Paul Thiboutot, Carleton’s Dean of Admissions, tells the story of two applicants, one from a private school in the top fifth of her class, the other a valedictorian from a small rural school. Their SAT scores were virtually identical. The latter had better grades, but her school offered no AP classes at all. They both were involved in multiple cultural activities. The former had good recommendations, but the latter, who had little competition in her high school, had “inspired elation” from her teachers. So, who got in? “We had to do some more investigation,” he says. “But we took them both. And, if you think of it, that’s an argument for not sending a student to private school.”
So how do we explain the admissions records of the private schools? Obviously, there is a certain pre-selection going on. Marlyn McGrath Lewis, Dean of Admissions at Harvard, says, “To some degree, the best private schools do some of our work for us. They look for the same things we do and admit those students.” She also notes that the private schools are sometimes good at “buffing up applicants” that might otherwise not be bound for a top college.
But it is also the culture of these schools that the students are expected to apply to the top colleges. Their parents are often high achievers. Their peers are high achievers. They are coming from a small private environment and are more likely to want to continue that. And often they can afford it. “They have come from this sort of environment, and the natural gravitation is to a private college, if finance is not a factor,” said one private school college counselor. And, the counselor noted, the top state universities are becoming so expensive for out-of-state students that private schools, with their ability to provide some financial aid, actually often turn out to be cheaper than Michigan, Virginia, or Berkeley. “If [the state school] costs $29,000 and George Washington U is $35,000, but will give you $10,000 in financial aid, you end up at the private school,” she explained.
But the prime factor in college choice for the private school grad, she said, is the faculty. “If you came to a private school, you already made some decisions that indicated you wanted greater access to the faculty, and that you expect a faculty which will have a more caretaking and involved role in the student’s life.”
What distinguishes the private school faculty? No private school administrator or teacher I spoke with would make any blanket pronouncements about their faculty. In fact, all agreed that you would find the same quality faculty at a public school, but with one clear distinction. “They are working under a different situation,” one private school administrator says. “They have bigger classes and more bureaucracy, which make it more difficult to carve out their own personality and to teach the way they want to teach. Here, [the bureaucratic requirements] are handled for you, but you are expected to have an opinion on your students, to have observed them, and be asked about them. Here you are expected to do things for your students that your union would protect you from if you were in the public schools.”
Private school faculty usually are paid less than their public school counterparts, the administrator noted, “but we never have to spend our own money for materials” – a common complaint of public teachers. She also noted that her school pays for extensive professional development for the entire faculty.
Another difference is teacher licensure. To teach in a public school, you need a license. To get a license, you have to take required education courses, pass tests, and fill out state forms. “Often in the private school, licensure is not considered a benefit at all,” the administrator said. “We expect the highest education in the subject you are going to teach.” Does this lead to a different sort of applicant for teaching jobs at the private schools? “It leads to a different approach if you didn’t go through licensure. We give careful mentoring ourselves, so we are able to be open to having more choices. We can hire graduates right out of a liberal arts college, if they have faculty recommendations and a substantial degree and some experience working with children.” As a practical matter, it also means that the private schools have a much larger teacher talent pool upon which to draw.