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<p>I’d say the real difference is between highly academically rigorous high schools and the rest…not public or private. </p>
<p>Public high schools like TJ or Bronx Science are well-known for their academic rigor in most admissions offices…especially ones in elite colleges/universities. They certainly hold their own against the best private private schools IME. </p>
<p>On the other hand, there are plenty of private schools where the academic rigor is comparable with the most mediocre public schools…or worse. One person I know was allowed to graduate from her private boarding school without having taken trigonometry…much less pre-calc. </p>
<p>A college classmate attended another private school where he only had to take 2 years of “rocks for jocks” type non-lab science courses to graduate whereas I had to take 3 years of lab science(bio, chem, physics), a semester of computer science, and a 4th year of science electives(i.e. pharmacology(I was one of the few non-aspiring pre-meds who took this elective in high school for fun)).</p>