I’m curious. You say time of year makes no difference, but is this true in terms of acceptance or financial aid as well? It seems that they will always accept a student, but if its November it might be too late for financial aid for that school year?
I went to public elementary and middle school, and private high school. The culture shock that there was for me, was mostly about non-academic things. Things like it being a religious school, all-boys, and considerably more affluent than where I’d gone to middle and elementary school.
Academically, the only real shock was that even the regular classes were moderately difficult like the gifted classes had been in middle school. I had to work much harder to keep similar grades.
That being said, I think the biggest difference between public and private schools is that public schools not only have to admit the riff-raff, but have to actively try to educate them and retain them. Dealing with bad discipline, teen pregnancies, gang activity, dropouts, race problems and general parent and student apathy among poorer students takes a huge amount of focus and effort at many public schools, and directly detracts from the education that’s provided.
At private schools, the school has every right to boot your kid if they don’t toe the line and do what they’re supposed to. After all, you chose to send your kid there, and likely invested a good chunk of change to do so. Most parents are pretty involved in their children’s education at private schools for that very reason. This tends to make for a better educational environment- while there are still students who chafe under the school’s and parent’s restrictions, the parents and administration still want the kid to succeed.
The flip side is that many of them can be selective in admissions, because of this.