rush

You would have been laughed out of my all-girl private school in St. Louis with a 23 ACT, and my dad's checks didn't buy my 29. So yeah, haters. Nice try.

I went to a private St. Louis High School my freshman and sophomore year and had a 4.0. We moved to a North Shore suburb of Chicago my junior year because my mom was transferred, and I went to a public high school (Lake Forest). I graduated from that school with a 3.75 and a 33 ACT. I feel as if I could have gotten A's at CDS just by showing up, but I never worked so hard in all of my life to earn A's at Lake Forest. I laugh when private school students who have never attended public schools feel the need to defend their parents' choice to send them to private schools by putting down public schools. And I laugh when public school students have to defend themselves for attending their local schools. Until you have been to both, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT. Until you have, you aren't qualified to comment. But to all of my old friends from St. Louis, I mourn the fact that you think private schools are the only way to go. That just shows me how narrow-minded your education truly is.

When will people realize that the name of your high school (public or private) doesn't matter just like the name of your sorority ( and its "tier") doesn't mean a thing to most people. These labels do not define who you are or what you accomplish. It's all up to YOU!

I have a good grade pt avg, but I don't do great on standardized tests. I only got a 23. Would I not be considered for a top sorority because I don't do well on tests???

Most people who don't do well on tests don't have the knowledge. That's the thing about grade inflation. If you go to a school where the standard is an A unless you mess up and don't meet the minimum requirements, you tend to think you've earned that A. With rare exceptions for people who have legit learning disabilities, the gap between good grades and not doing well on standardized tests can be explained by grade inflation. Study harder, not just to get the A but to get the knowledge. The standardized tests are the great equalizer. They don't lie.

Say what you will hmmm, but I worked for my grades. I got extremely nervous every time I took my ACT and never finished once. I am not a stupid person!

@hmmmm... That was seriously a rude answer. It's a proven fact that some people are just bad at taking tests. They get nervous and tend to forget things. It's not that they don't have the knowledge; standardized tests just stress them out. "Grade inflation" Is that even a thing or are you just trying to find an excuse for what you said? Grades are definitely more revealing, honestly. Work ethic is way more important than straight knowledge in college.

First of all, "hence why?" Second, there are a lot of really smart girls, including honor students and valedictorians who have come to Mizzou from private girls' school in St. Louis. I hope you're not meeting girls with lower than a 3.0 in your house.

^^^^^^^ Love this. so true.

She's so right. The average ACT scores vary from private school to private school, and there are only one or two public schools whose averages rival the best girls' schools. The smaller the private school, the better, generally. The scores tell the truth. And St. Louis public schools are notorious for their underperformance.

Mizzou is a great school, too. And no one should be ashamed of going there no matter where they went to high school.

There are NO private schools in St. Louis where 5 out of 80 students had perfects ACT/SAT scores. Private high schools are NOT harder and the ACT scores of the typical private school in St. Louis is about on par with the best public schools. You need to stop reading the literature that tries to sell you to pay big money to go to that school and start thinking independently. Do your own research. There is not ONE school in all of St. Louis where 5 students had perfect ACT/SAT scores.

What else do you give points on? Is there also a personality, looks, and recommendations category? Sorry I'm very new to this! Thanks :)

Once again whoever said I was talking about private schools in St. Louis or even Missouri for that matter. There are private schools all over this country and the further east you go the better they get!!!

How about if instead we put down your superiority attitude and your certainty that your excrement doesn't have an odor? A great student will do well at any school, but to say parents of students who attend public school don't put a high priority on education is a joke. I went to a public high school that makes each and every St. Louis private school a joke. My parents moved to the suburb where we live simply because it has one of the top 10 public school systems in the nation. No, it's not in St. Louis. With my 35 ACT I was accepted at every college to which I applied, including 3 Ivies, the University of Chicago and Stanford. I opted to accept the full ride at Mizzou and am thrilled to be here because it is the best school in the NATION for my major and I'm not paying a cent to go here. But for all of you St. Louis people who paid too much for high school and wound up here, unless you are in journalism don't insult us by telling us it is your private school education that got you here. Because it's not that hard to get in. and only a family that doesn't value education would spend as much on high school as college.

What "OK" is missing from the person above is that at private schools, ALL the parents and/or families put a high priority on school. There are many families at public schools that do the same thing, but there are also the people who's families DON'T put an emphasis on education. At private schools, everyone is a top student, the same types of top students you'd find at public schools. There is also a great difference (not at all public schools but many) in discipline and how children behave. At private schools they are just more behaved because of their parents' focus on education (again, not every public school kid is undisciplined but the percentage of kids who aren't disciplined is higher). Finally, I don't get how people think private schools just hand out A's. People at my school got 'asked to leave' because their grades weren't up to par. I had a high gpa and I earned those grades they were not handed to me or anyone else.

You're delusional. St. Louis private schools are struggling. As the Millennials graduated there was a huge gap in numbers and private schools are struggling to fill their classes. They let just about anyone in. But the ruse is that they now have two tracks, A track and B track, but only count the A track students in the GPA and ACT scores they present to the public. Blatant misrepresentation. And if you truly think that every parent is uber-involved in their childs private school education, it's time for you to stop drinking the Kool-Aid. Lots of people just want to write the checks and boast about where their kid went to school. Too bad for them it no longer means much to get into, or graduate from, a private school.

To OK... your saying you got into 3 Ivy leagues & Stanford and you turned them all down? For a full ride anywhere? That my friend was a public school decision!! You would have been better off taking out a loan to pay for the above mentioned colleges, that's just the dumbest thing I've ever heard, sorry and good luck with that decision.

Where you went to high school is a ridiculous St.Louis thing. No one else cares.

You're right. If you went to the girls' schools in the county, it means your parents have a lot of money and they value religious education for their daughters and also want them to go to school with other girls like themselves. In St. Louis, it matters. And if you're staying in St. Louis, it really matters. May not be popular, but that's how it is.

And not all girls' schools in St. Louis offer the same education. Viz, Cor Jesu, Nerinx and Villa have really high average ACT scores. Those scores show how well educated the students are, so you can't say they aren't good schools, and you really can't say they aren't offering better educations than most of the public schools.

Someone needs to tell me why you think you are getting an education at all if you go to school with girls who are just like you, all the while being indoctrinated with some sort of religious mumbo-jumbo. To me, that's the antithesis of education.

You can say the same thing about private school kids being anti public school... The door clearly swings both ways. But I agree, everyone should get over it.