Olney vs Columbia, MD?
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Anonymous
Apologies, thought you were the PP who had focused on amenities. Glad you found a place you love. |
Anonymous
| Olney, but I don’t like planned communities like Columbia or even Reston. I worked in Columbia and I preferred the places in Howard County outside of Columbia proper. |
Anonymous
Soooo I’m not the person who claimed HoCo wins hands down, though I am the one who posted about Ellicott City as a good amenity and also congestion at some point. I was responding to the poster who seemed so angry anyone would choose HoCo (“Get over it.” “Really?” Usage of all caps, etc.) That person seemed to have strong views but wasn’t actually citing to anything in regard to the county they were defending, which seemed tedious. That angry person also seems to equate Olney v. Columbia with MoCo v. HoCo. Completely different ballgames and anyways, when you get to the county-wide level, really hard to generalize. I will say, as a Maryland native, that the tone of the MoCo-stan messages vs. HoCo-stan messages are pretty representative of stereotypes about both. MoCo has a reputation for being high-strung/obnoxious while HoCo has a reputation for being boring/basic. I went to one of the well-known prep schools in MoCo and got to know families from both areas well—I’ve been stunned to find my impressions from high school seem to be holding true as an adult. Both have a weird amount of people who want their county the “fanciest” in the state. OP, I think this is a fair breakdown of the two areas you’re considering: Schools (which are solid) and commute (which is a slog, but doable) are generally going to be comparable. Go to closer-in MoCo for better schools in that county for more consistency and up to the Ellicott City/West Friendship area in HoCo for some of the best offerings there. Columbia will have more of a Maryland/Baltimore vibe than Olney, which is generally a DC exurb. As a PP noted, Columbia has a lot more shopping options, both in terms of grocery and retail, etc. Olney has more space. Columbia has a very large, established kids’ sports network and much more of a planned community feel where Olney is definitely family friendly but a bit more rural-feeling. Housing in both isn’t the most attractive IMO, as a general rule, think there is more new builds in Columbia than Olney if that’s your thing. |
Anonymous
My husband and I spent 10 years living in Olney, 5 as a parent, and moved to Columbia. Been here 8 years now. Prefer Columbia hands down. We have no issues with crime where we live. The community here has been much friendlie and welcoming. It’s all just personal preference though. And the actual neighborhood and even street you end up on affects so much that comparing community feel isn’t truly possible. |
Anonymous
| Used to live in Columbia and loved it, great place to raise kids. Really enjoyed the parks/playgrounds/tot lots, Columbia Association amenities (gyms, pools), and kid-oriented businesses (multiple indoor playgrounds, swim schools). Some negatives, redistricting is frequent, and there’s been an increase of plane noise from BWI in recent years. |
Anonymous
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Lol at MoCo posters talking about Olney like it’s some sprawling urban hub. Olney is literally on the border between MoCo and Western HoCo, there’s not going to be a huge difference in terms of amenities. Much of Olney is still hicktown. Columbia also has plans to revitalize its downtown area and turn it into something cool. https://wtop.com/business-finance/2017/07/columbia-md-turns-50-years-old-time-for-a-reboot/
Schools in Olney are okay. They’re nothing to rave about, but they’re not bad either. Schools in Columbia and all of Howard County are really good though. Can there be any thread about HoCo and MoCo towns that doesn’t turn into a mess? |
Anonymous
| Olney is pickup truck . Columbia is planned diversity. |
Anonymous
LOL You don't say. Columbia schools: Hammond High ranked #91, Oakland Mills #113, Wilde Lake #123 Olney schools: James Blake #36, Sherwood #48, Magruder #68. If there's nothing to rave about Olney schools, there's even much less to rave about Columbia schools. If schools in Columbia are really good, schools in Olney are super duper good. https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/maryland/rankings |
Anonymous
Why are you using some objective website like a coward to measure the quality of schools? Go look at the test scores (when dividing up students into their demographic categories) and % of kids from those schools going to college. You’ll quickly see that the Olney schools are abysmal. Sherweed and Macgruder have some of the poorest outcomes for disadvantaged students. The Columbia schools are very diverse and when you break students down into their respective demographic and compare, it looks much different. US News ratings are a joke, and HoCo schools also aren’t full of magnet programs to boost their scores up, unlike the plethora of MoCo schools. |
Anonymous
So because it doesn't fit your narrative, US News is a joke, right? LOL If you all cannot even do better than MoCo on papers, there's no need to even mention real life performances and competitions. You Columbia/HoCo folks are getting more and more desperate to prove something that you are not. |
Anonymous
Except, they do far better than MoCo does on paper. You also cherrypicked which schools you were talking about. Different websites rank the schools differently, so you can cherry-pick all you want, but I can also do the same. Going off greatschools, the schools that serve Olney vs the ones that serve Columbia: Sherwood HS: 5/10 Blake HS: 5/10 Macgruder: 4/10 vs Atholton HS: 7/10 Howard HS: 7/10 Mt Hebron HS: 6/10 Hammond HS: 6/10 Wilde Lake HS: 5/10 Long Reach HS: 4/10 Oakland Mills HS: 4/10 The raw data from Maryland Report Card shows that the Columbia schools have much better test scores and academic outcomes when you take race and income into account, but you superficial MoCo fools who are so obsessed with status and whatever USNWR/Newsweek says that wouldn’t ever realize that. |
Anonymous
Gosh, you're stupid. I didn't cherry pick anything. You or another poster claimed that Olney schools are nothing to rave about compare to schools in Columbia and that Columbia schools are that good. I posted the link comparing schools in Columbia vs schools assigned to Olney and it shows the opposite. If schools in Columbia are good, Olney schools are super good. You guys like to make big false claims while hoping no one would call you out on them. You folks in HoCo have big chips on your shoulders. It is not our fault if you feel like second class citizens |
Anonymous
No, you posted an arbitrary list of rankings by a magazine. The rankings can change drastically from year to year, and it’s hardly ever consistent. There have been years when some of the Ws have been unranked by USNWR. USNWR rankings are a joke. If you go down the rankings list, you’ll notice that some of the schools are ranking lower than others that have way lower college readiness ratings (as defined by USNWR) and way lower test scores. You only care about that list because it supports your agenda. But the great schools ratings and Maryland report card data shows otherwise. Even in the USNWR rankings, Atholton dumps on all of the schools served by Olney. A portion of Columbia residents are in-bounds for River Hill HS too. |
Anonymous
| Most of my friends who moved to Olney wouldn't move to Columbia because columbia is more "diverse" and "urban" and that wasn't what they wanted for schools. That's the Olney mindset (and has been for decades - it was the original white flight destination from silver spring) |
Anonymous
Actually, Olney was built as a more affordable exurb, much like Germantown, Gaithersburg and beyond. Olney/Brookeville’s demographics are somewhat comparable to Kensington (in terms of public schools) but the housing in Olney is more affordable. I know you are fixating on race to make a dig, but the reality is most people move away from SS because of affordability, crime and a more suburban lifestyle. |