Watching your friends relocate to the burbs for "schools"

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Paying for college is a real concern for us. Our oldest is in 5th grade - and we are in a good feeder school. But the reality of saving for and paying for college may drive us to move out of DC.

Are you familiar with the DC Tuition Assistance program? It is a reason many stay and/or move to DC to help pay for college.

Yes - I am familiar with this.

Let's pretend my children decide that they are going to William and Mary. I have 3 children so 12 years of tuition.
The difference between In State and Out of State is ~ 20K. (Note - at UVA it is 30K). DC Tag right now covers $10K.

3 children and 4 years of college, it will cost me an additional $120K to live in DC vs moving to VA.

Suppose they want to go to UC-Berkeley or Penn State?

Berkeley is close to impossible to get in.

Why would one go to Penn State instead of one of the best VA or MD schools?

People who move to NoVa thinking they bought a ticket to a UVa or W&M bargain are going to be sorely disappointed; admission to those schools for NoVa students is unbelievably difficult now.

UVa, for example, takes a third of its students from out of state (UC schools take something like 5% out of staters), and it has to have geographic diversity from within Virginia. Relatively few kids from any given NoVa HS are going to get in, and considering NoVa's explosive growth the competition is fierce. Same for W&M...but it's much smaller than UVa.

There are lots of other good schools in Virginia, and sending kids there at in-state rates is a bargain. But don't move to Arlington there thinking you've eased your kid's path to UVa.

Well, we live in DC and went on the William and Mary tour this summer. The Admission folks made it clear that out of state students are judged by different criteria. It's easier to get in if you are a Virginia resident. We've stuck it out in DC but given that Virginia has some excellent state schools, including William & Mary and UVA, it makes good fiscal sense to get out of the District.

Blech no. William and Mary is a safety school and if you are not a frat person or at all woke UVA will make you feel uncomfortable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm still "cool" in Shaw, and pregnant with my first. I get shit all the time for being pregnant and selling out and resigning myself to a life of not going out all the time any more and just general judgement.

But you know what? Now I also have some new friends who are new parents who are really excited for me. Bc what are my options? Hanging with people who truly pity me that I can't have five drinks on a Tuesday? Or figuring it out?

This wave of judgement from others is a daily hangover during any life transition. I'm living it and it really hurts, but big picture? Who cares.

ha ha PP. My friend who gave me the worst shit moved to San Fran anyway and just broke up with his latest girlfriend (again.) Not that I would ever have moved to Shaw. Petworth ALL THE WAY baby!

[Anonymous]

If you are going to move for schools, move to California where at least you have some good options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are going to move for schools, move to California where at least you have some good options.

Lol. Pretty sweeping generalization to make.

-ex-CA resident.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are going to move for schools, move to California where at least you have some good options.

I'd go to Massachusetts personally.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:DD just started 3rd grade and same as the previous year's a small but consistent flow of our friends and acquaintances are no longer there. We do the tap dance of one or two play dates after they move where the conversation always circles back to their rationalization of why they just had to move out of the city which comes off as (you will understand soon enough). Am I missing something or are all of our peers simply misguided. It seems like every friend she makes now lives in Md or VA. I assume it will stabilize by middle school?

"Are all of or peers simply misguided?" Wow, what arrogant self-righteousness.

No one could possibly make a different choice than you without being misguided.

Maybe people move for better schools, or more space, or to get away from crime, or to avoid assorted nuisances inherent with city living, or to be near relatives in the burbs or any other of a million possible personal factors.

Nothing wrong with your choice to prioritize the benefits of the city, but your condescension towards your (no doubt former) friends who chose differently is the only thing that is misguided.

+ 100

We moved to MoCo, with some hesitation. Once we go there, we smacked ourselves on the head and asked ourselves why we didn't do it sooner.

To each his own. We moved to MoCo in Chevy Chase, MD. I could not get of there fast enough. I wanted back to DC. It's was too suburban for me. I never assumed that our kids would want to attend a state school. Our oldest chose a private college. I didn't want to choose for him. You never know what type of college your kid might want. You can't assume that because you move to VA or MD that your kid will want that unless you insist, which we didn't.

Haha, Chevy Chase MD is almost indistinguishable from 90% of DC. Other than having good schools of course.

But it's true, the wealthy don't have to bail b/c they always can go private which I am sure you will well before college.

I think you mean 90% of ward 3. Def not all of DC.

NP here but the point remains, is there really much benefit to being in Tenleytown compared to Friendship Heights/ Chevy Chase?

I am pretty sure that Bethesda Elementary is actually even more diverse in both race and SES than Janney or Lafayette. Just a guess though.

Not so different by SES. http://public-schools.startclass.com/l/40818/Bethesda-Elementary

Looks like that site used a 3 as the proficiency cut off for testing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm still "cool" in Shaw, and pregnant with my first. I get shit all the time for being pregnant and selling out and resigning myself to a life of not going out all the time any more and just general judgement.

But you know what? Now I also have some new friends who are new parents who are really excited for me. Bc what are my options? Hanging with people who truly pity me that I can't have five drinks on a Tuesday? Or figuring it out?

This wave of judgement from others is a daily hangover during any life transition. I'm living it and it really hurts, but big picture? Who cares.

ha ha PP. My friend who gave me the worst shit moved to San Fran anyway and just broke up with his latest girlfriend (again.) Not that I would ever have moved to Shaw. Petworth ALL THE WAY baby!

OMG, you both sound terribly immature.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I just dropped by from the Maryland forum, and this is fascinating to me. All the talk in Silver Spring is that you have to move to Bethesda by middle school or your child will be irreparably harmed by gangs or underachievers or whatever. Anxious parents probably always think the grass is greener elsewhere.

There are a few posters who jump into every thread about SS and start bashing it. Of course SS isn't a fit for everyone -- what is? But there's a lot of garbage thrown around. One can simply post "How do you like Woodside?" or "is this overpriced for Four Corners?" and someone will immediately jump in with "schools suck! gangs on University Blvd!" and not bother to answer the question (not that they have anything to add, anyway).

It sounds like the same thing that happens when people mention DCPS. Some people just insist on painting DC public schools with the same broad brush. For instance, my children attend out IB school, Oyster. We love the school, and we're surrounded by neighborhood children who also attend the Oyster. We're able to walk our kids to school. No issues with neighborhood crime or blight. We also wouldn't have a school with higher test scores if we moved to Chevy Chase, Maryland and sent our children to Rock Creek Forest Elemtary (MoCo's flagship immersion school). We have it good at Oyster, but some people believe the ridiculous stereotype that every DCPS school is failing. Oh well.

A dozen elementary schools in DC are indeed on a par with the better suburban elementary schools. But without test-in or GT middle school programs, like those in Fairfax, Arlington and MoCo, advanced students get shortchanged in DCPS from 6th grade up. The best DCPC options (Latin, Basis) offer comparatively weak facilities, and there is no guarantee of admission for any particular family. Wilson and Walls can't hold a candle to the strongest suburban high school programs.

It all goes downhill after ES.

[Anonymous]

Our child is in third grade at a charter school. She had one classmate move to the suburbs after pk4 and one after 1st grade. Otherwise, they are all still there, and as far as I can tell, none plan on moving. In fact, if anything being in the school has kept them from moving elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

My DD is at Key and the number of parents moving as it we progress is shocking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just dropped by from the Maryland forum, and this is fascinating to me. All the talk in Silver Spring is that you have to move to Bethesda by middle school or your child will be irreparably harmed by gangs or underachievers or whatever. Anxious parents probably always think the grass is greener elsewhere.

There are a few posters who jump into every thread about SS and start bashing it. Of course SS isn't a fit for everyone -- what is? But there's a lot of garbage thrown around. One can simply post "How do you like Woodside?" or "is this overpriced for Four Corners?" and someone will immediately jump in with "schools suck! gangs on University Blvd!" and not bother to answer the question (not that they have anything to add, anyway).

It sounds like the same thing that happens when people mention DCPS. Some people just insist on painting DC public schools with the same broad brush. For instance, my children attend out IB school, Oyster. We love the school, and we're surrounded by neighborhood children who also attend the Oyster. We're able to walk our kids to school. No issues with neighborhood crime or blight. We also wouldn't have a school with higher test scores if we moved to Chevy Chase, Maryland and sent our children to Rock Creek Forest Elemtary (MoCo's flagship immersion school). We have it good at Oyster, but some people believe the ridiculous stereotype that every DCPS school is failing. Oh well.

A dozen elementary schools in DC are indeed on a par with the better suburban elementary schools. But without test-in or GT middle school programs, like those in Fairfax, Arlington and MoCo, advanced students get shortchanged in DCPS from 6th grade up. The best DCPC options (Latin, Basis) offer comparatively weak facilities, and there is no guarantee of admission for any particular family. Wilson and Walls can't hold a candle to the strongest suburban high school programs.

It all goes downhill after ES.

+10000 and my kid went to Oyster which is great. . . Through 3d grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just dropped by from the Maryland forum, and this is fascinating to me. All the talk in Silver Spring is that you have to move to Bethesda by middle school or your child will be irreparably harmed by gangs or underachievers or whatever. Anxious parents probably always think the grass is greener elsewhere.

There are a few posters who jump into every thread about SS and start bashing it. Of course SS isn't a fit for everyone -- what is? But there's a lot of garbage thrown around. One can simply post "How do you like Woodside?" or "is this overpriced for Four Corners?" and someone will immediately jump in with "schools suck! gangs on University Blvd!" and not bother to answer the question (not that they have anything to add, anyway).

It sounds like the same thing that happens when people mention DCPS. Some people just insist on painting DC public schools with the same broad brush. For instance, my children attend out IB school, Oyster. We love the school, and we're surrounded by neighborhood children who also attend the Oyster. We're able to walk our kids to school. No issues with neighborhood crime or blight. We also wouldn't have a school with higher test scores if we moved to Chevy Chase, Maryland and sent our children to Rock Creek Forest Elemtary (MoCo's flagship immersion school). We have it good at Oyster, but some people believe the ridiculous stereotype that every DCPS school is failing. Oh well.

A dozen elementary schools in DC are indeed on a par with the better suburban elementary schools. But without test-in or GT middle school programs, like those in Fairfax, Arlington and MoCo, advanced students get shortchanged in DCPS from 6th grade up. The best DCPC options (Latin, Basis) offer comparatively weak facilities, and there is no guarantee of admission for any particular family. Wilson and Walls can't hold a candle to the strongest suburban high school programs.

It all goes downhill after ES.

+10000 and my kid went to Oyster which is great. . . Through 3d grade.

Dumb move to pull your child out of Oyster after 3rd grade. Unless you moved to WIS, or you speak Spanish at home, all of your efforts were for naught.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD is at Key and the number of parents moving as it we progress is shocking.

Where are they going?

[Anonymous]

Move to Moco inside 270 and 28. Best in 500 miles . Whitman , Bcc , WJ , RM , Churchill , Wootton, QO, Poolesville.
Also includes Holton Arms, Landon ,Bullis , holy cross , stone ridge and Georgetown Prep .. Along with Chevy Chase , Columbia ,Kenwood ,Bethesda , Woodmont , Avenel, and Burning Tree country clubs .

[Anonymous]

Whoops left out congressional ^^