Public H.S vs College Prep H.S

Gabbyrenee232115 · October 16, 2004, 11:42pm

Do kids going to College prep H schools get priority over kids who are attending Public H.S.?

I myself am attending a College Prep School and the work here is very rigorous. They give us about 3 hrs of HW each night. It gets so crazy. At my school we dont have Periods we have the Modular system. the modular system is very different from having 7 periods a day. I have 17 mods a day and each mod is about 15 min long. We have a schedule with at most 7 classes a day. If our class is not scheduled during the day , then we can attend an open lab. An open lab is a classroom which doesnt have class either. During the time of open lab you are entitled to spend your time how ever you want. you can either do Hw or sleep or if you have tests to take you go to the testing center and complete it. It def teaches us how to consume our time and believe me it does get stressful. sometimes our teachers give us like 5 tests a week (and they only give us like 2 days to complete them) and we have to plan when to take these. it gets very hectic because if you dont plan correctly you can end up taking up to 5 tests a day. very scary... thank god hasnt happend to me yet! lol Being that we had to take a test and give an interview before getting into this school tells me that there's nothing but very intelligent kids who attend this school. Keep in mind that you have to get invited back each year in order to attend. Some kids drop out and go to public and some give it their all. I cant wait to attend college because i know i will do just fine. It's gonna be like H.S. to me and i am very excited.

but i was just wondering if the colleges look at what H.S. we have attended and consider the curriculum of the school......?

nngmm · October 18, 2004, 10:42pm

They don't get priority, but they are often better prepared, and their counselors are better connected and work closer and harder with every student. So in % many more get into highly selective schools.

marlgirl · October 18, 2004, 11:05pm

Wait, 3 hours a night total homework? If so that's nothing... 3 hours a night per class would be another story altogether.

Yes, they do consider it. But what that often really means is that while they want to see you as, say, top 3% in a large public school you "only" have to be top 10% in a competitive private school to be equally competitive. So if you're towards the top of your class, no worries, but if you're at the middle of your class it's possible that you'd have better chances at the top schools with a better rank at a less competitive school. Well, that's my take on the matter at least.

Any why on earth would you get 5 tests a week? What could they possibly test you on?

CC_Admin · October 19, 2004, 12:01am

if im around top 25% in a tiny private school, but there are only 50something people in my class, how does it look?

devron · October 19, 2004, 1:40am

How do we know what percentile we are in? I also go to a dinky private school, I too only have about 50 girls (yes it is all girls) in my class, and there are the smart girls, and there are the not so smart girls. I'm probably in the middle. Who do we ask? Our principle or college counselor or what?

bettina · October 19, 2004, 3:30am

I heard from one college counselor that for small privates, the most selective schools will want to know if you are in the top third of your class. Then they will want to know if you are in the upper or lower of that. Talk to your GC and ask for a frank assessment.

CC_Admin · October 19, 2004, 4:55am

will ut austin out of state care? :)

sybbie719 · October 19, 2004, 8:36am

There are more kids form public school being admitted into college based on the sheer fact that there are more applicants in the college process who have attended public schools.

Sometimes kids from private schools get a backlash because any of them will be applying to the same types of collegs and therefore be in competition with one another for a few slots.

60 minutes just did a story sunday on the top 10% in Texas and UT Austin,. maybe you can look up the transcript

drownindreams · October 19, 2004, 10:14am

privately-schooled students generally have more advantageous situtations for college admissions (the $ to have SAT prep, tutors, sports/extracurriculars, travel, etc. and often times there are family members who went to good colleges) and there are generally better teachers and support networks for private schools. HOWEVER, it all comes down to the particular student and their tenacity.

colleges want a variety of students at their school... from socioeconomic background, location, heritage and school environment. public or private school, it makes little difference. however, if you come from a reputable school of either type that the adcom reocgnizes, that could give you a slight advantage. I know my school in SoCal produced 7 Stanford acceptances almost every year because many wonderful students over the years have ended up at that school.

jamimom · October 19, 2004, 10:26am

It depends on the kid as to which school is better for the college app scene. I say this as my older son spent two years at a top prep school and then transferred due to our move to a non selective catholic school where the kids do not tend to apply to the more highly selective schools. He ended up doing better than his peers at the prep schools as he was able to bring up his mediocre grades, and had great SAT scores compared to the kids at the new school. Though I am sure colleges know that the particular high school does not have courses that are as thorough and challenging as the prep school, he did take many AP courses there which gave him a top curriculum standing. At his prep school, there are only a few AP designations given and grades are not weighted. For him it would have been a disadvantage.

But for those kids who can be at the top of their class at prep school and for those kids with other hooks, the fact that they are taking a top drawer curriculum will count heavily, particularly in some of the selective LACs. For state systems...., well, I don't know, since some do not take the difficulty of the school into account. The decision is the result of plugging in grades and SATs. It is possible to be at a disadvantage in that situation.

There are prep school counselors that have relationships with the adcoms at some colleges that can heavily benefit a student. It can also hurt a student that has some blemishes on the record that would go unmentioned in a large public school with its vanilla bland recs. Sometimes these prep school counselors say too much and intervene too much on the process, and could be to the disadvantage of a given student. Many public school counselors are unaware of discipline issues and charactor flaws in the kids, and it would not be mentioned in the refs. Prep school refs are a different story.

Also you get a severe bottleneck situation at these Northeastern prep schools. Everyone from my son's school seems to be applying to the same handful of East Coast colleges. Few mention the state schools. Whereas at the public school, most of the kids are applying to the flagship state school and have their fingers crossed to get in there. At the catholic school, the primary colleges were the local and within 3 hours Catholic colleges. So if you apply outside of that range, you are not competing with so many of your classmates.

t1388 · October 19, 2004, 10:28am

Colleges do know what HS you have attended and will consider the curriculum of your HS. I know people always look at the HYS placement of the schools. However, I think we should really look at what students have learned in their high schools. Good college prep schools develop those study skills for the colleges. College prep school students are prepared even they are in the lower one third of their class. They learned how to think, do research and study independently. In a public high school, if the students are not motivated, they can graduate without any of those skills by taking easy courses. You can learn in any high school if you are welling to push yourself. You have to learn in a college prep school even you dont want to. This is just my humble opinion.

CC_Admin · October 19, 2004, 3:51pm

i have been in a private school my whole life so i don't know how it stacks up against publics... i do hope the class rank won't hurt me too much.

amdandrew · October 19, 2004, 4:08pm

Colleges are more inclined to forgive slightly lower SAT scores for public school types, while prep schoolers are expected to have taken $$$$s of prep classes. On the basis of your academic record, it looks as good as a top tier public high school-but no better.

t1388 · October 19, 2004, 9:59pm

The colleges will forgive lower SAT scores from inner city public schools. However, if you are from suburban schools, you will not get a break.