Private Schools

[QuantumJG]

I may have posted on this thread last year (can't tell because it's soooo long). Anyway I can safely say that I went to probably one of the best public schools in Victoria and ended up doing alright and we had a few people do exceptionally well.

The generalization that once students get into uni, the public school students dominate over private school kids really isn't true. I have a friend who went to trinity that got 50's in methods, specialist Maths, physics, chemistry, etc and he still does exceptionally well in his studies, having said that, once of my friends went to a public school and the only 40 she got was in psychology and now she is probably one of the best second year pure Maths students I know! She's done 2 third year pure Maths subjects and aced them and got offered a vacation scholarship in topology with one of the best pure Maths professors (Craig Hodgson).

In the end there is disparity but if you get the ENTER/ATAR/etc needed to do what you want and your passionate about it, then you should be able to well. University is a great part of your life since your experience is what you make of it. You go from school where rote learning gets you through and then in uni you actually learn and understand the motivation behind what your studying and each year becomes more interesting than the last. I personally am addicted to the experience and definately want to do masters. Trust me you don't really learn something until university.

When I'm a parent, I would probably opt for a good private school if I can afford it or the selective schools or the great public schools.

[Russ]

friend that got 50's in methods, specialist Maths, physics, chemistry, etc

A.B? J.M? S.S?

[QuantumJG]

Andrew Bennett.

[Eriny]

   are you set on going there next year?

Next year is my honours year. So no. After that I plan on applying for some universities (including Oxford) - and not just applying for MAs and PhDs, but also probably JDs. Additionally, I  also will apply for graduate jobs and such (with the possibility of studying part-time as well, if that would work)... I'm not really sure what I want to do, so I'll try to give myself many different options. Which means sitting both the LSAT and the GRE as well as filling out many applications (sigh). But we digress!

[Russ]

Andrew Bennett.

Knew it, the other two were afterthoughts. He's a great guy.

Ironically enough, I don't think he got dux of our year

[MuggedByReality]

   are you set on going there next year?

Next year is my honours year. So no. After that I plan on applying for some universities (including Oxford) - and not just applying for MAs and PhDs, but also probably JDs. Additionally, I  also will apply for graduate jobs and such (with the possibility of studying part-time as well, if that would work)... I'm not really sure what I want to do, so I'll try to give myself many different options. Which means sitting both the LSAT and the GRE as well as filling out many applications (sigh). But we digress!

 At Oxford, they're known as M.phil and D.phil respectively. Just in case you're confused later on

[pi]

How much different is the atmosphere of private schools when compared to decent government schools (not the ones where half the cohort drop out in yr 10)? I've only ever attended government schools and is there much difference?

[burbs]

Yes its completely different. I went to Haileybury.

[Eriny]

^ Did you also go to a public school where you could actually compare the atmosphere?

I imagine that different schools are... well, different. It would probably be unfair to say 'all private schools have X atmosphere' and 'all public schools have Y atmosphere'. And then Catholic schools would probably be different again - there are some really good ones and some really middling ones.

[MuggedByReality]

 I've attended both. I suppose the main difference was that the private school tried hard to engage students who weren't immediately interested, the state school less so.

[burbs]

Yes Eriny, I do.

[Kotza]

combob thats exactly right
i moved from an exceptionally good (yet underrated) semi-private school that was as strict as any private school, and the teachers there pushed us so hard to achieve greatness. The amount of weekend classes we had even in year 11 was crazy

then i moved to a public school and it was shocking
total self-dependency

[pi]

then i moved to a public school and it was shocking
total self-dependency

I have only been to government schools (including one in the Western suburbs -if that matters  ), and I have never found it to be that bad. Personally, self-dependency suits the way I like to learn a lot of things, so I actually enjoyed schooling in these 'shocking' schools.

But maybe as a comparison, the may seem bad. Depends on your learning style I suppose...

[onerealsmartass]

I wish i went to a private school..
I would think that the atmosphere would be different between private and public schools, because public schools generally have more of the not so caring students, and private usualy have the students who want to achieve high results.
And yes public schools are self dependent to certain extent

[eeps]

I wish i went to a private school..
I would think that the atmosphere would be different between private and public schools, because public schools generally have more of the not so caring students, and private usualy have the students who want to achieve high results.
And yes public schools are self dependent to certain extent

I wouldn't say all students going to private schools "want to achieve high results". I do attend a private school and can say that there are some "duds" as I would put it, that attend my school. Some just go to private schools, because they can. Most (about 90%) do care about their studies, though there are some (a minority) who just muck around and never do any work. In any case, you'll have those sort of students at any school.