Why on earth would anyone reject SPGS??

I feel like we need a topic for private school, this is one of many threads I have opened in Secondary Education and not understood a word of the OP

OP You make some strange assumptions in your posts, not least about DC rejecting Oxbridge. DC don't just choose other Unis over Oxford for animation, fashion, mining and farming courses. My DS got four offers to study Medicine last year, that's an offer from everywhere he applied to. For context, 5% of all UK med applicants achieve that. He also scored in the top 2% in the UK in last year's UCAT Clinical Entrance exam. This is not boasting, purely to explain his academic ability and strength of interview performance and that his choices regarding where to apply were wide open.The reason he didn't apply to Oxbridge was simply because he didn't like the course structure (three years in class before any clinical content). He had no doubt that he would much prefer to study at another very well regarded Medical School that would result in exactly the same qualification. The DC from his school who did go on to study Medicine at Oxbridge were actually not as highly ranked academically as he had been. He also knows a couple of people on his Medicine course who had offers from Oxbridge and rejected them and a number of others who didn't apply for the same reason as him. Sometimes it has absolutely nothing to do with calibre or lack of aspiration and all about choice and fit. We took exactly the same approach when it came to choosing schools and it all worked out well.

I wouldn’t send a daughter of mine there if you paid me. HTH.

I'm baffled by your bafflement, OP. There are so many reasons why people might apply but not take up an offer at the school. Anecdotally, we applied because DD was encouraged to and the application process gave us some insight into a school we knew little about. We were very impressed by it and it's obviously an excellent school but there are many excellent schools out there and, in the end, DD chose another very academic but, we (and, more importantly, she) felt, more down-to-earth school, which she loves. For me, the fact that people get so carried away with the prestige of SPGS was quite a turn-off. There is very little difference in terms of outcome when it comes to choosing one very good school over another so for us is came down to a combination of child's preference, atmosphere, distance, cohort, fees etc.

I couldn’t imagine interviewing at Oxford getting an offer then rejecting it, why apply?

My DD applied because her school encouraged her to, she was curious, and no other reason. When I picked her up after her overnight stay and her interview, she asked how we'd feel if she was offered a place and turned it down. While it had been an interesting experience touring the college and meeting and sociolising with her fellow candidates, she just didn't feel that it was for her. She was much more enthused by a Russell group university that led in her subject. We said that of course it was fine for her to say no. It's not like she'd ever been that excited about the Oxbridge option. Her state school was just doing its job of encouraging it's brightest pupils to apply.

As it turned out, she didn't get an offer so it didn't come to that. But her choice was entirely genuine. She got in at the place she really wanted, and did extremely well there.

But even that suggests they were going through selection with eyes half open?

People didn't realise, changed their minds, circumstances changed - could be any number of reasons. Is that really so hard to believe for you?

Tbh, you are coming across a little smug.

We put DD down for loads of private schools not really wanting all of them, but to maximise her chances of success.

SPGS was not one of them, because of what I've been told about pastoral care there, rightly or wrongly.

However DD applied to some v academic schools and some not so academic schools, and the one we chose was in the middle because we liked it the most.

Results are not everything!

[quote newsibling123]@puffyisgood

Ok UCL and Oxford is probably a more accurate analogy- but the point remains I couldn’t imagine interviewing at Oxford getting an offer then rejecting it, why apply ? That’s my point - all the posts here make perfect sense but not really in the sense they applied and got in. I can perfectly understand parents believing SPGS isn’t right for their daughter , and not applying , but those with doubts and yet they put them through the selection process anyway??

@Hoppinggreen

I get that, you didn’t apply Oxford , but you must admit to give up a place offered for somewhere else makes one a very rare student .

I get it if people get cold feet , the stark reality from the heady days of interviews and the offer of a place , careful what one wishes for and all that. But even that suggests they were going through selection with eyes half open?[/quote]
The Oxbridge analogy is just terrible. Well over 90% of the population doesn't have the beginning of a clue about how SPGS, G&L etc rank against each other. Of the remaining less than 10%, many or most don't care. Oxbridge is a cut above the other universities in a way that no school comes close to being, not least because all schools primarily put pupils through the exact same set of public exams, with the vast majority of perfect marks come from outside the so-called 'elite schools'. An A from SPGS is worth no more than an A from your local comp & could conceivably one day [though I won't hold my breath] be worth less.

As regards applying and then dropping out etc: Covid has shone a light on this and a comparison with university applications does the same - it's really incredibly wasteful and silly for so many of the private schools to all have their own slightly different assessment tests and criteria etc. It's beyond obvious that admissions could be run just as well based entirely on a combination of performance in a single nationally standardised test or series of such tests. Applying for half a dozen private schools could easily be as straightforward as applying for half a dozen universities through UCAS. But we're a very long way from that ever happening. Until such time as it does, parents can't really be blamed for the current trend of over-applying, keeping options open, and making final decisions at the last minute.

@newsibling123 do you have children and have you applied for schools yet?

Parents might apply for SPGS even if its not their first choice because if they didn't get their preferred option they would still potentially go to SPGS as a fallback.

As odd as it sounds, there are many instances of children getting into higher league table schools and being rejected by ones that are perceived to be easier to get into. Parents are just spreading the bets to have as many options as possible.

We didn't apply to SPGS for DD as we just didn't like the vibe and I stress sent her to one of the local GDST with a nice scholarship schools. I can't say for certain that she'd have got a place of course but we felt it wouldn't have been right for her. She also got a place at Tiffin, which we turned down.

Turned out OK, she's just got an offer from Oxford to read medicine. SPGS is a great school I'm sure but it's not the only great school and definitely not the best school for everyone.

I probably could have gone to Oxford but chose York
In Freshers week I met loads of people who had put a York as 2nd choice but ended up there after not getting into Oxbridge. They were slightly confused about someone actually deciding NOT to apply and probably thought I wasn’t academic enough so they were even more confused by my excellent A level grades
You choose for yourself/your child the school or college/uni that suits them best. DD turned down a 6th form Grammar place for a local HE college as well and despite being very academic she might not even go to Uni

It's not about the most prestigious, well ranked school. It's about putting your child first and finding the perfect fit for her.

In the same way, you'd be ridiculous to ship your child off to Oxford if they preferred and wanted to go to Durham.

Prestige is not everything. In fact, I've unfortunately seen the downside of children who are pushed into situations and environments they do not feel comfortable in because their parents thought they knew best, and best just happened to be the most prestigious. It's actually really sad.

Maybe people are more focussed on finding the school that best fits their DD than some ridiculous idea that somehow SPGS is so unbelievably better than every single other school in the UK?

The fact that these posters are asking the question means that they are questioning something about SPGS that makes them feel an alternative school might be better i.e. it's not the Holy Grail you are making it out to be.

You come across as quite rude and condescending to be honest.

It's like getting a place at Oxford and choosing Durham

That's an abysmally bad analogy and plain wrong.

Standards at Oxford are hugely better than at Durham. Oxford teaches harder courses, provides more hours/smaller groups of teaching/marking, leads to very markedly higher graduate earnings, gives a far higher chance of 1st class honours/of funded postgraduate study. And Oxford is certainly harder to get in - the very weakest students at Oxford [possibly excluding the odd choral scholar, boat race ringer, etc] would be well above average at Durham.

Standards at these two schools are near as damnit identical.
Before grade inflation went bonkers, the two had almost identical proportions of A* proportions (52% vs 46%) - so the top 46% at G&L were objectively stronger than the bottom 48% at SPGS.

It's trivially easy to imagine geographical, cultural, or a whole host of other considerations leading a parent to prefer G&L to SPGS.

My niece turned down SPGS. They just put it on the list, but it was not the number 1 choice.
I do remember the former Head publicity criticising the school. She was disillusioned, she left.
I also remember a story about how some of the girls would literary pass out from not getting 100% on exams.

I know several people who have turned down Oxbridge too. Mostly to go to Unis that have a better reputation on, or specialise in specific subjects. One person went to Durham for the opportunity to write some of those curriculum books they publish.

I went to Durham and met around five-ten people who rejected Oxford/Cambridge in favour of Durham!

Reasons were like the below:

Liked the city better
Liked the course/colleges better
Didn't want the pressure of Oxbridge
Oxford was too far away

There really is more to life than the reputation of an institution. Even though one of them is regarded as more prestigious, that doesn't mean it will suit every single individual.

What if a prolific bully was going to the better school?

What if you were concerned about children killing themselves under heavy pressure?

I don’t know if these are state or private, but what if you were so rich that you could prioritise your child’s happiness and fun experience over the worry of getting the best education.

I know someone who turned a Cambridge place down. It definitely happens.

LOL.

OP, maybe take a few deep breaths and calm yourself before trying not to offend people and then writing off other institutions as inferior.

(I have no skin in the game… but I can think of any number of reasons why people make different pro-active choices)

No idea about the schools you're talking about but I got offered an Oxbridge place and chose to go to Durham. Best decision I ever made!