IHS,
I am not sure how to get the stats of admission to the 2nd tier Ivy compatible universities from the top ten GA high schools, but i will see what i can come up with. Below you can see the 2016 top university rankings published by US NEWs. Our top private school is Emory and our top two public schools are Tech and UGA. You can see how these schools rank compared to the California state schools. My personal opinon is that if your son or daugther can get into UCLA (18% acceptance) or Berkeley (16% acceptance), most likely he or she will get accepted into a second tier Ivy school.
(Perhaps this topic should discussed in a different thread in the Education section.)
IHS, back when I was a senior in high school, I did apply to UCLA for their business/econ program. I do believe that university rankings can change over time. One my friends in high school got accepted to USC back then with a 1000 SAT score out of 1600 and a 2.9 GPA. I think the ranking of USC was right where UGA is today at 61. As all of you know today USC is recognized as part of the top 25 universities which is now as competitive to get in as UCLA. The real estate investor side of me looks at demographics very carefully. Even though UGA is an unrecognized college brand that no FCBs have ever heard of, I know that UGA is going to be a rising star which will compete in the same playing field with Tech and UNC in the next 10 years, sort of like what USC was to UCLA 15 years ago.
Source:
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/page+6
Rank 20 - UC Berkeley
Rank 21 - Emory University
Rank 23 - UCLA
Rank 23 - USC - Tied
Rank 36 - Georgia Tech
Rank 37 - UC Santa Barbara
Rank 38 - UC Irvine
Rank 39 - UC San Diego
Rank 61 - UGA
IHS, I am sure we both know that being a product of a top elite Ivy university does not guarantee success as an adult. My best friend is a Harvard alumn and he interviews many prospective students in his region. He tells me that Harvard is overated by tiger moms and dads and he has the right to say this as he is a product of Harvard.
We both had a very different upbringing though. He told me that his parents were not wealthy and they did not have cars growing up. He told me the way he programmed his mind back then was that by studying hard and getting straight "A"s and being the top of his high school class, it was equilvalent to putting food on the table. He told me that he was so hungry that he would study til 4am every day during his high school years. I ask him how come he doesn't have that same fire in the belly he had when was he was in high school and told me that he is content now and makes enough money to put a roof over his head and provide for his family.
I, on the other hand had parents who really didn't care whether I did well or bad in school. To be honest, I don't think they even cared if I went to college or not. I guess I had no choice but to be self motivated. I ended up graduating with a Finance degree at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and later got my MBA with a real estate investment / finance concentration. Back then looking forward, I had no idea how my education would be applicable to the real world, but looking back now, I can see how all the dots of my education and experiences are starting to connect with one another. I guess am very fortunate that I all the books I read today and prior education is directly applicable to my full time career.
Sometimes if you are uncertain about what your passion is, think about all the books you read when you were in your early 20s.. What did you think about all the time back then?? Most likely, this is your passion. It is important that we all try to find our passion early on in life, otherwise any sane person would give up when the times get really tough.
I think what is really important for us as parents is to help our children identify their strengthen and passion and help them grow in that capacity rather than turning them into robots.
