Highland Park vs Southlake Schools (Dallas, Plano: top schools, universities, camp)

[BabyDoctor77]

Does anyone have experience with Highland vs Southlake schools with respect to academics and IV league college placements? Any feedback would be appreciated.

[numbersguy100]

This is the second or third time I have seen them referred to as "IV" instead of Ivy on these boards. Is this the same person or is there some subset of people who think that IV is correct?

The answer to the question is HP

[BabyDoctor77]

Sorry, it must be the autocorrect on my iPhone. Can you elaborate more on your reasoning why you think HP schools are superior to Caroll schools? Your experience and advice is appreciated.

[MenardMQ]

Southlake schools are vastly superior in athletics and academics to anything the Park Cities or Dallas Elite private schools could even hope to match. Couple that with big beautiful lots in Southlake, superior shopping and activities to do around town, I don't think there is anything in Texas that could match Southlake. Maybe Plano east would be a close second.

See how ridiculous that sounds? Is this what you were looking for? This has to be a troll post...

Because you are a park cities resident, who has in the past said, and I quote "Go Highland Park! Continues to be the best public school district in the DFW area!"

[kretsch]

Originally Posted by BabyDoctor77

Does anyone have experience with Highland vs Southlake schools with respect to academics and IV league college placements? Any feedback would be appreciated.

Ivy leagues schools aren't the only good colleges around

[TurtleCreek80]

Honestly, if you're gunning for Ivy League admissions, Plano ISD and St Mark's have much better placement rates than Southlake or HP.

That said, a tip-top student at HP or Southlake would have a decent shot at Ivy admissions (and student do get accepted each year), but at least in HP the student culture tends to be a better fit for the elite Southern universities like Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, Duke, UVA, UNC, etc. It's not uncommon for T10 grads from HP to pick UT Business Honors or Plan II programs so they can go to college with their camp friends and follow the family legacy into PiPhi-Kappa-Theta or SAE-Fiji-SigEp while also getting an outstanding education.

[JTC Mom]

I dont think either one would inherently give you an advantage over the other. I remember when i was applying to college (long ago!) the ivies all said that for highly qualified applicants in good high schools, your stiffest competition is often your classmates who apply to the same school. I suspect thst is still true and I think both schools will have competitive candidates for ivies and other top schools that typically offer only a few admissions (if any) at any given high school.

[BabyDoctor77]

It would be helpful to look at actual statistics of how many students from a given high school, be it HP, Southlake, Plano, Hockaday, St. Marks, etc get into the various top schools. I remember seeing something about just the Valedictorian and Saledictorian in the past, but more comprehensive stats would be useful.

While I agree that the local schools are good, I feel that if the student has more of a national/global scope, he or she may benefit from an IVY league education in terms of networking, etc.

[numbersguy100]

Originally Posted by BabyDoctor77

It would be helpful to look at actual statistics of how many students from a given high school, be it HP, Southlake, Plano, Hockaday, St. Marks, etc get into the various top schools. I remember seeing something about just the Valedictorian and Saledictorian in the past, but more comprehensive stats would be useful.

While I agree that the local schools are good, I feel that if the student has more of a national/global scope, he or she may benefit from an IVY league education in terms of networking, etc.

It's not a question of being #1 or #2 in your class. My wife had one of the smartest and hardest working students she's ever had get rejected at Harvard (he was valedictorian), only to have a classmate accepted who was still top 5% in the class but clearly less academically prepared. The difference being the classmate was Hispanic and an athlete - and I have no idea which mattered more. The valedictorian went to Dartmouth, so my point is not to make him some sort of a sob story, nor was the Harvard admit a dumb kid who couldn't cut it there - he has probably done just fine at Harvard. My point is that by the time you get to acceptances at the Ivies, you're talking about such a tiny number of people that it's impossible to necessarily draw conclusions about a school from the admits vs the unique things each applicant has going for him/her. It's just too small a sample size.

[synchronicity]

Originally Posted by numbersguy100

It's not a question of being #1 or #2 in your class. My wife had one of the smartest and hardest working students she's ever had get rejected at Harvard (he was valedictorian), only to have a classmate accepted who was still top 5% in the class but clearly less academically prepared. The difference being the classmate was Hispanic and an athlete - and I have no idea which mattered more. The valedictorian went to Dartmouth, so my point is not to make him some sort of a sob story, nor was the Harvard admit a dumb kid who couldn't cut it there - he has probably done just fine at Harvard. My point is that by the time you get to acceptances at the Ivies, you're talking about such a tiny number of people that it's impossible to necessarily draw conclusions about a school from the admits vs the unique things each applicant has going for him/her. It's just too small a sample size.

^^Yes, all that.

In addition, although HPISD has better metrics than Carroll (or any other ISD in Texas), the main reason both districts score so well is due to the demographics. The differences to "your" kid (whoever "you" are) from attending one vs. the other are likely de minimis.

The more important issue is which area is a better "fit" for a student and their family. Southlake is suburban and "newer", Park Cities is more urban (although very upscale urban) and "older". Anyone who's driven through either can get a feel for each. Although Southlake is affluent, HP is more affluenter (sorry, I just had to do that).

My guess would be that the "comfort level" for a student at either will be more important in allowing them to excel than the minor differences in student achievement. And HP vs. Carroll for ISD is definitely a "such problems one should have" issue.

And all that said, again, as numbersguy (love that name) points out, when you're talking Ivies, getting into any specific one is a crapshoot. In addition, getting into ANY Ivy means one is on track to do very well in life. If one "only" gets into...I dunno, Penn or Brown instead of Harvard or Yale, the world ain't gonna end. Heck, there's an awful lot of people out there living in Park Cities or Southlake who never came within shouting distance of an Ivy.

tl:dr - Carroll puts up good numbers, HP puts up better, but the differences aren't very large and probably mean nothing re: getting into Ivy League quality schools, so which area do you feel more comfortable living in, because that's likely more important than anything else.