Reply to If you made $1MM annually, would you send your kids to private?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We chose independent school because of the excellent academics and less “bad” things (troublemaker kids even in a $$$ school zone, excessive screentime, etc.) but may go back to public because of the logistics. Having the school be 20 minutes away instead of 5 is making life complicated! I wish public schools were better…[/quote]

We lived in 2 locations when a kid was in HS.  Both places we lived had top public schools, so the privates are not located nearby (that tends to happen when you live in the "better areas"---no need for private for most).  It would be a 45 min drive to the school.  That means that majority of your friends are not nearby---they might be 45 mins in the opposite direction.  So socially it would be challenging.  The slight benefits that we might get at the privates for $30-50K/year do NOT outweigh the social challenges and the benefits of attending school with diversity (around us, the privates are not diverse---it's mostly rich kids and a few smart poor kids they give scholarships to, but that's less than 10%).  So instead our kids attended HS with the neighborhood kids.  Our daughter could walk (1/2 mile) from HS to dance if needed.  Often got a ride with others from the HS until she could drive, then she drove the younger dancers from MS and HS (right next to each other with similar dismissal times).  Then she'd spend 4pm-10pm at dance 4-5 days/week.  Had she gone to HS that's a 45-60 min drive away, she wouldn't have had the EC that she loved, with lifelong friends from HS.  She would have missed out on so much for only a slight increase in academics.  In reality, graduating class of 600, and over 40 kids got into T20 schools and a few more into T20 SLACs (we are not anywhere near most of them, so less apply to those).  At least 150+ kids headed to the state flagship ranked ~50.  My kid is at a T40 that is a near perfect fit for her.

So instead of spending 2 hours a day in traffic (the 45 min drive is without traffic), my kid got to have an excellent academic experience along with social experience (despite covid).  That is priceless and way more important than the slight bump in academics for $50K/year
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Great choice.. and totally makes sense. Private schools are not universally rated better than public schools. And absolutely, logistics, friends and social life should be as important as academics. So instead of saying, "I have $1M HHI, should I send my kids to private", think about the pros and cons holistically especially in the context of the kid you have - their learning ability, desired social and academic outcomes and how the schools fits in your overall lifestyle and financial situation.[/quote]

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