Stop Judging Your Private-School Peers

Almost every time I meet a new peer, one question inevitably arises: Where are you from? But this seemingly innocuous question often masks another: Where did you go to high school?

When I answer, I reply with my hometown of Milton, Massachusetts, and nearly always face the same assumption: people believe I attended Milton Academy, the well-known private feeder school located in my town.

The reactions can be mixed. Some respond as if we are instantly bonded, inquiring if I know a friend of theirs from New York City who attended. The vast majority, however, react with disdain, as if I have signaled that I am an out-of-touch snob. And my subsequent clarification that I attended my local public high school is met with with similarly varied responses, from relief to loss of interest.

After experiencing this judgment firsthand — and befriending some actual private school students — I’ve concluded that we judge our privately educated peers too harshly. We should spend less time focusing on other students’ backgrounds and more on their actual contributions in college.

Assuming private school students had an easier time in admissions precludes the possibility that they may possess as much merit as anyone else. Theoretically, every Harvard student’s college application was reviewed by an admissions officer who saw something valuable, something they did not see in thousands of others. While athletic recruitment, legacy status, and the infamous “Dean’s List” also play a role, the students here, regardless of background, have been deemed deserving of their place. Treating private school students as if they slipped through the back door unfairly ignores this reality.

And not every private school student is the same. Many students at these schools attend on substantial financial aid. Even students from legacy families are more than the circumstances they were born into. They did not choose their context, but they still had to work hard, distinguish themselves, and present something thoughtful in their application. Their admission does reflect advantage, but also effort and distinction, and reducing them solely to privilege overlooks their individuality.

That said, the assumptions people often make about my background are not totally without basis. Harvard is known for its pull on a narrow set of elite and costly private schools and selective public schools; in fact, a 2024 Crimson analysis of the prior 15 matriculated freshman classes revealed that one out of every 11 students came from the same 21 high schools. Such a high concentration can lead other students to believe their peers only got in because of the school they attended.

The focus should not be on whether an individual student attended a private school, but on the overrepresentation of these schools in the first place. Athletic pipelines, legacy preferences, and disparate resources between schools inevitably shape the student body. Students can and should criticize that structure, but they should not presume every private school alum personally responsible for the faults of the system.

This is not to say that private school students overcame the same barriers as, say, a student from a rural, underfunded high school. Rather, it’s to point out that they still deserve to be here, have likely demonstrated deep academic curiosity, and should not have their accomplishments diminished because of assumptions about where they came from. Even students from the most elite backgrounds were not admitted without some effort.

At the same time, none of this erases the reality that public school students are more likely to navigate fewer educational resources, larger class sizes, and less support from college counselors. In many districts, access to college, let alone a prestigious institution like Harvard, can seem far off. Those differences matter, and Harvard’s admissions team should take them into account.

What students can control is the culture we cultivate. Simply put, no one can determine how much or how little wealth, privilege, or support they are born into. It’s crucial that the Harvard student body begin to recognize that, and focus less on where their peers went to high school and more on their impact in college and determination to use their Harvard education for good.

While I avoided explaining my hometown at the start of freshman year, I no longer mind. I trust my peers and my friends to understand that where I went to high school is not a measure of my character or my worth. It is what I choose to do here, and how I use my education after graduation, that matters. That is the only distinction worth making.

So drop the high school profiling. Harvard is better when we praise each other for what we contribute, not judge each other for where we started.

Sydney G. Burns ’29, a Crimson Editorial editor, lives in Leverett House.