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I would put all three Chapel Hill schools on the list, not just East, for top public schools, and keep Durham and Cary Academies and the NC School of Math and Science for top private schools.
I would put all three Chapel Hill schools on the list, not just East, for top public schools, and keep Durham and Cary Academies and the NC School of Math and Science for top private schools.
NCSSM is public - if you get in, it's free. It's funded by the state and not the local school districts, though, and admission is merit-based so I'll agree it's not like a normal public high school either.
I have consistantly seen Chapel Hill at the top of the list. My question is since it is such a small district, if it fair to compare it to our extremely large and "economically diverse" Wake public Schools?
I am about to graduate from Durham Academy in June, and I have been there since kindergarden. Because DA is so small we really get 1 on 1 attention with all of our teachers and many classes are seminar-style. Also, Wall Street Journal ranked Durham Academy as the "best school in the Southeast" and the "7th most successful highschool in the US." The class of 2008 has an average SAT of 2050 and also schooled 4 out of the 6 NC students to get into Harvard. Also, you will often hear UNC as many kids "safety school." Not getting into Duke is also uncommon. But beyond the sparking statistics DA made me a much better thinker and academic than I ever thought possible. DA gives out roughly 2 MILLION dollars in financial aid a year, and it is "blind" meaning your admission does not depend upon your need. Although these past 13 years have given me more homework and more difficult work than many colleges, i did recieve a 17,800 dollar scholarship to Elon University and could not be happier. Also, many parents say "Kathy Cleaver (college counselor) is worth every penn of tuition." TRUE! I visited William and Mary, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, Sewanee, Richmond, Elon, Duke, UNC and EVERY SINGLE admissions person knew who my college counselor was and she is absolutely one of the most well-respected counselors in the United States. DA is a great investment if you are willing to make it financially and your child is willing to undergo the academic suffering and ready to have hours more homework than his or her non-DA friends.
One thing that I don't think anyone mentioned is that the NC School of Science and Math is only an 11/12th grade school. So you'd still need to find another school for the first 2 yrs.
If money is no object and I had a daughter I would send her to Saint Marys. A couple of girls a year have been getting into Ivy League schools. Their headmaster comes from St. Johns School in Houston which is thought of as being one of the top schools in the country (largest endowment of any private hs in the country - oil $$). Great social climate as well - mix of old nc and new blood. You should check it out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gasgangrene
OK...Let me put it another way. Say I want my daughter to maximize her chances of getting into an Ivy League school. This would presumably mean high SAT score, National Merit Scholar, super competitive academic environment, AP course work, strong academic reputation, and a track record of Ivy League admissions. Price is no object, and we will pick the school first then select a neighborhood based on the school. Which high school would you pick? Give me your top three.
Newsweek does a list of the top public high schools in the nation every year - as well as as the top 100 high schools (public and private). Raleigh Charter is at the top of both lists. It does mention that schools like NCSSM are left off list. Anyway, google it to see the full list.
OK...Let me put it another way. Say I want my daughter to maximize her chances of getting into an Ivy League school. This would presumably mean high SAT score, National Merit Scholar, super competitive academic environment, AP course work, strong academic reputation, and a track record of Ivy League admissions. Price is no object, and we will pick the school first then select a neighborhood based on the school. Which high school would you pick? Give me your top three.
If that's the case, I would send your child to an elite boarding school such as Episcopal High School in Northern VA. A place like that would have the highest percentage, of course it also probably helps that most of the students come from political families
Personally I think there's a lot more to education than the final outcome. That's why I like more progressive schools which embrace the strengths of students, even if the strengths aren't necessarily their parents' ideas of a good outcome.
For instance, I'd rather have a fulfilled child who excels at dance at Carolina Friends and finds her place in life dancing rather than the same child making it into an Ivy League after attending Deerfield. Of course that's not to say everyone at an Ivy is unhappy, but some places allow children to find their own areas to excel and others have their eyes only on Ivys and accept nothing getting in the way of that--even the child's own dreams.
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Durham Academy
