Colleges don't know what junior high a kid attends. Yes it might help a child get into a top prep school. And ideally a top prep school will help a kid get into a "top" university. But I think that is a bit of a myth.
If your one goal in entrance into an elite university I suggest you think outside the box. One thing I've found with 'top' university selection is they are often looking for a geographically diversity as well as as those extra's. Everyone is the Bay Area want their kids to go to an elite university, it's why the stress for the kids is so high. But for example only 2-4 students from my son's H.S. (not in Bay Area but a school/area that might as well be) get into Stanford every year, same with most of the Ivy's. You can look at the number of students accepted and for most of these schools it's only a handful. Yet many many more kids apply and most of these meet minimum requirements.
