<p>Alright, so I'm going to be a freshmen in high school in the fall, and I don't know whether to go to public school or private school. The public school I would be going to is Monta Vista High School and it's one of the top ten public high schools in California...and the private school I am thinking of attending is called the Harker School, and supposedly it's one of the most prestigious schools in my area. However, it's 25k a year, and I don't know whether it's worth the money. I could probably get a good education at my public high school too. Which one do you think would be a better high school experience?</p>
<p>wow just wow...</p>
<p>kids are getting spoiled more and more everyday...</p>
<p>Um...I'm sorry...? Well I just wanted to know if you would think private school is a must in order to have a really good education, or if learning at public school would be just as good :-).</p>
<p>Of course it's not a must. In case you haven't noticed, the majority of people in America, and the majority of the admits to elite colleges, attended public schools. You are in a much better situation than most people, who don't have a "top 10 public school" as an option, much less an elite private school, and the smart kids in average public schools usually turn out fine.</p>
<p>x - I don't think your spoiled at all. I think you are taking your education seriously and that can't be bad. Yes, it is nice you have a choice in spending 24K or not but it's not like your asking for a HUMMER. Just appreciate your families wealth and do well with it whatever your choice is. Look at what the schools have tooffer all around - more than acedemics because it sounds like both will be good in that. I think one of the best advantages a private school has to offer is that they have schedules that accomodate multiple pursuits i.e. thatre and sports and other ec's. Sorry you got slammed when your looking for feedback. Hand in there.</p>
<p>harker has a wider course selection, even though mv is pretty stocked up on AP classes too. i really don't know if it's worth the tuition though. i've heard that harker tends to segregate, maybe unintentionally, those who require financial aid from those whose parents own oil fields in the middle east. i got to monta vista and it offers plenty of academic pain, potential for nervous breakdowns, and feelings of inferiority (in a good way, i guess)...for free! (if you disregard the real estate)</p>
<p>come on guys don't give this philosophical junk between picking the private school and the public school.</p>
<p>the public school is already in the top ten of CA, and the cost of the private school costs more than most colleges. I'd spend that money for college.</p>
<p>If your parents feel they can afford Harker, go and look at both schools and see which you feel more at home at. My nephew attends Harker, and I have helped pay because it meets his needs better than a public school could. Classes are much smaller than at public schools, there are amazing opportunities for indepth study through travel and other opportunities, college counseling and placement are amazing. Yes, the majority of kids at top colleges come from public schools, about 60% in most cases. But given that under 7% of kids in this Country attend private schools, and most of those are parochial schools, the fact that 40% of top school students are from these schools speaks for itself.</p>
<p>Go to Monte Vista...they dominate in EBAL and it's funny how every car in the parking lot is brand new...very wealthy area.<br>
By the way, I hope I beat Monte Vista's number 1 tennis player this year...it would be a good way to end high school...GO GRANADA</p>
<p>My friends went to private school instead of our school, and I think it was great for him. Although, our school has a very rigorous Honors schedule, and the fact that most our school are sons and daughters of the national lab scientists makes some fierce competition.</p>
<p>Go to Monta Vista. Harker is way overrated. As Monta Vista is probably the best public high school in the area, it compares very favorably to Harker. Plus if you save the money that you would have used for Harker, you will not have trouble paying for college.</p>
<p>About 10 kids last year at my old public junior high school were accepted at Harker, yet all of them decided to either attend Los Altos High or other private schools that were cheaper yet just as good.</p>
<p>Private schools can also tend to halt admissions processes. When a top tier college admissions officer looks at an applicant profile, they take into account the type of school they went to. If private, you'd better have good stuff. This probably explains the 3:1 ratio of public-private school applicants entering the Top 10 U.S. Colleges.</p>
<p>I was accepted into Harker, but went to MontE Vista High School (also a top school in California) instead. I love Monte Vista (and so do several other students who dropped from private schools and have joined). Unless you're willing to dish out 20k a year, public schools are pretty darn good.</p>
<p>Oh and J.C., I think he was referring to Monta Vista in Cupertino...while you are referring to the MV in my town (danville). You think you can beat Mike Starr??? He's a friggen tennis god...</p>
<p>Well actually, I'm a she :-). But yes, I was refering to MontA (not MontE) Vista in Cupertino! Thank you for the responses! I am concerned about Monta Vista's class ratio (30:1) though...it seems quite large! And if any of you attend Harker or Monta Vista and have more to say about those two schools, please tell me! I have shadowed Harker and I have a feel of that school, though any other input is greatly appreciated, but I know nothing about Monta Vista and would like to hear more. Once again, thank you!</p>
<p>Private schools are not bad options; actually in my case I decided to go to a private school, but since the tuition was "only" 10K a year, it wasn't as much as a stretch. Just in your case, I would definitely attend Monta Vista since it is excellent and it is FREE. Harker is not $25K better than Monta Vista; it could even be argued that Monta Vista is better than Harker.</p>
<p>I'm also suspecting that Monta Vista is excellent only because of their 70% Asian population...if you look at all the other top schools, the majority of their population is Asian. I'm just wondering if it's the students that make the school good, or the teachers.</p>
<p>hmm the classes don't really FEEL large, and there's an effort for a more personalized environment in classes such as lit, which usually have under twenty five people per class. even so, it's not really as if the teachers are remote and detached, as long as you don't try to be invisible and make some effort to participate, you'll find you usually get the help and attention you want. Some classes can feel like a friendly and close-knit community, while others are just people who congregate to listen to the teacher and then disperse. It really depends on the teacher's style. There's lots of teachers that are absolutely awesome, and some that seriously reek. and yes the predominantly asian population kind of imbues the whole school with a kind of nervous frenzy that makes people panic when their grade is an A- and try to best each other in terms of least amount of sleep.</p>
<p>oh and a word of warning: maybe you already know, but monta vista's school colors is the lovely combo. of purple and gold which leads to yellow pe shorts, purple and gold uniforms for sports, purple and gold class t-shirts....and during spirit week....whoo.</p>
<p>Monta Vista doesn't sound so bad :-)...I know this is a little out of topic, but is Monta Vista's dance team good? How are the extracirriculars and clubs?</p>
<p>our dance team is very good. they've won the state championships the past few years i think. there's tons and tons and tons of clubs, many of them asian-focused (chinese honors society, chinese dance team, cantonese society, asian-american society, asian american leadership development, go club, triple C,...does anime club count?). there's also a lot of service clubs like interact, red cross society, and csf, but the largest one by far is octagon with some five hundred or more people. some people just start clubs to put it on their apps but most people are pretty passionate about what they do. i think our athletics are pretty good....except for football. our football team is.....well, they're better this year. mv seems like a seagull magnet after lunch though. yeah random thought. oh yeah, and they're rebuilding the library into this gargantuan glass-steel thing and those chain link fences just encroach more and more and more on the hallways and lunch places. people usually have a love-hate relationship with mv, but i think most wouldn't have it any other way.</p>
<p>Hmm...Monta Vista does sound more liberal than Harker (some one told me that Harker's like prison...)...are there a lot of Indian guys? I know that's a really weird question (i'm Chinese myself)...but I'm just wondering cause at harker most of the guys are indian and "ecko-ghetto"...what is it like at mv? is mv cliquey in any way?</p>
<p>With all high schools, you will run into your fair share of cliques. Just find your niche (but don't get too comfortable in it).</p>