I went to a private religious, college prep high school. It had a very good academic reputation. Yes, I did get into an Ivy League school from there. My class had 140 kids. Many of the positive things that people mentioned were present there. There were a few things that were lacking. For me as a high achieving gifted kid, they didn't have the breadth of AP offerings or extra-curricular options that the local high school did. They did the things that they did well but it was too limited for me. Also, no one has mentioned the social aspect of going to a school that draws from a large geographic area. When people come from 20-30 minutes away in all directions, you end up with friends who live 40 minutes to 60 minutes away. Even when I could drive starting in my junior year, my parents weren't thrilled about letting me drive across a large urban area on a weekend night to go hang out with my friends.

We have found good public school environments for our kids by finding schools with high choice enrollment and high parent involvement. My kids are in gifted and IB programs and none of them go to school more than three miles from our house. My oldest is thriving in the high school environment. For her going to a bigger school means that while it is harder and more competitive to get into certain classes and activities, it means that when you make it in, you are with a truly talented group of kids.