How important are school rankings? (professionals, activities, education)

[CaseyB]

Originally Posted by msRB311

The feeder school article from the Crimson is from 2013:

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2...eeder-schools/

Almost 10 years old. Also don't believe everything the Crimson tells ya.

My husband went to Boston Latin, he always heard it was a feeder school for Harvard. He never wanted to go there, though.

[mdovell]

Boston Latin is also on that list of the schools in the 128 belt. So it's not really what the Crimson is telling me it's what the schools within the 128 belt are telling me

[bostongymjunkie]

Harvard will never reveal their admissions matrix and I think it's because they really don't have one. At least that is what it seems to have been in the past.

[robr2]

Originally Posted by MikePRU

My wife is works in the college admissions arena and so I asked her about what you wrote. She said, absolutely that colleges very much acknowledge and respect the rigorous academic environment at LHS. So this factors into the acceptance decision. However, she added that Harvard would not accept a higher number of LHS kids compared to any other school because they value having kids on campus from diverse backgrounds.

If anything, I think it might make it harder to get into Harvard going to LHS because the competition to be one of the top students in class is fierce. If someone's dream is for their kid to go to Harvard they're probably better off going a step down from LHS to increase the odds of being the top student in the class. This being said, these days you need a lot more than top grades and being student council president to get into Harvard.

I 100% agree with this. While top ranked school systems likely do have better teachers, better facilities, and more resources, the biggest impact on the students comes from parent involvement and the resources families have available to them outside of school.

Finding a house around here is the hard part, Weston public schools have plenty of capacity because something like half the town sends their kids to private school.

Again, my wife works in college admissions and we chat a lot about what's going on with her job. There are too many kids that are carbon copies (wealthy kid, top grades, plays the piano/violin, president of the student council). Top schools want diversity not 100 kids that are exactly the same. They also want kids who show drive. Maybe they are the top student in a struggling district or maybe at the age of 16 they started their own business or wrote a top selling phone app. You really need to stand out from the crowd now.

Thank you for this. I have many friends in Lexington and my son was involved in activities there.

What I learned from those friends, their kids, my son's friends, and a couple of college consultants is that the top 10-15 at Lexington High School are pretty interchangeable. 10 AP classes, musical instrument, outside activities, Eagle Scout/Gold Award, etc. - they all have it. Harvard could take any of them and it doesn't make a difference. These top LHS kids probably have a better chance of getting into a Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCSF, Vanderbilt, Tulane, etc. because they bring in diversity and those schools like to snag kids from the backyard of Ivy League schools.

Admission officers really want good stories. A 25th ranked LHS student who was a METCO student from a single parent household who did chorus while helping to take care of their siblings in the evening is a good story. Asian kid living in rural OK with a high rank, 4H awards, and strong activities is good story. One counselor relayed this story:

kid with excellent grades - meh
kid is from a single parent household - hmmm
kid was homeschooled - yeah, tell me more
kid whose single parent is a long haul tractor trailer driver - interesting
kid travelled with single parent in tractor trailer all over North America since she was 10 doing that well - great story.


I also agree that a kid that has all the Ivy League credentials but from a second tier school system has a better chance than the LHS kids. That kid did amazing and probably with fewer resources.

Of note from the LHS where did they go list:

about 20 wound up at Ivies
about 20 wound up at NESCAC schools
lots wound up at top schools all over the country - Case Western, UCLA, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, Michigan, Perdue.

[MtPleasantDream]

Originally Posted by robr2

Thank you for this. I have many friends in Lexington and my son was involved in activities there.

What I learned from those friends, their kids, my son's friends, and a couple of college consultants is that the top 10-15 at Lexington High School are pretty interchangeable. 10 AP classes, musical instrument, outside activities, Eagle Scout/Gold Award, etc. - they all have it. Harvard could take any of them and it doesn't make a difference. These top LHS kids probably have a better chance of getting into a Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCSF, Vanderbilt, Tulane, etc. because they bring in diversity and those schools like to snag kids from the backyard of Ivy League schools.

Admission officers really want good stories. A 25th ranked LHS student who was a METCO student from a single parent household who did chorus while helping to take care of their siblings in the evening is a good story. Asian kid living in rural OK with a high rank, 4H awards, and strong activities is good story. One counselor relayed this story:

kid with excellent grades - meh
kid is from a single parent household - hmmm
kid was homeschooled - yeah, tell me more
kid whose single parent is a long haul tractor trailer driver - interesting
kid travelled with single parent in tractor trailer all over North America since she was 10 doing that well - great story.


I also agree that a kid that has all the Ivy League credentials but from a second tier school system has a better chance than the LHS kids. That kid did amazing and probably with fewer resources.

Of note from the LHS where did they go list:

about 20 wound up at Ivies
about 20 wound up at NESCAC schools
lots wound up at top schools all over the country - Case Western, UCLA, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, Michigan, Perdue.

So basically it's like those reality competition shows.
If you are not the best performer, you can still win with some interesting story: abused by stepfather, suffering brain cancer, supporting siblings like a parent, blah blah.

Those who have normal parents and work hard are screwed, unless they are really on the top and make people wow.

[bostongymjunkie]

It's called overcoming significant obstacles as a youth and it's a good marker of potential for future success. If a student can deal with significant obstacles and still be performing at a level to even be in the running for certain schools, that says something about them. It's interesting that you are citing the "normal parents" as the ones being screwed and not the children of those with abnormal parents or those who have experienced other challenges. It's supposed to be about the students not the parents.

[MtPleasantDream]

Originally Posted by bostongymjunkie

It's called overcoming significant obstacles as a youth and it's a good marker of future success.

It's only a good marker of trauma and abnormal behaviors in the future.

[bostongymjunkie]

Don't be so hard on yourself. It also adds value to the composition of the student body. It doesn't end up being a big collection of entitled pajama boys and girls who never had a worry in life til that point. Except of course for those who had traumatizing helicopter parents trying to live vicariously through their kids.

[MtPleasantDream]

Originally Posted by bostongymjunkie

Don't be so hard on yourself. It also adds value to the composition of the student body. It doesn't end up being a big collection of entitled pajama boys and girls.

Basically I support meritocracy, not aristocracy or opportunism.

[bostongymjunkie]

Originally Posted by MtPleasantDream

Basically I support meritocracy, not aristocracy or opportunism.

There are a number of ways to assemble a class that reflects the learning experience the schools choose to establish. There are also various ways to measure ability which do not contradict the basic principle of meritocracy.