<p>Your error is the assumption that admission to elite private colleges and universities is or should be based on some idealized definition of merit. These schools don’t have to “justify” anything. Their actions aren’t intended to meet your definition of just or fair conduct. If students receive an advantage, I assure you that it is because they are deemed more desirable for the purposes of the school.</p>
<p>My private school sends probably 70 some kids to HYPMSC, at least, and many more go to top international universities.</p>
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<p>Then why do you have an unproportional amount of kids going to Columbia/Brown? If there were no advantage, then it’d be proportional across all Ivys. Lots of private schools are “feeder” schools, some because they have excellent students (exeter, etc) but others for reasons i am unsure (the ones where you juts pay to get in. not take any qualifying test).</p>
<p>Again, this is just what I’ve seen in schools from my area.</p>
<p>I say this because they apply, they have the grades, and other things. It does not matter, these schools can do whatever they want, they are private not state schools. You can be dumb as a mule, but if you have the money they will accept you.</p>
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<p>Quoted for truth. Also valid if one of your parents works at the university.</p>
<p>Another thought is that private schools have college counselors working for the students… as well, making close associations with various schools and promoting their own (where the student attends). So if you have a college counselor telling you (adcom) what a great school they have and how the kids are strong academically, blah blah… they will take notice when a student from that school applies. And when a college counselor is closer “friends” with adcoms, they can say “hey I’ve got this great student applying… take a look at his app”… and they do. </p>
<p>Public school counselors are too busy helping the homeless kid find their next meal or a place to sleep or helping the truant kid realize they need to go to school or risk jail, etc.</p>
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<p>So basically you are admitting your private school advantage, justifying it by saying “these students are pretty smart anyway, schools can be as unfair as they want. money = acceptance.” </p>
<p>-____-</p>
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<p>Agree. I think it has a lot to do with the counselors being very connected at private schools whereas at public schools… they’re dumb lol. at least mine is.</p>
<p>My D went to public school, my S to private. Both are equally intelligent. (5 years apart)Although D got a decent education (and had a very few really wonderful teachers) I got tired of dealing with incompetence. She had teachers who really should just have been fired. In private school (since parents have the final say–not a teacher’s union) incompetent teachers don’t last long. Final result is not a very few good teachers in private schools but a great majority of fine educators. The goal of our private school is to send students on to higher education (yes, parents love ivy league) and so there is much more rigor in the classes (which colleges love) . Because of peers, parents and teachers expectations, students excel. The 60 kids in my son’s senior class has more merit scholars and ivy league than the 2000 in local public schools put together.
Private schools take the cream of the crop from the beginning. Many have entrance exams before they accept you. Elite public schools do the same. Colleges are well aware of the success rates of students from different schools and admit students accordingly. You’ll notice I didn’t say it was fair–that’s just the way it is.</p>
<p>Yes you are right. Money can get you into a lot of places. Heck Bush got into Yale. Its the truth, and that’s America for you.</p>
<p>Here’s a story for you. I’m not trying to diss my friend at all; I’m just trying to show you a comparison between us.</p>
<p>My best friend and I went to the same elementary school. We were equally smart, came from very similar socioeconomic backgrounds, and had very similar academic interests. When 7th grade hit, she stayed in public school while I went to private school.</p>
<p>6 years later:</p>
<p>I’m in the top 6% of my class, whereas she’s in the top 1% of her class. However, I scored about 500 points higher on the SAT than she did. I was accepted to Penn State’s honors college, but she didn’t get into their main campus. I’m going to Duke and she’s going to a tiny, average LAC. People at my school are going to Georgetown, Swarthmore, Duke, Wake Forest, Notre Dame, Hamilton, and many good schools (but no Ivies, most people don’t apply to Ivies and instead apply to Catholic schools since my school is a Catholic school). At her school, 20% of the girls in her graduating class are teen mothers, and some have multiple kids.</p>
<p>So did I end up getting a significantly better education all because I went to a private school? Was it worth the huge price tag? I’ll never be sure if private school is what made the big difference. But what I do know is that I went to a private school and got accepted to many top schools, and I’m not even at the very top of my class, whereas she got accepted into several okay schools, and she IS the top of her class.</p>
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<p>You clearly cannot be as dumb as a mule to get in to a top school because almost of the top schools are need-blind in making a decision. Only way having a ton of money would help is if your family donated thousands of dollars to the univeristy, which only constitutes a tiny portion of the applicants. Also, I find that private school students are very naive and ignorant regarding the nature of public schools. The assumption is that public school is a hub for the poor and relatively dumb, and as a result their educational quality suffers. My public schools and many alike are to the contrary: they provide students with ample opportunities such as AP classes, as well as decent teaching which is likely only marginally worse than private school teaching if not the same or better. The only qualification for getting in to a private school is having enough money, so as a result the student body as a whole is more intelligent because of the favorable socioeconomic status of the students. However, on an individual basis students at public schools are often way more qualified than applicants from public school, yet they are disadvantaged in admissions compared to private school students because private schools have counselors with connections- connections make the difference. Obviously in admissions to top schools you have to have the good stats regardless, but public school kids who get in to top schools are generally significantly more qualified than students of feeder private school who get in to top schools.</p>
<p>Most of this about private schools is generally true, but most GLADCHEMS schools are not like this.</p>
<p>When I was in middle school, I got a letter from “The premier boarding school in the country” (I don’t remember the name). </p>
<p>I didn’t want to go to boarding school, but an additional turn-off was when they claimed, “We send graduates to the top universities across the nation and all over the word.”</p>
<p>Top notch education there.</p>
<p>The ivies don’t have to justify anything, after all they are PRIVATE institutions.</p>
<p>They could admit people only from Pennsylvania if they wanted to.</p>
<p>@BillyMC
Was it one of the HADES (Hotchkiss, Andover, Deerfield, Exeter, or St. Pauls)?
Because if it wasn’t (and I’m guessing it wasn’t it because most of them don’t brag about themselves like that) you were probably right not to consider it. Most of the boarding prep schools besides the ones listed and a few other second tier schools aren’t particularly intense academically and are kind of a waste of money. But as a student that attended Exeter for a year I can tell you that the top schools really are worth it. The education is SO much better and most of the students are there because they truly want to learn.</p>
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Told you I don’t remember the name. It was like five (?) years ago.</p>
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I wouldn’t have considered any of them. I prefer public schools and through two years of full-time dual enrollment at a state college, I received as good an education as I could have asked for, including astronomy taught in a planetarium, psychology taught by a PhD who was a professor at the Air Force Academy, history taught by a Peace Corps veteran with graduate degrees from Penn and Georgetown, philosophy taught by a PhD who does government work on the ethics of nuclear power, statistics taught by a PhD who does major work in the field, and many other professors with PhDs, great experience, and high teaching ability. So I’m quite happy with my free public education.</p>