The schools the OP is looking at are within Chicago proper. My office is in the suburbs and no one is driving there daily to go to school. That’s all I am saying.
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So if your kid can get into a good selective enrollment school like Payton or Northside I would grab that opportunity over all the privates. Even a few others so there is a twist and save a ton on tuition. I also wouldn’t pick a school thinking your child is going to get into a T 20 because they went to school at X school. Probably Lab has the better /best outcomes. Lots of professor kids usually go there. A friend of ours was a student college counselor for years for them. I totally agree with the majority that Latin is not what it’s reputation used to be. I would still visit. Parker always has a very good reputation as does St Ignatius. What is your student trying to get out of their high school experience?
You could easily ask the school for their metrics for which schools they get their kids into if that is the most important factor. But it still doesn’t guarantee anything. Also the ease of getting to the school daily. We live by Wrigley and it is very common for our kids to take the “L” train to a bus 35 minutes each way. It’s pretty normal. But if you live by me and have to get to Lab daily, that might be more challenging.
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Perhaps OP can clarify where they actually live. The original post about “large public schools where they live” would lead me to believe it is suburban. I agree than anyone in the city should definitely consider Payton or Northside.
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I would totally agree with Payton or Northside over privates - and also WY, Jones and Lane. I would also say comparing college admissions isn’t apples to apples - for instance Ignatius has more kids in the bubble who need merit aid than Latin, and stats look different when people are making decisions based on money vs everyone full pay who can afford ED.
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. My son went to Northside and know many at all the schools but especially Selective enrollment schools. Lab, Parker and Latin are very priveldge families. Knew families at all of them. Culture and fit can be different at each school just like we say for colleges.
The selective enrollments are fine. I have many friends with kids in the top five. But they don’t have the same level of college counseling support as the privates. They are at the whim of the administration. That’s why we choose to steer clear of them.
It depends which ones. Northside was basically a private school for free. Couldn’t be more happy with the college counseling that started early. By junior year easily plans were on place. The counslers were amazing. We had both University of Chicago and Northwestern help in the college presentations. Counslers met several times in both junior and senior year with both student and families and were great at answering emails. They have lists of proposed schools after several meetings. We had to and kids had to do brag sheets junior year early and also our concerns so counslers could write their report on our son. They did try to match kids to schools with merits with some reaches. We had kids at most ivy’s and Mit and about 25 each at Northwestern and University of Chicago and 15 at Michigan etc. These were the ones that went with many more accepted. . It’s at class less then 200. Many National board certified teachers. Many taught with Google certs which just made it cool. Lol…
With Northside at the time to get in you had to score 99.6% just to be considered for admission. Kids there want to learn. But they are also very artsy and do well in sports. Kids would dump gym and take a sport with the promise that they could take an extra class!! Nerd alert… Lol. It was the #1 rated school when he went there (now it’s #2 ugh… Lol). He had 6 Aps senior year with Calc 3 and Cello…this was more the norm. Think the Act avg was like 30. Couldn’t of been happier as you can tell. Lol.
I know recent kids at Jones with great experiences and Payton. Can’t speak to their college counslers. Just helped a kid from Jones and Lane and it seemed OK. Lincoln Park IB Counslers are just OK.
Moved to Prep School Parents
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I agree with knowstuff that each school will have different vibes. I know people at all these schools as well as the top test in publics.
If one is considering a longer than average drive/bus ride to any of these schools one needs to think about the impact of that on ECs and the kid being a part of the community at the school. Bus from Lincoln Park (for example) to Lab schools takes at least 45 - 60 minutes each way, that is less than ideal IMO and impacts school based ECs (and sometimes non-school ECs, e.g., if said EC is before 5pm and is an hour drive from school).
You mention T20 colleges…I encourage you to NOT pick a school based on college placement. There are lots of legacy, full pay, and/or athletes going to highly rejectives from these private schools, one can’t sort thru that based on aggregate data.
I have worked with a number of students from St Ignatius and course scheduling there is hard…meaning students often can’t get the classes they want because there can be just one section of AP Psych, to take one example. And if that’s the same time as another AP class, you have to choose. IME St Ignatius is not perceived as rigorous at the more selective type colleges. Course availability and scheduling is something to look into at any of these schools.
I am not a fan of the test-in magnets, but know many who are. Again, get clear about what your priorities are, what environment will your kid thrive in, are there siblings, etc. The sibling thing can be really hard too because none of these schools guarantee sibling admission…I know families with multiple kids all at different schools, all with drives/bus rides. IMO what a nightmare.
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With 4 kids through Ignatius we only had minimal issues scheduling classes - one kid had to take AP chem instead of AP bio junior year and then got priority for AP bio senior year. I’m not sure why you think selective colleges don’t think highly of Ignatius, but also, kids tend to apply to Notre Dame and Georgetown over Ivys. Last year about 15 got into Notre Dame and 10 into Georgetown along with ivys, UCLA, Michigan etc…… I honestly can’t say enough about this school as the whole package. But we all have different priorities and fits ;-). Also to another point, I would not let the lack of college counseling keep me from a SEHS. The kids we know at these schools have amazing experiences, and without a private school tuition! I would hire a private counselor maybe, there are plenty in the area who know the SEHS college landscape.
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You might know this much better then I but there was some study I remember reading about that just being in Illinois gave a student an 11% chance of going to the Ivys. Of course the east coast has a much higher acceptance rate.
100% agree with both these points. Not to mention the friend group then gets much more spread out for socializing.
I would also not pick a school because of the college impact. Find a school where your child can thrive and grow. Ivy admission is a long shot no matter what HS you attend.
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That’s a good point…if top Catholic colleges could be a good fit for a student (and it can be difficult to know that when making a decision for 9th grade), then St Ignatius and its peer schools could make sense.
Agreed, plenty of these students hire private counselors, often starting in 9th grade.
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Interesting, I haven’t seen that. Will try to take a look later today. I would guess a large proportion of the kids going to the Ivys from Illinois are hooked (but that’s really true from any state now, meaning I think URM + recruited athletes + legacy + other hooked is greater than 50% of a given Ivy’s incoming class currently). My kids went to the local HS (highly regarded, large, suburban, affluent) and the only kids going to Ivys from there now are hooked in at least one way.
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It’s an Chicago Tribune article and there is a cc thread on it from 2012. Couldn’t open it but it was like 4%…lol. Time flies when your having fun! 
With everyone from Chicago we should all meet for coffee etc and then we can brag about our favorite schools “live”… Lol
Hope the OP comes and shares more… 
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Love this site, I am new here but its so amazing to see such an active community here.
I read through all your comments and will provide more details.
We live in Naperville. I regularly go to Chicago for my work, take the train mostly.
we are from South Asian community, and interested in providing great HS experience for our kid and at the same time give him the best opportunities to at least take a good shot at T20 Colleges in the field of STEM. The kid loves anything to do with Math and Science , struggles a bit with Reading and loves a competitive environment.
I was being told by many of my colleagues who live downtown to try for Private Schools there hence this post.
We are also not Christians and hence not sure whether the Catholic schools will be accepting and how inclusive they would be?
@jym626 mentioned Benet Academy, any feedback about that would be really appreciated? They are the closest to our home.
@Momofthree24 Not keen on boarding schools.
I visited Parker , great school but they seemed more into Liberal arts @Hanna ?
@Hanna @DramaMama2021 I have not visited Lab yet, but plan to do so soon. how tough is it for non-faculty kids to get in? Also how is the safety security situation in that part of the city?
Visited St Ignatius, loved the environment. Not sure how the chances are for non-Christians.
I have not visited Latin but looking at the feedback from this group, planning to skip that !
Trying to reduce the number of things I got to do, so really helps talking to this community here.
SEHS Chicago, we can give it a try but seems like very slim chances in Tier 4 applicants?
Other than Benet all of the other options needs us to move to avoid a long daily commute for the high schooler. we love Naperville so would not be happy to move, but will do as it seems all the options are in the City.
Sorry for the long post but felt good dumping all my thoughts on this!
And Yes @Knowsstuff I am up for a coffee meetup in Chicago or somewhere close by to get all your thoughts and ideas.
Naperville has a great public school system. Have you seen the matriculation list from the last graduation class? Princeton, Northwestern, U of Chicago, Georgetown, Michigan, and a number of other top schools are represented. And tons of AP offerings: https://www.naperville203.org/NCHSProfile
I would not consider a long commute or a move with a great public option.
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I have a Jewish friend whose son attends SICP. It’s been a great experience for him. Plenty of non-Christian’s attend. From what I understand, religion classes are more philosophy of religion, not preaching. My friend’s son had great conversations with the religion teacher about philosophical differences.
Thank you for the additional information.
The families I know at privates in the west suburbs attend St Francis and Providence… so those don’t sound like the best option for your family since they are both Catholic.
Off topic, but please keep me in mind if you plan a coffee meetup. 
I split my time between GA and the Chicago west suburbs (I know Naperville well).
ETA: And I agree with @momofboiler1 about the quality of the public options in Naperville. Although, that is not to say they are the right fit for your kids/family.
We lived in the area, but our public school system was good enough that we never thought of private schools.
Is one of the worst possible reasons to reject a school.
I’m sorry, but thinking “is this the best high school for getting my kid into a T-20 college”, rather than “is this the right high school or my child NOW”, is a huge disservice to a child.
This sort of thinking indicates that the prestige of a kid’s college is more important than the needs of the kid as a high school student.
I’ve written this in the past: parents and students need to stop thinking about high school as “four years of Trying to Get Into An Elite College”.
The admission rates of a high school to “elite” colleges should not be a consideration, at all.
Aside from all that, the reason that private schools in the Chicagoland are have high admission rates to Ivies and such is not because they are “the best”. The best high schools in Chicagoland are the Chicago magnet school like Payton and Lane Tech, public high schools like Adlai Stevenson, and, of course, IMSA.
The reason that the Chicagoland private high schools have a high number of kids going on to “elite” colleges is that they are full of legacies to these elite colleges, and the kids have the benefits of wealth in admissions. If you ignore legacies and you control for family income, these high schools do not have any higher admission rates to “elite” colleges than any public high school in Illinois, and likely have lower admission rates than the Chicagoland magnet schools.
There are some good reasons for sending a kid to a Chicagoland private high school, though far fewer than there are for other regions of the country. Admission rates to “T-20” colleges is not one of those reasons, not in Chicagoland, nor in any other location in the country.
My kid’s high school has a lower attendance rate at “T-20” colleges than its quality of education and income level of the parents would suggest. The parents and the school made the conscious decision not to have “admissions to elite colleges” as part of the stated or unstated mission of the high school. The high school stopped posting admission statistics to colleges in 2015, and parents shut down any discussions related to “how many kids have been accepted to elite colleges” from all parent discussion groups.
As a result, the stress levels of the high achieving kids are far lower than those in equivalent high schools, as well as the amount of toxic interactions among parents, even offline. This was even true for the high achieving kids and their parents.
In my opinion, the mental health benefits for the kids and parents far outweighed any “loss” brought about by having high achieving kids end up attending one of the excellent Midwestern flagships instead of expensive private East Coast colleges.
Oh, and my kid, who attended that suburban public high school in Chicagoland, just graduated from a top liberal arts college, which she attended on a highly competitive scholarship. So there’s that.
PS. I do not know what the acceptance rates to “T-20” colleges are, since, as I wrote, the school does not publish those statistics.
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