McLean vs Langley - is there much difference?

[Anonymous]

I understand they are rivals. How do academics differ? Culture? Is one more welcoming than the other?

[Anonymous]

They are both excellent schools. Both are welcoming. Both have basically the same curriculum AP and Honors offerings. The only rivalry you'll find is when the kids get pumped up over sports events. All of my child have or are currently one of the schools with lots of friends who attend the other. The only advantage one has over the other for the moment is that one has been just renovated and the other is experiencing overcrowding. But the FCPS will be addressed that issue in the next couple of years.

[Anonymous]

*sorry for the typos.

[Anonymous]

They are both great! Just pick the house and neighborhood you want.

[Anonymous]

Pick the best house with the best commute. That will impact your life more than any perceived differences between the schools. (If your child is interested in Chinese as a foreign language - go for McLean, if they lean toward Russian- pick Langley)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pick the best house with the best commute. That will impact your life more than any perceived differences between the schools. (If your child is interested in Chinese as a foreign language - go for McLean, if they lean toward Russian- pick Langley)

It looks like Langley is offering Chinese 1 on-site next year.

Langley historically has offered more foreign languages than other high schools, including McLean (such as Japanese and Russian). There are other electives than McLean and other schools offer than Langley does not - for example, McLean has the AP Capstone courses (AP Research/AP Seminar) sequence, which Langley does not. But both are AP schools and the academic differences aren't significant.

Culturally, the main differences arise from the fact that Langley has less SES diversity than McLean. McLean has less SES diversity than any other neighborhood high school in FCPS except Langley, but it's more like some other schools in FCPS (Madison, Oakton, Woodson, Robinson, and West Springfield) in terms of diversity than it is like Langley.

I don't think you can make generalizations about which school would be more "welcoming." Both schools have a fair number of new students each year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pick the best house with the best commute. That will impact your life more than any perceived differences between the schools. (If your child is interested in Chinese as a foreign language - go for McLean, if they lean toward Russian- pick Langley)

It looks like Langley is offering Chinese 1 on-site next year.

Langley historically has offered more foreign languages than other high schools, including McLean (such as Japanese and Russian). There are other electives than McLean and other schools offer than Langley does not - for example, McLean has the AP Capstone courses (AP Research/AP Seminar) sequence, which Langley does not. But both are AP schools and the academic differences aren't significant.

Culturally, the main differences arise from the fact that Langley has less SES diversity than McLean. McLean has less SES diversity than any other neighborhood high school in FCPS except Langley, but it's more like some other schools in FCPS (Madison, Oakton, Woodson, Robinson, and West Springfield) in terms of diversity than it is like Langley.

I don't think you can make generalizations about which school would be more "welcoming." Both schools have a fair number of new students each year.

Langley is now phasing out German (no German I next year), which is how it will be able to offer Chinese next year while still offering French, Japanese, Latin, Russian, and Spanish. McLean is continuing to offer German I-IV, in addition to ASL, Chinese, French, Latin, and Spanish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are both excellent schools. Both are welcoming. Both have basically the same curriculum AP and Honors offerings. The only rivalry you'll find is when the kids get pumped up over sports events. All of my child have or are currently one of the schools with lots of friends who attend the other. The only advantage one has over the other for the moment is that one has been just renovated and the other is experiencing overcrowding. But the FCPS will be addressed that issue in the next couple of years.

There are also disadvantages associated with under-enrollment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are both excellent schools. Both are welcoming. Both have basically the same curriculum AP and Honors offerings. The only rivalry you'll find is when the kids get pumped up over sports events. All of my child have or are currently one of the schools with lots of friends who attend the other. The only advantage one has over the other for the moment is that one has been just renovated and the other is experiencing overcrowding. But the FCPS will be addressed that issue in the next couple of years.

There are also disadvantages associated with under-enrollment.

Agreed. Some classes may be dropped without enough student interest. However, FCPS won't let under enrollment be an issue for long when McLean is so overcapacity and only a few miles up the road.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are both excellent schools. Both are welcoming. Both have basically the same curriculum AP and Honors offerings. The only rivalry you'll find is when the kids get pumped up over sports events. All of my child have or are currently one of the schools with lots of friends who attend the other. The only advantage one has over the other for the moment is that one has been just renovated and the other is experiencing overcrowding. But the FCPS will be addressed that issue in the next couple of years.

There are also disadvantages associated with under-enrollment.

Agreed. Some classes may be dropped without enough student interest. However, FCPS won't let under enrollment be an issue for long when McLean is so overcapacity and only a few miles up the road.

One would hope.

[Anonymous]

Is one more welcoming than the other?

What does that even mean?

With ~2,000 kids, do you really expect a single "culture" to prevail?

[Anonymous]

Violent kids at both schools:

https://patch.com/virginia/mclean/fight-breaks-out-between-mclean-langley-students-report

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Violent kids at both schools:

https://patch.com/virginia/mclean/fight-breaks-out-between-mclean-langley-students-report

Shut up, moron. Go to the Virginia Dept of Education site:

https://p1pe.doe.virginia.gov/pti/

And you can use the menu to show that McLean and Langley were two of the least violent schools in the county from 2013 to 2018.

[Anonymous]

When the McLean girls played South Lakes in Reston for the district basketball championship earlier this month, there were about 15 girls from Langley's teams there cheering for McLean. Many of the girls grew up or have played on other youth teams together and it was nice to see.

The two schools are also on track to have a joint "Relay for Life" fundraiser at Langley this May to raise money for cancer research.

[Anonymous]

oh boy, here we go again