<p>I am going to add yet another experience. </p>
<p>I went to a Catholic school and I went to a public school. By far, the public school was better. Maybe not necessarily in academic quality (they were about on par with one another) but the exposure to the diversity at the public school, the wide range of ECs, the much broader curriculum, etc were MUCH better than at the Catholic school. Yeah, you have to “watch” who you hang out with, but if your child is in honors/AP classes then they will usually fall in with the right group :). </p>
<p>I have also seen that more of my friends from the Catholic school “went wild’” in college because they had very little academic and social freedom in high school and then don’t quite know what to do with it in college. I have also noticed that my public school friends have taken advantage of the ECs at college more than the Catholic school kids because they were so involved in a multitude of ECs in high school and are simply continuing that.</p>