Reply to Does the school pyramid really make a difference in the long run?

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Reply to "Does the school pyramid really make a difference in the long run? "

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Around here it's tough because [b]if you put your kid in a really good pyramid, they face incredible competition when it comes to college applications[/b].  So I'm not sure there is a right answer.

In terms of resale value, generally if you are buying in a lower pyramid and selling in a lower pyramid, yes, you'll get less for your house on resale but you'll also pay less.  The trick there is to not buy in a pyramid that is going to get worse (or perceived) as worse during the time you hold it.  (Think about the folks who were fighting being rezoned from Abingdon to Drew because they knew Drew was perceived as a lesser school.)[/quote]

I've never understood that as a reason to avoid a good pyramid.  There are many good colleges and universities, and what matters the most is how well prepared (in terms of subject-matter knowledge and study skills) the student is at the college they attend.  The best pyramids give kids a leg up in both respects:  they will have studied with a stronger peer group and they will have been surrounded during some of their most important formative years by other students who take academics seriously.

At least this is my take-away from having had kids in two FCPS pyramids.  In the higher ranked pyramid, the courses (even if the same in name) were more challenging and the teachers had higher expectations.  And the peer group challenged each other more to excel without, in our observation, spilling into cut-throat competitiveness.

I think these threads turn negative when they come across as if posters are suggesting that others are just flat-out screwed if they can only afford to buy in a small handful of pyramids.  But it's very clear that the market assigns higher value to higher ranked pyramids, other things being equal, and there are reasons for that. [/quote]

+1.  Strong peer group, more challenging courses, high expectations from teachers so my kid is prepared for college.  I don’t need him to get a full academic scholarship like I did but it was very clear in my major who was prepared for college and who wasn’t.  One of the 100 courses freshman year weeded out who could and who could not hack it.

Not all courses are the same at all schools although the label maybe the same.  Not all courses are equal.  [/quote]

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