Employers hate private schools?

[5329871e]

In the fortunate position of choosing between one of the best private schools in the country, vs one of the best non-selective state schools in the country. Private school is affordable with sacrifices, which we’re happy to make, and it has all the expected advantages of better funding and selective intake, but the state school is also lovely.

To avoid this thread being bogged down by all the nuances of our choice, I’ll keep the question simple:

DH is convinced that employers dislike privately educated applicants. All things being equal, they’ll pick the state educated person. In other words, job applicants are disadvantaged by a private education.

Is this true? If so, how much better does a privately educated applicant have to be, for you to pick them?

In conclusion, send your child to the school you think suits them best, and is within your reach. Stop worrying about giving them and advantage.

@C8H10N4O2

In other words, job applicants are disadvantaged by a private education

Yes and especially if they are also male and white. Well known oppressed group.

🤣

Seriously though, wtaf? Your child will build a massive network and will get jobs based on who they know. They will be preferred over state schoolers.

Whereas us plebs who can’t afford to send our kids to private will have to train our kids to work hard, develop a gift of the gab and work their way up if need be.

Fwiw, every private schooler I’ve ever worked with has had no common sense.

I don't think employers hate private schools, that's nonsense but there is likely pressure to diversify the employees in some sectors.

Can someone please explain what the manner is or what it looks like? There's such a myth of this confidence thing that apparently all private school people have, but I've never felt it and I'm not a confident person. What is it that I'm apparently doing?

Nobody discriminated against private school pupils.
SOME situations expect that children given every opportunity in life to succeed make best use of that and therefore show better results than children without the same opportunities.

I recruited for a large company, couldn't care less where someone went to school. We didn't ask and 99% of candidates did not say on their CV.

Nobody puts ‘Elm Park primary school’ on their CV.

My job wanted secondary school details

@PelvicFloorTrauma Oxford students may be less likely than they were before to be privately educated but if you are privately educated you are overwhelmingly more likely to be offered a place!! 6% of the population gets 40% of the places.

@Clymene... I have to say.. that makes me laugh... ‘We cannot pretend that privately educated white men are given every advantage in life.’ They may not get every job and advantage out there.. but we are still far far far from having a society where money power and share of voice is equally shared.. look at my metric.. it is still overwhelmingly in the hands of privately educated white men in the UK.

and @5329871e.. if you want a perspective on how quickly things change round here.. read who own’s England by Guy Shrubsole... land is still largely in the hands of those closest to the king when the Magna Carta was written! In twelve years, you kids are safe!!

All things are hardly ever equal.

I am fairly intimately acquainted with Oxbridge admissions, for example, and they are desperate for all things to be equal. A kid from a state school with the same or similar set of results to a kid from a private school, will definitely have an advantage - they really do want to get the balance better. If your child is a mediocre private school applicant, a good state school applicant will have an advantage over him at all top universities.

The problem is that kids from private school, besides often presenting with better grades, also often come out better at interview. They are more practised, no doubt, but also they have had perhaps 5 years of an education system that pushes them towards confidence and participation. Also, as someone up thread has said, they likely have had more interesting work experience due to networking.

When it comes to jobs, and later in life, Oxbridge matters less, but Russell Group overall still matters a lot. So if you think it will help getting your child into a good uni private school is very helpful. But if the kid is going to be a top performer in a state school that could be more helpful for university.

But there is another reason for private school and that is often because the kids really have a lovely time. If you can balance at home the potential tendency towards arrogance and privilege, then your child may have a wonderful, enriching experience with a fantastic education. (Whatever the end result re jobs or university, on the whole the educational opportunities at private school are unmatched, especially at the top ones. That seems to me the very best reason for choosing that route.)

However, when it comes to Oxbridge applications - and an Oxbridge primary degree WILL help your child significantly in many if not most careers - all other things being equal (i.e. grades, quality of applicant etc.), A-levels from a state school WILL help.

agree

@ChateauMargaux - it was a typo! I meant aren't which I hope would have been obvious from the rest of my post (and the rest of the sentence for that matter).

Fwiw, every private schooler I’ve ever worked with has had no common sense

What a pathetic comment.

We recruit completely blind, as do most decent companies these days.

@astoundedgoat

lol your husband is HUGELY wrong.

However, when it comes to Oxbridge applications - and an Oxbridge primary degree WILL help your child significantly in many if not most careers - all other things being equal (i.e. grades, quality of applicant etc.), A-levels from a state school WILL help.

If your child is in any way lacking in confidence, I would absolutely prioritise that over anything else at this stage and choose the private school, because that is where they excel above all else, but then perhaps consider a state school for sixth form.

If your child is a confident, outgoing and academically able child, you might be better off taking advantage of your excellent local state school - just be prepared to throw some money at tutoring nearer the time for exams to compensate for the class sizes/individual attention deficit.

I would agree with this.

My personal view is your CV gets you in the door and from that point onward the job is yours to lose.
I have been offered inteviews for every job bar 2 I have applied for since getting my first grad job (and I have 17 years experience in my industry)

My private education (top 10 school) and associated grades/degree have no doubt opened doors, and I firmly believe it "paints a picture" as to who I am before employers even meet me. I have been given interviews and considered for roles most people with my CV would be thought "too young" or "too inexperienced in sector" for and I def think my education helps skew that in my favour.

My husband and I work in VERY different sectors. His education (also top 10) and degree (oxbridge) have made his career possible.

His company is almost exclusively oxbridge and they actively (as of this month) recruit grads from oxbridge only pools. The odd exceptional candidate from bristol or durham might sneak in at a manager level...

It does make a difference and keeps certain career sectors open to you..

In my county there are a reasonable amount of children with an EHCP funded by the council in mainstream private schools, all publicly available data. The ignorant comments on here just show what these children are up against.

Out of the serious replies, there’s some disagreement, so I guess a private school education can be a disadvantage in some situations but not others.

As can state

This feels like you’re trying to build a case for something that simply doesn’t exist. Like sone weird Labour manifesto.

People on this thread keep saying that going to a state school will help you get to Oxbridge but this is a total nonsense.

firstly, private school improves your grades, and, secondly, the newest available data shows that private schools still punch above their weight when it comes to Oxbridge places - they get a higher share of them than their share of the top grades would predict (and always have done).

www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-figures/admissions-statistics/undergraduate-students/current/school-type

I think some on here should stick to their troll hunting games rather than comment on children. I doubt they are employers anyway.

Many graduate employers are now trying to be more inclusive from a social mobility point of view. That wouldn't typically mean that those educated at other schools are dismissed out of hand.

I'd also say that beyond the first job or two in your career most people wouldn't have their school on their cv...

I don't think it normally makes a difference but if it's a really famous school you may find some people would potentially feel strongly against employing someone if they are anti private school. I have been asked for my secondary schools at every job I've applied for. (Comp)

Your DH is confusing the recognition of your privilege with disadvantage.

How likely is it that all other things are equal? If someone from a poor school has the same grades and application/interview skills as someone from a private school, they will have worked harder to get there and therefore be a better applicant.

You are paying for your kids to have an easier ride, you can't complain that this is then recognised.

It’s a hard decision to make.

Between two of the best schools in one of the richest countries in the world

Fuck me

@eagerlywaitingfor

The only employers who would be likely to have the slightest interest in the school you went to, or be influenced by it, are the sort of employer who would actively seek out the privately educated, imo.

Agree with this

I hope this is true but unfortunately it's probably bollocks.

@BellesBells

I look at schools in recruitment choices and would take a state school applicant with good qualifications and experience over a private school applicant with the same. All else being equal I'd say a private school applicant would need a set of grades one grade up on the state applicant at GCSE and A level or equivalent for me to consider them as equal candidates. Also take into account that work experience is generally easier to come by with privately educated applicants due to parents networks.

@BellesBells Out of interest, do you treat all state schools the same, and all private schools the same? Genuine question, just interested, not having a go

I'm asking because my nephew attends a sought after state school which tends to deliver better exam results than the local private school. Unless you lived locally and showed an interest, you wouldn't know that, and I appreciate that's not always the case. I wonder, if he had the same grades as a child from the private school, would he be perceived as a better candidate?

[quote puffyisgood]People on this thread keep saying that going to a state school will help you get to Oxbridge but this is a total nonsense.

firstly, private school improves your grades, and, secondly, the newest available data shows that private schools still punch above their weight when it comes to Oxbridge places - they get a higher share of them than their share of the top grades would predict (and always have done).

www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-figures/admissions-statistics/undergraduate-students/current/school-type[/quote]
@puffyisgood I take issue with "private school improves your grades"

Children of parents who can afford private school are more likely to have families who support their education, can afford a computer, can pay for a tutor if required, have a quiet place to study

Children at a state school, especially if in a deprived area, are more likely to have parents who didn't have a great experience at school, work in jobs which don't require a high level of education, can't afford a computer, children share bedroom with sibling etc

So, yes, overall, private schools generate better exam results, but that's because schools reflect their catchment / families ie it's correlation, not causation