Which school should we choose?

Hi Dads,

Please help me decide what to do. Our son is going to school this year. We have two options. First is a public school funded by the government. It's only eight minutes walk from our apartment. But as with any public school they are not the best. This one however, is in the top 10 in our City, only few private schools are higher than that. Considering that this is a public school, and the fact that they have to enrol every kid in the district it's a pretty good score for them to be in the top 10.

The second school is "application only" similar to private school, but it's also funded by the government, but they operate similar to a private school, they don't get kids from the district tho. You have to apply and go through a lengthy recruitment process. The school is great, and it would be probably a better fit for our son. The downside is that it is around 20-minute walk from our place, which could be a pain in the arse during winter time as we don't have a car yet. Also because the school gets kids from all over the city, I fear that it will be harder to form long-lasting friendships with peers due to them being scattered allover the city. And getting together will be a problem. While in the first school it will be mostly kids from our neighbourhood and district. 

We will naturally apply to both of them and see what happens, the first one is guaranteed because we live in that district, the second one depends on how well we'll do during the recruitment process. We are still in the process for applying etc. meeting with teachers and so on, but I would like to know your thoughts. Better school and potentially better start later in life and easier access to good collage later down the line, or slightly worse school but with better social network in the area with other kids?

I don't know maybe I'm overthinking this... maybe we won't even get a place in the "better" one and the problem will solve itself, but I can't stop thinking about it and needed to ask this question.