The bottom line is what are you willing to give up to achieve your goals. Either public or private, it is the work you put in and use the resources that are available to you that will make the difference, irrespective of where you go for high school. Colleges expect you have taken the classes with most rigor available to you, and perform well, they expect you to be an engaged member of the society, use your time productively by participating in EC’s that interests you, and overall demonstrate that you are capable of handling an independent college life and meet the academic rigor of that college.
If you live in a area where the public school has good resources, caters to your academic interests, provides you with ample sports and other clubs to keep you engaged and teaches you values of being a good global citizen then there should be no reason to consider a private school.
Private schools usually provide ample resources and EC opportunities, but at elite private schools the academic rigor is very high and the volume of work required may prevent you participating in many EC’s and club activities. Its is also very hard to maintain you GPA mainly because of the class sizes and academic strength of the fellow student body. It will definitely groom you in to a well rounded, confident person. If you do maintain a good GPA, you will have a good chance of getting in to a Good college.
@katliamom
“There are also highly selective, elite, highly academic privates that ARE Ivy feeder schools. If you’ve got the academic mojo (and hopefully money) to get into Andover, St Pauls, Groton, Choate, etc. odds are you will get into a selective college/university.”
This is not entirely true, even at these “elite privates” there are ladders of social class, which range from super wealthy parents who donate buildings and endowments to these privates, to upper middle class parents who will shell out their hard earned money with the hope of providing “a leg up” for their children, to athletes and URM who will be recruited with scholarships. This divide spills over to dorms, and classes and eventually to who gets channeled in to Ivy league.
They "guarantee an Ivy or top 20 schools to those who have a stellar GPA, so attending these schools will not guarantee and IVY admission.
Probably many Harvard students and alumni are/were not math or related majors or came in advanced and interested enough in math to have come anywhere close to even noticing the third honors level math course that is Math 55a and 55b.
@Wisdom2share Of course there are no guarantees, per se. And there are nuances. As well as overarching trends. For example, on average Harvard takes as many kids from Exeter as it takes from the entire Rocky Mountain region of the United States! (Colo, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana.) It just so happens that those Exeter kids may be also legacies, or children of VIP parents and they happen to be at the right school and aiming for the right universities.
More to the point, that’s such a specialized question that I don’t know why someone would even ask that question. Not that the question is invalid, but it’s more suited to asking an adviser in the department. I think many students and alum know that Math 55 exists, but that’s the extent of their knowledge.
@CollegeFreak9488 It really depends on you. The question really isn’t public v. private but which public v. which private. If you live in an area with good or excellent public schools you may still wish to consider private for various reasons including: small class sizes, the ability to get to know your classmates/teachers very well (boarding school in particular), specialized programs everything from writing your own course, to internships, to travel abroad (that may not be offered at the local public school). Additionally, you may have a particular skill ( art, music, sports) that you want to develop and this can be fostered in a private school. You might need or want extra support or structure ( via being able to speak with your teachers until 10PM or needing to have study time every day). Or you might want to be in a classroom where every person has competed for a spot (in some cases 9-15 have been rejected for that spot). If you are very academic this might make you very happy as you can (finally) move at a pace you could not in public school. Or maybe you are really quiet and you like theater and it’s better at the private school.
Or you might decide none of these things matter and the public school is a better fit.
You guy didn’t like that Math 55 question huh? This kid was just trying to create a favorable impression. Maybe she would have remembered him when reviewing applications. Who knows!
As this relate to the original title of the thread, he did not have the benefit of a private education with special counselors to help with T10 admissions. Maybe we should have paid our way into the private schools around here with much T10 success.
Longtime posters seem to not like what I have to say across many threads. Maybe I’m breaking with the dogma of the CC elite?
At least on Wall Street Oasis they admit to the slanted playing field.
It comes of as trying too hard. But that’s just my opinion. A more general question about higher-level coursework in general might have led to a better dialogue. We don’t know, and never will, what the alum interviewer thought. Not that big a deal, since the interview won’t move the decision-making needle much, if at all.
But most here also recognize that “private” does not necessarily mean “elite” that confers the various kinds of elitist advantages. Most private high schools and colleges are not in the elite category, and the OP has not indicated whether the private high school in question is an elite one.
@NoKillli I would seriously doubt that even most math majors at Harvard remembers the Math 55 course. I can barely remember the names of my courses as I graduated from college many decades ago. That said, you may/may not have gotten feedback that wasn’t so nice. I have seen that many times on CC. But there are soo many helpful and kind people. I don’t think that the elite notion of coasting from daddy’s trust fund into Harvard doesn’t exist ( it does) but it no longer fills the entire class. Now there are many other ways for kids to gain entrance into great schools and there are more great schools because there are more competent college bound kids than ever before.
I see a lot of people knocking down others based on their social standing. Attacks on kids who just want to get a great education get attacked by some CC who will say “get real or you can’t afford that” etc. Some wealthy kids get attacked for having it so easy that they will gain an upper hand and some athletes are attacked for taking the spot of academic kids. The reality is, college admissions are competitive. And when it comes to money and power, very few people are kind. It’s gloves off because they can’t see you or your son and see what he wants to do in life. But remember all parents just want their kids to be happy and do well so they can pay their bills.
I’m pretty much done arguing about whether or not private schools give an advantage to Ivys. I say yes, you say no. For top privates and publics (Stuy, BxSci, etc.), it is not even worth a discussion. The numbers are what they are.
Just a clarification, it was not an alumni interview but rather a discussion with a H admissions rep who also graduated from H. She was probably a non-stem person anyway or she wouldn’t be an admissions rep.
I’m pretty sure Math 55 is such an epic course even non-math majors have heard of it.
According to Paul Allen, Bill Gates got a B in Math 55 and was so shook up by not being the top math student, he changed to Applied Math.
When my kid and I toured my Alma mater (not close to a T10), I grabbed an undergrad catalog and not only were course numbers the same in the Math dept., the descriptions were also the same. I guess Linear Algebra and Differential equations haven’t changed much in the past 30 years;) How did I remember? Long term memory is weird.
Are you still trying to ignore the difference between “private” and “elite private”? Once again, the OP did not indicate that the private school in question is an elite one.
Did you remember the course numbers and descriptions of courses in departments that you did not take any courses from when you were in college?
I think private education can help you if you get into one with a top reputation and graduate at the top of that class with other leadership positions.
I’m not ignoring the difference between any elite high schools. They clearly have a major edge in ivy admissions. I went to BxSci. Many classmates went to Brown, Cornell and Columbia but it was a different time. The top kids went to HPM if they could afford it. Many did go to SUNY (Albany,Bing, & Buff engineering back then) for financial reasons.
Where is gets more interesting are not not so elite but good & expensive privates. (not talking about local religious schools). We have a bunch of these in my area and they have very nice Ivy results. Actually the public with a significant volume of Hi-stats ORM kids have a much better T10 rate than our similar school.
You know we are pretty much in agreement overall. We differ on how much non-elites matter. If I had access to all Ivy applications for the past few years, emails from high school counselors, emails from the development and alumni offices and a list of phone calls to admissions with a few grad students to do the grunt work, we could answer the question.
Nokilli. “I choose not to believe much of what is said by the CC regulars about IVY admissions.”
I’m not crazy about what many say, either. But I’m close enough to the reality to feel you don’t have a grasp of the process, either. Nor soes some SUNY guy illustrate much here.
I do feel a good AO should know math 55. But just saying it was some rep tells us nothing. And no, just asking isn’t the sort of thing that makes a lasting favorable impression. The proof is in the record- not just stats and purported “passions,” but the whole picture, including depth and breadth and a well done app and any supps.
Please be cautious that your “understanding” so far is on target. Many fall to their assumptions.
Some privates are excellent but no better than the neighboring public high school. Think about whether or not the private high school is worth the additional cost of tuition and other expenses such as uniforms. You will present your profile to Admissions rather than the name on the building.
Whether it is a public or private school each school generally feeds into certain colleges. Colleges recruit heavily from certain high schools and vice versa. More often than not top privates tend to send more students to elites due to relationships but that is no guarantee. Sometimes the public school provides a better education and sometimes the private does but it all depends on the school and the student.
Privates are self selecting so have much bigger range of hooked students, including really smart URMs, and high performing athletes (not just legacy and Uber rich). Plus academic super stars. Thats a big reason why they disproportionately have more kids at top schools. From my experience the standard wealthy private school student is not getting into ivies no matter what their parents influence. However the very good URM especially with athletic prowess is getting in.
This was not the case, years ago.
Many kids at top privates are hooked. Not the case at most publics.
There are plenty of unhooked kids from public high schools that get into Ivies or equivalents. Are you suggesting that an unhooked kid would have an easier time getting in from a public school vs. a private?
No… I’m suggesting that the disproportional amount of hooked kids, plus academic or talent superstars at privates is a huge factor in their disproportional positive results at top schools. So it’s not all about legacy and money asany think, although that is a part of it too - but I would say a much smaller part. The talent pool at prep schools is deep.
It just so happens that those Exeter kids may be also legacies, or children of VIP parents and they happen to be at the right school and aiming for the right universities.