Taking challenging classes with extracurriculars every day while trying to balance a social life. Up all night completing an assignment due at 8 a.m. Pushing past stress and exhaustion to be active in class every day. 

Getting into college is no easy task, and students work their hardest in both private and public schools to increase their chances of acceptance. Often, students have to choose between private and public schools to improve their chances of getting into a desired college.

Going to college is a key part of society today, where college can help prepare you for the future and increase your employment opportunities, according to Investopedia. With that pressure, high school students try several different approaches to increase their chances of getting into one of these prestigious schools, including paying for a college counselor or spending thousands on private school.

“A lot of families wonder if it is worth paying tuition to send a student to a private school, and it’s much more of a pros and cons decision rather than saying one is better,” said college counselor Saul Lelchuk.

According to Education Data, private schools have an average annual tuition of $15,344. The average tuition is a little less than a fourth of the average salary in America, according to the National Social Security Administration. On the other hand, multiple free-of-charge public schools will admit students based on residential areas, providing education for anyone who wants it. In order to truly understand the pros and cons of each of these main paths to college for students, one must take into account what colleges actually value.

According to the University of California (UC) Admissions, UC schools look for factors including academic grade point average (GPA), activities that reflect leadership, special projects in particular fields of interest, completion of special projects related to a high school’s curriculum, and extracurricular activities such as sports or visual arts.

GPA is based on your semester grades in each class throughout high school, varying depending on the difficulty level of a class, honors, and Advanced Placement (AP) classes are five points when colleges look at your weighted GPA, and regular classes are four points. According to Liberty University, one way a school can boost a student’s GPA is by providing students with committed teachers who thoroughly teach the curriculum and can focus their time to help students excel in any class to pass with an easy A. 

“One advantage of private schools is that they can have smaller class sizes with more access to things like academic advising,” Lelchuk said.

Teachers who are able to dedicate more time to students become crucial as course difficulty increases. Looking at two large public and private schools in San Mateo County, all four schools have a number of APs.

Palo Alto High School and Carlmont offer about 23 AP classes each, whereas Menlo High School and Sacred Heart Preparatory (SHP) offer about 33 AP classes each. Private schools, on average, may offer more AP classes, which gives students the chance to take a college-level class in a subject they are interested in. On the other hand, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, public schools offer, on average, 10 APs across all public high schools in America. That number varies depending on a school’s location, which means public schools often can provide similar APs to students as some private schools.

“Private schools may be better if you were super focused. There are a lot of different routes you can take to focus on your specific desire,” said SHP sophomore Kyle Sweeney.

With more classes, a school is able to provide more classes that fit a student’s interest and allow them to dive deep and learn more about something they are passionate about, or increase a student’s exposure to new subjects.

“You’re going to have more classes at a private school. For example, my students at Harker or Pinewood have access to coursework beyond just the AP curriculum, and a lot of the time, private schools have really interesting electives,” Lelchuk said.

Depending on the schools, often both private and public schools offer many different extracurriculars through clubs, sports, and special electives, including journalism, business/entrepreneurship, and more. 

“I wouldn’t say private schools necessarily have better extracurriculars, I work with a lot of public schools that have really stellar extracurriculars,” Lelchuk said.

UC Berkeley student Ethan Zhang from Carlmont observed that starting clubs and participating in extracurriculars is very easy and well supported by the school due to its sheer size and population.

“The fact that Carlmont was so big, there were just a lot of clubs and organizations that offered a variety of volunteering opportunities,” Zhang said.

Similarly, UC Berkeley student Anthony Kobzar noticed that students were encouraged to join clubs and extracurriculars at Bellarmine, with the school dedicating time and setting up events to bring awareness to the various clubs that existed.

“My school definitely prioritized clubs. We had events called club days where the school would cancel classes just so we could find clubs, join something, and be a part of a school organization,” Kobzar said.

Looking at the factors from the UC admissions page, private schools have better resources overall due to more funding that provides students with the tools to get into some of the top colleges in California. On the other hand, public schools offer similar programs, often at a smaller scale, with more room for students to show off leadership with less involvement from the school.

Overall, more public school students get accepted into Ivy League colleges. However, there are 50 million more public school students than private school students in America alone. When looking at the percentage of public school seniors who are accepted into Ivy League schools, it is clear that private schools proportionally send more students. 

Feeder schools tend to corrupt this data, for example, for the Ivy League schools, the top feeder schools are all private, according to the Market Watch admissions counseling site. However, when looking at the top feeder schools for the UCs, they are mostly public schools. A student’s target colleges and where they live are other significant factor that adds to the decision between private and public high schools.

Bellarmine alumni Kobzar and Carlmont alumni Zhang both took different paths, and both found themselves at the same college in their home state.

Kobzar started his day at 7:30 a.m. to eat breakfast and get ready for school at 8:30 a.m. At Bellarmine, Kobzar would go to his first four classes and then have a community time break for 40 minutes to hang out with friends and go to club events and meetings. Then he would go to his next two classes, and they would have a 20-minute lunch break. After lunch, Kobzar would go to his last class of the day, and school would end at 2:40 p.m. Then he would have football practice for three hours during football season and would get home at around 7 p.m. 

“Homework only took me an hour and a half, between then and 11:30 p.m. I would eat and focus on hobbies like reading a book, relaxing on social media, or working on a project,” Kobzar said.

Similarly, Zhang would wake up around 7:30 a.m. for school at 8:30 a.m. At Carlmont, Zhang would go to his first four classes and then have a 40-minute lunch to eat, hang out with friends, and attend club meetings or events. From there, he would finish his last two classes. During tennis season, he’d go to practice for two hours. After practice, he would tutor students for free for a non-profit organization he joined. Once he got home, he finished his homework in two to three hours and went to sleep.

For Zhang and Kobzar, they didn’t have to worry about money, but for others, money becomes crucial when considering the decision to make the transition from middle school to a private or public high school. Private schools may not be worth it or affordable for certain families. In other cases, students may live near a high-end public school with a good rating and don’t have a need to spend on a private school.

Often, students from wealthier areas tend to go to private high schools, according to a study called The Origins of Legacy Admissions. With that in mind, looking at the acceptance of students into college based on income can be an important factor when comparing the two high school systems. 

According to research from the National Library of Medicine, studies show that colleges are aiming to increase the representation of low-income students and minorities. However, the enrollment gaps between low-income families in comparison to their more advantaged peers still exist. 

This data reflects how the income gap is another significant factor, as those who aren’t able to afford better education seem to struggle when it comes to admissions, as they weren’t given the resources to be fully prepared. Universities and colleges are now attempting to decrease the gap to make the enrollment process more balanced, which can hopefully cause the emphasis on income to decline in the future.

Looking at the information, choosing between private and public high schools is a huge decision. There are several aspects of the school that need to be researched, and you have to assess what your student wants. For some students like Vignanker, a larger population is something he liked about public school, as he had more friends who lived closer to him. In general, the decision depends on the student. 

If a family can comfortably afford a private school, and a student thrives in a smaller population, then that would be the better choice with more resources and encouragement. However, if a student feeds off people, then a public school with more people and clubs for extracurriculars would be a better fit. At the end of the day, it comes down to what a family feels is best for a student and an individual’s motivation.

“I think both private and public schools are pretty equal, it just comes down to the student, if you’re willing to work hard and achieve those things,” Vignanker said.