Private Schools in California

<p>Some friends of ours is moving to Bel-air and they asked advice on good private schools in Belair. The only school I'm aware of is Harvard-Westlake. Does anybody have any other good suggestions?</p>

<p>girl or guy?</p>

<p>In Southern California, there is the Webb Schools, Harvard Westlake of course, and the Buckley School (Paris Hilton went there...umm not sure if that's a good thing lol).</p>

<p>guy and girl... one of each</p>

<p>Here's the list: Harvard Westlake and Brentwood are interchangable, although HW is twice the size and located on two different campuses, but percentage wise they get their students into the same colleges and ivys. Crossroads is more arty.Girls schools are Marlborough, the better one, but I'm biased, and Archer. More coeds are Calthorp, Oakwood, and Windward. Then there's New Roads and Wildwood and Buckley.</p>

<p>Tell them to at least visit the Webb Schools. About ten percent of the kids end up National Merit Finalists. Single sex education for the ninth and tenth grades. Separate student body governments. The only accredited paleontology museum in the country run by high school students. The museum is reason alone to make the trip. Great college admission record as well.</p>

<p>Archer School for Girls (more towards Brentwood) and Marymount High School (more towards Westwood). Both are girls only, are on Sunset Blvd and excellent, but different.</p>

<p>Viewpoint in calabasas. they have a 25 million dollar building plan that will be done next year. the campus will be amazing. it may be a far drive though...</p>

<p>I am a senior at Oakwood and will be attending Columbia in the fall. If the student wants a very open and liberal campus, Oakwood is the place. We call our teachers by their first names, have town and grade meetings every Monday and Thursday and have some of the best faculty around. Every single member of the faculty is willing to meet outside of class to discuss curriculum issues, personal study issues or just to chat.</p>

<p>The ability to take classes you want at Oakwood is extremely high. While most of the great classes are only offered in senior year, the ability to take indendent studies is so great that students who are in 9th grade can take a class during a free period with the teacher who teaches the 12th grade version. Arts take up much of student life ranging from Orchestra to Drama to Ceramics to Painting to Photography to Film.</p>

<p>The open atmosphere on campus allows for a diverse group of students and a variety of political and educational discussions to take place. Students are not ashamed to share their feelings about the school to the administration, whether they are positive or negative. </p>

<p>The school is coed with about 75-85 students per grade. This year 8 of the seniors were named National Merit Semi-Finalists. If a primary concern is admissions to colleges, the senior classes always do extremely well. This year, here is only a portion of the early admissions (number who got in/number who applied):</p>

<p>1/1 - Harvard (Student is going to be turning down the offer to attend Deep Springs, an even more competitive school for admissions as well as a working ranch with 2 grades and 13 kids per class. Students there regularly turn down Harvard, Princeton, Yale, etc.)
2/3 (1 defer)- Columbia
1/1- Penn
1/1- Stanford
3/7 (2 defers)- Brown
1/1- Middlebury
1/1- Pomona
1/1 (Plus 1 more for ED II admission)- Wesleyan
2/2- NYU
1/1- George Washington University School of Media Affairs</p>

<p>77% of the applicants who applied early were accepted. Truly amazing stat for such a small school, and percentage wise did far superior to both Harvard-Westlake and Brentwood. The college counselors are extremely accomodating to student's desires and needs.</p>

<p>I have truly loved Oakwood and if you have any questions about the school, do not hesitate to Private Message me.</p>

<p>doesn't oakwood have a drug reputation?</p>

<p>All the schools mentioned here are good, but in terms of the talent of the student body, Harvard-Westlake stands alone. With an average SAT score of nearly 1400, it is one of the elite private schools in the country.</p>

<p>spoonyj, I would say that the top of the classes at Oakwood, Brentwood, Campbell Hall, Viewpoint and Windward can easily compete with the top of the class at Harvard-Westlake.</p>

<p>That being said, I would say the overall student body at Harvard-Westlake is considered to be more powerful than the other schools, but their students range from fairly low schools to Ivies, as do the rest of the socal private schools.</p>

<p>Harvard-Westlake is the first choice of most.</p>

<p>jaug1, I agree. Just because Harvard-Westlake has impressive numbers doesn't mean they've cornered the market on the best and brightest. There are great students in all the schools you've mentioned, and let's not forget the good public schools, like the highly gifted magnet program at North Hollywood. You need a 150 IQ just to get in there.</p>

<p>As you know, Oakwood is down the street from NoHo High and the magnet. A student at Oakwood actually transferred there after 8th grade. </p>

<p>I will say though that Oakwood is the most open campus of the socal private schools and I believe has the best faculty.</p>