which HS (Oakton, Madison, Mclean) our family should choose

[Anonymous]

thanks. What do you think about Madison? I heard a lot people talking about Oakton, Mclean and Chantilly but seems not many discussions on Madison.

Anonymous wrote:OP - of the schools you mentioned for your family I’d go with McLean, then Oakton, then Woodson - but all are good and it’s not worth over-extending yourself financially just to get into a particular school district. Also Chantilly is worth considering but it’s very big (almost 3000 kids).

[Anonymous]

I just looked at Zillow. The house below are asking around $900K and it seems to be ok to my family. With the crazy mortgage rate, I will have to pay around $6000/m excluding any maintenance cost, which is almost a 1/4-1/3 of our take-home income. That is why I said I can only afford a house below $900K.



https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8706-Old-Courthouse-Rd-Vienna-VA-22182/51748543_zpid/?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just looked at Zillow. The house below are asking around $900K and it seems to be ok to my family. With the crazy mortgage rate, I will have to pay around $6000/m excluding any maintenance cost, which is almost a 1/4-1/3 of our take-home income. That is why I said I can only afford a house below $900K.



https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8706-Old-Courthouse-Rd-Vienna-VA-22182/51748543_zpid/?

This house feeds to Marshall, not one of the 3 schools you first mentioned. It’s also on a fairly busy road.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Note that if you choose McLean, the pool and tennis clubs in McLean and nearby North Arlington and Falls Church likely have multi-year waitlists to join.

Actually, Chesterbrook Swim Club does not keep a waitlist year to year. They open up registration for the waitlist in January. You either come off it with full or summer membership by end of summer. If you don’t get either. it starts over again the next January. We’re members and pretty sure that has not changed.

[Anonymous]

that is really helpful. We don't mind driving a little bit more for my kid's activities. When living in NYC suburb, we used to drive close to 1 hour(single trip) for my son's swimming training. So anything below 45-50 minutes should be ok for us.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Note that if you choose McLean, the pool and tennis clubs in McLean and nearby North Arlington and Falls Church likely have multi-year waitlists to join.

Actually, Chesterbrook Swim Club does not keep a waitlist year to year. They open up registration for the waitlist in January. You either come off it with full or summer membership by end of summer. If you don’t get either. it starts over again the next January. We’re members and pretty sure that has not changed.

[Anonymous]

In addition to Chesterbrook, check the Lee-Graham Swim and Tennis Club close to McLean in Falls Church. They have a waitlist, but I’m sure it’s much more reasonable than the insane 10-plus years for some of the Arlington swim clubs.

[Anonymous]

I think Hunter Mill is the only swim and tennis club in Vienna that doesn't have a long waitlist and has both swim and tennis.

[Anonymous]

No meaningful difference in these schools. Your child’s college outcome will be the same

[Anonymous]

I would say McLean pyramid, but the school system has neglected all the buildings, and everything is overcrowded. The irony is that the county focuses on making the poorly performing school look nice and expanding by neglecting the better and the wealthier schools to support equity. We plan to go private. The only reasonable option is Langley high pyramids if you don't mind being that far out. Everything else is a 3rd world dump, either the student body at the poorly performing schools or the buildings of the highly performing schools.

[Anonymous]

I would look at zip codes 22033 or 20171 that feed into the oakton or chantilly pyramid. You should be able to find something and will be satisfied with the schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would say McLean pyramid, but the school system has neglected all the buildings, and everything is overcrowded. The irony is that the county focuses on making the poorly performing school look nice and expanding by neglecting the better and the wealthier schools to support equity. We plan to go private. The only reasonable option is Langley high pyramids if you don't mind being that far out. Everything else is a 3rd world dump, either the student body at the poorly performing schools or the buildings of the highly performing schools.

You sound like a wonderful person

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would say McLean pyramid, but the school system has neglected all the buildings, and everything is overcrowded. The irony is that the county focuses on making the poorly performing school look nice and expanding by neglecting the better and the wealthier schools to support equity. We plan to go private. The only reasonable option is Langley high pyramids if you don't mind being that far out. Everything else is a 3rd world dump, either the student body at the poorly performing schools or the buildings of the highly performing schools.

Only the “high-performing” (read: wealthy) schools deserve renovations. Got it.

[Anonymous]

OP mentioned renting for the first year. Here is an option: https://www.redfin.com/VA/Fairfax/12271-Harbor-Town-Cir-22033/home/9834474

[Anonymous]

thanks. What do you think about Madison? I heard a lot people talking about Oakton, Mclean and Chantilly but seems not many discussions on Madison.

There is a separate thread on Madison already. If you'd like your kids to be part of a grading experiment, then sign up. Otherwise avoid, unless you have a kid interested in a baseball career. I moved to Madison boundary for schools, and it was good for awhile. Now, students can get an ok education, but there are no longer incentives anymore for a student to try their best. And Madison will keep experimenting and tinkering with this system for years, then do something else. McLean is a safer choice if academics are a priority. If you can find a reasonable home in Langley, consider it, I wouldn't write it off as a bunch of rich kids. I made that mistake too. Btw, Madison is also a bunch of rich kids. Woodson is worth considering, and there are nice houses in your price range there.

[Anonymous]

Oakton close in. Great place to live and many Asian families. Oakton HS is also better in my opinion than the others. You may be shocked at how run down they are. Madison was just so sports oriented and town of Vienna circa 1970 for us.