Greenhill vs. Hockaday admit (Houston, Dallas: home, private schools, universities)

[dfwMomof2]

Originally Posted by admit2022

Thanks to everyone who responded. I have one additional question if anyone can provide their insights.

We have a son for whom we will try next year in privates (SMS and GH). I know SMS considers Hockaday a sister school. But does anyone know if SMS gives admission preference if the other sibling is in Hockaday similar to sibling preference within their own school?

Hi admit2022, would like to know how what you end up choosing and how is the experience like so far at either of the school. We have a same dilemna to choose between H and GH and would appreciate some feedback to help us make the right decision.

[JTC Mom]

Originally Posted by admit2022

We are in middle school. My question was more on Ivy chances not because of the name of the school but from how connected/good the counselors are and how it may be more of a priority for the admins than the other etc.

@Anonymouse2, do you have any data to back up your response on Hockaday having the best matriculation of the three? SMS shares #s admitted by college names but the other two do not at least not on their websites that I looked at. Would appreciate it if you can PM me any data regarding that.

When I also look at Niche ranking on private schools, Hockaday is one spot below GH not sure what criteria they use though.

Thanks all for your responses so far!

If you follow DaisyDecisions24 on instagram you can see where current Hockaday seniors are going. Also check out DaisyDecisions23 from last year. It's impressive. For Greenhill its GreenhillSeniors2024. St. Marks is smseniors2024. Also great but I give the edge to Hockaday for sure.

[dfwMomof2]

Originally Posted by JTC Mom

If you follow DaisyDecisions24 on instagram you can see where current Hockaday seniors are going. Also check out DaisyDecisions23 from last year. It's impressive. For Greenhill its GreenhillSeniors2024. St. Marks is smseniors2024. Also great but I give the edge to Hockaday for sure.

This was helpful, thanks for sharing

[fndmom]

But not all college decisions are out yet. I've read that Ivy decisions are supposed to come out March 28. So any announcement of Ivy at this point is from early rounds.

[JTC Mom]

Originally Posted by fndmom

But not all college decisions are out yet. I've read that Ivy decisions are supposed to come out March 28. So any announcement of Ivy at this point is from early rounds.

True! That’s why I also suggested looking at 2023. You can also look at GH and SM from last year. It’s all good stuff but Hockaday seems to have the strongest showing in Ivy and Top 20 IMO. In 2023 Of 118 grads,
Daisy Decisions 23 includes 12 Ivy/MIT, 25+ additional at Top 20 schools (Chicago, Duke, Northwestern, Hopkins, Berkeley, etc). So more than a third of the class at a top 20. And then there are many many more at highly selective schools just below top 20 (Georgetown, Wash U, ND, Michigan, UVA, USC etc) along with a few Plan II.

So far this year already Hockaday has posted 11 Ivy/Stanford. Just from the early round!

I don’t have a daughter at Hockaday but I do have a senior this year and I have to say their college list is impressive.

[astropath]

Originally Posted by JTC Mom

True! That’s why I also suggested looking at 2023. You can also look at GH and SM from last year. It’s all good stuff but Hockaday seems to have the strongest showing in Ivy and Top 20 IMO. In 2023 Of 118 grads,
Daisy Decisions 23 includes 12 Ivy/MIT, 25+ additional at Top 20 schools (Chicago, Duke, Northwestern, Hopkins, Berkeley, etc). So more than a third of the class at a top 20. And then there are many many more at highly selective schools just below top 20 (Georgetown, Wash U, ND, Michigan, UVA, USC etc) along with a few Plan II.

So far this year already Hockaday has posted 11 Ivy/Stanford. Just from the early round!

I don’t have a daughter at Hockaday but I do have a senior this year and I have to say their college list is impressive.

How was the college application process for your senior? Hoping it worked out well!!

[rabbit33]

What you don't know here is -

Of students at Hockaday, Greenhill, SM, etc., who applied to top rank universities, what percentage were accepted?

I can tell you that at SM there will always be a substantial contingent who plan to attend UT, A&M, etc., because they're planning to go into business in Texas or go to law school in Texas and those schools have a leg up in terms of connections. Many SM grads who could have been admitted at Harvard or Princeton didn't apply, choosing instead UT for its non-academic advantages TO THEM. This will be a function of the social environment in each school.

If you're trying to choose between Hockaday and Greenhill, I'd suggest that the fit of your particular student with the environment at the school should be your A#1 concern. She's clearly smart enough to do the work. If she graduates with good grades from either, she'll be well positioned for university acceptance.

And let's keep in mind that Ivey League university acceptance is NOT the be-all and end-all of a student's high school education! If she decides to be a large-animal vet, she'll be going to Texas A&M most likely. If she decides to be a professional jazz musician, UNT is a far better choice than Yale. Many students may find the thought of trying to break into the 300 year old social structures in a place like Harvard highly intimidating, or the total Greek life unappealing - such students might well choose someplace like Rice, or heck even Austin College.

I really wish parents would stop trying to gauge a high school's value purely by "how many grads went to Ivy schools?" It's such an incomplete, unrealistic metric.

[JTC Mom]

Originally Posted by astropath

How was the college application process for your senior? Hoping it worked out well!!

Got in to first choice ED! This is my oldest and what I learned on this process is…for tippy top schools ED/REA helps only a little bit. But for schools at the top of the “second-tier”, ED can help ENORMOUSLY. And most of those schools offer two rounds of ED. Of course it only makes sense to ED your first choice. Luckily it worked out for us.

[JTC Mom]

Originally Posted by rabbit33

I really wish parents would stop trying to gauge a high school's value purely by "how many grads went to Ivy schools?" It's such an incomplete, unrealistic metric.

I think it’s natural and helpful to look at a school’s college matriculations because it can be indicative of how strong their relationships are with those schools. Being interested in it and impressed by good results is not the same as judging a school “purely” for this reason. Lots of reasons went into our school decisions. And college acceptances is one of them.

[rabbit33]

Originally Posted by JTC Mom

I think it’s natural and helpful to look at a school’s college matriculations because it can be indicative of how strong their relationships are with those schools. Being interested in it and impressed by good results is not the same as judging a school “purely” for this reason. Lots of reasons went into our school decisions. And college acceptances is one of them.

But you don't have the basis, to evaluate these numbers.

Let's compare two scenarios, totally made up.

Private School A had 6 students out of 100 that attended top rank universities. Private School B had 25 out of 100. Is Private School B superior? Maybe, maybe not.

Now let's look under the hood of the statistics.

Private School A has, for 75 years, been where the wealthy and connected of the city send their children. A very large number of the graduates will go into their parents' businesses or businesses where their local connections are highly important. Private School B has a very large number of students from local middle-class striving families - many are the first in their family to go to college; the vast majority will be going into fields where family connections are NOT primary, like medicine or science.

So when you actually look under the hood at the data NONE of us has access to, you find that Private School A had 12 students that applied to top rank universities, 8 were accepted, 6 decided to attend; and something like 40 of them applied to UT and A&M where they all got early admission. Private School B had 75 students that applied to top rank schools, 25 were accepted, and all 25 chose to attend. So in my totally-made-up, somewhat exaggerated example, Private School A actually has better "performance" in admissions to top rank colleges, in that of the 12 who applied, 8 got accepted - a 67% success rate; Private School B had 25 accepted out of 75, a 33% rate. And even then, you don't know about the kids at Private School A who never even bothered to apply to Ivy/Stanford/Rice/Caltech schools. Would they have been instant early admits? Would their applications been instantly round-filed? You simply don't know. It's a fallacy to assume that every high school student applies and wants to attend the most demanding selective institution they can possibly get into. As I said above, if you want to study large-animal veterinary science as a prelude to managing your family's 150,000 acre ranch with 20,000 head, and you're graduating third in your class at St. Mark's, you're going to attend A&M, not Yale. Period. If you plan to be an attorney in Dallas with an eye to entering Texas and later national politics, you're probably going to atttend UT, not Stanford.

Comparing Hockaday to Greenhill on the basis of such incomplete statistics is bogus. Yeah, Hockaday versus TJ - yeah, 100% college attendance and 15% (just guessing) at selective institutions, versus 10% college attendance and one student every 5 years to a selective - that's a meaningful comparison. But H vs. GH, or SM, or Cistercian, or ESD? Nahh.