Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello!
I posted in the real estate forum about neighborhoods in Columbia, Md and got some great responses! I’m now looking for information on the schools. We may be relocating from out of state with a 6 and 2 year old. My main issue with where we are now is that majority of the parents we come across through our DD’s school or activities think their child is the brightest or most athletic. We’re looking for schools (and neighborhoods) where children are supported, but it’s not as competitive. Does this sound like Columbia?

Anything else about Columbia schools that you think would be helpful in sharing, I’d love to hear!

The schools you want to look at:

Atholton There's some competition here, BUT, it is populated by a more diverse population, ses, race, ethnicity, academics.

Hammond..huge community school, very supported by families, biggest and best secret. Big music and theater, sports, clubs. Just completely renovated.

Reservoir- in Maple Lawn, it's not homogeneous, despite the wealthy income around it.

Howard- yep, community school, supported by families. Look into it by visiting.

Not a lot of people will tell you this, but, the secret isn't in all the western extremely wealthy schools, it in the Columbia community. Ignore the NICHE scoring. Bogus.

Totally agree with all these. I love Hammond, and my kids will go there. The addition should be done by next school year.

Even the so called "bad" Columbia schools- Oakland Mills and Long Reach arent that bad. I dont know enough about Wilde Lake these days.

Ugh. There is so much geographical misinformation on this thread.

1) Columbia, MD does not have its own school system. Maryland has one public school system per county. The schools in Columbia are part of the Howard County Public School System (HCPSS - don't misspell it or you're going to wind up look at Harford County schools by mistake).

2) River Hill is the name of one of the ten villages of Columbia, MD. Each village is divided into neighborhoods. (The neighborhoods of River Hill are called Pointers Run and Pheasant Ridge.)

3) River Hill High School actually has an address in Clarksville, MD. Since Columbia is not an incorporated city, the boundaries are not entirely clear to anyone but the post office. Howard County does not have any incorporated cities or towns so there are a lot of areas that are more or less Columbia, but they don't have the address. Your local school may or may not be in Columbia, but it's irrelevant because they are all in Howard County. (There is a lot of other information about having an address in Columbia involving HOA fees but that's a whole other thread.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello!
I posted in the real estate forum about neighborhoods in Columbia, Md and got some great responses! I’m now looking for information on the schools. We may be relocating from out of state with a 6 and 2 year old. My main issue with where we are now is that majority of the parents we come across through our DD’s school or activities think their child is the brightest or most athletic. We’re looking for schools (and neighborhoods) where children are supported, but it’s not as competitive. Does this sound like Columbia?

Anything else about Columbia schools that you think would be helpful in sharing, I’d love to hear!

We live in Columbia (River Hill Neighborhood). My kids graduated from River Hill High School and are both in college. It was pretty competitive for them, but my kids did well and were prepared for college.

River hill High School is not in Columbia.

PP- I wish I didn't pay the annual CA assessment, but I do- I have a Clarksville mailing address and live in Columbia. I would also look at Wilde Lake area. Many friends loved Running Brook Elementary, the Middle School is new building, and the HS has a wonderful principal.

Some of River Hill actually does have a Columbia address as well. There is a brand new development there, in fact, which is a Columbia address. Regardless, River Hill is next to Columbia, and if we want to be technical, there's a lot of postal codes that are actually a block or street away from another postal code, and are essentially the same area. A lot of Elkridge is basically Columbia or Ellicott City depending where, a lot of North Laurel is literally across the street from Maple Lawn ( Fulton), in fact there's a tony apt building next to ML streets but the address is Laurel. Huntington East houses have a Jessup address, but is next to Huntington, considered Huntington, only divided by a highway, while the latter has Columbia address. And there are several more examples. Don't go by the postal name. What is Highland might be Clarksville or Fulton. What is Woodstock might be Woodbine or Ellicott City.

**There's also a fair amount of houses in Columbia that technically aren't Columbia, they don't pay assessments. Older areas, even some new ones intertwined in all the neighborhoods

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello!
I posted in the real estate forum about neighborhoods in Columbia, Md and got some great responses! I’m now looking for information on the schools. We may be relocating from out of state with a 6 and 2 year old. My main issue with where we are now is that majority of the parents we come across through our DD’s school or activities think their child is the brightest or most athletic. We’re looking for schools (and neighborhoods) where children are supported, but it’s not as competitive. Does this sound like Columbia?

Anything else about Columbia schools that you think would be helpful in sharing, I’d love to hear!

We live in Columbia (River Hill Neighborhood). My kids graduated from River Hill High School and are both in college. It was pretty competitive for them, but my kids did well and were prepared for college.

River hill High School is not in Columbia.

PP- I wish I didn't pay the annual CA assessment, but I do- I have a Clarksville mailing address and live in Columbia. I would also look at Wilde Lake area. Many friends loved Running Brook Elementary, the Middle School is new building, and the HS has a wonderful principal.

Anonymous wrote:Hello!
I posted in the real estate forum about neighborhoods in Columbia, Md and got some great responses! I’m now looking for information on the schools. We may be relocating from out of state with a 6 and 2 year old. My main issue with where we are now is that majority of the parents we come across through our DD’s school or activities think their child is the brightest or most athletic. We’re looking for schools (and neighborhoods) where children are supported, but it’s not as competitive. Does this sound like Columbia?

Anything else about Columbia schools that you think would be helpful in sharing, I’d love to hear!

The schools you want to look at:

Atholton There's some competition here, BUT, it is populated by a more diverse population, ses, race, ethnicity, academics.

Hammond..huge community school, very supported by families, biggest and best secret. Big music and theater, sports, clubs. Just completely renovated.

Reservoir- in Maple Lawn, it's not homogeneous, despite the wealthy income around it.

Howard- yep, community school, supported by families. Look into it by visiting.

Not a lot of people will tell you this, but, the secret isn't in all the western extremely wealthy schools, it in the Columbia community. Ignore the NICHE scoring. Bogus.

Clarksville is part of Columbia

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello!
I posted in the real estate forum about neighborhoods in Columbia, Md and got some great responses! I’m now looking for information on the schools. We may be relocating from out of state with a 6 and 2 year old. My main issue with where we are now is that majority of the parents we come across through our DD’s school or activities think their child is the brightest or most athletic. We’re looking for schools (and neighborhoods) where children are supported, but it’s not as competitive. Does this sound like Columbia?

Anything else about Columbia schools that you think would be helpful in sharing, I’d love to hear!

We live in Columbia (River Hill Neighborhood). My kids graduated from River Hill High School and are both in college. It was pretty competitive for them, but my kids did well and were prepared for college.

River hill High School is not in Columbia.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Hill,_Columbia,_Maryland

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello!
I posted in the real estate forum about neighborhoods in Columbia, Md and got some great responses! I’m now looking for information on the schools. We may be relocating from out of state with a 6 and 2 year old. My main issue with where we are now is that majority of the parents we come across through our DD’s school or activities think their child is the brightest or most athletic. We’re looking for schools (and neighborhoods) where children are supported, but it’s not as competitive. Does this sound like Columbia?

Anything else about Columbia schools that you think would be helpful in sharing, I’d love to hear!

We live in Columbia (River Hill Neighborhood). My kids graduated from River Hill High School and are both in college. It was pretty competitive for them, but my kids did well and were prepared for college.

River hill High School is not in Columbia.

Anonymous wrote:Hello!
I posted in the real estate forum about neighborhoods in Columbia, Md and got some great responses! I’m now looking for information on the schools. We may be relocating from out of state with a 6 and 2 year old. My main issue with where we are now is that majority of the parents we come across through our DD’s school or activities think their child is the brightest or most athletic. We’re looking for schools (and neighborhoods) where children are supported, but it’s not as competitive. Does this sound like Columbia?

Anything else about Columbia schools that you think would be helpful in sharing, I’d love to hear!

We live in Columbia (River Hill Neighborhood). My kids graduated from River Hill High School and are both in college. It was pretty competitive for them, but my kids did well and were prepared for college.

Hello!
I posted in the real estate forum about neighborhoods in Columbia, Md and got some great responses! I’m now looking for information on the schools. We may be relocating from out of state with a 6 and 2 year old. My main issue with where we are now is that majority of the parents we come across through our DD’s school or activities think their child is the brightest or most athletic. We’re looking for schools (and neighborhoods) where children are supported, but it’s not as competitive. Does this sound like Columbia?

Anything else about Columbia schools that you think would be helpful in sharing, I’d love to hear!