<p>Hi, I currently attend a large public school (~1100 students in total) in NYC. It's one of the 8 "specialized" high schools in the city, and so it's quite competitive. All the core curriculum courses are taught at an honors level and they're weighted at 1.05 I believe, while AP courses are weighted as 1.1. I really like the school--its not as large as some other schools in NYC but offers a wide variety of clubs and sports. The faculty has also seemed to be excellent so far, especially my guidance counselor, but of course there are a few exceptions here and there.</p>
<p>This summer I became interested in independent schools, particularly those like Collegiate and Trinity in NYC and Andover in New England. I even requested information from all the schools, and was about to register for the SSAT when I reconsidered applying to independent (private) schools. I am currently in a dilemma right now, if I should continue applying to these private schools, or stick to the public school I'm in right now.</p>
<p>The reasons I want to attend an independent school are (1) smaller student:faculty ratios, (2) more qualified teachers, (3) better resources, and (4) an excellent social experience as a boarder. Price is not an issue in this case, as I have consulted my parents many times. We went over the finances and they agreed to everything, though we would still require financial assistance. </p>
<p>However, perhaps the one thing I am most concerned with about private schools is their Ivy/Top tier college matriculation rates. Many of these schools are in very affluent neighborhoods, where their parents are Yale legacies (for instance) and thus their children would have a higher chance of matriculating to Yale. My parents did not graduate from Yale, or even a top-ranking college for that matter. I know that the Ivy's and all these top schools can only take 'X' amount of students, and once they've reached that quota, they're done with that school. Thus, I was thinking that if I stayed at my public school, I would have a higher chance of enrolling at an Ivy or top school because it's not in a very affluent neighborhood and I wouldn't have to worry about squeezing myself into the quota these colleges have. So basically, in private schools, I'm afraid I would feel like a small fish in a big pond, while in my current school I would most likely be a big fish in a small pond (for college admission purposes). </p>
<p>Do you guys have any advice on what I should do? Thanks.</p>
<p>High school is supposed to be fun. Just go to the school that you’ll have more fun at.</p>
<p>What school do you go to now? You say large but then you say not as large as other schools, so I’m assuming not B Tech, Stuy, or Bronx Sci 
Sounds like SI Tech, which I got into the second time but decided it wasn’t worth it.</p>
<p>Anyway, public > private, especially at one of those schools.</p>
<p>you might try posting this in prep school admissions too. prep schools are great! i just dont know how much better it would be compared to your current school. the class size is smaller and there is more time to ask a teacher for help and its an awesome experience but you have to decide based on your current school and a comparison. you could apply and shadow someone at the schools to see what they are like too. applying isnt a commitment.</p>
<p>Yes, it is SI Tech. </p>
<p>I was originally going to post it in the Prep School Forum but since most of the students/parents in there probably are completely 100% pro-prep school, it might be a little (a lot) biased. bookluver, where do you currently attend? My top choices would probably be Peddie, Loomis-Chaffee, Holderness, and Hotchkiss. I thought about this for a looong time last night before I went to bed, and the thing with the Ivy schools and legacies scare me!</p>
<p>Sorry that I can’t respond to your main question, but I’d like to comment on your dilemma and more specifically your last paragraph. It’s obvious that, in general, private schools have better matriculation rates to good colleges than public schools. Is this because of the better education from private schools or from some other cause? </p>
<p>Private schools cost a lot of money, which for the most part, only wealthy families can afford. Wealthy families come from high socio economic backgrounds and are generally more intelligent than the “average” public school parent. While this is not true for all cases, smarter parents -> family has more money -> they can afford to send their children to private schools. Intelligence is highly based on genetics. Thus, smart parents often have smart kids. These smart kids get good grades, good scores and their parents motivate them to be as successful as they were. You can see where I’m going with this, the smart kids then get into better colleges. </p>
<p>I’m not saying that private schools don’t offer better education than public schools. I’m sure that in many cases they do. My point is that you shouldn’t be fooled by matriculation rates from private schools to top colleges. Legacies don’t even make that much of a difference these days. Chances are that if a legacy did get into Yale, for instance, he had the credentials to get in there in the first place. What really matters is that the legacy student had genes from a parent who attended Yale. In the end, the decision is up to you, just don’t make any unnecessary choices when picking private schools.</p>