<p>can anyone help me with their thoughts on Oratory Prep vs. Seton Hall Prep. for a high school for our son???</p>
<p>Seton Hall. But why not Newark Academy, Pingry or Delbarton?</p>
<p>Hi, skiers, you might also want to post this in the prep school area.</p>
<p>[Prep</a> School Admissions - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/]Prep”>Prep School Admissions - College Confidential Forums)</p>
<p>those schools, pingry delbarton, newark ac. $30,000 too much. Seton Hall & Oratory & St. Peters are half that. So, which one…thoughts?</p>
<p>Seton Hall Prep.</p>
<p>What does your son want to do, and what sort of school is he most comfortable in? Have you and he visited both? They are different schools, and you have to see which one is a better fit for him.</p>
<p>Seton Hall probably over Oratory Prep, but St. Peter’s Prep might be an interesting choice academically; I don’t know as much about it and it also depends on distance your son will have to travel. If he is going by train on NJ Transit Morris and Essex he can take the light rail from Hoboken to St. Peter’s. I would base the decision on which feels like a better fit of those two if cost is the determining factor.</p>
<p>You mentioned cost, so clearly that is a key here (not sure if desire is also for a Catholic school). If not (and admissibility is an issue as well), I do think Delbarton’s academic reputation is stronger, comparable to Pingry.</p>
<p>Is there any reason why you are considering private school for your son? Most public schools around that area are very good. I don’t believe in going to private school unless academically it’s stronger than public school. I also think many NJ public schools are much better at placing students in good colleges than some of those private schools. NJ taxes are very high, and the public schools have better funding for more programs than some of those small privates. It is especially the case for students with LD.</p>
<p>A private school with a small graduating class is not going to have a critical mass for band, orchestra, debate team, dance, sports, AP classes. If your son is interested in any of those things, you would end up in supplementing a lot it outside of school. Schools like Pingry and Delbarton charge that kind of tuition because they do offer a lot of those programs, plus very good college counselling.</p>
<p>I personally would live around Milburn (Short Hills), even if it means renting an apartment, and have my kids go to Milburn high school than sending them to some of those private schools.</p>
<p>Full disclosure - my kids did go to a private school in NJ. We did the full analysis of cost vs benefit. We lived in a lower property tax town to supplement cost of private school tuitions.</p>
<p>It’s hard to say, since we don’t know what type of student your son is. Regarding Oratory, it is tough for this school to keep up with other privates and even public schools, since they simply don’t offer as much. Oratory doesn’t have many students from Summit, Chatham ,etc. They typically come from towns with poorer public school options, like Union, Morristown, or out by Newark, Oranges. The other type of student at Oratory is one who lives in a town with good publics, but hasn’t been able to achieve there, so they try Oratory, with its very small classes and individual attention. If you fit into either of those categories, Oratory might work out just fine. </p>
<p>Otherwise, Seton Hall Prep isn’t necessarily stronger academically, but at least it offers more in terms of classes, sports, etc. good luck!</p>
<p>It is a school with a wonderful and accessible teaching staff, a new and dynamic head of school and a small school environment. Because of its small size it has many things and lacks many things. If your son is an average or slightly above average achiever, he may be very comfortable there. </p>
<p>If, however, he wants to take a lot of AP courses, wants academic enrichment, and is a high achiever I would keep several things in mind.
- They have limited AP courses. No senior year history course for example.
- You really cannot take any language other than Spanish if you intend to take it for more than 2 years. (They eliminated German, have really only 2-3 years of Latin, and only a handful of students take French)
- They do not have information on out-of-school enrichment programs
- They do not have information on summer programs </p>
<p>I hope this was helpful.</p>
<p>njmom
this was so helpful to me!! i am looking at a small charter and a lrge public magnet and your advice really struck home…gonna go with the big magnet now. amazing how one comment can change a life! thanks.</p>
<p>My son turned down a magnet to go to OP. He has been very happy there but we realize he missed a lot of opportunities that the magnet would have provided. OP is in many ways a wonderful school. If Catholicism is very important, go there; if academic achievement is more important, choose the magnet. It is not that OP does not have some strong students or good courses, it is that it is limited by its size.</p>
<p>We looked at several of the private schools for our 8th grade son and decided to send him in our large (1900+) public HS next year. We looked at St Peters, Seton Hall and Oratory and had the following observations:</p>
<ul>
<li>St Peters: very weak Science & Math curriculum. No AP science classes and they weren’t thrilled to accomodate my son who is accelerated in math (now taking Geometry). The swim team practices at St Peters college, which wouldn’t get home until after 8pm. (we really wanted to like it, as my husband went to a Jesuit HS).<br></li>
<li>Seton Hall: not as academically challenging as we hoped and class sizes on par with our public school.</li>
<li>Oratory: it just didn’t feel right. Can’t pinpoint anything specific, but it was not a good fit.<br></li>
</ul>
<p>His best friend attends Montclair Kimberly and isn’t in love with it. It’s a bit far for us, plus I’m not spending more on HS tuition than I am to send D1 to college. We also reviewed information on Newark Academy and everyone we know there loves it, but again weren’t willing to spend the $. </p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>I’m posting without having read all the responses so sorry if you already got your answers or I’m repeating everyone else.</p>
<p>If cost is not an issue and you’re basically trying to put your son in an academically challenging environment which will help your child get into the uni of his dreams.
You first need to visit both schools. Have your kid be a shadow, so he can get an idea of what the school is like. Other students will be straight up with him and won’t give answers that parents want to hear. He will also get a taste of what it’s like to be an actual student at the particular school. Do that for both schools.
Talk to the college advisor see the overall statistics of kids graduating and to which schools they have attended. </p>
<p>Ultimately it will also have to be his choice, but if he is choosing one school over another for superficial reasons and the like than by all means you can overrule his decision. </p>
<p>Also I’ve attended private schools most of my life (K-8 and 11th-12th grade). I’ve had a couple of classes where teachers did not teach at all. I’ve had teachers that got lazy near the end of the term. Sometimes you are paying a huge amount but aren’t getting the teachers that match that price tag. It’s irritating. So make sure the teachers are up to par. </p>
<p>Another thing, if you choose not to send him to a private school for whatever reason you might also want to look into some local public high schools.</p>
<p>Some public schools have an IB program. It’s an insanely intense program, and only meant for kids who are willing to not have too much free time. A lot of those kids end up being in the top percentile at their school and get into fantastic schools.</p>