92% of the Columbia HS Class of 2015 is heading to college

And that's not counting kids who are taking gap years or entering the military.

Well played, students, faculty and parents. Well played.

http://villagegreennj.com/schools-kids/chs-2015-graduates-attend-183-different-colleges-universities-fall/

Are people still hating on SOMA schools? They're awfully good my friends!

79% to 4 year schools when you back out the 87 who are going to CC. I am not judging but they are different things.

It could be for many reasons including financial.

cleg said:
79% to 4 year schools when you back out the 87 who are going to CC. I am not judging but they are different things.

Actually, they are not as different as they used to be. For financial reasons, many people now choose community colleges for the first two years and then transfer to four-year schools to complete their degrees. In fact, the percentage of kids nationally who complete a four-year degree is now identical whether they begin in a two-year program (and transfer) or a four-year program.

http://www.aera.net/Newsroom/NewsReleasesandStatements/StudyCommunityCollegeTransfersasLikelytoEarnaBAasFour-YearStudents,DespiteCreditTransferRoadblocks/tabid/15418/Default.aspx

What % went Ivy League? At my elite Long Island HS in the late 90's, no more than 6 out of 200 kids went Ivy (2 to Dartmouth, 1 to Cornell, 1 to Penn, 1 to Harvard and 1 to Columbia).

Wow, you remember that--awesome! I think 3 went this year. Last year there were 6. My daughter's year had 5.

The similarity is that 92% are continuing their formal education in a setting that suited their respective situations at this point in time. And talking with Columbia grads who are in college or have completed college recently they all say something similar: the high school prepared them well for college life in and out of the classroom.

I remember mostly because my school district made a HUGE deal about being elite, college focused and locally best-in-class, and the end result was a meager 3% going Ivy. To be fair, there was a nice chunk that went "Near-Ivy" to schools like Georgetown, Duke, Northwestern, Tufts, etc, but still. I graduated 41st and took a full ride to UMD as opposed to a few "better" schools.

oakland2 said:
Perhaps so, perhaps not, but that's not really the point. 92% including more than just 4-year schools is not a stat of which I'd brag. And 79% is embarassing.

Embarrassing? Really? I personally know more than one who were accepted at good 4-year schools who are at local two year schools for financial reasons, as well as a couple of gap years. Why do you think only 4-year college is an acceptable outcome?

Saying its embarrassing is an embarrassing statement to make. Not everyone here is like you if you haven't noticed.

hankzona said:
Saying its embarrassing is an embarrassing statement to make. Not everyone here is like you if you haven't noticed.

+1

+2

I came from an elitest university background (Yale undergrad, Columbia grad) but have been "schooled" through a career in state college administration. The kids who manage to overcome financial hardship and work two jobs to get themselves through college are the real academic heroes in my book. Many CHS graduates fall into that category -- and many do not. All 92 percent of them deserve high praise.

It's a continuing challenge, not an embarrassment, but I think it's worth keeping in mind that the figure is probably closer to 82 percent of the Class of 2015 cohort if dropouts are accounted for.

Nice to see a varied list including liberal arts, science and arts-focused schools, and some students willing to branch out a bit geographically.

With acceptance rates at some Ivy schools approaching 5%, and looking more globally for students, it's not reasonable to expect a large number of students getting there from here. And arguably some of the schools on this list - Northwestern, UC Berkeley, Amherst, Oberlin and others - are as or more competitive than some of the Ivies and all of the "seven sisters" which VG chose to reference.

Agree some are choosing CC as a stepping stone to a higher-priced 4-year. Hard to blame them as virtually every media story about colleges over the past few years has been about high costs and low returns.

Another subject, but arguably public schools such as TCNJ should be choosing more students from CHS, but in the bid to be more "national" in reputation, they are saying no to very talented and able NJ students and forcing some to look out of state.

I just don't even know what to say to this. Even taking your 79 percent, it is one of the highest in the country for a racially diverse, public school. The national average is 42 percent. The only schools I know with much higher percentages are overwhelmingly wealthy and white.

All I am trying to do is salute a whole bunch of high performing kids. "Embarrassment" seems like the wrong word in every possible way.

The top schools in the country are no longer limited to the ivies. In several lists, there are no ivies in the top three of top five.

Yep. +1

deborahg said:
I just don't even know what to say to this. Even taking your 79 percent, it is one of the highest in the country for a racially diverse, public school. The national average is 42 percent. The only schools I know with much higher percentages are overwhelmingly wealthy and white.
All I am trying to do is salute a whole bunch of high performing kids. "Embarrassment" seems like the wrong word in every possible way.

I'd rather go to Columbia than Millburn, Livingston or Summit

max_weisenfeld said:

oakland2 said:
Perhaps so, perhaps not, but that's not really the point. 92% including more than just 4-year schools is not a stat of which I'd brag. And 79% is embarassing.

Embarrassing? Really? I personally know more than one who were accepted at good 4-year schools who are at local two year schools for financial reasons, as well as a couple of gap years. Why do you think only 4-year college is an acceptable outcome?

My sister did the 2/4 route. She did her first two years at ECC, then transferred to Rutgers Newark and graduated with a 4.0 and now has her BSN. And no, there isn't an * on her degree from Rutgers. Most certainly not an embarrassment.

apple44 said:
Nice to see a varied list including liberal arts, science and arts-focused schools, and some students willing to branch out a bit geographically.
With acceptance rates at some Ivy schools approaching 5%, and looking more globally for students, it's not reasonable to expect a large number of students getting there from here. And arguably some of the schools on this list - Northwestern, UC Berkeley, Amherst, Oberlin and others - are as or more competitive than some of the Ivies and all of the "seven sisters" which VG chose to reference.
Agree some are choosing CC as a stepping stone to a higher-priced 4-year. Hard to blame them as virtually every media story about colleges over the past few years has been about high costs and low returns.
Another subject, but arguably public schools such as TCNJ should be choosing more students from CHS, but in the bid to be more "national" in reputation, they are saying no to very talented and able NJ students and forcing some to look out of state.

I was reading yesterday, I think, in the NY Times as to how a household headed by college graduates makes $58,000 more PER YEAR than a household headed by non-college graduates. So, even if you go to an expensive college you are ahead of the game pretty quickly than if you had not attended. Most white collar jobs these days with a good career trajectory require a college degree, so without one, you will have a hard time.

There is also a big push for the larger State flagship universities to recruit from out of state to push up their stats in order to be ranked higher, and to close funding gaps. Since states have been cutting funding to universities, many have decided to make up the gap by getting out of state students who will pay more than in state students. This in turn means that talented in state students get turned away.

It would be interesting to know how many of the students who attend CC actually go on to finish a four year degree, and how many take a few classes and eventually drop out. I don't know how good community colleges are at retention and getting students into 4 year programs.

deborahg said:
I just don't even know what to say to this. Even taking your 79 percent, it is one of the highest in the country for a racially diverse, public school. The national average is 42 percent. The only schools I know with much higher percentages are overwhelmingly wealthy and white.
All I am trying to do is salute a whole bunch of high performing kids. "Embarrassment" seems like the wrong word in every possible way.

+2

While it's important to continue to strive for improvement, this is an impressive result and one to be proud of.

cleg said:
79% to 4 year schools when you back out the 87 who are going to CC. I am not judging but they are different things.

How utterly narrow minded of you. There are a multitude of reasons people go the community college route. I personally know two individuals who began their college careers at a community college and went on to earn their PhDs at very respectable universities. One has his PhD in Aero-Space Engineering from Purdue and has his dream job. My other friend went to the University of Chicago and Oxford, she was a Rhodes Scholar, and is a well respected in the field of autism research.

Please don't judge others with such narrow mindedness.

Something about "the far-flung University of California, Berkeley," tickles me.

I think it's more important to get the degree than where you get the degree.

campbell29 said:

apple44 said:
Nice to see a varied list including liberal arts, science and arts-focused schools, and some students willing to branch out a bit geographically.
With acceptance rates at some Ivy schools approaching 5%, and looking more globally for students, it's not reasonable to expect a large number of students getting there from here. And arguably some of the schools on this list - Northwestern, UC Berkeley, Amherst, Oberlin and others - are as or more competitive than some of the Ivies and all of the "seven sisters" which VG chose to reference.
Agree some are choosing CC as a stepping stone to a higher-priced 4-year. Hard to blame them as virtually every media story about colleges over the past few years has been about high costs and low returns.
Another subject, but arguably public schools such as TCNJ should be choosing more students from CHS, but in the bid to be more "national" in reputation, they are saying no to very talented and able NJ students and forcing some to look out of state.

I was reading yesterday, I think, in the NY Times as to how a household headed by college graduates makes $58,000 more PER YEAR than a household headed by non-college graduates. So, even if you go to an expensive college you are ahead of the game pretty quickly than if you had not attended. Most white collar jobs these days with a good career trajectory require a college degree, so without one, you will have a hard time.
There is also a big push for the larger State flagship universities to recruit from out of state to push up their stats in order to be ranked higher, and to close funding gaps. Since states have been cutting funding to universities, many have decided to make up the gap by getting out of state students who will pay more than in state students. This in turn means that talented in state students get turned away.
It would be interesting to know how many of the students who attend CC actually go on to finish a four year degree, and how many take a few classes and eventually drop out. I don't know how good community colleges are at retention and getting students into 4 year programs.

I don't find these numbers impressive. Or embarrassing. Because I have no way of knowing whether these numbers reflect the quality of the graduates's educational experience at CHS. More than anything, I believe the numbers reflect the socioeconomic makeup of the school.

Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that 68.4% of 2014 high school graduates were enrolled in college as of October 2014. Of those enrolled in college, 9 out 10 were full-time students. 2 out 3 of the enrolled graduates attended a 4-year college.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/hsgec.nr0.htm