Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don’t want to commute to Hopkins from Howard County. Towson is a good option for a relatively short commute. My dh is a surgeon at Hopkins and many doctors live in North Baltimore, including us. Roland Park and Mt. Washington offer good elementary/middle public options, and there are also any Catholic and independent private schools,

Why not? I as well as the other Hopkins physicians in my Ellicott City neighborhood can get to Hopkins Hospital in about 35 minutes. I can get to downtown Baltimore in 25 minutes from my house. Lots of Hopkins people reside in Howard County. On my street alone there are 7 of us JHU physicians.

OP, did you indicate that you will be taking a position at Johns Hopkins University, JHU Hospital, or Hopkins APL?

Johns Hopkins University - North Baltimore County or North Baltimore City

Johns Hopkins Hospital-Ellicott City, Elkridge, or Columbia (which are in Howard County) or Baltimore City

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (which is located in Laurel, MD)- Anywhere in Howard County

OP, can you please clarify where you will be taking your position? This would really help us to assist you better. Thank you.

Hopkins has thousands of employees, including doctors, who live all over. There is no benefit to living Howard County over Baltimore County, it's strictly personal preferences. OP is coming from Westchester. If she likes the Westchester vibe, she's going to find that in Baltimore County and even northern Baltimore city. Howard is resolutely suburban. Big new house on a cul-de-sac (which you can also get in northern Baltimore County). Commute is probably the same to both door to door.

Commute to Hopkins Hospital is about 10 minutes from Morth Baltimore and less than 20 from Lutherville (mid- Baltimore county). Not to mention that 695, which most take from Howard county, has tHe absolute worst traffic.

Our four children attend/attended Howard County public schools.

While school performance was the primary reason we moved to this County, there are lots of other reasons why Howard is a great place to raise a family, including diversity, parks, a nationally recognized library system, planned communities, geographic convenience (DC, Baltimore, mountains, oceans), and relative low crime rate.

Our home is fairly large and our kids are steadily moving on to college, but right now, we can't think of anywhere else we'd like to live.

Our next door neighbors are faculty at Hopkins.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don’t want to commute to Hopkins from Howard County. Towson is a good option for a relatively short commute. My dh is a surgeon at Hopkins and many doctors live in North Baltimore, including us. Roland Park and Mt. Washington offer good elementary/middle public options, and there are also any Catholic and independent private schools,

Why not? I as well as the other Hopkins physicians in my Ellicott City neighborhood can get to Hopkins Hospital in about 35 minutes. I can get to downtown Baltimore in 25 minutes from my house. Lots of Hopkins people reside in Howard County. On my street alone there are 7 of us JHU physicians.

OP, did you indicate that you will be taking a position at Johns Hopkins University, JHU Hospital, or Hopkins APL?

Johns Hopkins University - North Baltimore County or North Baltimore City

Johns Hopkins Hospital-Ellicott City, Elkridge, or Columbia (which are in Howard County) or Baltimore City

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (which is located in Laurel, MD)- Anywhere in Howard County

OP, can you please clarify where you will be taking your position? This would really help us to assist you better. Thank you.

Hopkins has thousands of employees, including doctors, who live all over. There is no benefit to living Howard County over Baltimore County, it's strictly personal preferences. OP is coming from Westchester. If she likes the Westchester vibe, she's going to find that in Baltimore County and even northern Baltimore city. Howard is resolutely suburban. Big new house on a cul-de-sac (which you can also get in northern Baltimore County). Commute is probably the same to both door to door.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don’t want to commute to Hopkins from Howard County. Towson is a good option for a relatively short commute. My dh is a surgeon at Hopkins and many doctors live in North Baltimore, including us. Roland Park and Mt. Washington offer good elementary/middle public options, and there are also any Catholic and independent private schools,

Why not? I as well as the other Hopkins physicians in my Ellicott City neighborhood can get to Hopkins Hospital in about 35 minutes. I can get to downtown Baltimore in 25 minutes from my house. Lots of Hopkins people reside in Howard County. On my street alone there are 7 of us JHU physicians.

OP, did you indicate that you will be taking a position at Johns Hopkins University, JHU Hospital, or Hopkins APL?

Johns Hopkins University - North Baltimore County or North Baltimore City

Johns Hopkins Hospital-Ellicott City, Elkridge, or Columbia (which are in Howard County) or Baltimore City

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (which is located in Laurel, MD)- Anywhere in Howard County

OP, can you please clarify where you will be taking your position? This would really help us to assist you better. Thank you.

I forgot to mention that Howard County offers the best school district in the Baltimore area, however there are some great schools in North Baltimore County. Many families who reside in Baltimore City pay for private or parochial schools.

Anonymous wrote:You don’t want to commute to Hopkins from Howard County. Towson is a good option for a relatively short commute. My dh is a surgeon at Hopkins and many doctors live in North Baltimore, including us. Roland Park and Mt. Washington offer good elementary/middle public options, and there are also any Catholic and independent private schools,

Why not? I as well as the other Hopkins physicians in my Ellicott City neighborhood can get to Hopkins Hospital in about 35 minutes. I can get to downtown Baltimore in 25 minutes from my house. Lots of Hopkins people reside in Howard County. On my street alone there are 7 of us JHU physicians.

OP, did you indicate that you will be taking a position at Johns Hopkins University, JHU Hospital, or Hopkins APL?

Johns Hopkins University - North Baltimore County or North Baltimore City

Johns Hopkins Hospital-Ellicott City, Elkridge, or Columbia (which are in Howard County) or Baltimore City

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (which is located in Laurel, MD)- Anywhere in Howard County

OP, can you please clarify where you will be taking your position? This would really help us to assist you better. Thank you.

Anonymous wrote:If you can stand the commute, Hereford zone of Baltimore County. Without a doubt.

Long commute from Hopkins hospital. It's a lifestyle place. Schools are good, but no better than, say the Towson pyramids. If you want open countryside and a more exurban feeling and woodlands, it's a great place to live. But if you want traditional neighborhoods and close to all the amenities, Towson will make you happier. Ruxton is a gorgeous area that feeds into the Towson schools and has some of the open space feeling of North Baltimore County. Plenty of Hopkins doctors!

If you can stand the commute, Hereford zone of Baltimore County. Without a doubt.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely Howard. You will find lots of other kids of Hopkins employees, hospital, professors and APL which is in the county.

This isn’t accurate, most Hopkins doctors live in Baltimore city or county.

You are incorrect. I know quite a number of doctors both on staff at Hopkins and ones who work frequently at Hopkins who live in Ellicott City and Columbia. Many located to those areas for the schools and don't consider the commute into Hopkins to be a problem.

I’m sure some do live in Howard county or even Anne Arundel, but most live in Baltimore county or the city.

Anonymous wrote:Towson pyramid in balto county k-5, then move to one of the 5000 awesome private schools.

Or Roland Park elementary if you plan to go private for middle and high school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don’t want to commute to Hopkins from Howard County. Towson is a good option for a relatively short commute. My dh is a surgeon at Hopkins and many doctors live in North Baltimore, including us. Roland Park and Mt. Washington offer good elementary/middle public options, and there are also any Catholic and independent private schools,

NP Huh? I used to commute from the southernmost part of HoCo into Baltimore, which was about 30 min during rush hour.

My husband’s commute is 10 minutes from North Baltimore.

PP here.

If you're coming from Westchester, you'll find Baltimore County much more comparable to Westchester than Howard. Towson is like White Plains with a bit of Bronxville, Larchmont, Rye, Chappaqua and New Rochelle all rolled together while Northern Baltimore County will be like Bedford and the areas right before Putnam or even Rockland. If you want that nice Westchester town vibe with a walkable commercial corridor, Stoneleigh in Towson is your best option. If you liked Chappaqua, Ruxton in Towson is your best option.

Howard would be closer to some of the exurban NJ counties. There are *no* local walkable commercial districts or towns. There is one very small, isolated from any residential area, and quite charming historic mill village in Ellicott city but that's it.

Howard County as a countywide school district is going to be tops, indeed, top in the entire state.

Howard's diversity is primarily Asian and South Asian. Baltimore County has more diversity across the spectrum, including both large black and Latino populations, and, which is often overlooked these days, significant socio-economic diversity including among white residents.

That's why on the face of it it seems that Howard schools are "better" but in reality it's always about the pyramids. Columbia schools aren't the best schools in Howard and Baltimore County has schools that are better than Columbia schools. Are the best high schools in Howard really better than, say, Towson or Hereford? Not really. You're well-served by all of them.

If you are of Asian or South Asian heritage and looking for both good schools and large communities of Asians/South Asians, Howard is the obvious answer, although Baltimore County also has Asians and South Asians. If you are looking for a resolutely suburban environment where everyone lives on cul de sacs and shops at malls, Howard is the easier answer. In Howard, look at the pyramids that feed into River Hill, Centennial, Mount Hebron and Marriotts Ridge. If you specifically want more diversity other than Asians/South Asians, Atholton is a good option. Stay away from Columbia, including Columbia areas currently zoned for River Hill. The HoCo school board is prone to social engineering when they can and you can easily find yourself rezoned for a Columbia high school along with a major loss of home value. That might change in the future, however. There's a lot of anger over recent redistricting.

Baltimore County along the I-83 corridor north of the city is very affluent as well. Towson and Hereford are the two strong contenders (along with a charter arts school). Towson is in an older area with character, handsome neighborhoods (Ruxton, Stoneleigh, West Towson in particular), close to amenities, some walkability, and very close to the city. Many of the kids will also be going to private schools or elite Catholic schools. You will feel more connected to and part of Baltimore as a city and region while Howard is distinctly cut off and almost another land. Hereford is northern Baltimore County. It's a mixture of affluent exurbanites, horse country, and some actual rural country people. There is a third district between Towson and Hereford, and it's Dulaney, which was once also a powerhouse rival to Towson but Section 8 Move to opportunity moved a lot of poorer people to the apartments near Dulaney and the school has taken a big hit. Not polite to mention this but it is what it is.

Hopkins doctors are in Towson and Howard and in northern Baltimore City, where there are very strong private schools, and there are even some sending children to the top city programs. It's well worth spending some time in both Howard and the nice parts of Baltimore county to get a sense of what the places are like and how they compare and what appeals most to you.