Q: My daughter is currently attending a private school and is beginning her junior year.  She was told that if she transfers out to a public school she will be able to take more AP and honors classes.  But, she was advised by her guidance counselor that colleges and universities will value more the fact that she is graduating from a private school, because its' curriculum is harder.  We want to know if this is true.  Or is the university's only concern the student's GPA and SAT score?

A:  Colleges do not care if an applicant is graduating from a public school or a private school.

Colleges want to admit students from a variety of backgrounds, with an assortment of strengths and qualities they can bring to enhance the campus.   They admit the candidates they feel are the strongest from their individual high schools.  And nationwide, colleges admit MORE students from public schools than from private schools because there ARE more applicants from public schools.

Students are looked at in the context of the school from which they are going to graduate. Sometimes the curriculum at a private school is harder than at the local public high school.  Sometimes the public schools are more rigorous.  Your daughter will be evaluated on the basis of which classes she has chosen and how well she has done in them.  She will NOT be judged on classes she COULD have taken IF she had attended a different high school.  It's not a simple matter of just a GPA and test scores.  The quality of her curriculum counts, as do her activities, essays, and recommendations.

What is the advantage of attending a private school?  In general, classes are smaller than in most public schools and students can get more individualized attention.  Teachers and counselors have a smaller caseload than in public schools, so they have more time to give each student.  From that standpoint,  the experience of private high school might be better.  But in terms of college admissions, students from each type of high school will be evaluated in terms of their indiviudal merits.