<p>Andover and Exeter would typically send around 25%-30% of the class to Ivies. There are a handful (but only a handful) of prep schools around the country with comparable or higher percentages, but I believe all of them have smaller class sizes (Andover and Exeter are in the 300 range). All these schools also have lots of kids who go on to top non-Ivy colleges (Stanford, MIT, Duke, Chicago, top LACs etc.) Presumably MomofaKnight’s son is at one of them (I’m guessing Roxbury Latin or Milton). And yes, these schools are generally quite well known to the colleges.</p>
<p>We visited a couple of ivies and my D. decided they just weren’t a fit, nor were the other large, “name brand” east coast schools she visited. She didn’t like the “everything must be done at the highest possible level” fabulousness of Harvard. Some things are just meant to be done for personal enjoyment in her mind. The social environment at Penn wasn’t for her as it reminded her too much of the rich preppy kids at her Catholic grade school who went off to a Jesuit prep school–Penn seemed to be teeming with affluent, smart private school kids. I’m sure there are lots of other types of kids there, but those were the ones we interacted with. </p>
<p>We visited some regional liberal arts schools and she really liked the unpretentious nature of the students there, and the quality of the curriculum seemed to be excellent–lots of small classes and all taught by professors, yet some common sense applied to the basic intro classes (larger lecture and small lab/discussion) so the atmosphere wasn’t precious. </p>
<p>This is a generalization, but in our experience, the “name brand” schools we visit have very “name conscious” students. Reed’s students seemed to be just as into posturing about how alternative they were as Penn’s were into being prep. The lower profile schools seemed to have kids who were less into a particular image, and my daughter responded positively to that.</p>
<p>hellllllo…what is going on with this thread? Give it a REST ALREADY! Geesh, let’s get creative PEOPLE. As the OP I feel like CRAWLING INTO A HOLE already.</p>
<p>BHG:</p>
<p>What are you referring to? People are responding to your thread. Why are you even posting if you don’t want to see the responses? If you’re referring to a particular response then please state it.</p>
<p>If you feel like crawling into a hole, don’t let us stop you.</p>
<p>Jpro-Despite the academic pressures of my son’s school, it is a nice fit for him as I call him my “good time Charley”. His academic potential has been stretched at his school, but honestly the Ivy pressure does not get to him one bit. He is truly able to appreciate the accomplishments of his peers with better grades and board scores. He has grown nicely and will most likely not matriculate to an Ivy but will do fine wherever he ends up.
On the other hand, I would never send my tightly wrapped, grade conscious younger son into this environment as I think he would crumble with the pressure</p>
<p>MomOfWC–Yes, over the past 3 years my son’s school has sent about 90 kids to Ivies out of 300 total. There are 100 kids per grade.
Several others got into Duke, Stanford, U Chicago, Hopkins</p>
<p>BHG, if you’re tired of reading the thread, stop reading it. You don’t get to control threads on a public discussion board once you start them. Sometimes they have a mind or momentum of their own. Go do something else if you’ve lost interest.</p>
<p>It will be interesting to see where my younger son ends up. His older brother was an amazing student and applied to the “top schools”: they offered the right challenge and options for him. This one has more modest ambitions, and although he’s truly creative and bright, he has his own definition of “work” and is looking for a school where he can feel comfortable, have fun, and learn things about himself and life, as well as his chosen academic field. Ivys will never be a consideration in this kid’s mind, and I think that’s a fine decision!</p>
<p>S only considered the Ivies as back up schools because he wanted to attend a service academy which is where he is now.</p>