What is the Best Private high School In Oklahoma (Oklahoma City: best schools, universities)
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What is the best private high school in oklahoma-Casady my 1st choice. i have seen all schools and Casady is the most beautiful. Huge campus Surrounded by a lake with different forms of architecture give it great character. followed by Heritage hall, McGuiness and Mt. Saint Marys.
I would say Casady. The school is amazing. The architecture, lake, tradition and education is top notch. Its like a tiny ivy league college.
Most recently there was an article in the Gazette about Casady's chef. The executive chef at Casady has won numerous awards including most highly decorated female chef in Oklahoma, has been named the Oklahoma chef of the year numerous times and the first female certified chef with the American Culinary Federation.
To say the least they dont serve cafeteria food at that school!
I have heard that drug use (teenagers of course) is pretty prevalent at Cassidy and Heritage Hall, although drug use can be a problem for teenagers no matter where they go. I have a co-worker who sends her children to Bishop McGinnuis (spl?) and she seems to really like the school system.
I have heard that drug use (teenagers of course) is pretty prevalent at Cassidy and Heritage Hall, although drug use can be a problem for teenagers no matter where they go. I have a co-worker who sends her children to Bishop McGinnuis (spl?) and she seems to really like the school system.
The three schools are really great, but the drug use is actually much worse at Bishop McGuinness (Catholic rebels). I have had two cousins recently graduate from that school and they had many problems with that stuff (along with their classmates), two sisters from Casady (they never played with it) and I graduated at HH.
My experience at HH was a long time ago and there wasnt that kind of problem then. The ACT scores at Casady are above both HH and McGuinness, so I would expect there is a lesser degree of use. I think drugs across the board at all schools, public and private, is a real problem in America today.
The three schools are really great, but the drug use is actually much worse at Bishop McGuinness (Catholic rebels). I have had two cousins recently graduate from that school and they had many problems with that stuff (along with their classmates), two sisters from Casady (they never played with it) and I graduated at HH.
My experience at HH was a long time ago and there wasnt that kind of problem then. The ACT scores at Casady are above both HH and McGuinness, so I would expect there is a lesser degree of use. I think drugs across the board at all schools, public and private, is a real problem in America today.
I would agree, and now half way legal drugs are a problem because kids are using stimulants and steroid type things trying to study harder and longer in order to compete and get into the best colleges and universities.
Beware of the private schools in Okahoma because they are not necessarily the strongest academic schools. Yes, in most places, the best schools are indeed the private high schools because the public schools are awful. But in Oklahoma, there are many public and magnate schools that are superior to the private schools. Casady, Herritage Hall, Bishop McGuiness(sp?), Mount Saint Marys, Bishop Kelly in Tulsa, and Holland Hall in Tulsa are all great schools and you can't really go wrong sending your kids there. However, if you are looking to give your kid an edge because he or she is trying to get into Yale, I would probably seek other schools. The reason is that some of the public schools are in fact academically superior to the private schools. Sure, they may not have great athletics or chefs but in terms of test scores and curriculum, schools like Booker T. Washington, the Oklahoma School of Math and Science (OSMS) and Jenks high school are extremely strong academically. In many of the state academic competitions, the private schools often finished behind many of these above mentioned schools in addition to others.
To understand the nature of private schools in Oklahoma, you have to understand the class system in Oklahoma. In Oklahoma, you have extremes in regards to class. There exists a small subset of extremely wealthy people due to a lot of old money and oil money, and then there exists a large population of average earning people. What happens is that this minority of wealthy people celebrate their status and one way they do this is by separating their kids from average kids and sending them to private schools. It's odd because in Oklahoma, parents take this strange sense of pride in say their child attends Cassidy or Heritage Hall. I found that to be quite humorous. The reality is that many of these private school kids are average students and are not attending these schools for the purposes of attending the best college. In other parts of the country, kids who go to private schools are typically those who are trying to get into top college. What ends up occuring is these private school kids in Oklahoa end up partying instead of studying only to land at OU when they graduate. These students then join a popular fraternity or sorrority at OU which is dominated with alumni from their high school. They essentially extend their high school social lives. It was astonishing to note the large numbers of private school educated students attend OU and OSU.
The very best school in terms of pure academics is Booker T. Washington in Tulsa. It's a magnate school meaning you have to apply to get in. Half the school is African American and the other half is everyone else. However, it's extremley competitive to get in there if you are not African American and usually kids who can't get in there end up applying to the private schools as a concession. Harvard typically takes at least one student from Booker T each year and many of the Ivy League students in the state came from Booker T. In the Oklahoma City area, the best school in terms of pure academics is the Oklahoma School of Math and Science. If your goal is to get your child into an Ivy league school, then send your kids here.
If you are concerned with prestige, campus and your child's social life, I would agree with your choice: Cassidy is the best in that regard. In terms of academics, there are far better options as listed above.
Last edited by azriverfan.; 02-13-2009 at 01:01 AM..
Beware of the private schools in Okahoma because they are not necessarily the strongest academic schools. Yes, in most places, the best schools are indeed the private high schools because the public schools are awful. But in Oklahoma, there are many public and magnate schools that are superior to the private schools. Casady, Herritage Hall, Bishop McGuiness(sp?), Mount Saint Marys, Bishop Kelly in Tulsa, and Holland Hall in Tulsa are all great schools and you can't really go wrong sending your kids there. However, if you are looking to give your kid an edge because he or she is trying to get into Yale, I would probably seek other schools. The reason is that some of the public schools are in fact academically superior to the private schools. Sure, they may not have great athletics or chefs but in terms of test scores and curriculum, schools like Booker T. Washington, the Oklahoma School of Math and Science (OSMS) and Jenks high school are extremely strong academically. In many of the state academic competitions, the private schools often finished behind many of these above mentioned schools in addition to others.
To understand the nature of private schools in Oklahoma, you have to understand the class system in Oklahoma. In Oklahoma, you have extremes in regards to class. There exists a small subset of extremely wealthy people due to a lot of old money and oil money, and then there exists a large population of average earning people. What happens is that this minority of wealthy people celebrate their status and one way they do this is by separating their kids from average kids and sending them to private schools. It's odd because in Oklahoma, parents take this strange sense of pride in say their child attends Cassidy or Heritage Hall. I found that to be quite humorous. The reality is that many of these private school kids are average students and are not attending these schools for the purposes of attending the best college. In other parts of the country, kids who go to private schools are typically those who are trying to get into top college. What ends up occuring is these private school kids in Oklahoa end up partying instead of studying only to land at OU when they graduate. These students then join a popular fraternity or sorrority at OU which is dominated with alumni from their high school. They essentially extend their high school social lives. It was astonishing to note the large numbers of private school educated students attend OU and OSU.
The very best school in terms of pure academics is Booker T. Washington in Tulsa. It's a magnate school meaning you have to apply to get in. Half the school is African American and the other half is everyone else. However, it's extremley competitive to get in there if you are not African American and usually kids who can't get in there end up applying to the private schools as a concession. Harvard typically takes at least one student from Booker T each year and many of the Ivy League students in the state came from Booker T. In the Oklahoma City area, the best school in terms of pure academics is the Oklahoma School of Math and Science. If your goal is to get your child into an Ivy league school, then send your kids here.
If you are concerned with prestige, campus and your child's social life, I would agree with your choice: Cassidy is the best in that regard. In terms of academics, there are far better options as listed above.
I have to disagree regarding the number of students only attending OU or OSU, along with test scores and other stats.
My youngest sister who just graduated from Casady scored a 27 on the ACT and was in the middle of the pack. Remember that a class consists at around 40, while a class at a public school is 300 or larger. Here are some stats for Casady.
Stats regarding the school and students in the last 4 yrs.
• 60% of faculty hold advanced degrees
• 12 to 1 student-teacher ratio
• 25% of the student body is racially and ethnically diverse
• Nearly 15% of the students annually receive more than $1 million in
financial aid
• 65-70% of Casady graduates attend colleges and universities
outside the state of Oklahoma
(Keep in mind that kids like to attend OU or OSU because its near home. I have known a few that simply choose these schools for that reason)
• 100% college placement rate
• Class of 2008 accepted $2.7 million in merit scholarships for college
• 18 Advanced Placement courses
• More than 74,000 hours of community service completed 2001-2008
• 55 National Merit Scholars 2001-2008
• 226 Advanced Placement Scholars 2001-2007
• More than $22.6 million awarded in college scholarships 2001-2008
Websites for Booker T and Casady.
Booker T Washington High School, Tulsa, Oklahoma (http://www.tulsaschools.org/schools/washington/ - broken link)
Please wait... (http://www.casady.org/Default.asp?bhcp=1 - broken link)
I didnt do my homework on HH or privates in Tulsa, but I would expect the numbers to be close to Casady. I will say that a charter school can compete with a private school, but they are really special kids.
Last edited by happytown; 02-13-2009 at 08:47 AM..
On the national test scores and rankings I have seen, Booker T usually smashes just about every other school in the region. Great school. And if you have never heard their marching drum band play live,,, it kicks arse lol. Those kids can rock.
Last edited by TulsaArtist; 02-13-2009 at 12:31 PM..
On the national test scores and rankings I have seen, Booker T usually smashes just about every other school in the region. Great school. And if you have never heard their marching drum band play live,,, it kicks arse lol. Those kids can rock.
Its come a long way. It definitely is one of the better public schools.
Although it does have too much of an emphasis in athletics. Lots of football recruits.
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