Which school is better for my daughter: Harker or Homestead High School?

Steve Jobs went to Homestead High... A close friends child went to...

I had a fabulous experience at Homestead, and I continue to be humbled as I watch my friends and classmates go on to develop the beginnings of rewarding, illustrious careers. I'm a proud member of Homestead class of 2008.  People in or around my class have gone on to Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Yale, Princeton, you name it.  A good buddy of mine from the class of 2007 is now in his second year of Harvard Medical School.  My first job out of school was at a venture-funded startup, founded by a member of the Homestead class of 2003.  When I interned at Facebook, I met another member of Homestead c/o 2003.  And, lest we forget, the inimitable http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wozniak also count Homestead as their alma mater.  So, in my opinion, it would be impossible to construct an argument that going to Homestead might put an upper bound on your child's potential to succeed. As for the experience of attending Homestead, I may have a limited basis for comparison, but I truly do believe that Homestead has some phenomenal teachers.  I also feel that there are extracurriculars for everyone, be it football, band, FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America), Interact, Science Bowl, etc. I understand that you are not happy with the experience that your oldest daughter had at the school.  I don't know your situation, so I wouldn't be able to speak to that in particular.  Not everyone, I suppose, will be so lucky as I was, to leave Homestead loving it unconditionally, and forever grateful for the life that it afforded me.  Nor could I possibly speak against Harker -- it is a fine institution by any metric.  So in truth, all I want to insist upon is: having an excellent experience at Homestead is absolutely -- even eminently -- possible. Regardless of the outcome, I wish you the best, for both your daughters!

I went to Harker for middle school and high school. Before Harker, I went to a public school in East San Jose.  My last year there, I had around 60 people in my class, some of whom could not speak English.  Our teacher had to teach both 5th and 6th grade students in the same class because of budget cuts.  Someone burned a swastika into the lawn of the district's high school one year, and the police advised evacuating the campus due to a bomb threat about a year later.  So, rather than moving to a different district, my parents sent me to Harker. Harker is an amazing school that provides a lot of unique opportunities.  It is the new Exeter of the west coast, without the boarding aspect or the old money.  The competence of the teachers is quite high, there's well-funded programs in almost any elective imaginable (theater, music, robotics, athletics, etc.), and some of the people I've met there (students and faculty) are some of the smartest people I've met in my life.  The food is out of this world.  Most students can do pretty serious research in high school thanks to the faculty's connections.  Students can also choose to take college classes (past AP level) in high school: one of my favorite teachers taught a class on neural networks, and I took multivariate calculus + differential equations before I came to college. That being said, I would recommend against sending your daughter to Harker unless she has a strong desire to go. Over the time that I was there, I noticed that the people who thrived at Harker were generally either very very smart, very very driven, or both.  To take advantage of the opportunities that Harker affords - from extracurriculars to the AP classes to academic competitions to social life - one must take on a pretty punishing workload.  Almost everyone I knew was a straight-A or close-to-straight-A student in middle school, but the rigor and extent of the courseload pretty quickly separates the population out. There is a very high possibility of burnout if you're not prepared or motivated enough. For example, my AP Physics C teacher used to require that every lab report that we turned in be rigorous enough to publish in a respected research journal.  We would have three weeks to turn in drafts of the lab report to revise before we submitted the final version, all the while having to work on very long and difficult problem sets that were due every week.  This was the same year that I was captain of the robotics team, which demanded up to 40 hours a week.  While many other schools take one year to cover mechanics and another year to cover E&M, we did both in a year (like in college).  That class was much more difficult than the equivalent physics classes I took in college, but it was also much more educational. Not to mention the financial burden.  The tuition that I paid at Harker (30k-40k) is actually more than the tuition that I'm currently paying for college (10k-20k).  Most of the kids I knew were not wealthy.  Their parents were usually middle to upper-middle class, and some of them worked their asses off to put up the money to send their kids to Harker.  One of my friend's parents remortgaged their house to afford tuition. Homestead is a far cry from the school I went to on East Side.  For that matter, most of the public schools in San Jose around Saratoga, Fremont, and Palo Alto are also top-notch.  Best of all, they are free to attend. I know a lot of smart people who have come out of those schools that have gone out to do amazing things, and I don't think they've been disadvantaged by going to public school.  Steve Jobs and Woz went to Homestead.  A lot of my friends from school and internships are from Lynbrook, Saratoga, MSJ, Homestead, etc. and they're all awesome.  Harker, on the other hand, hasn't been around long enough to make a mark the same way Exeter and Andover have.  My mentor at Pinterest last summer was actually one of the founding members of the robotics team I captained at Harker.  Two of the three founders at http://Sosh.com are Harker alumni.  Some of my older friends are grad students at prestigious research universities, and most of the others are in cushy tech/finance jobs. The primary difference is in terms of resources that are immediately available.  Harker has a ridiculous amount of AP classes and there are no limits on how many people can take them.  Public schools have less AP classes due to financial constraints, so many students take the same courses in community college instead.  Harker provides college counseling services, which pair each student with an advisor that helps them write essays, prepare applications, and get into college, whereas most public school students do all of this by themselves.  Harker provides a ton of opportunities for people to take advantage of, but it demands an equal amount of sacrifice from the students and families that choose to attend it.  You should want to attend Harker if you expect to do well in it. If you want to get a better feel for Harker, I believe they still run a shadowing program where prospective students get to follow around a current student for a day or two.  If your daughter still strongly prefers Homestead after that, I'd send her there.

I'll echo 's comment by saying that Homestead is absolutely a top school and in no way limiting to someone's future. On the contrary, it's a priviliage to have that kind of education available without having to pay private school tuition costs. Success at this stage is defined by gaining admission to a top college. It is attainable with 3+ years of hard work. I wouldn't say that being in a public school won't put you at a disadvantage to someone who attended a private school - but attending Homestead will not put you at that disadvantage. -Niv (Homestead Class of 2007) And to add some credibility to this post... -Graduated UCSB at age 20, CPA at 21, now working with several startups. Also - Homestead gives you the ability to leverage . Getting a lot of the easy GE college courses out of the way in the last 1 or 2 years of high school actually does make a huge difference for your college career - quite a nice boost and saves you money. Plus as said, it's awesome telling people you attended the same school as and =)

I was faced with the exact same choice few years back. There are both advantages and disadvantages to each choice, and it's up to the student to weigh them and decide what's important for him/her. I'm still in touch with many people from Homestead, and a lot of them are very smart and are doing well in high school. Many are on track to be accepted (or have already been accepted) into a top-tier college. I know a lot of kids at Harker who are also accepted into a top-tier college. But there is a key difference: the students at Homestead didn't have to face cut-throat, brutal competition to get there, and they were able to be successful without staying up until 4am studying and while having fun and doing what they liked. Yes, looking at numbers tells us that a student has a higher chance of getting accepted into a top college from Harker, but these numbers are misleading in many ways. It is worth taking all of this into account when making a decision. It is also worth noting there are many successful alumni in almost all fields from each school, regardless of whether they attend a top-tier college or not.  Harker, however, offers a variety of extracurricular activities that Homestead does not offer. Harker has Debate, DECA, Performing Arts, Science Bowl, and many more. Students have many choices in what activities to pursue, and almost all students will pursue some extra curricular activity. Homestead can't match the number of extracurriculars offered at Harker. Homestead however, offers a winning FBLA and Business program, and not shockingly, many of their students go on to become successful businessmen or tech-industry superstars. In terms of coursework itself, Harker offers many more APs, honors classes, and post-AP level classes. These classes are more difficult than those you would find at Homestead. In terms of homework load, Homestead's classes actually offer a greater homework load than Harker's classes. But I maintain that Harker's classes are more difficult and require much more studying and tutoring..etc. Additionally, if a student runs out of interesting or appealing classes at Homestead, they can just go to De Anza College to take whatever classes they want. People tend to hear a lot of success stories of Harker students, and thus feel like sending their children to Harker would be a good idea. There are a couple of problems with this logic, however. First, people only hear about the success stories, no one hears about the many failure stories. For every Harker student that gets into their dream college and then their dream job, there are 5 that don't. Also, it is hard to say whether their success was a product of their own ability or Harker's doing. My personal opinion is that these kids are successful on their own merit, and thus would've been equally (if not more) successful had they attended a decent public school instead. Harker students tend to be sheltered and feel entitled. This is not just because of the fact that some Harker families are wealthy. Harker tends not to expose students to the "real world" or the "brutal realities of life". Many alumni complain about this after they go to college and have to learn the hard way. Many never learn. Because of this, many Homestead kids are better prepared to take on the challenges of the real world as they have seen them through high school. Good Luck!

As a Homestead Alum (class of 2000), I echo comment, Homestead is a tremendous school with a diverse student body and it is certainly not hurting in academic opportunities. It offers just about every AP classes under the sun, access to De Anza College for college level classes, it has a great music program, great marching band, and an FBLA club that literary changed my life for the better. Choosing Homestead will in no way limit your Child's college chances or academic / career opportunities. Are there some bad apples / students at Homestead? Of course, but there are also many smart, dedicated, incredible students. Much have been said about Homestead's business program and it's award winning FBLA business club. I can attest that it is the real deal. I have seen more polish pitch, and better analysis from a Homestead FBLA team than MBAs from top tier schools. In my senior year, our business plan team was almost disqualified at the national finals because some of the judges refused to believe that the work was produced by high school students. In another year, a Homestead student was offered a marketing internship with Proctor and Gamble on the spot after one of the judges (who works at P&G) saw their presentation. As for me... Homestead was a wonderful place to learn and to grow - Were there bad experiences? Sure - what teenagers have a perfect HS experience? But I learned what I like, what I'm good at doing, and most importantly, I left fully prepared for even the most demanding college workload and an idea of what I want to do with my life. The academic and extracurricular activities were numerous enough that it strained and tested my limits - an invaluable lessons that enabled me to be successful in college and beyond. After Homestead I went on to graduate from UC Berkeley and got my MBA from Duke. I've had a pretty successful and fulfilling career in the technology industry so far, lived and worked in both coast, and traveled around the world for both work and pleasure. I wouldn't go so far as to say my time at Homestead was critical to my success, but it certainly did not hold me back in any way.

Just want to put in a few words about my Harker experience: I attended the Harker School from 3rd grade to 10th grade. I was on the standard track towards academic success; I had a 3.75 GPA taking all honor courses, received 5's in all 4 AP's I took my sophomore year, and was a member of countless academic, extracurricular, and volunteering clubs. Continue this path for another 2 years and I no doubt could have easily ended up at a top-tier Ivy with a notable list of accomplishments under my name. So why did I leave? Ultimately, I found myself hugely unsatisfied with the education that Harker provided me. I didn't feel like teachers taught me how to think, so much as how to do well on my APs and SATs. Instead of studying the theory or beauty of Calculus, class was devoted to understanding what topics and questions would be tested. Classwork was very rigid with little room for individuality, and teachers cared more about getting the right results out of their students than the students themselves. Yes, Harker leads the nation with the highest SAT scores and most perfect AP scores. However, I have no interest in an education that purely teaches me how to study, how to memorize, how to repeat back answers. I desire an education that teaches me how to think, how to speak, how to be an individual. Thus, for the last two years of high school, I transferred to Phillips Exeter Academy, a school built around the Harkness system, a way of teaching that is 100% discussion based. Classes are incredibly fast paced and unpredictable, requiring students to constantly think on their feet and talk coherently. Teachers do not lead discussions, rather than steer them as pure participants. US History is dedicated to understanding the philosophies and ideals that built our nation without any regard to what the AP will test. At Exeter, I truly struggled to match the analytical pace and intellectual depth to which the student body is accustomed to; yet I do not, for a moment, regret my decision to leave Harker, as my education at PEA truly gave me the confidence and clarity that drives me as an individual today. Is Harker worth the huge tuition? Up to you. What kind of education and experience do you want for your child?

Research the studies done on the life outcomes of public vs. private schools. I'll bet you can find research that supports both public school and private school paths, as well as people who will support both paths. Bottom line is, the best path seems to be a matter of opinion. Given that, try taking the qualitative out of it with a data-driven approach. Do the math: If you took the $40K per year that Harker costs and put that into an average 8% return stock portfolio each year of your child's high school experience, by the time your children are 50, the power of compound interest on that $160K investment in your child's teens would give them an extremely comfortable retirement - even if they never saved a dime from their working lives. If you have the discipline, this should be serious food for thought.