ESD or Greenhill?! Please help! (Dallas, McKinney: loans, private schools, colleges)

[Eskeen]

Recently I applied to Greenhill and ESD. I live in the Dallas area (McKinney) and go to McKinney Boyd (9th grader) currently. Since it was so competitive to get in I was shocked to be accepted to both. The gifted program at my school is good and I love my teachers and have friends who I don't want to leave, but will of it is In my best interest. I would like a new style of education and Greenhill and ESD both offer this.
I can't decide which one to attend and I am really stressed over this decision, so any help, advice, or your opinion on which I should go to would be GREATLY appreciated!

[SMS_Parent]

In deciding whether to leave Boyd for ESD or Greenhill you first need to talk to your parents to be sure that attending private school isn't going to affect your parents' ability to contribute to your college fund. If the money for ESD or Greenhill is coming from your college fund, you should probably stay at Boyd since it sounds like you are generally happy there (and I assume that you are doing well academically since you were admitted to two good schools.) You don't want to end up with loans for college as a result of choosing private school.

You then also need to consider whether automatic admission to UT is important to you. If you hope for automatic admission to UT, it will be likely be easier for you to be in the top 8% at Boyd than at ESD or Greenhill.

Assuming that both of those questions lead you to decide that leaving Boyd is a good idea, I would suggest that you visit both schools and shadow a current student if you haven't done so already. Though most people on these boards would probably choose Greenhill for their own kids based strictly on academics and reputation in this situation, given the small size of the student body at both schools, you need to be sure that the environment and classmates are a good fit for you.

[TurtleCreek80]

1. What different "style" of education do you want that Greenhill and ESD offer, but Boyd doesn't?

2. How will you get to & from school everyday? That is about a 45-75 min drive each direction, every day. Are your parents willing to drive you until you turn 16? Do they feel comfortable with a brand new 16 y/o driver driving on 75, Tollroad, 635, etc during rush hour traffic?

3. How will your parents pay for the expense of private school education? Be sure to add in all uniforms, trips, required & "encouraged" spending. Will this impact the amount of $ you have available for college? If so, I'd think twice about shelling out $20-30k for 3 years of private school if you'll have to take out loans to get through (possibly) private college - or public.

4. Where do you rank in your current class? Are you top 10 grad material? Top 10%? Your competition will be A LOT tougher at private school, particurly Greenhill, and you will be one of a number of elite students vs one of a handful at Boyd. (I know Boyd is good, but it's not like 20%++ of Boyd is NMSF every year, more like 1%). Will you have a greater chance to shine at Boyd for college admissions? You may want to talk to your college/guidance counselor for more insight.

5. I don't believe Greenhill or ESD rank the whole class - just the top 10 graduates- so % ranking shouldn't affect UT admissions, if that's your goal.....provided SATs & EC's are good. (Doubt that's a problem for you).

[nakold23]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

1. What different "style" of education do you want that Greenhill and ESD offer, but Boyd doesn't?

2. How will you get to & from school everyday? That is about a 45-75 min drive each direction, every day. Are your parents willing to drive you until you turn 16? Do they feel comfortable with a brand new 16 y/o driver driving on 75, Tollroad, 635, etc during rush hour traffic?

3. How will your parents pay for the expense of private school education? Be sure to add in all uniforms, trips, required & "encouraged" spending. Will this impact the amount of $ you have available for college? If so, I'd think twice about shelling out $20-30k for 3 years of private school if you'll have to take out loans to get through (possibly) private college - or public.

4. Where do you rank in your current class? Are you top 10 grad material? Top 10%? Your competition will be A LOT tougher at private school, particurly Greenhill, and you will be one of a number of elite students vs one of a handful at Boyd. (I know Boyd is good, but it's not like 20%++ of Boyd is NMSF every year, more like 1%). Will you have a greater chance to shine at Boyd for college admissions? You may want to talk to your college/guidance counselor for more insight.

5. I don't believe Greenhill or ESD rank the whole class - just the top 10 graduates- so % ranking shouldn't affect UT admissions, if that's your goal.....provided SATs & EC's are good. (Doubt that's a problem for you).

Greenhill no longer ranks any students FYI.

This is very good insight. Greenhill is an excellent school and would be a much higher caliber academically so you have to decide if you can fit the mold there. Also, the commute would be rough indeed so you really need to decide if its worth it for the hefty sum of money. But if you did go to one I would recommend Greenhill. Good community, shorter commute (although still LONG), and better academically.
But if you got into both schools I am sure you would be happy at either

[SMS_Parent]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

5. I don't believe Greenhill or ESD rank the whole class - just the top 10 graduates- so % ranking shouldn't affect UT admissions, if that's your goal.....provided SATs & EC's are good. (Doubt that's a problem for you).

At either Greenhill or ESD the top ten graduates basically constitute the top ten percent of the class. Current class rank at Boyd vs. likely standing at Greenhill/ESD should be a consideration if UT admission is a goal. As TC pointed out, the OP's standing is likely to fall at either Greenhill or ESD vs. Boyd.

Contrary to popular belief, not every graduate of even the elite privates gets into UT -- even with good test scores. The result of the top 10% (actually now top 8%) law is that 75% of seats in the incoming class are solely for auto admits. Another 10% of seats are allocated to out of state students, leaving only 15% of the seats in the incoming class for holistic in-state admits.

It seems like every couple of years there is a sad story in the DMN about a graduate of one of the elite privates who has SAT scores in the 2100+ range who doesn't get into UT. I personally know of at least two cases like this -- 2100+ SAT, GPA in the top 20%, good ECs not admitted to UT. One of these students was admitted to Georgetown, but not to UT.

Some of the non-ranking private schools also disclose to UT and A&M whether a student qualifies for auto admission without making that disclosure to the students themselves. Even in cases where the school doesn't disclose to UT/A&M the students who qualify for auto admission, ask the UT and A&M admissions reps and they will tell you that they can assess with a pretty high degree of accuracy where any student stands in their class based on the information that the private schools do provide and the applications of other students from that school to the institution. (Usually private schools disclose high, median and low GPA for the class to all colleges. ESD actually discloses the numbers of students within each grading band -- so for ESD figuring out class rank is pretty simple -- look at the GPA, look at the GPA distribution chart in the school profile and do a little elementary math. )