I honestly spent 6 months doing research into what schools would be the best for my boys. How is this not common sense? And I think it paid off as all 3 got into their #1 choice school (which was MIT for two of them). Now our choices were all public (private school wasn’t an option) and honestly for the city, looking for a “best” school definitely could not be gauged by USNWR rankings. The school we chose wasn’t even listed in the state rankings, nor had they ever sent a student to MIT or an Ivy. But what they offered and their flexibility in working with top students (allowing them to skip prereqs, start AP’s in middle school, self study a semester and then join in, skip lunch, take classes at a local college while juggling a different schedule on different days at the HS, etc.) worked out great for all concerned. </p>
<p>My thought would be that you have to look at the 3 choices not in terms of MIT admission (or any other top school) but to see which of them would allow your student to thrive and become the best person all around (and yes, the soccer team was a big part of our decision of HS as well because that was a big part of one of my son’s lives). Enabling them to grow and excel - whether that means #1 at a lower school or #50 at a magnet school - will be what catches a college’s eye. Not that number ranking. I’d look at the resources offered at each school as well - who has the EC’s your son wants to do? Who has the AP classes he’s interested in? Who has the students that he will engage the best with? Does the need to be surrounded by top students to excel and push himself, or does he prefer to be the “best” and help others? </p>
<p>Bottom line is that it’s impossible for us to make that call based on the info you’ve given us. The only one who can is you/your son since you know his personality and a lot of details about the schools. Sounds like you really can’t go wrong in any case as you have such excellent choices, and that your son will do well in any, but my goal would be to do what’s best for him, and not only in terms of college admissions.</p>
<p>@HYPSMCless… It won’t matter whether or not your child goes to Lakeside, Bellevue, International school - just make sure he/she enjoys what (s)he does in ECs.</p>
Statistics can be devious. The important part about that less than 70% of MIT-matriculants went to public school whereas over 90% of Americans attend public school. That’s a very big discrepancy. </p>
<p>Still agree with the general sentiment of the posts on this thread, though.</p>
<p>Your child is in eighth grade. A great deal changes over the next 4 years, and you will have very little control over it. Core values, like trying one’s best, taking on challenges, valuing the world of the mind, and playing fair, are what you may want to focus on. </p>
<p>Getting into a prestige school with less than 10% acceptance among valedictorians and 2400 perfect SAT scorers is not teaching those values.</p>
<p>MIT admission is a crap shoot, even for the very best. Will your child be a “bad person” in your eyes if they don"t get in? Why do you need the external validation of a prestige admission? There are many, many selective and wonderful technically oriented colleges. Carnegie Mellon, Rose Hullman, Harvey Mudd. </p>
<p>Or in 4 years they may want to major in classics!</p>
<p>MIT admissions blog is worth reading, it talks about finding and developing a passion. That will come to your child with a few years of maturity. It will show if they are “managed” instead of allowed to explore and mature through trial and error.</p>
<p>Taking the long view, MIT may some day be an option for graduate school too. There is really no hurry.</p>
<p>8th grade? And you are concerned about MIT admissions now? I had no clue about MIT in 8th grade. It was not even on my radar until just a few months ago. My entire career interest has changed in the last 6 months. Forget about MIT for now. I focused on grades, played school sports, and put the dating scene on hold until this year. It has paid off tremendously, and I am hopeful that in a couple of weeks I get to move to Cambridge for the new 4 years.</p>
<p>My parents said to keep an open mind throughout this process, and I have great schools on my list with MIT at the top. If it does not work out, that is OK. I know that I gave it my all, and there is another great school for me next year. I really believe that having great parents that are supportive in everything I do has been most important. </p>
<p>Digged into some data of that public HS with a gifted program. Their class 2016 had 50 students in the gifted program and half of them went to Ivies or CC top colleges. The actual number of offers should be quite higher (meaning these top schools offered multiple spots to this program). So I guess class ranking in the top half will do! I am curious about how this program stacks up against the top feeder schools in the country. Anyone has any comparable data? </p>
<p>Harvard 2
Princeton 3
Yale 1
MIT 0
Caltech 2
Chicago 2
Stanford 2
Brown 1
Cornell 1
Dartmouth 1
Columbia 4
UPenn 1
Berkeley 6</p>
<p>Those students that got admitted to those colleges didn’t get in because of the so-called “gifted program”. It’s basically the top 50 students in that grade. Looks like only 8 people from Interlake High School got into HYPMS, which isn’t that impressive considering a class size of 350+. If you take the 50 top students from each grade at every top high school in the country, you’d get similar, if not better stats. The choice of high school is not as important as what you do at that high school. If Bellevue High School is the most convenient, then just go there - I know kids from Bellevue and Interlake at MIT. </p>
<p>Top public high schools in the area I’m from (Bay Area) typically send ~5-10 to MIT, ~1-5 to Stanford, ~1-5 to Harvard, ~2-8 to each of the other Ivies, and 50+ to Berkeley. My year had 12+ admits to MIT.</p>
<p>With that said, do you not read the responses in this forum? Lay off your college research. Seriously. If my parents were like this when I was in 8th grade, I would be very pis.sed. I didn’t know what the SATs were until the end of freshmen year. And didn’t start worrying about college until sophomore year. And guess what? I still got into MIT as well as other top schools. This is because I wasn’t stressed out the first 2 years of HS and didn’t burn out by their junior and senior years, which is bound to happen to your child if you keep this up. It’s great that you care about your kid and all, but you have to know your limits. IMO, you are hyperextending your authority. Just let your kid choose what school he/she wants to, and that will be better for all of you in the long run. Stop stressing about rankings - have your son/daughter take classes he/she wants to and do well in them. The rankings will automatically go in your favor if that happens. Of course, this is merely advice since none of us can tell you how to educate your own children. But if I were you, I’d take it and lay off CC for the next 3 years.</p>
<p>PS: Since when are CMU and Johns Hopkins considered “Honorable Mentions”. CMU has one of the best Computer Science programs in the world. And JHU has the best med school in the country, and has the lowest admit rates for its BME program. UCSD… top-notch bioengineering program. Do your research.</p>
<p>Last thing: I know people whose parents were super demanding in high school. Always forcing their children to take the hardest classes, making B’s absolutely unacceptable, assigning homework outside of class, etc etc etc. While most of them do end up at great colleges, their whole view towards academics has been tainted - they study to please their parents, not to satisfy their own intellectual curiosity. Once they reach college, they are thoroughly confused because they don’t have their parents to plan their every step in their new academic career. Is that really what you want? On the other hand, students whose parents set high expectations but are understanding of their choices fare much better when they reach college because they are able to be more independent and pursue their passions with more freedom and vitality. Success in high school does NOT infer success in college, and I have witnessed this personally.</p>
<p>So I strongly urge you to consider this, since high school is one of the most important periods in a person’s life.</p>
<p>Well, I am not that demanding actucally but I do think the selection of HS is my responsibility as a parent. Putting kids in the best situation is an enabling thing a parent can do. The rest will depend on kids’ own efforts and maturity.</p>
<p>Your HS is definitely way beyond anything in Washington State. Our school district is considered the best in the State with all 5 HS in the top 100 of the country. Interlake gifted program is a district program so it’s not just the top 50 students in Interlake. It takes the best students in the district and the surrounding areas (it allows out of district students). I don’t think the whole district has ever sent 12 students to MIT in one year. </p>
<p>“Top public high schools in the area I’m from (Bay Area) typically send ~5-10 to MIT, ~1-5 to Stanford, ~1-5 to Harvard, ~2-8 to each of the other Ivies, and 50+ to Berkeley. My year had 12+ admits to MIT.” </p>
<p>Must be the envy of all the people on CC! I don’t know how many such HS in Bay area but I’d say these kids are extremely lucky. I’d assume the parents there must have considered the HS quality before buying their houses. Not too different from what I am trying to do now.</p>
<p>Not trying to be argumentative, but somehow people assume I am a tiger mom My simple question is really about HS selection. Perfectly reasonable, no?</p>
My simple question is really about HS selection. Perfectly reasonable, no?</p>