Is Stevenson Worth It? (Chicago, Naperville: 2014, credit, home)

[Deepak S]

I have a friend whose daughter is a senior going off to college. She said that Stevenson hadn’t really helped her, since she knew someone with a lower GPA from Wherling who got into UIUC, but she didn’t. Can someone explain this, and if Stevenson is actually worth it? It is Fremd, or Libertyville a better option?

[northshorenative]

I'm not sure I understand your question. Is it worth what? Did your friend sacrifice to live in that district?

Getting into college isn't merely a function of what high school the student attends or the student's GPA. How would you expect Stevenson to "help" the student? They do provide an excellent education but colleges look at all sorts of things; GPA, course selection, extracurricular activities, summer enrichment, essay, and class ranking for the schools who still have a ranking.

A college will also look at a student's background. A student who has overcome difficulties in their life and manages to graduate with a 3.4 GPA might demonstrate a stronger work ethic than a student who has come from a privileged background and managed a 3.7 GPA.

At Stevenson there are a lot of opportunities that might not exist for a student at a smaller school. But Stevenson has a very large student body, so there are fewer opportunities to excel in any individual thing because there is more "competition" for something like being on the yearbook committee or 1st string on a sports team.

Another school might be a better "option" for a given student because they offer a selection of coursework or other opportunities (you can't learn Chinese at a high school that doesn't teach it). It is possible to get a great education at many of the schools in the area. None of them can guarantee admittance to a particular college.

[chet everett]

Technically the admissions at UIUC are evaluated on different criteria for the different sub-colleges / majors -- this is reflected in differing profiles broken out here: https://admissions.illinois.edu/Apply/Freshman/profile

As far as ANY high school being "worth it" the real question has to include the CONTEXT of the family situation -- in simple terms that means when deciding where to live in Illinois (which, with rare exception is the determining factor for school attendance) it may mean that a family will decide that a high school "ranked lower" better suits the overall needs of the family, HOW COULD THIS BE? Well just as there is not just one "perfect" family minivan / SUV / station wagon some families will find things like the relative affordability of housing in one town better suited to their needs. Other families may better appreciate the mix of extracurriculars / sports that their kids are likely to participate in one school vs another. Still other families may just have friends / relatives who they rely on guide their decision.

The thing too is that it is pretty much IMPOSSIBLE to either place more blame / credit on a SCHOOL over the influence of PARENTS and the EFFORTS of students themselves. That DOES NOT MEAN that "schools get a pass" -- if the facilities and staff are truly awful and kids literally have to fear for their safety or have no access to any sort of advanced courses OF COURSE that would put kids at a disadvantage. On the other end of achievement / preparation for success it would be a no-brainer that a school that does offer an especially nice array of extracurriculars AND classes that help ensure success in college give kids a nice boost toward more selective colleges BUT the kids down below the 50% or so the nicest high schools are very likely lacking some of the things that colleges look for. If they get "on the right path" with the help of counselors / teachers / psychologists / social workers before the critical latter half of high school they can still have a shot at success in college. I would also argue that there are kids that probably are capable of having a darned nice life by following a path that includes appropriate vocational education. One of the strengths of Wheeling high is helping kids see the value in that -- https://whs.d214.org/academics/career-pathways/

Is a loaded Denali or Escalade "worth" the premium over a base Suburban or Tahoe? For that matter are Ford Escape / Explorer/Expedition a better value than Lincoln MKC/MKX/Navigator? Are people who pay a premium for a Mercedes / Audi / Lexus / Range Rover / Infinity goofy? It's a free choice...

[doodlemagic]

It sounds like your asking if going to a "better" high school gurantees your going to get into a better college?

Honestly people put way too much emphasis on what school kids go to. Not saying education isn't important but I see people on here talking about Naperville who think its the end of the world if their kid goes to Waubonsie as opposed to Neuqua or district 204 as opposed to 203.

Assuming your not going to a bad school, I personally don't think your future is going to be so much brighter because you went to a school ranked 101 as opposed to 201. College is based upon grades, essays, extracurriculars, and even your nationality and ethnicity in many cases, there are just way too many factors at play to say why one person got in and another didn't.

All that said, again assuming you go to a halfway decent school, if you apply yourself, work hard, study, and if you have a stable home life and one where education is valued and there's an emphasis put on it that all is WAY more improtant than what particular high school you went to.

[chet everett]

It is sometimes to interesting to look through the data from various highly selective schools to get some sense of what odd patterns there are in admissions --

https://admission.stanford.edu/apply...profile15.html

The Harvard Crimson | Class of 2018 By the Numbers

https://admissions.yale.edu/profile-freshman-class

https://admissions.cornell.edu/sites...ile%202018.pdf

http://admissions.duke.edu/images/up...021Profile.pdf

https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.e...ile-class-2021

http://admissions.northwestern.edu/d...%20Figures.pdf

[ToriaT]

Parents put way too much emphasis on the schools. Yes they are important but so are other factors. Here is an example of someone from the Morton Schools in Cicero/Berwyn that are always under fire here and is heading for a great school with a scholarship.
Morton East Senior Wins Full-Ride Scholarship To Ivy League School – Town of Cicero, IL

I have a friend with kids who went to Stevenson. One went to Columbia college in Chicago, another flunked out of college and one is doing okay. A lot has to do with the individual student.