@Lindagaf I think that students from suburban high schools in some parts of the country get into top schools. That was certainly true when I lived in Westchester County, NY and Fairfield County, CT. However, I am currently living in Broward County, FL and there are far fewer (as a %) students from suburban public schools who get into elite colleges.
We didn’t move our kids to private schools because of college admissions. It wasn’t on our radar when they were 11 years old.
Part of the reason FL doesn’t get many public school kids into top schools (relative to its population) is that FL kids seem to be more adverse to going out of state than kids in other states. They have great weather, good public university choices (even a public LAC) and U of Miami offers great merit aid to attract students away from UF. When my oldest announced he was going to Case Western he got two different reactions from his friends in public schools. The first was “Cleveland…You know how cold that is?” The other was “Didn’t you try for UF or Miami?”
There is another reason. That reason is that in my area the public schools are giant. Really really giant. The high school we are zoned for has 2400 students. The high school we were zoned for in our last home has 4400 students. Both are suburban high schools. In those giant schools top colleges go on the radar in junior year and that is often too late.
What is interesting about private schools is that they put the top kids on the track to elite college admissions without focusing on elite college admissions. I ran into another mom I know. Her oldest went to the same private school as my kids. Her youngest is a senior and did not get a scholarship so they put him in the local public school (the one with 4400 students). She told me that if she didn’t know what to do from her experience with her daughter it would have been too late for her son to do the right things.
I do think that it is easier for kids at private schools because their entire high school career has them pointed toward selective college admissions from day 1. I think that in areas with better (and smaller) public schools selective college admissions is more common.