private school

<p>My parents are thinking about sending me to a private school. Is there a better chance of getting into a good college by going to a private school than going to a public school and are the courses more challenging?? Thanks</p>

<p>It depends what private and public schools you're talking about. Really good private schools are worth going to because colleges are familiar with them. But then again, you'll save money if your public school is good. </p>

<p>Also, there's more than that. Private schools have less students and more teachers, and it's really a completely different experience.</p>

<p>i go to a private school. The courses are more challenging than a public high schools, but mine doesnt have as many honors/ap courses. Our regular classes such are pretty much the equivilant to a public school's honors course, but we still only get the same credit for a regular course. For example, my school is somewhat small, about 550 students. We dont have any extracurricular clubs, and we only have a few ap/dual enrollement classes, and there are no honors courses until you are a sophmore. As an average, our schools sat scores are relatively high, though. Would i say that going to my school would help me get into a top tier school? No. My school is deeply religous. In fact, most of the kids who go there are on grant. The school never seems to have enough money. Becuase of that a lot of things are lacking. As far as sports go, we only have 3 varsity sports: girls volleyball, girls basketball, and guys basketball. </p>

<p>So if the private school that your parents are thinking of sending you to has a lot of oppurtunities such as clubs, sports, or academics, then go for it. However, my advice is that if it doesnt you should attend the place that had the most oppurtunities to offer you, if a top tier is on your mind.</p>

<p>Going to private school has been an amazing experience for me and given the choice again I definitely would not go to the public school in my town.</p>

<p>That being said, it has not helped my chances of getting into a top college AT ALL, in fact it probably made my chances much slimmer.
This is due to several factors: the courses at my school are much much more challenging than at the (highly ranked) public school in my town, so it's a lot harder to get good grades. Everyone at my school is relatively smart (avg SAT score of last yr's class was 1340 and they were known as the stupid class) and AP classes are kept to about 7-12 people so it's really really difficult to get into them.. and once you get in they're extremely difficult. Everyone in the APUSH class last year got a 5, and everyone in AP Chem except 1 person (who got a 4) got a 5. Not sure abotu the other classes but I've never heard of anyone getting less than a 4 on any AP exam except some 3s on AP Spanish
Sure, colleges know that our school is good but it's so small (200 girls in the HS) and for some reason just not well-known, that most colleges don't realize exactly how difficult it is to get into AP classes, get good grades, etc</p>

<p>I would recommend the private school unless you're really fixated on getting into a top college. Obviously it's still possible to get into a top college from a private school (I believe 7 out of 46 went to Ivies from my school last year), but it's much easier to excel and stand out when you're a big fish in a little dinky little pond</p>

<p>k thanks for the input</p>

<p>it depends on what private school like my private school is for the speds has no advanced courses and most people there r stupid or belong in a asylum i actually know a kid who when we were talking about asylums and we asked if ne one had been in one...and he said yes and we were like what u know some one in one...or a patient he said softly i was a patient..he kinda acts like he belongs in one...sorry J...</p>

<p>while my old public school has 15 ibs and like half the junior and senior class take at least one IB...including a bunch of my friends...so sometimes public schools r better</p>

<p>It depends on the school.</p>

<p>If you go to a school like Andover, SPS, Deerfield, Exeter, etc., some argue that it helps your chances, while others say that your chances decrease.</p>

<p>At these schools, 30%+ of the graduating class attend ivy's. It is very competitive to attend these high schools. The acceptance rate at Deerfield is only 16%. Ivy league schools know these schools and how rigorous they are. A 3.5 at these schools is probably better than having a 4.0+ GPA at the local public school.</p>