Culture at McLean High vs Langley High?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids goto McLean and I've asked them about the differences between McLean and Langley. They joke around that the Langley kids are the drug users, but the McLean kids are the dealers. Again, just a joke but the truth behind it is that the McLean kids seem to be more down to earth while the Langley kids are more about money/looks.

You're not exactly an unbiased source if your kids go to McLean, are you? You'd want to push the stereotype that your kids are more down-to-earth.

I live in McLean (zoned for Langley), and the reality is that very few wealthy families are sending their kids to Langley. Of all the kids in our neighborhood (which is within a mile of the school), exactly 0 go to public schools. They all go private. People who earn a decent living do, but most families with a lot of money don't. So no need to worry about your classmates jetting of to Gstaad for ski weekends, or whatever the problem is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where do I send my kids when I want to avoid high percentage of rich kids? Where are the MC and UMC kids?
Don't care for sports or arts. More like STEM and languages.

West Springfield, Lake Braddock, Oakton, Madison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where do I send my kids when I want to avoid high percentage of rich kids? Where are the MC and UMC kids?
Don't care for sports or arts. More like STEM and languages.

UMC makes up the majority of McLean and Langley and there have strong STEM and language options. Same for most of the other HS in Arlington County, Falls Church City and Fairfax County.

[Anonymous]

Which ACPS school do your children currently attend?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids goto McLean and I've asked them about the differences between McLean and Langley. They joke around that the Langley kids are the drug users, but the McLean kids are the dealers. Again, just a joke but the truth behind it is that the McLean kids seem to be more down to earth while the Langley kids are more about money/looks.

You're not exactly an unbiased source if your kids go to McLean, are you? You'd want to push the stereotype that your kids are more down-to-earth.

I live in McLean (zoned for Langley), and the reality is that very few wealthy families are sending their kids to Langley. Of all the kids in our neighborhood (which is within a mile of the school), exactly 0 go to public schools. They all go private. People who earn a decent living do, but most families with a lot of money don't. So no need to worry about your classmates jetting of to Gstaad for ski weekends, or whatever the problem is.

+1

that's why you have private schools like Madeira and Potomac which are only a couple miles from Langley HS. I have a son at Langley HS and a daughter @Madeira. The son has to go to Langley HS because he was rejected by Potomac . Are kids at Langley HS are much better off than say kids from Falls Church or Herndon? The answer is yes but they are UCM, not the wealthy type.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids goto McLean and I've asked them about the differences between McLean and Langley. They joke around that the Langley kids are the drug users, but the McLean kids are the dealers. Again, just a joke but the truth behind it is that the McLean kids seem to be more down to earth while the Langley kids are more about money/looks.

You're not exactly an unbiased source if your kids go to McLean, are you? You'd want to push the stereotype that your kids are more down-to-earth.

I live in McLean (zoned for Langley), and the reality is that very few wealthy families are sending their kids to Langley. Of all the kids in our neighborhood (which is within a mile of the school), exactly 0 go to public schools. They all go private. People who earn a decent living do, but most families with a lot of money don't. So no need to worry about your classmates jetting of to Gstaad for ski weekends, or whatever the problem is.

DP. I don't think there is a single neighborhood zoned for McLean where none of the kids go to public schools. Most of the kids in our neighborhood go to the public schools in the McLean pyramid. A handful go to privates and there are a couple of kids who pupil placed to Marshall HS for IB.

To those outside the Langley and McLean districts, the differences seem immaterial. But McLean will probably always think of itself as David to Langley's Goliath, because Langley is richer. They are big rivals, but in recent years have started to cooperate on things like the Relay-for-Life, an annual fundraiser for cancer research that the two schools jointly sponsor every spring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids goto McLean and I've asked them about the differences between McLean and Langley. They joke around that the Langley kids are the drug users, but the McLean kids are the dealers. Again, just a joke but the truth behind it is that the McLean kids seem to be more down to earth while the Langley kids are more about money/looks.

Uh, no. Langley parent here. Please stop spreading that stereotype about Langley kids. There are PLENTY of down to earth kids at Langley. And there are drug users in *every* high school - including McLean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids goto McLean and I've asked them about the differences between McLean and Langley. They joke around that the Langley kids are the drug users, but the McLean kids are the dealers. Again, just a joke but the truth behind it is that the McLean kids seem to be more down to earth while the Langley kids are more about money/looks.

You're not exactly an unbiased source if your kids go to McLean, are you? You'd want to push the stereotype that your kids are more down-to-earth.

I live in McLean (zoned for Langley), and the reality is that very few wealthy families are sending their kids to Langley. Of all the kids in our neighborhood (which is within a mile of the school), exactly 0 go to public schools. They all go private. People who earn a decent living do, but most families with a lot of money don't. So no need to worry about your classmates jetting of to Gstaad for ski weekends, or whatever the problem is.

EXACTLY. The uber-wealthy have kids at privates. Plenty of mini-van families at Langley (I am one). The people who constantly hate on Langley are revealing far more about themselves than about the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids goto McLean and I've asked them about the differences between McLean and Langley. They joke around that the Langley kids are the drug users, but the McLean kids are the dealers. Again, just a joke but the truth behind it is that the McLean kids seem to be more down to earth while the Langley kids are more about money/looks.

Huh. I was stopped at a stoplight in McLean the other day, next to a group of McLean HS students collecting money for their crew team. They noticed the Langley sticker on the back of my car and started *loudly* berating Langley and our crew team, saying they definitely wouldn't be getting a donation from that driver (me). I rolled the window down and gave them $5.00, pointedly telling them I had heard what they said. We all laughed about it, but it was clear they were embarrassed. As they should have been.

So down to earth!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:EXACTLY. The uber-wealthy have kids at privates. Plenty of mini-van families at Langley (I am one). The people who constantly hate on Langley are revealing far more about themselves than about the school.

I live in McLean near Giant food and I take Dolley Madison Blvd and Old Georgetown Pike to go to work in Bethesda. I see a lots of Mercedes, Audi, Porsche and BMW on Old Georgetown Pike make left turn into Langley HS in the morning to drop off their kids but not as much as Madeira school.

There are no condos or apartments in the Langley and Great falls areas. There are expensive apartments like the Ashby and Mclean House Condos in Mclean, right across from Safeway on old chain bridge road.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids goto McLean and I've asked them about the differences between McLean and Langley. They joke around that the Langley kids are the drug users, but the McLean kids are the dealers. Again, just a joke but the truth behind it is that the McLean kids seem to be more down to earth while the Langley kids are more about money/looks.

You're not exactly an unbiased source if your kids go to McLean, are you? You'd want to push the stereotype that your kids are more down-to-earth.

I live in McLean (zoned for Langley), and the reality is that very few wealthy families are sending their kids to Langley. Of all the kids in our neighborhood (which is within a mile of the school), exactly 0 go to public schools. They all go private. People who earn a decent living do, but most families with a lot of money don't. So no need to worry about your classmates jetting of to Gstaad for ski weekends, or whatever the problem is.

EXACTLY. The uber-wealthy have kids at privates. Plenty of mini-van families at Langley (I am one). The people who constantly hate on Langley are revealing far more about themselves than about the school.

The difference, though, is that Langley parents think they are down-to-earth because they drive older cars and send their kids to public school. Others will still think of Langley as elitist because the school's boundaries have been carefully maintained over the years to include only UMC and UC neighborhoods composed primarily of single-family homes, and with no rental apartments.

Janie Strauss actually went into Langley neighborhoods back in 2011 and said she should be re-elected her because she'd kept Langley out of boundary studies that might have moved part of Langley to South Lakes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Langley is 65% white, less than 2% low-income, and the kids mostly live in McLean and Great Falls. McLean is 55% white, about 10% low-income, and the kids live in McLean, Falls Church, and Vienna. Both schools are over 20% Asian.

The dominant culture at both schools consists of hard-working, ambitious kids taking lots of AP classes and preparing for college, but Langley is a bit more “Type A.” The precincts that are zoned for Langley mostly vote Republican, like Clifton and Fairfax Station, whereas the precincts zoned for McLean tend to vote Democratic, like nearby Arlington and Falls Church City.

Langley used to have more students, but the enrollment at McLean has been larger for the last few years. Langley still beats McLean at most sports, except for gymnastics, tennis, and the occasional basketball game.

Fairfax Station and Clifton are nowhere near McLean. They are out by Centreville

Understood - the point was that Clifton, Fairfax Station, and the areas in McLean and Great Falls zoned for Langley have been among the most Republican areas of Fairfax County.

Np. It was poorly written, if that’s the case.

I understood the pp just fine and I haven't even had my coffee yet.

+1. I had zero trouble understanding PP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids goto McLean and I've asked them about the differences between McLean and Langley. They joke around that the Langley kids are the drug users, but the McLean kids are the dealers. Again, just a joke but the truth behind it is that the McLean kids seem to be more down to earth while the Langley kids are more about money/looks.

You're not exactly an unbiased source if your kids go to McLean, are you? You'd want to push the stereotype that your kids are more down-to-earth.

I live in McLean (zoned for Langley), and the reality is that very few wealthy families are sending their kids to Langley. Of all the kids in our neighborhood (which is within a mile of the school), exactly 0 go to public schools. They all go private. People who earn a decent living do, but most families with a lot of money don't. So no need to worry about your classmates jetting of to Gstaad for ski weekends, or whatever the problem is.

A quick scan of the parking lot will tell you otherwise. Plenty of rich people's kids go to Langley.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A quick scan of the parking lot will tell you otherwise. Plenty of rich people's kids go to Langley.

Those cars don't mean anything. it just tells you they are UCM, not wealthy. I live in 0.5 mile from Langley and I have two full-pay tuition kids at private schools, around 40k/year for each. they have been going there since kindergarten. It costs me about 420k/year for each kid from K-12. That will be 820k for both kids. I can have multiple Benz, Range Rover and Bentley with that kind of money.

Benz, BMW, Range Rover are dime and dozen at Madeira and Potomac schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A quick scan of the parking lot will tell you otherwise. Plenty of rich people's kids go to Langley.

Those cars don't mean anything. it just tells you they are UCM, not wealthy. I live in 0.5 mile from Langley and I have two full-pay tuition kids at private schools, around 40k/year for each. they have been going there since kindergarten. It costs me about 420k/year for each kid from K-12. That will be 820k for both kids. I can have multiple Benz, Range Rover and Bentley with that kind of money.

Benz, BMW, Range Rover are dime and dozen at Madeira and Potomac schools.

This post tells you plenty about the attitudes you'll encounter in the Langley HS neighborhoods, even if not at the high school itself. There is more conspicuous consumption than you'll find in most of the McLean HS neighborhoods.