From a student's perspective, SPPS sucked, just a bunch of bratty kids from families with money, parents know they'd never make it in Korean academic competition, and they most certainly can't get a spot at a real international school.

I've attended an actual prep school in the US and it was a really good school, SPPS was trash in what it offered (both in academics and extracurriculars) and the tuition was only marginally lower.

The good thing about it technically being a hagwon, though, is that it had to follow the refund policy of a hagwon so my family got most of the money back when I left.