Washington Liberty v Meridian HS
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Anonymous
| Thinking about making the jump from DC to Virginia for HS and the two schools that fit our budget/lifestyle/geograpic preferences seem to be Washington Liberty and Meridian. Meridian is obviously much smaller, which is a big plus for my kid, but WL is in a better location for housing (will be renting). What else should I know about these schools? I’m not a huge snob about needing the school to have the best test scores - more concerned about my child being happy and learning. |
Anonymous
| For what you describe as your lifestyle and needs, these are excellent choices. DD has happy, normal friends at both schools (and I say normal as a compliment). They have similar academic opportunities and you can’t go wrong. |
Anonymous
| One positive for Washington-Liberty for new students is that relatively few students at the school matriculate from the same elementary through middle school and beyond. This is due to its location in the middle of the county with mostly split feeder schools, and also due to a popular magnet option program there. So there are plenty of new students looking to make friends, especially in grade 9. |
Anonymous
| Meridian all the way. |
Anonymous
Hah, good luck finding each other. WL will be 2800 students next year https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Capacity-Utilization-2021-to-2023-for-posting-online.pdf A new student could be invisible and anonymous for years in that environment. Meridian is 850 students. A new student will be a bit of a celebrity as “the new girl” in the little city. |
Anonymous
| Yorktown is the high school you want in Arlington, wl is a distance second choice |
Anonymous
That’s more true if you are a rich lacrosse bro; Yorktown is not as academically minded and much more about sports culture. |
Anonymous
| WL is more middle class, down to earth. No one flaunts their wealth like at other nearby public schools. As others have said, it’s more academically focused, and much less of a sports culture. Good focus on the arts as well. A number of performing arts grads have made names for themselves in hollywood. More than a few oscar winners are grads. |
Anonymous
20 years ago, yes. Now I tell people to avoid. It has changed in every way and is no longer the school people remember. |
Anonymous
OP here. This is a dilemma for me. My kid marches to the beat of his own drummer so I’m not sure if being “the new kid” would be great for him. (Although I am similar and moving to a new school in 8th grade years ago was great for me.) OTOH I do worry about him getting lost at a big school, academically and socially. While he’s got a good group of buddies in MS, they are all neighbors in a small and made friends due to proximity (walk to each other’s houses). He doesn’t have a sport or art that would create a ready-made group. |
Anonymous
It seems like you’re not sold on either. Or maybe you’re overthinking. While at W-L there would be lots of new kids looking to make friends freshman year, it’s too large for your liking. (For context, there are other high schools in Northern Va that are larger). At Meridian, standing out as the new kid in a small school where most students grew up together isn’t a benefit for your family. Arlington and Falls Church are great places to raise a family / grow up. And at least in Arlington, many new students enter freshman year. But Maybe just stay in DC if you like your current neighborhood. MacArthur HS is small and growing. J-R (former Wilson) is large but not nearly as large as the Virginia high schools. Then there’s Latin, DC International, etc., for charter schools. Lastly, don’t worry about the generalizations on whether W-L or Meridian is arts focused or sports focused. There are great extracurricular options for students of all types at most any high school. Since W-L is larger there are more clubs, extracurriculars, and sports, even sports for non-sporty types. Ultimate frisbee is wildly popular in the Arlington schools. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
Turns out it is almost as challenging to find rental housing zoned for MacArthur and JR as it is in Virginia … and at least in Virginia there are better college options! |
Anonymous
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I have two kids at Meridian, and a third who is now in college. I wouldn’t worry too much about being “the new kid.” FCCPS is a popular school district for State Dept. and military families who are rotating back to DC. From kindergarten onwards, the “lifers” get lots of experience welcoming and integrating new students each year, and they really do reach out. If your student starts MHS at the beginning of the school year, there is even an orientation day specifically for students who are new to the district.
You can’t go wrong with either school (or with any other high school in the area). Either make the decision based on preferred size, or house hunt in both districts and see what you find. |
Anonymous
Fact. |