Yorktown vs. W-L High School in Arlington

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow! We're interested in McLean, Langley or Yorktown and they all sound awful! I'd like my child to have a balanced and positive HS experience and it honestly sounds like you can't do that anywhere. What's going on in these areas?

We had kids at McLean and were very happy there. I'm not sure there are big differences between McLean and the other two schools, but McLean isn't as uniformly affluent as Langley and it doesn't lose as many of its top students as Yorktown (the students transferring out of McLean for IB at Marshall are partially offset by students transferring to McLean for AP).

If you want a school in Fairfax that's more like W-L, look at Marshall or South Lakes. Unlike W-L, however, those schools only have IB, not AP. Personally, I'd think that your kid can have a "balanced and positive HS experience" at any of these schools, but you have to get past the snark on these forums.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Do you know specifically why these kids are transferring from Yorktown to W-L?

In my child's case, it is because they didn't like the social environment at YT. Too much pressure to be an "attractive, rich white kid". Boys felt like they have to be the sports superstar who wears vineyard vines and girls have to wear makeup and cute uggs. Not so much based on the academics. But this has happened to multiple kids I know. I know of 4 kids that transferred in the past year, just out of our small group of friends.

This. The place is kind of cold. Don't want my kid starting becoming an adult life like this. The other two schools have better environments.

Yep. My co worker's daughter got caught up in all that crap. They pulled her out.

I've heard the mean girl and Bro culture is very strong there.

It is. Actually my kid was popular before we switched to the other hs. It just that it takes a lot of energy managing the social environment and it got tiring watching your back all the time. Kid wanted an opportunity to built bond with other kids and minimize the constant postering/fakery that goes on over there.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Do you know specifically why these kids are transferring from Yorktown to W-L?

In my child's case, it is because they didn't like the social environment at YT. Too much pressure to be an "attractive, rich white kid". Boys felt like they have to be the sports superstar who wears vineyard vines and girls have to wear makeup and cute uggs. Not so much based on the academics. But this has happened to multiple kids I know. I know of 4 kids that transferred in the past year, just out of our small group of friends.

This. The place is kind of cold. Don't want my kid starting becoming an adult life like this. The other two schools have better environments.

Yep. My co worker's daughter got caught up in all that crap. They pulled her out.

I've heard the mean girl and Bro culture is very strong there.

It is. Actually my kid was popular before we switched to the other hs. It just that it takes a lot of energy managing the social environment and it got tiring watching your back all the time. Kid wanted an opportunity to built bond with other kids and minimize the constant postering/fakery that goes on over there.

What is "constant postering"? Is this like Tracy Flick in Election?

[Anonymous]

More and more parents are moving to south Arlington and sending their kids to Wakefield. I think it's going to be a much more diverse hs in 10-15 years.
People don't know/ remember that w-l was considered a really bad school not 20 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More and more parents are moving to south Arlington and sending their kids to Wakefield. I think it's going to be a much more diverse hs in 10-15 years.
People don't know/ remember that w-l was considered a really bad school not 20 years ago.

That's not true I was here 20 years ago and W-L was considered fine. It won the US Dept of Ed Blue Ribbon Award for Eduactional Excellence in the mid 80s. And in the 90s it had good college placement, scores were above state and national average, National Merit Semifinalists every year, and a graduation rate that actually surpassed Yorktown. That was around 1996/7. APS published school brochures every year which highlighted the high schools' achievements. Yes, Yorktown's scores were higher, but W-L was not a "really bad" school at all.

I knew APS teachers then who worked the system to send their kids to W-L. Generally speaking, there were no transfers back then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow! We're interested in McLean, Langley or Yorktown and they all sound awful! I'd like my child to have a balanced and positive HS experience and it honestly sounds like you can't do that anywhere. What's going on in these areas?

We had kids at McLean and were very happy there. I'm not sure there are big differences between McLean and the other two schools, but McLean isn't as uniformly affluent as Langley and it doesn't lose as many of its top students as Yorktown (the students transferring out of McLean for IB at Marshall are partially offset by students transferring to McLean for AP).

If you want a school in Fairfax that's more like W-L, look at Marshall or South Lakes. Unlike W-L, however, those schools only have IB, not AP. Personally, I'd think that your kid can have a "balanced and positive HS experience" at any of these schools, but you have to get past the snark on these forums.

As well as the odd comparisons to Marshall and South Lakes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More and more parents are moving to south Arlington and sending their kids to Wakefield. I think it's going to be a much more diverse hs in 10-15 years.
People don't know/ remember that w-l was considered a really bad school not 20 years ago.

That's not true I was here 20 years ago and W-L was considered fine. It won the US Dept of Ed Blue Ribbon Award for Eduactional Excellence in the mid 80s. And in the 90s it had good college placement, scores were above state and national average, National Merit Semifinalists every year, and a graduation rate that actually surpassed Yorktown. That was around 1996/7. APS published school brochures every year which highlighted the high schools' achievements. Yes, Yorktown's scores were higher, but W-L was not a "really bad" school at all.

I knew APS teachers then who worked the system to send their kids to W-L. Generally speaking, there were no transfers back then.

There was also behavioral issues and many opted for o connell

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow! We're interested in McLean, Langley or Yorktown and they all sound awful! I'd like my child to have a balanced and positive HS experience and it honestly sounds like you can't do that anywhere. What's going on in these areas?

We had kids at McLean and were very happy there. I'm not sure there are big differences between McLean and the other two schools, but McLean isn't as uniformly affluent as Langley and it doesn't lose as many of its top students as Yorktown (the students transferring out of McLean for IB at Marshall are partially offset by students transferring to McLean for AP).

If you want a school in Fairfax that's more like W-L, look at Marshall or South Lakes. Unlike W-L, however, those schools only have IB, not AP. Personally, I'd think that your kid can have a "balanced and positive HS experience" at any of these schools, but you have to get past the snark on these forums.

As well as the odd comparisons to Marshall and South Lakes.

Thanks for proving my point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Yep. My husband coaches youth sports and the most obnoxious sports' parents are those parents that feed into YHS.

how old are the kids? obnoxious sports parents are everywhere, even in S Arl, and they all get worse, not better, as the kids age. I don't think this is a YHS vs WL or White vs Diversity thing.