<p>My son is a junior at a well respected prep school. He has struggled with the workload for this first two years, but seems to be getting into a good groove academically. By the time that he applies for college, he should be at a 3.0 GPA, and his school does not rank. No honors or AP classes, although his classes use AP or college textbooks. </p>
<p>The workload is unbelievable, and from speaking to graduates of his school, they unequivocally state that academics in college is much easier than it was in high school. </p>
<p>My concern is that every school that he has been interested in shows stats that the average admittance GPA is something like a 3.8. Do colleges take into account the difference in a 3.0 at a private HS vs. a 3.8 at our local public HS? Our local HS is a joke, and one of his friends got all A's in "Honors" classes and bragged that she never had homework for the entire year.</p>
<p>We have yet to meet with the college counselors, so we are stressing until then. First post, so please go easy on me. Thanks.</p>
<p>I will go very easy. Chances are your school uses Naviance. If so, ask your college counseling office how to log in, even if only as a guest. You’ll be able to see exactly how kids from your son’s school have done with their college admissions based on GPA and SAT (find the “scattergrams” area). This can be very reassuring. </p>
<p>And I don’t want to start a civil war, but we have experience with our local public + a local private school. Kids from the private are certainly being admitted with lower GPAs than kids from the public. And if your son has not yet taken SATs/ACTs, the standardized tests can really help. Take a deep breath. (My kids have never had strong GPAs but two of three so far have done fine with admissions.)</p>
<p>My kids are in a similar situation, they go to a college prep school right next to a public high school. </p>
<p>From what I can tell from the admissions from our own school, the kids who are smart, work hard and do well, whether it’s an A or B are getting into good schools. And this is a very small school - 45 kids a grade. There are ivy’s, georgetown, top lac’s, etc to the kids you say, yeah, they deserve that. There is always the tale of tragedy of a qualified candidate not getting accepted.</p>
<p>I believe the admissions at colleges make it their job to learn the schools where the kids attend, and it is the job of the guidance counselor to make their school known.</p>
<p>The key is to make the most of whichever school you attend.</p>
<p>Looking at Naviance is a good idea. Odds are, the adcoms who cover your area are familiar with both your local HS and your son’s school. </p>
<p>Regarding the thread title, may I point out that–as your post makes clear–this is not really a matter of “public vs prep” but of ONE public HS vs ONE private school? Many public schools, and not just in Scarsdale or NoVa or Silicon Valley, are significantly more challenging than the one you describe. My son’s class of about 180 had precisely TWO students with straight A averages, some with A- averages, and the vast majority with B or C averages. The tail end of the top 10% was in the B+ range. There was no grade weighting at all.</p>
<p>A well respected prep school should certainly have an excellent college counseling program. When you meet with his counselor, he/she will probably be able to reassure you about how students like your son have fared in the past. In addition, a counseling department at a school like the one you describe should be able to provide true guidance in the college search. This is part of what you’re paying for, and you should make full use of it. Good luck - it’s significant and encouraging that your son is on an upward trend academically.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. It will all become clear in a few months when we meet with the college office, I’m sure. We are just trying to look at some schools over break and don’t want to over/under reach.</p>
<p>And yes, not trying to lump in all public schools, there are some good ones for sure. In our case there might be one public HS in the area where if you were in all honors classes that might be on par with his school. Even then, it would be a stretch.</p>