In recent years, high school admissions has be­come more and more like college admissions: rigorous competition for scarce availability of spots, enforcement of standardized testing for seventh- and eighth-grade minds, the stress of getting waitlisted, the disappointment of getting denied, and the joy of getting accepted. The trend sounds all too familiar for those of us who have been college counselors for years, only in a very different arena, with very different sets of students and very different sets of parents.

 

While the arena is different, there is a strong link between the choice of high school, college, and career choices of a student. Studies suggest stu­dents who are exposed to the stresses and emo­tional roller coaster of events surrounding high school admissions at an early age, for example, seventh and eighth grades, end up competing better and faster to get ahead of their peers, who, in high school, in prep for college, in college, and beyond, simply did not. We understand there are conflicting viewpoints about such rigor and out­comes for middle school students, but the truth is that the trend is here. In fact, it has been here for the last three to five years, and it will be gain­ing more ground in the near future. Before you know it, parents around you will be questioning what your plans are for your sixth-grader’s high school education. If your answer is unknown at that point, it may be too late.

 

Greater Houston area private high schools all have the same goal: to create a graduating class that is diverse and well-rounded with high college acceptance rates. Some private high schools target higher goals, such as a certain percentage of their graduating class attending Ivy League colleges. Regardless of how high the targets are, their goal is to provide quality and up-to-date education along with well-balanced extracurricular activities. Therefore, the planning for an incoming freshmen class at a private high school takes time, analysis, review, and careful selection. There is the review of the “fit” just as there is in college admissions. In order to identify your fit, you must think about the following: aca­demics, athletics, social structure, college coun­seling, size, location, cost, school culture, technol­ogy, and where the graduates go to college.