Melbourne High School

[hippy13]

Hi, I am currently in an expensive private school, but I have also an offer from Melbourne High for year 9 next year? What are the differences between an expensive private school and MHS?

[brenden]

The main difference is probably the cost lol.

ATAR wise, probably no difference to your potential. Are there other considerations, like extracurriculars and "quality of education" and so on?

[hippy13]

Yes I'm interested to know if there are differences in the teaching standards and culture.

[exit]

Which private school?

[Rod]

From my experience;

The teaching standards are far greater at the elite private schools compared to any selective-entry school. Most teachers at selective-entry are average, some are really good, whilst some are really really bad.

The biggest advantage of going to a selective-entry school in my opinion is the environment. You are surrounded by 100s of extremely hard working classmates. So if you have difficulty in any question/topic etc. you don't necessarily have to rely on your teacher, you'll have many classmates to help you out. The environment itself will really motivate you to study and achieve - when you are in an environment where most people are striving and working hard - you'd want to do the same.

Also I reckon going to a select-entry school myself taught me how to independently learn, something that's been useful for me in my university studies. IDK how it's like in private schools but apparently you are spoon fed everything and then the transition from school to uni is difficult because in uni you're own your own.

All the best

[hippy13]

Thanks Rod.

Wow, seems like MHS' culture is intense! I'm disappointed to hear about the teaching standards though. I am leaning towards going to MHS as a large section of the students in my year don't seem to be motivated to learn, but I am also concerned about the poor teaching standard at MHS.

[Rod]

Thanks Rod.

Wow, seems like MHS' culture is intense! I'm disappointed to hear about the teaching standards though. I am leaning towards going to MHS as a large section of the students in my year don't seem to be motivated to learn, but I am also concerned about the poor teaching standard at MHS.

No worries

It's not necessarily poor, it's just not as good as the elite private schools. You don't necessarily need a good teacher to do well in a subject. It obviously helps out a lot, but a lot of the content you can learn by independently going through the many resources you will get during VCE.

Also as shown by the school rankings the teaching standards don't tend to affect the school's performance. You can still do great!!