[winflop]

Speaking as a grad of one Jesuit institution, and the father of two Jesuit high school students (Bellarmine in San Jose), I'm sure they'll get a superb education.

My kid is a St Francis alum (his little brother is a sophomore).  And they went to local parochial schools for K-8 for some of the same reasons others have described - our local elementary school went through five principals in the six years my older one was K-5.

I went to public school for most of my K-12 life, but I had the benefit of going to a great high school where great teachers came and stayed for many years.  Most of my HS teachers retired after being there for at least 10 years if not 20+.  My calculus teacher won Illinois teacher of the year.

I felt prepared academically for Stanford, but not so much otherwise.  I struggled freshman year dealing with a lot of other stuff.  Sophomore year it started to get a lot better, and by junior/senior year I had found my groove and was asking myself why I struggled so much to adapt as a freshman.

Similar to what others have written, Stanford has opened a lot of doors that might not otherwise have been opened, but I still had to be willing to walk through the doorway and make things happen once I got in the room.

[winflop]

Speaking as a grad of one Jesuit institution, and the father of two Jesuit high school students (Bellarmine in San Jose), I'm sure they'll get a superb education.

My kid is a St Francis alum (his little brother is a sophomore).  And they went to local parochial schools for K-8 for some of the same reasons others have described - our local elementary school went through five principals in the six years my older one was K-5.

I went to public school for most of my K-12 life, but I had the benefit of going to a great high school where great teachers came and stayed for many years.  Most of my HS teachers retired after being there for at least 10 years if not 20+.  My calculus teacher won Illinois teacher of the year.

I felt prepared academically for Stanford, but not so much otherwise.  I struggled freshman year dealing with a lot of other stuff.  Sophomore year it started to get a lot better, and by junior/senior year I had found my groove and was asking myself why I struggled so much to adapt as a freshman.

Similar to what others have written, Stanford has opened a lot of doors that might not otherwise have been opened, but I still had to be willing to walk through the doorway and make things happen once I got in the room.