<p>A very random question to all you experienced college parents from a very inexperienced highschooler parent...In the eyes of admissions office, is it better to attend a top boarding school and score in the top 15% or a slightly lower one and score in the top 5%?
Any advice is appreciated....</p>
<p>College admission is tricky from prep schools. They tend to have a lot of hooked candidates: recruited athletes, legacies, top URMs and development. So it’s not the top 15% of the class getting into the top colleges.</p>
<p>that said, colleges do recognize the difficulty of the school.</p>
<p>Bottom line IMO, a kid without a hook has a better chance at ivy like colleges coming from a public school.</p>
<p>Thanks HM5. He is definitely going to go to boarding school for the experience. He can always come back to Canada for university if it does not work out in the USA. But if you had to choose between the two scenerios I described above, which would you choose?</p>
<p>There might be some variables, notably, the perceived difference between said schools by the respective colleges. And remember, your son from BS will be competing with all of the kids applying to whatever college from his BS. My stepson attended a BS and it seemed to me that it was actually a feeder school for a few colleges, since so many kids were accepted to a certain few schools. </p>
<p>I would look at the matriculation list on each school’s website, to get a feel for where the kids apply and where they are accepted.</p>
<p>Is he going to a US boarding school as an athlete? And then will be applying to college, hopefully as a <em>recruited</em> athlete? Hockey?</p>
<p>The kids I know that want to play <em>hockey</em> left public school and went to boarding school and received very nice acceptances.</p>
<p>One thing that’s hard to predict: Sometimes kids will actually do better in a more competitive atmosphere. However, I think it’s kind of a wash either way. Even the finest prep schools don’t send all or even most of their kids to Ivy League schools. That doesn’t mean the prep school experience isn’t valuable, it’s just that colleges don’t want to have their entire college class made up of Andover grads. I think it probably has to do with which school will let him shine more, and which will help him define his persona and have a strong sense of himself that will come through in an appealing way.</p>
<p>Two Ds at Harvard - no hooks other than the ones reflected in their own accomplishments. Both were top students at an undistinguished, rural public HS that doesn’t typically send students to selective OOS universities. It’s my impression that the scope of those accomplishments in light of the relative scarcity of special resources at the school were assets for them as candidates for admission.</p>
<p>Gadad, in being from rural Georgia at a non elite high school there is a major advantage. So for the OP, not knowing the circumstances makes it impossible to say. Indeed, if her DS becomes a recruited athlete, the question is moot, if he’s good and has the minimum stats they won’t care where he’s coming from. However, if he’s not, the bar is set very high for the prep school crowd.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for your great advice. I actually took it upon myself to call a few top US universities and speak to the admissions people. They said it is what the child does that counts, not what school they come from. Keepiing along the lines of what Gadad said in his post, they expect more from BS students because of all the opportunities presented to them. If a student from a public school achieves the same, it is harder for them because they must create the opportunity themselves, thus it counts for more. One went so far as to say “we only want so many Exeter students”…we are looking for a diverse student body"…</p>
<p>I have no idea what the right answer is to your particular question—But I would advise you to not to take anything a rep for the college says at face value.</p>
<p>What schools are you comparing? Are you comparing Harker School in San Jose to Andover? Are you comparing Philips Exeter to Choate?</p>
<p>I agree…it’s what the kid DOES…that matters most. The school profile that the prep school sends plus the reputation it has with college adcoms will be enough beyond that.</p>
<p>Are you hoping that your child will have a better chance at acceptance if he goes to a private school in the states? If so…that may not be an accurate assumption.</p>
<p>My son wanted to go to a boarding school a few years ago (his best friend went…researching that is what brought me to CC).</p>
<p>If you go on the websites of the schools, it’s interesting to see where the graduates end up (colleges). Some schools (costing $28k a year) had their graduates attending colleges that were very much on par w/the schools attended by grads from our local public HS. Of course, the overall percentage of kids attending a 4 yr college was higher than the public HS (if parents are paying $28k a yr for HS, better chance kids will go to college). But as to the quality/prestige of the colleges – it varied.</p>
<p>I think your focus is misguided. Really - there is way too much strategizing about college acceptances and not enough thinking about what is best for your kid for the next 3 or 4 high school years of his/her life. Elite college acceptances are a crapshoot, and there are so many terrific colleges out there that it doesn’t matter if you kid gets into an “elite” one. Look at what would meet your child’s needs now. JMHO!</p>
<p>That’s true. Finding an environment where you kid will thrive is essential. If you have options (can chose among various private schools) that is great; where your child is comfortable/will be challenged & supported is most important.</p>
<p>I’d rather be in the top 5% of a class than the top 15% of a class. Admissions officers know the difficulty of boarding schools and will dip deeper into the class of the better school. But you still have 14+% of the class ahead of you.</p>
<p>But agree with others that it’s what the kid does with his experience at any school and which school is better for the kid considering all factors. College admissions is only one small piece of the puzzle.</p>
<p>Many boarding schools do not rank their students
My son’s school does not even report GPA (obviously that can be calculated)
They do provide a chart that shows junior grade distribution by individual course (ie for precalculus
1 student earned an A+, 4 students earned As, 10 students earned A- etc etc)
They feel rank and GPA “distract” from the student’s whole profile</p>
<p>The GC are still asked to estimate decile or quintile placement on the school report, even if they don’t officially rank.</p>
<p>I also think you can’t really know whether your child will end up in the top 10 or 15% of the class. Ultimately, I think the fit is more important than making assumptions about what a kid’s rank might be. There are too many variables that might affect that rank.</p>
<p>Momofaknight, realize that almost all private schools don’t rank so colleges have their own formulas to rank each student from the schools that don’t rank.</p>
<p>Thanks to all who replied. We obviously put fit first and foremost but at the time of the post we were trying to decide between two schools that both “fit” well and as we are new to the whole process, we were just looking for some more insight. It is interesting to get everyone’s perspectives.</p>