Potomac v Rockville

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We moved to Churchill at the end of middle school. My child found a group of friends relatively easily but I don't know what that would have looked like without a sports team community.

It's mega affluent. We are very comfortable but our house is 1.1 as opposed to 2.2. It was a shock to me to see my kid's Snapchat location map during the first break and see his school friends were literally all over the world - dozens of them. Many of his friends order food every lunch period and indiscriminately order extra for others. I imagine it's $100s per week.

Academics are very solid. Lots of opportunities for interesting classes. Clubs are dynamic. Lots of motivated, well-rounded kids.

The community we've interacted with is smart, motivated, hard working, and overall we are really like the vibe. But affluenza is a serious thing. Our kid is pretty resilient and grounded and not upset that they might have the lowest HHI of a particular friend group (at 450K, ha!) but YMMV. This kind of environment can go screwy in many ways.

This is ridiculous. 1/3 of the school is Beverly Farms and for parents that have been around since elem school almost no house was a million dollars. Sure there are super rich kids, but there are plenty of grounded kids with parents making average amounts of money. Stop trying to make it richer than it is.

Median household income in Montgomery County is about $125,000.

In 2021, the median household income of the 16.5k households in Potomac, MD grew to $198,870

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We moved to Churchill at the end of middle school. My child found a group of friends relatively easily but I don't know what that would have looked like without a sports team community.

It's mega affluent. We are very comfortable but our house is 1.1 as opposed to 2.2. It was a shock to me to see my kid's Snapchat location map during the first break and see his school friends were literally all over the world - dozens of them. Many of his friends order food every lunch period and indiscriminately order extra for others. I imagine it's $100s per week.

Academics are very solid. Lots of opportunities for interesting classes. Clubs are dynamic. Lots of motivated, well-rounded kids.

The community we've interacted with is smart, motivated, hard working, and overall we are really like the vibe. But affluenza is a serious thing. Our kid is pretty resilient and grounded and not upset that they might have the lowest HHI of a particular friend group (at 450K, ha!) but YMMV. This kind of environment can go screwy in many ways.

This is ridiculous. 1/3 of the school is Beverly Farms and for parents that have been around since elem school almost no house was a million dollars. Sure there are super rich kids, but there are plenty of grounded kids with parents making average amounts of money. Stop trying to make it richer than it is.

I appreciate that we have different experiences and yours is more nuanced than mine but this is actually mine. Admittedly within a very limited sample size, very limited time frame. We live in the 1/3 Beverly Farms area too. And I am saying the rich kids ARE grounded. They've been really lovely.

[Anonymous]

We were in a similar dilemma several years ago and chose Wootton. The reason was mostly socio-economic and the general vibe. You could classify us as UMC in terms of net worth, but we choose to live way below our means and use the money to help relatives. Especially in MS and HS your kid's peers and the way they spend is important. Wootton is by no means poor, but we thought a bit more down to earth which we thought would help with peer pressure and social anxiety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do the community cultures compare? Looking at the Wooten school district versus Churchill? Specifically, wondering about sense of community, pressure cooker vibes, significant of wealth, etc.

I thought Rockville was called North Potomac these days?

Wootton HS is within the municipal boundaries of the City of Rockville, which makes it: Rockville. Wootton HS is in Rockville.

My real estate agent calls it North Potomac.

Yes that's how most people think of it these days.

I've lived here 5 years and all this time I thought of it as North Potomac. Who knew it was a city?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do the community cultures compare? Looking at the Wooten school district versus Churchill? Specifically, wondering about sense of community, pressure cooker vibes, significant of wealth, etc.

I thought Rockville was called North Potomac these days?

Wootton HS is within the municipal boundaries of the City of Rockville, which makes it: Rockville. Wootton HS is in Rockville.

My real estate agent calls it North Potomac.

Yes that's how most people think of it these days.

I've lived here 5 years and all this time I thought of it as North Potomac. Who knew it was a city?

You, when you pay taxes to the City of Rockville and receive public services from the City of Rockville?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We moved to Churchill at the end of middle school. My child found a group of friends relatively easily but I don't know what that would have looked like without a sports team community.

It's mega affluent. We are very comfortable but our house is 1.1 as opposed to 2.2. It was a shock to me to see my kid's Snapchat location map during the first break and see his school friends were literally all over the world - dozens of them. Many of his friends order food every lunch period and indiscriminately order extra for others. I imagine it's $100s per week.

Academics are very solid. Lots of opportunities for interesting classes. Clubs are dynamic. Lots of motivated, well-rounded kids.

The community we've interacted with is smart, motivated, hard working, and overall we are really like the vibe. But affluenza is a serious thing. Our kid is pretty resilient and grounded and not upset that they might have the lowest HHI of a particular friend group (at 450K, ha!) but YMMV. This kind of environment can go screwy in many ways.

This is ridiculous. 1/3 of the school is Beverly Farms and for parents that have been around since elem school almost no house was a million dollars. Sure there are super rich kids, but there are plenty of grounded kids with parents making average amounts of money. Stop trying to make it richer than it is.

Median household income in Montgomery County is about $125,000.

In 2021, the median household income of the 16.5k households in Potomac, MD grew to $198,870

Parents making average amounts of money FOR POTOMAC...

[Anonymous]

Obviously if you can afford it, then Potomac.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do the community cultures compare? Looking at the Wooten school district versus Churchill? Specifically, wondering about sense of community, pressure cooker vibes, significant of wealth, etc.

I thought Rockville was called North Potomac these days?

Wootton HS is within the municipal boundaries of the City of Rockville, which makes it: Rockville. Wootton HS is in Rockville.

My real estate agent calls it North Potomac.

Yes that's how most people think of it these days.

I've lived here 5 years and all this time I thought of it as North Potomac. Who knew it was a city?

These are the city limits of Rockville. Wootton HS itself is inside the limits, but quite a few of the neighborhoods zoned to Wootton are not. Hope that clears things up.

https://rockvillemd.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=0aa9fe18b6c64b46a61230da64a2b2fd

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do the community cultures compare? Looking at the Wooten school district versus Churchill? Specifically, wondering about sense of community, pressure cooker vibes, significant of wealth, etc.

I thought Rockville was called North Potomac these days?

Wootton HS is within the municipal boundaries of the City of Rockville, which makes it: Rockville. Wootton HS is in Rockville.

My real estate agent calls it North Potomac.

Yes that's how most people think of it these days.

I've lived here 5 years and all this time I thought of it as North Potomac. Who knew it was a city?

Everyone. Only real estate people refer to it as North Potomac.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Obviously if you can afford it, then Potomac.

We could easily afford it but chose to avoid it.

[Anonymous]

Recommendation for Potomac. We moved to the closer-in part in 2021 from the eastern part of the county. The closer-in part is the part that some posters on this Board would deem not "true Potomac." Whatever. We moved for the larger houses and lots and the schools. We don't care what label the Postal Service gives our neighborhood.

Most of our preconceived negative notions of Potomac have been proven false; we had literally never set foot in Potomac before investigating where to move and thus weren't actually familiar with it. It is of course more expensive than much of the county and we recognize that we are fortunate to be able to live here. While I'm sure there are some awful people living here, we don't regularly encounter them. Our experience has been excellent: our kids are happy and so are we.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We moved to Churchill at the end of middle school. My child found a group of friends relatively easily but I don't know what that would have looked like without a sports team community.

It's mega affluent. We are very comfortable but our house is 1.1 as opposed to 2.2. It was a shock to me to see my kid's Snapchat location map during the first break and see his school friends were literally all over the world - dozens of them. Many of his friends order food every lunch period and indiscriminately order extra for others. I imagine it's $100s per week.

Academics are very solid. Lots of opportunities for interesting classes. Clubs are dynamic. Lots of motivated, well-rounded kids.

The community we've interacted with is smart, motivated, hard working, and overall we are really like the vibe. But affluenza is a serious thing. Our kid is pretty resilient and grounded and not upset that they might have the lowest HHI of a particular friend group (at 450K, ha!) but YMMV. This kind of environment can go screwy in many ways.

this - is exactly why we chose Wootton ....people love to say they are similar but Churchill money is absurd!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Obviously if you can afford it, then Potomac.

but North Potomac schools like Wootton are so much better

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were in a similar dilemma several years ago and chose Wootton. The reason was mostly socio-economic and the general vibe. You could classify us as UMC in terms of net worth, but we choose to live way below our means and use the money to help relatives. Especially in MS and HS your kid's peers and the way they spend is important. Wootton is by no means poor, but we thought a bit more down to earth which we thought would help with peer pressure and social anxiety.

Very well said! I understand the houses right next to Churchill may not be over the top but you can look at Schools At A Glance at both and see that Wootton is much more down to earth and more the "real world" than Churchill. My kids went through CJ and although they are still good friends with Churchill kids if we could do it over again would likely have chosen a neighborhood like Fallsmead and gone through Frost.

[Anonymous]

Potomac is literally the best place to raise children. If your kids are your focus and you can afford it, then Potomac.