Arlington vs Fairfax vs MoCo schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a professor at UMD, if my kids couldn't get into UMD, I wouldn't let them go to any other MD college. I live in VA so they at least have the option of UVA, VT, and WM. Of course they will apply to the ivies and so forth but the chance of admission to those schools is incredibly low even if your stats are outstanding. As an Asian kid you have to save a village in Africa from famine to get into the ivies

“Of course”?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The W schools have the highest test scores in the area, so that makes people assume they are the best schools. But when adjusted for demographics (race, income and education level of parents) they're no better than the Arlington or Fairfax schools. Plus unless you want to shell out $$$ after graduation for private, your best college option is essentially commuting to University of Maryland. No other in state school is any good at all. In Virginia you have access to UVA, William & Mary, and Tech -- plus JMU, Mary Washington and VCU among others. You'd be crazy to walk away from that.

You're a clueless VA booster. I mean you mentioned JMU, MW and VCU. What about UMBC, Towson, MSM in MD

MSM? Mount Saint Mary's? It's a Catholic school -- and not a very good one. Maybe you mean St Mary's of Maryland. Yea, it's fine, but it's not as good as the best in VA. UMBC and Towson are decidedly average at best.

And JMU, MW and VCU, aren't they also average at best?

Nope. They're better schools.

For every Maryland college, you can list one in VA that is better. You can argue until your blue in the face, but there's just no denying that the in state college options in VA are better than in MD. Try arguing something else.

It's not exactly true. UMDCP for example is much better than any VA school for specific subjects like Phyhsics, Economics, Engineering, CS, or Math. Yes, I know UVA is #27 or something in CS whereas MD was around 15 overall but 10 for AI.

Agree, it's kind of sad there are now really good options for tech or CS in VA.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The W schools have the highest test scores in the area, so that makes people assume they are the best schools. But when adjusted for demographics (race, income and education level of parents) they're no better than the Arlington or Fairfax schools. Plus unless you want to shell out $$$ after graduation for private, your best college option is essentially commuting to University of Maryland. No other in state school is any good at all. In Virginia you have access to UVA, William & Mary, and Tech -- plus JMU, Mary Washington and VCU among others. You'd be crazy to walk away from that.

You're a clueless VA booster. I mean you mentioned JMU, MW and VCU. What about UMBC, Towson, MSM in MD

MSM? Mount Saint Mary's? It's a Catholic school -- and not a very good one. Maybe you mean St Mary's of Maryland. Yea, it's fine, but it's not as good as the best in VA. UMBC and Towson are decidedly average at best.

And JMU, MW and VCU, aren't they also average at best?

Nope. They're better schools.

For every Maryland college, you can list one in VA that is better. You can argue until your blue in the face, but there's just no denying that the in state college options in VA are better than in MD. Try arguing something else.

It's not exactly true. UMDCP for example is much better than any VA school for specific subjects like Phyhsics, Economics, Engineering, CS, or Math. Yes, I know UVA is #27 or something in CS whereas MD was around 15 overall but 10 for AI.

Agree, it's kind of sad there are now really good options for tech or CS in VA.

But it depends on what you want to do. For general prestige UVA>UMD. And for undergrads the quality of the econ department does not really matter. If you want to get a graduate degree in econ, you should major in math. And if you are just studying it to work in business or policy, prestige matters more than the exact ranking of the department.

[Anonymous]

It's not exactly true. UMDCP for example is much better than any VA school for specific subjects like Phyhsics, Economics, Engineering, CS, or Math. Yes, I know UVA is #27 or something in CS whereas MD was around 15 overall but 10 for AI.

You shouldn't be comparing UMD to UVA here. You should be comparing to VA Tech.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It's not exactly true. UMDCP for example is much better than any VA school for specific subjects like Phyhsics, Economics, Engineering, CS, or Math. Yes, I know UVA is #27 or something in CS whereas MD was around 15 overall but 10 for AI.

You shouldn't be comparing UMD to UVA here. You should be comparing to VA Tech.

VA tech ranks lower than UVA for CS and the caliber of an engineering student is much lower. Just look at the average SATs.

UMDCP is in the top 20 for CS. UVA and VA Tech are in the 25-30 range.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It's not exactly true. UMDCP for example is much better than any VA school for specific subjects like Phyhsics, Economics, Engineering, CS, or Math. Yes, I know UVA is #27 or something in CS whereas MD was around 15 overall but 10 for AI.

You shouldn't be comparing UMD to UVA here. You should be comparing to VA Tech.

VA tech ranks lower than UVA for CS and the caliber of an engineering student is much lower. Just look at the average SATs.

UMDCP is in the top 20 for CS. UVA and VA Tech are in the 25-30 range.

It is interesting that UVA engineering is the most selective of the 3 by a wide margin and the lowest rated.

[Anonymous]

The point is that in VA you have several great options (UVA, Virginia Tech, and W&M) while in MD you just have one good option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The point is that in VA you have several great options (UVA, Virginia Tech, and W&M) while in MD you just have one good option.

Sevral great options to study subject like French Lit or 3rd rate engineering but nothing really great.

[Anonymous]

This thread is everything that is wrong with DCUM. You all sound like a bunch of insufferable a-holes.
OP-a kid whose parents is invested in their education will do well in any of those school systems. AAP is a big pain in the arse bc of the parents, not kids. It all evens out in later grades when kids can pick honors, etc.

[Anonymous]

We did this analysis a few years ago. We were moving for good schools and we ended up in McLean zoned for Langley. I do think FCPS > MCPS > Arlington. It also feels like there are better private school options in MD than VA. But FCPS has TJ. I do think if there was no TJ, the fcps high schools would get a boost. TJ is majority Asian and they are not wealthy Asians so most would end back at their base fcps high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did this analysis a few years ago. We were moving for good schools and we ended up in McLean zoned for Langley. I do think FCPS > MCPS > Arlington. It also feels like there are better private school options in MD than VA. But FCPS has TJ. I do think if there was no TJ, the fcps high schools would get a boost. TJ is majority Asian and they are not wealthy Asians so most would end back at their base fcps high school.

It's obvious that the overall intellectual capital is higher in FCPS. The parents have higher caliber jobs (hence why they live in NoVA where the higher power jobs are, at Fortune 500 companies) and the kids are a chip off the block. Bethesda? Chevy Chase? "I work for the DOJ" Mmmkay good luck with that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did this analysis a few years ago. We were moving for good schools and we ended up in McLean zoned for Langley. I do think FCPS > MCPS > Arlington. It also feels like there are better private school options in MD than VA. But FCPS has TJ. I do think if there was no TJ, the fcps high schools would get a boost. TJ is majority Asian and they are not wealthy Asians so most would end back at their base fcps high school.

We did the same analysis and found MCPS > FCPS > Arlington. There were just richer opportunities available at MCPS that seemed superior to AAP which was watered down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did this analysis a few years ago. We were moving for good schools and we ended up in McLean zoned for Langley. I do think FCPS > MCPS > Arlington. It also feels like there are better private school options in MD than VA. But FCPS has TJ. I do think if there was no TJ, the fcps high schools would get a boost. TJ is majority Asian and they are not wealthy Asians so most would end back at their base fcps high school.

We did the same analysis and found MCPS > FCPS > Arlington. There were just richer opportunities available at MCPS that seemed superior to AAP which was watered down.

Everyone in the area did the same and decided on what was best for their individual family. You can’t go wrong with any of these. A strong student will do well in any of these. I would focus on commute and housing you like best and afford.

[Anonymous]

FCPS > MCPS > APS.

FCPS and MCPS enjoy economies of scale, but FCPS has a larger base of UMC families than MCPS and TJ, and FCPS students have access to a wider number of strong state universities.

And FCPS has a significantly higher percentage of hard-working Asian kids than APS, which tends to raise the bar generally. It’s understood in Virginia that the high schools in APS are weaker than the middle schools in APS, which in turn are weaker than the elementary schools in APS. In other words, the advantages of a relatively affluent population diminish over time in APS because the school system is just not that rigorous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did this analysis a few years ago. We were moving for good schools and we ended up in McLean zoned for Langley. I do think FCPS > MCPS > Arlington. It also feels like there are better private school options in MD than VA. But FCPS has TJ. I do think if there was no TJ, the fcps high schools would get a boost. TJ is majority Asian and they are not wealthy Asians so most would end back at their base fcps high school.

We did the same analysis and found MCPS > FCPS > Arlington. There were just richer opportunities available at MCPS that seemed superior to AAP which was watered down.

Everyone in the area did the same and decided on what was best for their individual family. You can’t go wrong with any of these. A strong student will do well in any of these. I would focus on commute and housing you like best and afford.

+3

There are some strengths and weaknesses in all three of these school districts. They are all good school districts and will serve good students and not-so-good students well. Commute is key.