<p>I wanted to echo the others who have disputed the notion that attending BS “reduces” your chances with the ivies. </p>
<p>There are over 25,000 public high schools and over 10,000 private high schools in the US – that’s over 35,000 superachieving valedictorians in the college applicant pool each year. Granted that not all of them are applying to the same schools, and that a variety of factors, including demographic issues, are significant to an applicant’s chances, the reality is that most public or private high schools will send no students to an “ivy” league caliber school in any given year. </p>
<p>Whereas there are a number of well regarded public schools (typically in more affluent suburban areas) that regularly send some students to the ivies each year, unless you’re among the very top students at one of these schools, the odds are very low (not impossible, but very low). A prominent BS automatically improves your odds just by the sheer number of students these BS’s are able to send to the elite colleges. Yes, it’s more competitive and any given student will have a harder time standing out among a large number of equally qualified, highly motivated BS students that have already been through a highly selective admissions process. But colleges understand that, which is why each of the ivies will accept students from these schools in the double digits.</p>
<p>I grew up in a blue collar suburb with a high school of about 1000 students that had sent 2 or 3 students to an ivy in it’s entire (50 year) history. My siblings and I all went to BS (on FA) and we all went to ivy schools. There is no doubt in my mind that attending BS was the most important factor in our college acceptances.</p>
<p>There are a lot of factors to consider when choosing whether or not to send your child to BS. The myth that it hurts your college chances shouldn’t be one of them.</p>