Private School Admissions - 2019 (transfer, best, summer) - Dallas - Texas (TX) - Page 17 - City-Data Forum

TurtleCreek80 · 03-06-2019, 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TexGuy1

The private schools: GSES, St. Mark's, Lamplighter, Parish, Greenhill, ESD, Hockaday, Jesuit, Ursuline, and many, many more (Alcuin, TCA, JP2, CTK, BL, BD, PCA, etc.) and the excellent public schools (HPISD, Richardson schools, Plano schools, and many more -- let along magnets) are extremely able. I am not going to get into the "elite" label, but I think it is not helpful. I can assure you that there is no one in Dallas I have met in decades (who is worth knowing or hanging around with) who has graduated from an excellent school in Dallas and refers to it or a cluster of schools as "elite". That is a scarcity-minded mentality that will work as nothing but a net detriment to a graduate. You can be proud of your school, the faculty, the education, your friends, etc. I understand that it may be code for "difficult to get into" or "high testing" (Cistercian, TAMS, etc.), but I would prefer someone just list the schools they are referring to.
!

No one who graduated from an elite schools calls it elite because all they have to say is “I went to St Marks”.
The family who dreams of their kid attending an Ivy League school doesn’t use the term Ivy League once junior is enrolled at Princeton.

Elite doesn’t bother me. Those schools are, by definition, elite: they’re the richest, the most selective, the most powerful, and by any academic comparison, the best.

debtex · 03-06-2019, 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

I don’t think it would be any different than Harvard and Baylor both knowing what percent they need to accept to yield a freshman class despite very different matriculation rates. Unless a school is brand new here they should have enough years’ admissions data to work their math formulas.

This is true but one of the variables in the process is that applications and acceptance rates are increasing generally.

Anecdotal but...I had a conversation with the head of admissions for Jesuit last fall at the private school fair. I asked how big the freshman class was and he said (I'm going to get the numbers only directionally correct here) "275 but normally it's 250." I asked why they admitted more and he said "we just had more acceptances than we expected."

They are monitoring these trends and factoring that into the first-round acceptances, but things are moving around on them a bit. It may cause some schools to become more cautious in the first round.

EDS_ · 03-06-2019, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

No one who graduated from an elite schools calls it elite because all they have to say is “I went to St Marks”.
The family who dreams of their kid attending an Ivy League school doesn’t use the term Ivy League once junior is enrolled at Princeton.

Elite doesn’t bother me. Those schools are, by definition, elite: they’re the richest, the most selective, the most powerful, and by any academic comparison, the best.

IMO what does vary is which/how many local schools various people consider elite.

EDS_ · 03-06-2019, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by debtex

This is true but one of the variables in the process is that applications and acceptance rates are increasing generally.

Anecdotal but...I had a conversation with the head of admissions for Jesuit last fall at the private school fair. I asked how big the freshman class was and he said (I'm going to get the numbers only directionally correct here) "275 but normally it's 250." I asked why they admitted more and he said "we just had more acceptances than we expected."

They are monitoring these trends and factoring that into the first-round acceptances, but things are moving around on them a bit. It may cause some schools to become more cautious in the first round.

I've known the previous head of JCP admissions for a good number of years. JCP has a lot of plates spinning relative to the others. First the school is very large relatively speaking. The guy told me many times the school did not want more than a few "academic robots" and every year took fliers on 15 or 20 boys who would have absolutely no shot at Saint Marks, Cistercian or Greenhill. And without fail 1/4 or 1/3 of that group would washout but many from the cadre performed very well. JCP also competes with BL to a degree and JP II to a degree and they can't win with every boy.

debtex · 03-06-2019, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EDS_

JCP also competes with BL to a degree and JP II to a degree and they can't win with every boy.

I don't hear enough about BL on this board come to think of it. We love BL and have many friends there, and see a trend of families both Catholic and non Catholic choosing BL over Jesuit/Ursuline. They have all the benefits of a private - academic rigor, great physical plant, financial support - with a lot of the benefits of public - large, coed, diverse.

Madden12345 · 03-06-2019, 11:58 AM

We have the same checklist item open for the interview on our Hockaday application. We did the optional shadow day.

Anyone know if there were any open spots in 6th and/or 8th grade this year at Hockaday? I don’t see a date for orientations for those grade levels.

NP78 · 03-06-2019, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by debtex

I don't hear enough about BL on this board come to think of it. We love BL and have many friends there, and see a trend of families both Catholic and non Catholic choosing BL over Jesuit/Ursuline. They have all the benefits of a private - academic rigor, great physical plant, financial support - with a lot of the benefits of public - large, coed, diverse.

We also know a lot of families here in the Lakewood area that go to BL (or will after STA) and I have been very impressed with what I have heard/seen from the students and their families.