Options within 45 mins of College Park
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Anonymous
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My spouse will be starting at UMD College Park in the fall (I work remote) and we are exploring neighborhoods within a 45 minute commute to UMD. We have 2 kids in elementary school, and are looking for solid publics with parochial as an option. We are planning to rent for the first year or two with a budget around 4500/month. We are considering the following:
Severna Park Columbia Crofton Bethesda North Chevy Chase Silver Spring Anything we are leaving out? Thanks |
Anonymous
| Mount Rainier and Hyattsville if private schools are on the table. |
Anonymous
| Bethesda is very expensive and that commute is a pain on the beltway. My budget was 1.2-1.3 in Bethesda and I was priced out |
Anonymous
North Laurel, MD in Howard County |
Anonymous
| For kids schools, def Howard county. Columbia/Ellicott City/Clarksburg area? |
Anonymous
| Many of the UMD employees with kids live in Howard County. |
Anonymous
8:18 here. Didn't know that but I would too. |
Anonymous
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I think it would be crazy not to live in College Park/Hyattsville, especially if you’re Catholic and open to Catholic schools.
University Park, downtown Hyattsville, Mount Rainier, even Cheverly. There are other nice neighborhoods in CP too. I don’t understand why on earth you would commute so far for marginally higher scoring public schools. Your quality of life will be so much lower and the schools might not even work out anyway. Why do you think there are so many private schools in Montgomery County? A lot of people on dcum are scared of PG county because they feel it’s not wealthy enough, but I mean from University Park your DH could walk to work and you can walk to a Whole Foods, a Trader Joe’s and a Target, Busboys and Poets, really good tacos, etc etc etc. Your kids can go to the highly regarded public ES, navigate the charters and magnets, or to St Jerome’s. |
Anonymous
This is OP. What parochial elementary schools would you recommend in the University Park, Hyattsville, or Mount Rainier area? |
Anonymous
St Jerome’s is the big one. For boys there are more high school options it seems. I will say it has a reputation for being very conservative. |
Anonymous
| I grew up in pg county. I would never live there again. |
Anonymous
You could also put Cheverly on your list. I don’t know the names of the churches and schools there but I know there are a lot of religious families. |
Anonymous
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University Park and College Heights Estates are great and have an elementary school most are happy with though a lot do go private or parochial for middle school+. My spouse walks to UMD, which is so nice and convenient. The UMD outdoor pool is great for the summer and you get cheap access to the golf course, sporting events, and performances, so we've really liked living near the university. Once more people were going to UMD post-pandemic, my spouse has also liked being close to easily put face time in and collaborate as someone still on the tenure track.
If you want Montgomery County schools, which a lot of profs do, Silver Spring is probably the easiest. UMD has a convenient (and free) bus to campus and it is quite a bit closer than Bethesda with 2 decent routes, so you are not always stuck on the beltway. |
Anonymous
| There are some UMD people in parts of Annapolis, which is a nice town to consider. However, they complain about the commute almost as much as those in Bethesda and it would still be closer than Severna Park. |
Anonymous
Don't forget Holy Redeemer in College Park. Saint Jerome is getting very popular and admissions is not a guarantee. We moved to University Park from DC and could not get both our children into Saint Jerome. The older one is at Holy Redeemer and the younger one is at Saint Jerome. Hope this helps. |