Reply to Madison HS or the IB program at Marshall HS?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The schools are rivals in Vienna, so of course they are putting each other down. The AP and IB programs are very different. Any parent who pupil places either way feels they are doing the best thing. [/quote]

Marshall may consider Madison its archrival, but Madison considers Oakton its biggest rival.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Madison_High_School_(Fairfax_County,_Virginia)

Marshall is like the annoying younger brother who keeps picking fights with his older siblings to get Mom and Dad's attention.  [/quote]

It sounds like you don't really understand the area.    Madison and Marshall are uniquely competitive because many of these kids have known each other since elementary school and middle school.  That is not the case with Oakton where most of the students come from elementary and middle schools outside Vienna.   In athletics, Oakton and Madison are in the same conference so they compete, but it doesn't have the same emotional punch as Marshall/Madison, which is why even with the change of athletic conferences (Marshall is moving to one for schools with smaller programs) Mad/Marshall will still regularly play each other.

As for the IB and AP programs, PP had it right that it depends on the student.  When we first moved here 9 years ago, there was a lot of people placement to Madison for sports.  But as the area has grown and changed and people have become more familiar the IB program, there has an equal if not sometimes greater movement in the other direction.  In the Freshman and Senior classes at Marshall, I can name at least a dozen kids from our local and nearby neighborhoods who people-placed from Madison.

It's nice that parents have the option to choose what's best for their child and it's good that many do enough research to get beyond your dated stereotypes of the schools.

[/quote]

Hmmm.  Oakton ES is one of several schools that splits between Madison and Oakton.  Marshall Road is another.  Look at a map.  Oakton is much closer to Madison that Marshall is.

But thanks for proving my point.  Marshall parents really want Marshall to be on the radar screen for Madison families, and for most of us it's just a high school over in Falls Church that we're glad our kids don't have to travel to the other side of the Beltway to attend.  Our kids view Oakton, not Marshall, as the big rival.  They assume they'll beat Marshall every year, and they usually do.[/quote]

Nice.  Glad my kids won't go to Madison.[/quote]

Sorry if the truth hurts.  Marshall has a few boosters on DCUM who hype the crap out of the place, but IRL no one who can go to Madison pays much attention to it. [/quote]

You can disagree without being nasty, but apparently, you haven't learned that.  I actually think Vienna is really nice but live in Falls Church because the commute is much better.  I'm happy with my family's choice of Marshall so I don't "pay much attention" to Madison.  The schools have very similar demographics and test scores (yes, I know Madison's are slightly higher).  It's not worth getting worked up about the difference.[/quote]

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