<p>Hi! My cousin goes to an all-girls private Catholic high school. If you went to one like that, how was your experience there? Are those types of high schools better academically?</p>
<p>I think there’s a few very solid reasons to attend a Catholic school, like:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If you are Catholic and/or your family has gone to Catholic schools, you might want to go to one for the sake of tradition or familiarity.</p></li>
<li><p>Some Catholic/private schools have great athletic or academic programs that you may want to participate in.</p></li>
<li><p>The surrounding public schools may not be very good.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>But unless Catholicism is important to you, you’re interested in a specific school’s programs, or you public high school is really bad, I don’t think there’s a good reason to go to a Catholic school. </p>
<p>Blanket statements about the quality of public vs. Catholic schools don’t mean very much; you need to look at the specific schools you’re considering attending and judge based on that.</p>
<p>
Yeah, because an all girls school doesn’t have the guys dragging down the academics, so average GPA/SAT scores are higher. </p>
<p>Kidding. Sorta</p>
<p>^ Being in the top 10 percent would be harder since guys typically have lower GPAs. Also, guys have higher SAT scores on average so…</p>
<p>As a graduate of the second largest Catholic school in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, I’ll be more than happy to convince you to attend :D</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Catholic schools tend to have a MUCH LARGER selection of sports than a public high school. When I was a freshman, we had 17 sports teams. As a senior this year, we had 22 teams. Next year, there will be 24 teams!</p></li>
<li><p>You don’t feel like you’re in school; you feel like you are at your second home. Masses, school events, sports, and many other variables bring us all together. At my school, us seniors rallied around a fellow senior who’s dad died of cancer. The entire senior class threatened to boycott the senior picture because her dad died the night before the picture was to be taken. The school postponed the picture in response to our demands!</p></li>
<li><p>The teachers definitely care about you more in Catholic school. Alumni frequently return to my school to visit their former teachers because of the impact that they have had on them! My school was dubbed, “The school that never sleeps” because the school day didn’t end after the final bell rang. There were so many clubs and activities that my school’s teachers were involved in that the school would stay open past 10 PM at times! Since Catholic schools are not required to take state-issued tests (at least here in Pennsylvania), they don’t exactly have to “teach for the test” like they do in public schools. </p></li>
<li><p>Catholic schools are extremely diverse. I am a black male who came from Pennsylvania’s worst school district. Since I decided to forgo my comfort zone, I made friends of all different kinds of races! I had tons and tons of white friends, Asian friends, black friends, and friends of other races as well. The students are also extremely color blind. My school has a white majority; however, this past September, my senior class elected me to be my school’s first ever black Homecoming King! It was amazing!</p></li>
<li><p>The Masses are amazing! It doesn’t matter if you’re Catholic or not (I’m not), you will most likely find the Masses as both enjoyable and uplifting!</p></li>
<li><p>Catholic schools have the best school lunches, and even breakfasts! My school’s supplier was Aramark, so we were always eating well, despite the fact that the prices have become outrageous!</p></li>
<li><p>Catholic school uniforms are awesome! I don’t have to worry about what to wear to school. Plus, I can rep my school outside of school!</p></li>
<li><p>The retreats are the best! If any of the Catholic schools you are considering are in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, you will most likely attend a senior retreat called Kairos. I can’t tell you much about it; however, I will say that they were the best four days of my life!</p></li>
<li><p>The alumni are much more generous at Catholic schools! In recent years, my school has a erected a new football stadium, a new gym (currently in progress), and a new track. Improvements get done at Catholic schools!</p></li>
<li><p>Catholic school alumni are, at least from my school, generally successful and established in their career fields. Three politicians, two Pennsylvania state reps and one Pennsylvania Congressman, have come from our school. Three professional football players, an actor, a Bishop of Raleigh, North Carolina, and various other doctors, engineers, lawyers, and other prestigious people have walked through the same hallways as I have. Those powerful connections can lead to a job, a college acceptance, or even a promotion! </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Message me if you have any more questions about Catholic school!</p>
<p>I go to an all-girls Catholic school and I agree with FutureDoctor, the community and the family feeling you get from a Catholic school is great. My school only has about 350 people, which is shocking to some, but I love it. I get to see familiar faces everyday and I’m friends with girls in both and lower and upper grades. Every year, at certain big events (Ring Ceremony, senior stuff, etc.) tons of alumnae come back to visit. Girls from the track team who graduated come to visit sometimes and I always get a big hug from them :). It may not be like this at all Catholic schools, but at mine sports are HUGE. A large proportion of the girls play some sport, many play all 3 seasons. Even now, girls (including me), are coming to school to run/practice, even thought school ended 3 weeks ago. Everyone is dedicated to something, whether it be sports, theater, art, etc. I could go on and on, but if you have any questions, message me :)</p>
<p>I would just like to point that as a Muslim attending an Episcopalian school, there’s not any differences in schools of varying Christian denominations besides what they do in chapel/mass/whatever. That being said, smaller schools generally have more of a sense of unity, and my teachers genuinely enjoy teaching and have our best interests at heart.</p>
<p>I don’t know about Catholic school, but I went to a religious all girls school before, and it definitely feels like family 
the teachers were ridiculously strict at times, but most of them did genuinely care about us.
one of my teachers yelled at me and embarrassed me in front of everyone once when I didn’t deserve it (although I think she felt bad about it later, because afterwards when I did deserve to be yelled at, she was really nice), and the same teacher demanded a hug in the middle of class when she found out that it was my birthday :)</p>
<p>Going to Catholic high school was quite possibly the best decision I’ve made in life so far 
Which archdiocese would your school be located in?</p>
<p>Thwe social dynamic of single sex schools is very different from co-ed environments. Single sex schools do not have the same pressure to act a certain way in order to fit in and attract others. I believe it is a much better environment in which to grow into your own person.</p>
<p>Hi guys, thanks for your answers! I’m already going to a public school, but I was just interested in how Catholic schools like that work. I guess it’s good to have my options open. I was also wondering about the psychological aspect of only having girls/boys in your school. That would make you focus more, right? But I also heard that it’s better co-ed because then you would learn to interact with the other gender more and it would help later in life. So, I don’t really know, but according to your experiences, they all sounds good :D</p>
<p>Psychologically, it’s very different being at a co-Ed or single sex school. I personally go to a private co-Ed school in Hawaii and its great. You learn to interact well with both genders… Plus you can definitely learn from boys. (Or girls). Also, boys and girls learn differently, so I can see how it would be beneficial to go to an all girls or all boys school.</p>