Should we leave Alexandria?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll take the top 10% of ACHS college placement ANYDAY over the top 10% of any other HS in Arlington. It's not even close.

If your kid is normal and from a decent family they will crush it at AC. If your kid is damaged and you don't have the funds to deal with it, well, youre screwed everywhere.

is this what ACPS parents tell themselves to make you feel better? This is not true at all. Look at the instagram college feeds from APS high schools. Ivies, MIT, top SLACs - how can you do better than that?

ACHS grads crush Arlington grads and everyone knows this.That's the entire point that makes Arlington families so angry, that and their racist tendencies.

Go look at ACHSdecisions26 and try to claim it's worse than any of the WL, Yorktown feeds. Hint- it's not. It's leagues above.

Noe ask yourself why that bothers you so much.

Not the PP. They don’t know the bolded because it isn’t true.

Here are the destinations for ACHS class of 25 (page 11): https://alextimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/5.29.25-Layout-C.pdf

Here is the same for Yorktown, though this looks like an incomplete list (there are some people on the Instagram page not included in this list at a quick glance): https://yorktownsentry.com/16953/galleries/the-senior-issue-graduation-2025/

ACHS had 984 total grads. Yorktown had 641. Of the top 20 colleges using USNWR, ACHS had kids going to 7 of them. Yorktown had kids going to 6 of them, despite the class being a third smaller and not even having the full list. ACHS is not “crushing” or being “leagues above” anything. And I say this as an Alexandria parent who really wishes it were true.

The one area it probably excels is as a feeder to UVA, as it is easier to be toward the top at ACHS and UVA seems to limit how many kids they take from each school.

Tell me you don't work in statistics without telling me you don't work in statistics. Please God don't tell me you work in polling..... or admit that you do and really work in proving bias.

"incomplete list"

"of the top 20 that use USNWR"

Butttttttt, you still want to use the data to claim that APS is better when the data you supplied showed the actual opposite. But there are reasons!!!

Look, lady, IDGAF at this stage in the game (in terms of a pissing match) because TC/AC put my two oldest in top 20 schools and my youngest just got ED to UVA, but if you see some utility in trying to convince me they would have done better at... Wakefield.... keep pissing in the wind.

Lol you accuse people of not understanding statistics but you fail to see that the ACHS results are not better when adjusted for size or that the Yorktown list has acceptances missing. You also fail to see that your earlier argument was that ACHS results “crushed” Arlington schools and were “leagues above,” when they actually are worse (again, adjusted for size, which is likely a concept beyond your understanding).

More importantly, you sound completely crazy. OP, this is the fun you get to experience in Alexandria!

You can't adjust if the data is incomplete, fool. So, you dont know anything about statistics. Thanks for the admission. Now tell us why this bothers you so much that you had to rapid fire respond three times in a row when you were wrong?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll take the top 10% of ACHS college placement ANYDAY over the top 10% of any other HS in Arlington. It's not even close.

If your kid is normal and from a decent family they will crush it at AC. If your kid is damaged and you don't have the funds to deal with it, well, youre screwed everywhere.

is this what ACPS parents tell themselves to make you feel better? This is not true at all. Look at the instagram college feeds from APS high schools. Ivies, MIT, top SLACs - how can you do better than that?

ACHS grads crush Arlington grads and everyone knows this.That's the entire point that makes Arlington families so angry, that and their racist tendencies.

Go look at ACHSdecisions26 and try to claim it's worse than any of the WL, Yorktown feeds. Hint- it's not. It's leagues above.

Noe ask yourself why that bothers you so much.

Not the PP. They don’t know the bolded because it isn’t true.

Here are the destinations for ACHS class of 25 (page 11): https://alextimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/5.29.25-Layout-C.pdf

Here is the same for Yorktown, though this looks like an incomplete list (there are some people on the Instagram page not included in this list at a quick glance): https://yorktownsentry.com/16953/galleries/the-senior-issue-graduation-2025/

ACHS had 984 total grads. Yorktown had 641. Of the top 20 colleges using USNWR, ACHS had kids going to 7 of them. Yorktown had kids going to 6 of them, despite the class being a third smaller and not even having the full list. ACHS is not “crushing” or being “leagues above” anything. And I say this as an Alexandria parent who really wishes it were true.

The one area it probably excels is as a feeder to UVA, as it is easier to be toward the top at ACHS and UVA seems to limit how many kids they take from each school.

Tell me you don't work in statistics without telling me you don't work in statistics. Please God don't tell me you work in polling..... or admit that you do and really work in proving bias.

"incomplete list"

"of the top 20 that use USNWR"

Butttttttt, you still want to use the data to claim that APS is better when the data you supplied showed the actual opposite. But there are reasons!!!

Look, lady, IDGAF at this stage in the game (in terms of a pissing match) because TC/AC put my two oldest in top 20 schools and my youngest just got ED to UVA, but if you see some utility in trying to convince me they would have done better at... Wakefield.... keep pissing in the wind.

Lol you accuse people of not understanding statistics but you fail to see that the ACHS results are not better when adjusted for size or that the Yorktown list has acceptances missing. You also fail to see that your earlier argument was that ACHS results “crushed” Arlington schools and were “leagues above,” when they actually are worse (again, adjusted for size, which is likely a concept beyond your understanding).

More importantly, you sound completely crazy. OP, this is the fun you get to experience in Alexandria!

You can't adjust if the data is incomplete, fool. So, you dont know anything about statistics. Thanks for the admission. Now tell us why this bothers you so much that you had to rapid fire respond three times in a row when you were wrong?

You can if you know how many kids graduated, fool. The number of kids that graduated is not based on those lists—we know it separately through basic googling. So 6 (at a minimum) of the T20 schools for a class of 641, versus 7 of the T20 for a class of 984. Yorktown’s result is already better on a per capita basis without knowing if there are other schools we haven’t included yet beyond the 6. We can also conclude that a larger share of the top 10% (which was also being debated) goes to top schools at Yorktown than at ACHS. See? Not that hard if you apply even the slightest amount of brain power.

As to your question of why I responded when I was right*, the answer is that there is a pervasive myth in Alexandria that if you can survive ACHS, it offers better college outcomes than other places. The old “Yale or jail” trope. But it’s actually more like UVA/VT or jail. Which is fine. But people shouldn’t be tricked into staying in ACHS just for better college outcomes when there aren’t any.

[Anonymous]

^^^should add my one caveat that I made earlier, which is that it is easier to be top in ACHS than elsewhere. So if that may matter for your kid, then I would take it into account.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll take the top 10% of ACHS college placement ANYDAY over the top 10% of any other HS in Arlington. It's not even close.

If your kid is normal and from a decent family they will crush it at AC. If your kid is damaged and you don't have the funds to deal with it, well, youre screwed everywhere.

is this what ACPS parents tell themselves to make you feel better? This is not true at all. Look at the instagram college feeds from APS high schools. Ivies, MIT, top SLACs - how can you do better than that?

ACHS grads crush Arlington grads and everyone knows this.That's the entire point that makes Arlington families so angry, that and their racist tendencies.

Go look at ACHSdecisions26 and try to claim it's worse than any of the WL, Yorktown feeds. Hint- it's not. It's leagues above.

Noe ask yourself why that bothers you so much.

Not the PP. They don’t know the bolded because it isn’t true.

Here are the destinations for ACHS class of 25 (page 11): https://alextimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/5.29.25-Layout-C.pdf

Here is the same for Yorktown, though this looks like an incomplete list (there are some people on the Instagram page not included in this list at a quick glance): https://yorktownsentry.com/16953/galleries/the-senior-issue-graduation-2025/

ACHS had 984 total grads. Yorktown had 641. Of the top 20 colleges using USNWR, ACHS had kids going to 7 of them. Yorktown had kids going to 6 of them, despite the class being a third smaller and not even having the full list. ACHS is not “crushing” or being “leagues above” anything. And I say this as an Alexandria parent who really wishes it were true.

The one area it probably excels is as a feeder to UVA, as it is easier to be toward the top at ACHS and UVA seems to limit how many kids they take from each school.

Tell me you don't work in statistics without telling me you don't work in statistics. Please God don't tell me you work in polling..... or admit that you do and really work in proving bias.

"incomplete list"

"of the top 20 that use USNWR"

Butttttttt, you still want to use the data to claim that APS is better when the data you supplied showed the actual opposite. But there are reasons!!!

Look, lady, IDGAF at this stage in the game (in terms of a pissing match) because TC/AC put my two oldest in top 20 schools and my youngest just got ED to UVA, but if you see some utility in trying to convince me they would have done better at... Wakefield.... keep pissing in the wind.

Lol you accuse people of not understanding statistics but you fail to see that the ACHS results are not better when adjusted for size or that the Yorktown list has acceptances missing. You also fail to see that your earlier argument was that ACHS results “crushed” Arlington schools and were “leagues above,” when they actually are worse (again, adjusted for size, which is likely a concept beyond your understanding).

More importantly, you sound completely crazy. OP, this is the fun you get to experience in Alexandria!

You can't adjust if the data is incomplete, fool. So, you dont know anything about statistics. Thanks for the admission. Now tell us why this bothers you so much that you had to rapid fire respond three times in a row when you were wrong?

You can if you know how many kids graduated, fool. The number of kids that graduated is not based on those lists—we know it separately through basic googling. So 6 (at a minimum) of the T20 schools for a class of 641, versus 7 of the T20 for a class of 984. Yorktown’s result is already better on a per capita basis without knowing if there are other schools we haven’t included yet beyond the 6. We can also conclude that a larger share of the top 10% (which was also being debated) goes to top schools at Yorktown than at ACHS. See? Not that hard if you apply even the slightest amount of brain power.

As to your question of why I responded when I was right*, the answer is that there is a pervasive myth in Alexandria that if you can survive ACHS, it offers better college outcomes than other places. The old “Yale or jail” trope. But it’s actually more like UVA/VT or jail. Which is fine. But people shouldn’t be tricked into staying in ACHS just for better college outcomes when there aren’t any.

Statistics are exact, fool. They are not to massaged to your conclusion. I have no doubt you know this but your odd anger is preventing you from playing by the rules so I call it out this last time. Two of my three kids got into T20 and the third s at UVA. Find me an APS family that can claim the same or STFU. I'm done being your therapist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll take the top 10% of ACHS college placement ANYDAY over the top 10% of any other HS in Arlington. It's not even close.

If your kid is normal and from a decent family they will crush it at AC. If your kid is damaged and you don't have the funds to deal with it, well, youre screwed everywhere.

is this what ACPS parents tell themselves to make you feel better? This is not true at all. Look at the instagram college feeds from APS high schools. Ivies, MIT, top SLACs - how can you do better than that?

ACHS grads crush Arlington grads and everyone knows this.That's the entire point that makes Arlington families so angry, that and their racist tendencies.

Go look at ACHSdecisions26 and try to claim it's worse than any of the WL, Yorktown feeds. Hint- it's not. It's leagues above.

Noe ask yourself why that bothers you so much.

Not the PP. They don’t know the bolded because it isn’t true.

Here are the destinations for ACHS class of 25 (page 11): https://alextimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/5.29.25-Layout-C.pdf

Here is the same for Yorktown, though this looks like an incomplete list (there are some people on the Instagram page not included in this list at a quick glance): https://yorktownsentry.com/16953/galleries/the-senior-issue-graduation-2025/

ACHS had 984 total grads. Yorktown had 641. Of the top 20 colleges using USNWR, ACHS had kids going to 7 of them. Yorktown had kids going to 6 of them, despite the class being a third smaller and not even having the full list. ACHS is not “crushing” or being “leagues above” anything. And I say this as an Alexandria parent who really wishes it were true.

The one area it probably excels is as a feeder to UVA, as it is easier to be toward the top at ACHS and UVA seems to limit how many kids they take from each school.

Tell me you don't work in statistics without telling me you don't work in statistics. Please God don't tell me you work in polling..... or admit that you do and really work in proving bias.

"incomplete list"

"of the top 20 that use USNWR"

Butttttttt, you still want to use the data to claim that APS is better when the data you supplied showed the actual opposite. But there are reasons!!!

Look, lady, IDGAF at this stage in the game (in terms of a pissing match) because TC/AC put my two oldest in top 20 schools and my youngest just got ED to UVA, but if you see some utility in trying to convince me they would have done better at... Wakefield.... keep pissing in the wind.

Lol you accuse people of not understanding statistics but you fail to see that the ACHS results are not better when adjusted for size or that the Yorktown list has acceptances missing. You also fail to see that your earlier argument was that ACHS results “crushed” Arlington schools and were “leagues above,” when they actually are worse (again, adjusted for size, which is likely a concept beyond your understanding).

More importantly, you sound completely crazy. OP, this is the fun you get to experience in Alexandria!

You can't adjust if the data is incomplete, fool. So, you dont know anything about statistics. Thanks for the admission. Now tell us why this bothers you so much that you had to rapid fire respond three times in a row when you were wrong?

You can if you know how many kids graduated, fool. The number of kids that graduated is not based on those lists—we know it separately through basic googling. So 6 (at a minimum) of the T20 schools for a class of 641, versus 7 of the T20 for a class of 984. Yorktown’s result is already better on a per capita basis without knowing if there are other schools we haven’t included yet beyond the 6. We can also conclude that a larger share of the top 10% (which was also being debated) goes to top schools at Yorktown than at ACHS. See? Not that hard if you apply even the slightest amount of brain power.

As to your question of why I responded when I was right*, the answer is that there is a pervasive myth in Alexandria that if you can survive ACHS, it offers better college outcomes than other places. The old “Yale or jail” trope. But it’s actually more like UVA/VT or jail. Which is fine. But people shouldn’t be tricked into staying in ACHS just for better college outcomes when there aren’t any.

Statistics are exact, fool. They are not to massaged to your conclusion. I have no doubt you know this but your odd anger is preventing you from playing by the rules so I call it out this last time. Two of my three kids got into T20 and the third s at UVA. Find me an APS family that can claim the same or STFU. I'm done being your therapist.

Not angry at all, just trying to make the info on this thread more accurate. You, on the other hand, seem to fly off the handle at any info you don’t like.

If you understand what a denominator is, you understand that they aren’t changing in these numbers. The only thing that can change is Yorktown’s numerator, and it can only go higher (ie, better). But what we have already is enough to demonstrate that claims of ACHS “crushing” or being “leagues above” are inaccurate. Nothing is being massaged.

There are multiple families in APS that can claim the same as you. It’s funny that you talk about statistics and think your n=3 example is indicative of anything, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll take the top 10% of ACHS college placement ANYDAY over the top 10% of any other HS in Arlington. It's not even close.

If your kid is normal and from a decent family they will crush it at AC. If your kid is damaged and you don't have the funds to deal with it, well, youre screwed everywhere.

is this what ACPS parents tell themselves to make you feel better? This is not true at all. Look at the instagram college feeds from APS high schools. Ivies, MIT, top SLACs - how can you do better than that?

ACHS grads crush Arlington grads and everyone knows this.That's the entire point that makes Arlington families so angry, that and their racist tendencies.

Go look at ACHSdecisions26 and try to claim it's worse than any of the WL, Yorktown feeds. Hint- it's not. It's leagues above.

Noe ask yourself why that bothers you so much.

This has got to be a troll post and the cited instagram page is wrong. The 2026 decisions for both W-L and Yorktown far surpass ACHS. There's no argument there. It's not even close.

Here's the complete list for all area schools posting college acceptance. Go to the most recent page:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/315/1304598.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll take the top 10% of ACHS college placement ANYDAY over the top 10% of any other HS in Arlington. It's not even close.

If your kid is normal and from a decent family they will crush it at AC. If your kid is damaged and you don't have the funds to deal with it, well, youre screwed everywhere.

is this what ACPS parents tell themselves to make you feel better? This is not true at all. Look at the instagram college feeds from APS high schools. Ivies, MIT, top SLACs - how can you do better than that?

ACHS grads crush Arlington grads and everyone knows this.That's the entire point that makes Arlington families so angry, that and their racist tendencies.

Go look at ACHSdecisions26 and try to claim it's worse than any of the WL, Yorktown feeds. Hint- it's not. It's leagues above.

Noe ask yourself why that bothers you so much.

This has got to be a troll post and the cited instagram page is wrong. The 2026 decisions for both W-L and Yorktown far surpass ACHS. There's no argument there. It's not even close.

Here's the complete list for all area schools posting college acceptance. Go to the most recent page:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/315/1304598.page

Yeah, so far this year it seems that W-L and Yorktown are close to each other and then behind them are ACHS and Wakefield close to each other.

[Anonymous]

Wakefield is well ahead of ACHS also.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wakefield is well ahead of ACHS also.

Eh, not really. There is one Brown and then the rest are UVA or sort of middle of the pack schools. Pretty similar to ACHS with one WashU and then the same as Wakefield.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll take the top 10% of ACHS college placement ANYDAY over the top 10% of any other HS in Arlington. It's not even close.

If your kid is normal and from a decent family they will crush it at AC. If your kid is damaged and you don't have the funds to deal with it, well, youre screwed everywhere.

is this what ACPS parents tell themselves to make you feel better? This is not true at all. Look at the instagram college feeds from APS high schools. Ivies, MIT, top SLACs - how can you do better than that?

ACHS grads crush Arlington grads and everyone knows this.That's the entire point that makes Arlington families so angry, that and their racist tendencies.

Go look at ACHSdecisions26 and try to claim it's worse than any of the WL, Yorktown feeds. Hint- it's not. It's leagues above.

Noe ask yourself why that bothers you so much.

This has got to be a troll post and the cited instagram page is wrong. The 2026 decisions for both W-L and Yorktown far surpass ACHS. There's no argument there. It's not even close.

Here's the complete list for all area schools posting college acceptance. Go to the most recent page:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/315/1304598.page

"Not rven close"

The first ten pages of Wake's decisions are:

NC A&T
Elon
Howard
'Southern Utah University' Is that even real?
Liberty
VCU
And a smattering of brown kids who got into UVA

Yeah! They are killing it!!!



How embarassing.

[Anonymous]

NP here. When comparing ACPS v APS, remember that Arlington kids are eligible for TJ, so arguably, the best and brightest of Arlington are going to TJ and all of Alexandria kids are at AC. Hence I would have expected much better results from AC given their pool is the entirety of ACPS brain trust.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here. When comparing ACPS v APS, remember that Arlington kids are eligible for TJ, so arguably, the best and brightest of Arlington are going to TJ and all of Alexandria kids are at AC. Hence I would have expected much better results from AC given their pool is the entirety of ACPS brain trust.

A precious few APS kids go to TJ. Overall , APS has far more students than ACPS, so this doesn’t seem like a valid argument.

If you enjoy your neighborhood and home and you’re zoned for one of the better ACPS schools, it could be worth giving the school a try. We love living in our very walkable neighborhood and have been happy with our neighborhood school. I have points of comparison since I’ve taught for many years in APS and FCPS. I’m confident that my kids are getting a comparable education. If at any point we feel it’s necessary, we’ll switch to private. That never became the case for our oldest, who is at an excellent college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. When comparing ACPS v APS, remember that Arlington kids are eligible for TJ, so arguably, the best and brightest of Arlington are going to TJ and all of Alexandria kids are at AC. Hence I would have expected much better results from AC given their pool is the entirety of ACPS brain trust.

A precious few APS kids go to TJ. Overall , APS has far more students than ACPS, so this doesn’t seem like a valid argument.

If you enjoy your neighborhood and home and you’re zoned for one of the better ACPS schools, it could be worth giving the school a try. We love living in our very walkable neighborhood and have been happy with our neighborhood school. I have points of comparison since I’ve taught for many years in APS and FCPS. I’m confident that my kids are getting a comparable education. If at any point we feel it’s necessary, we’ll switch to private. That never became the case for our oldest, who is at an excellent college.

Which ones would you consider better? LC, Mason, Brooks?

[Anonymous]

OP - what do you want for your child and from your school? I'm struggling with the shortcomings of the deficient physical space in our ACPS ES. I also know that my ES kids would be in a more pleasant space and better served in schools that had much fewer English language learners. But my older child is doing well at the HS, and will go to college and be set up for life that is realistic for that DC. But that DC was never ivy bound. ACHS served that DC well. My DC in a Virginia university is outperforming peers, and ACHS unquestionably academically prepared that DC. That DC also gets to come home to our great neighborhood on holiday and spend time with close friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - what do you want for your child and from your school? I'm struggling with the shortcomings of the deficient physical space in our ACPS ES. I also know that my ES kids would be in a more pleasant space and better served in schools that had much fewer English language learners. But my older child is doing well at the HS, and will go to college and be set up for life that is realistic for that DC. But that DC was never ivy bound. ACHS served that DC well. My DC in a Virginia university is outperforming peers, and ACHS unquestionably academically prepared that DC. That DC also gets to come home to our great neighborhood on holiday and spend time with close friends.

I think you have touched on something, your older kids went through a different school system than your younger one is in. Education has changed a lot in a decade.