Yorktown, W-L or Meridian?

[Anonymous]

I am the OP. Thanks for your opinions! We are priced out of FCC I think (that HS sounds wonderful with it's small classes) so might be w-l for us!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am the OP. Thanks for your opinions! We are priced out of FCC I think (that HS sounds wonderful with it's small classes) so might be w-l for us!

Our kids are at YHS and love it. WL will be much bigger in the coming years.

[Anonymous]

Why not McLean, Langley?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the OP. Thanks for your opinions! We are priced out of FCC I think (that HS sounds wonderful with it's small classes) so might be w-l for us!

Our kids are at YHS and love it. WL will be much bigger in the coming years.

Didn’t they open the addition this year, so it’s up 200 students — how is it going?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yorktown is probably your best bet

But why is WL IB so coveted?

The IB diploma is great for college applications. Problem is less than 100 kids per year actually graduate with full IB. For the rest, it really makes no difference. WL is more diverse. Also larger.

Not sure what you mean by "for the rest [IB] makes no difference" at WL because it absolutely does make a difference. My 4th is about to graduate from WL. All 4 did some AP and some IB classes. Having IB and AP classes to select from is an unusual and fabulous option. AP classes are more like survey classes while IB are much more in depth and many are two year classes taken junior and senior years. So if your student is really interested in computer science - or biology - or Latin, for example, the two year IB classes in those subjects are excellent and much more like college classes. Let's face it, a student may get college credit for taking AP classes but taking almost any AP class is a lot easier than a college class. It's really a great option if WL is your neighborhood HS to take an IB class at WL without having to be full IB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yorktown is probably your best bet

But why is WL IB so coveted?

The IB diploma is great for college applications. Problem is less than 100 kids per year actually graduate with full IB. For the rest, it really makes no difference. WL is more diverse. Also larger.

The best thing for college apps is taking the top classes. It doesn't matter if it's IB or AP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not McLean, Langley?

I'm OP. Honestly we are priced out of McLean and I am not interested in the McLean culture anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not McLean, Langley?

I'm OP. Honestly we are priced out of McLean and I am not interested in the McLean culture anyway.

What culture, caring about academics? Because that is definitely not APS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not McLean, Langley?

I'm OP. Honestly we are priced out of McLean and I am not interested in the McLean culture anyway.

What culture, caring about academics? Because that is definitely not APS.

No, the culture of boredom, driving everywhere and lack of neighborliness. And the culture of zero diversity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s Meridian?

+1. What/where is Meridian? Never heard of it.

FCC renamed whatever founding father high school.

OK well you’re comparing two different counties. You can’t go wrong with either of the Arlington pyramids. But most people who are in Arlington probably aren’t going to recommend Falls Church city. Nothing wrong with it, it’s just a personal preference.

Not true. When we were looking to buy a house we were looking in Arlington and FCC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yorktown is probably your best bet

But why is WL IB so coveted?

The IB diploma is great for college applications. Problem is less than 100 kids per year actually graduate with full IB. For the rest, it really makes no difference. WL is more diverse. Also larger.

Not sure what you mean by "for the rest [IB] makes no difference" at WL because it absolutely does make a difference. My 4th is about to graduate from WL. All 4 did some AP and some IB classes. Having IB and AP classes to select from is an unusual and fabulous option. AP classes are more like survey classes while IB are much more in depth and many are two year classes taken junior and senior years. So if your student is really interested in computer science - or biology - or Latin, for example, the two year IB classes in those subjects are excellent and much more like college classes. Let's face it, a student may get college credit for taking AP classes but taking almost any AP class is a lot easier than a college class. It's really a great option if WL is your neighborhood HS to take an IB class at WL without having to be full IB.

+1 My 2nd DD is a junior at WL. I agree being able to take a mix of AP/IB has been great. She's doing the 2-year IB biology because she really loves that subject while doing APs in other areas. My older also took a couple IB classes but more AP. They both have ADHD and knew the full IB load would be too much for them. I appreciate the flexibility.

We've generally had a good experience with it. My DD's only complaints about the current size are how loud and crowded the cafeteria is but she also has a heightened sensitivity to sound so I don't know that she'd think any cafeteria was OK. While it's big, I also went to a HS of that size long ago so it doesn't seem unusually big to me and both kids seemed to have no trouble making new friends and finding their niche (it helps if they are involved in something like music, theater, sports, etc.)

When I've had to interact with teachers and counseling staff they have been very responsive and supportive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yorktown is probably your best bet

But why is WL IB so coveted?

The IB diploma is great for college applications. Problem is less than 100 kids per year actually graduate with full IB. For the rest, it really makes no difference. WL is more diverse. Also larger.

Not sure what you mean by "for the rest [IB] makes no difference" at WL because it absolutely does make a difference. My 4th is about to graduate from WL. All 4 did some AP and some IB classes. Having IB and AP classes to select from is an unusual and fabulous option. AP classes are more like survey classes while IB are much more in depth and many are two year classes taken junior and senior years. So if your student is really interested in computer science - or biology - or Latin, for example, the two year IB classes in those subjects are excellent and much more like college classes. Let's face it, a student may get college credit for taking AP classes but taking almost any AP class is a lot easier than a college class. It's really a great option if WL is your neighborhood HS to take an IB class at WL without having to be full IB.

If it’s so great why doesn’t APS offer both AP and IB at Yorktown and Wakefield? Seems like APS really has no coherent philosophy. There was just a point when people zoned to W-L controlled APS and wanted to favor W-L.