<p>I go to a Magnet High School with a technology program and a dual enrollment pathway to an Associates Degree. I think the opportunities are great if they fit the interests of the students. Magnet Schools are great because the only difference between them and public schools is that they offer opportunities geared to their specific program.</p>
<p>How old is the OP’s kiddo?</p>
<p>Funny…on January 9th the OP started a thread specifically asking about high schools with high matriculation rates to Ivies. </p>
<p>Reminds me of when my children were tiny and we were looking for a preschool. The head of the school was trying to sell us on the school by saying its graduates after kindergarten eventually attended Ivy colleges. The music playing in the kids playroom was Pachelbel’s Canon. I wanted to tell her “you know you should really be playing Mozart”.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if there are any good magnet or prep schools in Southern California? I’m sure there are but could you give me names?</p>
<p>Where in SoCal? What school district? There’s no point in, say, suggesting Polytechnic (in Pasadena) if you live in Orange County, or suggesting Los Angeles USD magnets if you live in Pomona.</p>
<p>You should start a new thread with a more relevant title to get more answers. :-)</p>
<p>@ Thumper1 - Why is it funny for you that I had a thread in January and now this one ? In January, I had asked about the high schools with good matriculation rates in to Ivies. I did not ask specifically about Prep schools. This time after reading articles on Crimson( the link for which you can find in this thread) it looked to me that the NE prep schools do really well. That is why this time, I specifically asked about Prep schools. There is a difference in the context between the threads.</p>
<p>Since I had more questions, I started another thread. Should I even explain to you all these ? This is a forum to help people and not to MOCK at them. It is funny to me that you don’t know that fact. </p>
<p>SoCal magnet schools:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.publicschoolreview.com/state_magnets/stateid/CA#!high[/url]”>http://www.publicschoolreview.com/state_magnets/stateid/CA#!high</a></p>
<p>Troy High School is a good one.</p>
<p>If you had already seen that info from the Crimson, and I imagine you can find similar data for other ivies, then you would know that it isn’t required at all. Not sure why you started this thread…</p>
<p>By prep school do you mean a boarding school where your child will live away from you?</p>
<p>@SlitheyTove TVUSD. Please don’t try to track me down anybody.</p>
<p>@ mathyone - Just because I saw a report does not mean that I don’t have to ask the parents. Such reports can leave out vital information based on their method of analysis. Did you not mention that they left out SE region in the report ? </p>
<p>I am here to ask for the parents’ opinion as I respect people. </p>
<p>@riverbirch - No. I am referring to the day prep schools. Thanks for your question.</p>
<p>OP - Absolutely not. Your children will do just fine at a public school as long as the school in question is a good one. I go to a top public high school after having attended a private K-8, and I’m very happy with my decision. </p>
<p>New England boarding schools (GLADCHEMMS) regularly send about a third of their class to such schools each year. Competitive schools like Stuyvesant and Horace Mann send many as well. There is, however, a lot more to life than having your kids attend an Ivy and hopefully you have good reasons for asking these questions. </p>
<p>@dsi411 - You could check out Harvard Westlake-- it’s probably the best-known day school in SoCal and a feeder for top institutions. There are several other prep schools near LA but none of them really strike me as pipeline material or anything. If you’re in the Temecula area, I know Great Oak’s pretty good (or maybe they just have a good XC team). </p>
<p>Good luck! </p>
<p>@ Coriander23 - Thanks for your response. Appreciate it ! </p>
<p>@Coriander23 I already go to Great Oak…meh I guess it’s good enough.</p>
<p>If I had kids, I would send them to a STEM middle school/high school instead. I am an Engineering student and a good foundation in Physics, Chemistry and Calculus is fundamental.</p>
<p>A student who performs above average in these three areas can do anything at the college level.</p>
<p>The best way to get into an Ivy is to be Ivy material. Period. It doesn’t matter if you’re in an exclusive prep school, an average public school, or homeschooled. I’d never send my kid to a prep school solely on the off chance he might want to apply to Harvard. I’d send him to prep school if that seemed best for his high school experience.</p>
<p>Massmom- while I agree with you in theory, I don’t actually like the term “ivy material”. The best way to get into the top 20 or so U’s in the country is to be the kind of student that these schools are looking for and that thrive in those kinds of environments. I grit my teeth when a parent talks about how to get a kid to raise their verbal SAT score by 100 points when I know the kid hates to read. (What happens when the kid gets to Princeton- the parents holy grail- they’ll hire an assistant to do the reading for him?) </p>
<p>If your kid is turned on by academics (after all, at the end of the day, these are academic institutions, not professional sports franchises with a library or two) and loves to read and discuss, or read and write, or is just interested in the world (whether political, molecular, artistic- but the world at large) then your kid will be fine. If your kids interests are limited to taking selfies while hanging out with friends at the mall and going to parties, then you can invest in prep school, tutoring, and packaging out the wazoo. But good luck to you.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the responses. Truly very nice to read the perspectives. </p>
<p>Absolutely not. I am just a high school student, so I don’t know as much as others, but I go to an above average midwest public school. One of our students this year was accepted at Stanford and other elite schools. A graduate from last year is at Stanford and another one was accepted at Princeton, but attended another very good school.</p>
<p>From what I’ve gathered, what matters is what you do, not necessarily how good your school is. As long as your school is not a poor inner city/rural public school with a very bad reputation, you can get into elite schools if you stay on top of your grades, and especially if you differentiate yourself with unique, outstanding ECs. In this instance, it’s all about you, not others.</p>