Private or public high school?

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Rdms0127

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Just out of curiosity, what type of high school do most cadets attend? In looking at sports rosters, it looks like mostly private schools. Is one better than the other? Thanks!
 
Have never seen or heard of data about this, but I have every reason to believe that the mix of schools is generally representative of the country at large. It may not be a perfect match, but close.
 
Rdms0127 said:
Just out of curiosity, what type of high school do most cadets attend? In looking at sports rosters, it looks like mostly private schools. Is one better than the other? Thanks!
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Majority of Cadets and Midshipmen graduate from Public High Schools just as is the case for the nation at large. Few of my companymates were from Private Schools and few of my sons companymates that I know were from Private Schools. Same thing for our athletic teammates.
As a Congressional and Senatorial nomination interviewer, I've seen hundreds of candidates for the Service Academies and the majority were from Public Schools. I've seen great candidates from Private Schools but not at a greater rate than I see from the Public Schools.
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To be honest there are of course Public Schools that perform poorly and I'd avoid them by moving or finding a Private School if possible. Those poor performers can and should be identified by hard data such as SAT or other test Scores, percent going to college, etc. This also applies to Private Schools which can also perform poorly. And example of a poorly performing public school would be the high school that I graduated from which has an average SAT score in the 900's and pretty poor graduation rate to say nothing of percent going on to college.
 
For those who have academy and service as an officer aspirations, not all can move to a school district that provides more access or a curriculum that meets SA needs more than a standard public school.
Does our plebe currently see mids who came from far more advanced high schools then his? Sure. Did he have AP or IB classes? Nope. Do the best with what you can. Seek the hardest schedule available to you.
If your school doesn’t offer a course, and you can take it from local community college do so.
Does he see plebes who had boarding high school and private high schools and prep schools? Sure. But every candidate brings something to the table. They all have strengths and weaknesses.
 
Solely on a convenience sample of the cadets I know, most of them went to a public high school. The people who end up here will excel in their environment regardless of where they are.

You will see a disproportionately large amount of D1 athletes having gone to private schools because often times those schools have more competitive sports programs and greater connections with college sports recruiters (I say this from experience on high school travel sports teams and being one of the only public school kids).

I would say the majority of non-recruited cadets are from public schools. Neither provides any visible advantage here.
 
Remember, grades are important to SAs but they are not everything. A candidate who comes from a poor public school district but still managed to do well academically, put in the effort to do well on the SAT/ACT, and has extracurricular activities may be a stronger candidate than someone who did well at a private school, aced the SAT/ACT, but has little else in their file.
 
prospective2019 said:
Solely on a convenience sample of the cadets I know, most of them went to a public high school. The people who end up here will excel in their environment regardless of where they are.

You will see a disproportionately large amount of D1 athletes having gone to private schools because often times those schools have more competitive sports programs and greater connections with college sports recruiters (I say this from experience on high school travel sports teams and being one of the only public school kids).

I would say the majority of non-recruited cadets are from public schools. Neither provides any visible advantage here.
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Unfortunately, I think there is a ton to dive into if anyone really wanted to here. I'm pretty deep into athletics in Texas, and I won't disagree with anything stated here. There are nuances though. I would venture to guess, Football and baseball and possibly basketball may not fit this description of mostly private school recruits. The athletic landscape in some sports (Volleyball, Soccer) absolutely Club Team is recruited WAY more. Some areas in Male soccer, the top leagues literally rules that the player CANNOT play for their public HS team if they want on the team. It infuriates me to take away a kid's ability to show for their school, but that's a long story. Also, regionally, there are schools in the Northeast that are private, recruit, provide scholarships, which I'm torn, I love the opportunity it provides, especially being someone that grew up with a single mom that was a bank teller and waitress at night just to pay the bills (barely). There is not anywhere close to as much of that in Texas, Florida, the whole Southeast. It creates unbalanced teams, and once that starts, all the best athletes go that direction. So any great volleyball player let's say, takes a scholarship or just goes private. Football, the numbers will never let that happen.

Just my rant on D1 athletes coming from HS, and the crazy process of recruiting, ha. It's massively complex for why that is.

I would agree with UHBlackhawk, the genpop from what the WP grad that I'm friends with and he's spent the last 10 years as WP rep in TX, it's all about the individual, and I love that it all matters for these candidates, some get in with great SAT and not necessarily great GPA and vice versa, but they both have to be pretty darn good, and then have all the other things.
 
Private all the way. You will notice a trend among enlisted soldiers that they typically go to public schools. They also make up the majority of sexual harassment complaints in the army. Not saying correlation is causation but...
 
2028_futuremedalofhonor said:
Private all the way. You will notice a trend among enlisted soldiers that they typically go to public schools. They also make up the majority of sexual harassment complaints in the army. Not saying correlation is causation but...
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Hurry up and get all your spam posts in before mommy calls you to come down and eat your mac and cheese and juice box
 
2028_futuremedalofhonor said:
Private all the way. You will notice a trend among enlisted soldiers that they typically go to public schools. They also make up the majority of sexual harassment complaints in the army. Not saying correlation is causation but...
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In before the ban
 
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