I went to both and I much prefered public school, because it was larger I felt I had more opportunities. The music program was much bigger and better, there were more after school activities like science club, debate, math, drama and many others. Private schools often offer these, but because they have less students often the programs have less students and aren't as active. While the regular classes were lacking in comparison to the private schools, the AP courses were just as good as those at a private school. In public school I was able to do dual enrollment for a few of my classes and take a single class to earn college as well as high school credit. By the time I moved away to attend a university I had already completed all my math and english requirements because of all the AP and dual enrollement classes. I felt I was better prepared for college than most of the students there.