good private school in SouthCal (San Diego, San Francisco: 2015, rent, safe area)

[Rong2015]

Hello,
Anyone could give me some help in finding a good private school in southcal? I have a little one will be 5 years old in August this year. I want to send her to a private school from K to 12th. I can move to anywhere for her school, but since southCal is way too big, i have no idea where should I start. I am looking for a safe area . Small town is fine, any good schools. in santa monica maybe? I really do not know how to start! The rent is better not too expensive since I need to pay a high tuition.
We are from Sacramento area, I wanna be somewhere near to the ocean and with nice weather, but not like in San Francisco is too cold in summer.
Anyone could help! Thanks a lot!

[Rong2015]

We are Asian family, Love the food in southcal!

[Rong2015]

How about this school The Winsor school?
Thanks

[HyperionGap]

Originally Posted by Rong2015

How about this school The Winsor school?
Thanks

Academically, the best two private schools in the greater LA area are Polytechnic & Harvard Westlake.

However, there are many others that are very strong.

Brentwood, Campbell Hall, Flintridge Prep, Westridge, Webb, etc.

Since OC has good public schools, I think there's fewer top private schools there. I have no clue about the Inland Empire or San Diego.

[disgruntled la native]

The "good" private schools are gonna be expensive. Close to 35k a year now for secondary school. Not so easy to get in either. They give priority to rich families starting at the kindergarten level.

You probably just wanna live in an area with good public schools. Orange County sounds perfect for you. Affordable, nice, safe, family friendly, good schools.

[HyperionGap]

Originally Posted by disgruntled la native

The "good" private schools are gonna be expensive. Close to 35k a year now for secondary school. Not so easy to get in either. They give priority to rich families starting at the kindergarten level.

You probably just wanna live in an area with good public schools. Orange County sounds perfect for you. Affordable, nice, safe, family friendly, good schools.

What makes you say this? I'm not even sure what it's supposed to mean. For all intents and purposes, most of the parents paying 20k a year for k-6 education are rich and tons of families still get turned away.

[disgruntled la native]

Originally Posted by HyperionGap

What makes you say this? I'm not even sure what it's supposed to mean. For all intents and purposes, most of the parents paying 20k a year for k-6 education are rich and tons of families still get turned away.

I know the Westside private school circuit well. At the kindergarten level, which basically determines where s/he goes for secondary school and even college, it's money and family connections that get the kid ahead. You have hundreds of applicants for maybe 40 spots..... most of these applicants are wealthy enough, smart enough, good enough. But it's factors such as legacy (older siblings went there), some sort of connection to the school (Friend of the dean, friend of the chair of the board of trustees), or money/celebrity (movie star's kid, politician, major businessman) that makes the difference.

If you can get your kid into an "A list" private elementary school like Center for early education, john thomas dye, village, carlthorp... that sets them on the path for Harvard Westlake, Brentwood, Polytechnic... which sets them on the path for an Ivy, Stanford, or the like. Even the mediocre kids at Harvard Westlake end up at places like UCLA, USC, UVA, NYU.

[HyperionGap]

Originally Posted by disgruntled la native

I know the Westside private school circuit well. At the kindergarten level, which basically determines where s/he goes for secondary school and even college, it's money and family connections that get the kid ahead. You have hundreds of applicants for maybe 40 spots..... most of these applicants are wealthy enough, smart enough, good enough. But it's factors such as legacy (older siblings went there), some sort of connection to the school (Friend of the dean, friend of the chair of the board of trustees), or money/celebrity (movie star's kid, politician, major businessman) that makes the difference.

If you can get your kid into an "A list" private elementary school like Center for early education, john thomas dye, village, carlthorp... that sets them on the path for Harvard Westlake, Brentwood, Polytechnic... which sets them on the path for an Ivy, Stanford, or the like. Even the mediocre kids at Harvard Westlake end up at places like UCLA, USC, UVA, NYU.

I agree with what you're saying in this post. But originally you just said they give priority to "rich families" and now you went on to list a whole bunch of factors that technically are not necessarily connected to wealth.

There can be very wealthy people that don't have the connections you listed and those of "average" wealth that do.

[disgruntled la native]

True, but once you reach a certain level of "very wealthy" where they know you'll be a huge donor, you get past it all.

Maybe being worth $10 million won't cut it, but $50 million will.

I still say to OP, move to Orange County where there's good public schools and relative affordability. A lot of "Tiger Moms" are based out ouf there. If the job is in LA county, determine which neighborhood the job wil be in and we can go from there.

[erin_elise_]

The South Bay here in LA has good public schools. El Segundo, Redondo Beach, Torrance, Manhattan Beach, Rancho Palos Verdes, Palos Verdes Estates, etc. The OP does not have to go all the way to the OC for good public schools. Plus, the South Bay is more centrally located to the LA than OC, and has that laid back vibe too.