Oakton High School for STEM Child - Vs Chantilly HS
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Anonymous
| Looking for feedback - DD starts high school Fall 2018 and we are looking to move. Feedback on Oakton High School for STEM Child - Vs Chantilly HS. Greatly appreciate all advise (pros, cons). Would also like to know about the culture/environment of each HS. DD is friendly but shy. |
Anonymous
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Both are great schools. Both are large enough to provide what your kid needs.
Find the house you like. Either school is good. As for your kid's personality and shyness--it can be easy or difficult at any school. It is easier to make friends if she has an activity she enjoys at school outside of academia. |
Anonymous
| They are both big box ok schools. |
Anonymous
| Chantilly is more STEM focussed as compared to Oakton with the Governors grant. |
Anonymous
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OP we moved from the Oakton to Chantilly pyramid with a MS kid. Kid ended up at TJ, so I did not send a kid through Chantilly. But he has a lot of friends there. Both schools are strong academically. Oakton is generally listed in the top 5 HSs, but in the last couple of years, Chantilly has started to edge them out in terms on SATs, etc. Chantilly’s scores pick up a few points each year. If the trend continues, they will be a solidly top 5 school in 5 years.
Either school is going to give your kid plenty of science and math choices. But, Chantilly has the givernor’s STEM Academy, which will give your kid extra classes in CS, Engineering, and robotics not available at Oakton. Chantilly has the strongest robotics team in FCPs— including TJ. It also has a strong STEM internship program. https://chantillyacademy.fcps.edu/academics Chantilly also has a significant cohort of kids from RRMS and Carson who were TJ semifinalists and missed the cut. As for the differences, we found a Oakton to be wealthier, while Chantilly was “affluent”. It felt to me like the educational attainment of the parents in the two schools is different. Oakton had a lot more SAHMs who did most of the child rearing , and we went years without meeting dad. Chantilly seems to have a lot of two parents working whte collar/ fed/professional jobsmthing, and both parents participating in child rearing. It depended which model you prefer. Both of my kids have remarked that the Chantilly base kids were much nicer. Less bullying, less concern about social status. As a parent, I have heard about significant bullying— especially by girls— in Oakton and the feeder mass. Much less in Chantilly and it’s feeders. Oakton is 50% white/28% Asian/14% FARMs/6% ELL Chantilly is 42% White/33% Asian/18%FARMs/ 6% ELL So the profiles are similar, with Chantilly being somewhat more Asian. I think Chantilly is an excellent fit for a STEM introvert. I am thrilled my DD is headed there is she does not get into TJ. But you might prefer the atmosphere at Oakton. |
Anonymous
| ^^^ sorry, educational attainment of parents at both schools was the same. Everyone has a college degree. Most people,has masters/PhD/0progessional — even if they chose to SA? |
Anonymous
Oakton has higher educated parents in higher paying jobs - how else do you think the SAHMs can live in more expensive neighborhoods? You need to be more honest if you want others to think you are being even remotely objective. |
Anonymous
Just to be clear, though the Academy at Chantilly is teaching STEM as a trade. Its primary audience is for kids that do not plan BS/grad degrees. |
Anonymous
Not true. The Academy offers weighted classes in STEM Engineering , Engineering Systems, robotics systems, biotech, etc., plus engineering and architecture drawling. These are some of the most popular electives for college bound STEM kids. https://insys.fcps.edu/CourseCatOnline/#/reportPanel/303/2/0/0/0/1 |
Anonymous
Make a distinction between educational level and salary. Oakton probably has parents in higher paying jobs. Lots of big law partners, defense contractors etc. high powered 90 hour weeks that require the support of a FT SAHmspouse. Chantilly has parents with as much or more education, but most of the families I know have one parent working in high tech (Dulles tech corridor) and/or as a professional fed/ SES. If this area did not have highly educated parents it would not send so many kids to TJ from RRMS and Carson. |
Anonymous
The three HS pyramids that send the most kids to TJ are Oakton, McLean and Langley, not Chantilly. |
Anonymous
If you could read, you would see I said that a significant number of TJ kids come from RRMS and Carson, which are the Western County AAP schools and two of the top 3 feeder MSs. . Plus, Chantilly, Westfield and SLHS are 4, 5, and 6 (with Chantilly averaging 4 kids fewer a year than Oakton). Carson feeds Oakton, Chantilly, Westfields and SLHS. A significant piece of RRMS goes to Chantilly. Chantilly and Westfields are about 3 miles apart. Between these 2HSs,, they send over 220 students to TJ. Western Fairfax is highly educated. |
Anonymous
Getting a bit salty, aren’t you? If I couldn’t read, I wouldn’t know Oakton was still considered a cut above Chantilly. |
Anonymous
Based on??? They are both GS 6 schools (thanks new equity index, which both schools bombed /s ). They have similar farms and wall numbers. Chantilly has been on the rise for several years. Niche just bumped Chantilly above Oakton and Woodson for 2018. US News put Oakton higher. Chantilly produced higher SAT scores than Oakton for the first time in 2017. The schools have similar SOLs. Chantilly has 87%of their kids pass at least on AP test. Vs. 80% for Oakton. Both schools are GS 8 in academics. They are ranked 3rd and 4th in the number of kids wh go to TJ (which of course says nothing about either school. The kids don’t attend, and the HS do not help them get admitted. 5 years ago, Oakton was widely thought of as stronger than Chantilly. Today, they are a draw, depending on whether you look at APs vs SATs vs SOLs. In 5 years, Chantilly will be widely viewed as stronger than Oakton or Woodson. Because they have been on a steady, multi-year upward trajectory. Here are the differences: Chantilly has an expanded STEM curriculum due to the governors academy. And it is not packed to the gills and about to go through a rennovation (more trailers). |
Anonymous
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The problem with Chantilly is that its white students lag in performance, especially on the SATs. If you look at the FCPS profiles, Chantilly's SAT scores for white students are in the middle of the pack for FCPS high schools, almost the same as Centreville's and Westfield's. Other top FCPS schools, including Oakton, had scores for white students that matched their overall ranking. (Although Oakton's scores for black students were absolutely terrible.)
So for OP, if you are white, Oakton is a much better bet. If you are black, Chantilly is better. For other groups the scores are similar. |