Which Catholic High School?

As the parent of a high school graduate (not these schools though), keep in mind that there will be many evening activities at either school over the course of 4 years, so if you otherwise can't decide, commuting and traffic may be a deciding factor.

Like you, we looked at both St. Mary's and BOD. My daughter visited St. Mary's at least three times but did not like it at every visit. According to her, it was just not for her, she did not get the right vibes to form the school or its people. On the other hand, BOD was the last of our choices and she had a great time every time she visited. BOD is at least 2 times bigger (the student body is about 1200 students vs. 600 students at Mary's) and she felt more included and welcomes there than at St. Mary's. She chose to not apply to St. Mary's in the end. 

Regarding her experience at BOD, she had a great education and experience. My child went from a small independent school (32 students in her cohort) to 320 students in her cohort! I was very worried that she would be lost and not be seen or heard. On the contrary, I was surprised at how well her teachers got to know her and she made some wonderful wonderful friends. Don't get me wrong, her transition at the beginning was tricky as she needed to put herself out there (something that does not come easily to her) and make friends but once she was able to do that she flourished. Academically, it really challenged her, sometimes a little too much busywork (IMHO) but it really helped her set up great study habits. She took a lot of honors and AP classes and it prepared her really well for college. BOD was a great place for her. She tried her hand at different clubs though did not participate in any athletics at school (very demanding schedule) though played club soccer outside of school. She will tell you that she really loved BOD. It is big enough to find your people and lots of different groups. 

We are not religious and the religious classes there (though added work to her already full plate) seemed very interesting to her. We often had conversations at home which we would not have had otherwise, thanks to the homework and class assignments. 

She loved her time there and we love all of her friends she made there. She is now at one of the leading UC's and almost all of her friends got into the colleges of their top 2 choices as well. 

All the best in your decision-

I had this same concern when applying at St. Mary’s. My daughter is now a senior there, has received a fantastic education and there have been zero issues regarding fitting into the community. I don’t think that many kids are religious, certainly none of her friends are. There was an adjustment period to the prayers and days devoted to Catholicism but the kids get used to it and it becomes a normal part of school life. 

I can’t express how happy I am with the education and teachers at this school. The class work is rigorous and challenging and my daughter is undoubtedly university ready. Our family and adult friends are regularly blown away by her ability to engage in debates about almost anything. St. Mary’s is used to debate and have really demonstrated to the kids how to form arguments and listen to all points of view. The school’s point of view is a Catholic perspective but this does not mean they don’t teach about other perspectives and their origins respectfully. 

I'm not your core demographic in that we are a Catholic family - but we just went through this process with our now 9th grader, who ultimately chose St. Mary's. What I can tell you is you are totally right, both schools have a very different feel - our student ultimately chose SMCHS for the overall feel of the school philosophy and campus. Of course, we chose Catholic for a reason, being Catholic, but there are many students at both schools, likely more non-Catholic than Catholic, and I don't think that makes a difference at either (or any) of the schools you are looking at. We very much appreciated the Christian Brother's approach to education that is unique to St. Mary's. I encourage you to talk to as many current students as you can when you are at these on-campus events, to get a feel for things, and ultimately have your son choose which school feels like the right fit for him. Our student comes home talking about the great day they had everyday. Yes, we are a proud and happy Panther family.

We are atheists and found St Mary’s just fine. Catholics, unlike Christian fundamentalists, believe in evolution. St Mary’s is known for their track program - excellent coaches. The school believes athletic participation breeds excellence in students. I have no personal experience with Bishop O’Dowd. Good luck 

Super long answer: I don’t have any info about O’Dowd, but I have been a St Mary’s parent since 2013, and my younger child is a senior this year. Our family is not religious. One kid is an avowed atheist, and the other is agnostic. St Mary’s is fine with you having whatever beliefs you have. You are considered part of the community, and not pressured to change your views. However, you have to be comfortable with them being Catholic, and you are definitely not going to convince them to change their views. There is prayer every day in homeroom, before many classes (depending on the teacher), sometimes before athletic events (for the players) and at every parent gathering. My experience is that it’s fine for parents and students to be respectfully silent during prayer. My shyer kid felt like he had to pray aloud in his classes so that he wouldn’t stand out, while the other was comfortable being silent, and never got any flack for that. The emphasis on social justice and service learning has been great -- I think the school works hard to cultivate a culture of giving, and although we don’t share the school’s religious views, we do share and appreciate their values.

Academically, I think St Mary’s has some strengths and some weaknesses. The math education has been good -- the honors track has been challenging and my kids felt like they’ve had good teachers. It does only go up to Calculus AB, but I think that if your child is more advanced, they make some accommodations. Science is more of a mixed bag -- not all the teachers are engaging. But my older child, who’s a junior at a very selective college, felt well prepared by St Mary’s for his college chemistry and computer science courses (as well as other courses). English and history have been mixed as well, but mostly strong.  The weakest area academically in my experience has been Spanish -- there has been a lot of turnover of teachers, none of whom impressed me.

My kids have had a great experience athletically at St Mary’s, and part of your kid’s experience may depend on his sport. My older child is now a DIII college athlete, and my younger child is hopeful that he’ll be a DIII college athlete too. Both have gotten a lot of personal attention from St Mary’s coaches, and both have gotten a lot of playing time in their sports, in part because the teams are small. The plus side of small teams is the personal attention, but the downside is that it’s hard to compete against teams with more players. O’Dowd’s teams are much bigger, and compete against bigger schools, and may devote more resources to sports, and O’Dowd beat St Mary’s at every competition between the two schools that I’ve been to, though I don’t know much about sports my kids haven’t participated in. My suggestion on athletics is that your kid try to meet the coaches for his sport at some St Mary’s events, and maybe go see a game or meet in his sport at both high schools. For one of my kids, meeting the head coach (who is also a teacher) made a big difference to him as he was deciding where to go to high school. 

Overall, my family has been very happy at St Mary’s, and I’d be happy to talk with you more about it if you’d like.

We chose O'Dowd for our child because of the truly outstanding drama program.  In terms of academics, the school has some great teachers and some really not-great ones. There is a lot of homework and if your child is not academically inclined, or well-organized, it can be tough.  I also thought there was a lot of alcohol and weed around, but maybe that's everywhere. In terms of religion, the "Kairos" retreat that O'Dowd students do is incredible. My child actually returned from it a nicer person (before it wore off). 

Our family is also not part of a religious community.  Although Bishop O'Dowd HS was huge, my kid wanted to play varsity soccer (she played club soccer since elementary school.  Attended private elementary school and Berkeley public middle school.  For her, the choice was between Berkeley High and Bishop O'Dowd.  Our second kid attended a public elementary and private middle school.  For her, the choice was between Berkeley High and St. Mary's HS.  Both schools offered sports programs she was interested in.    

Both daughters discussed with us -- the pros and cons of the two schools they were interested in.  At the end, Bishop O'Dowd and St.Mary's provided the academic and social experiences they were looking for.  They participated in community service, on the honors list and were accepted to all of the public and private colleges they applied to.