Anonymous wrote:Chantilly parent here. We love it and on that budget you can have a mansion around here. But if the commute matters to you, unless your hours are flexible, think long and hard.

We considered Chantilly HS but it’s a huge school. Our current HS only has 1700. Kids still in MS. The size of the school worries us. I agree we can get a lovely house for our money in Chantilly and don’t have to spend as much. DH has been advised by few to look for homes in Ashburn zoned for Briar Woods.

What’s your experience with Chantilly HS please ?

Anonymous wrote:You can probably find houses under $1.1 million in Great Falls.

We are aiming to retire from this house and septic and well scares us. We have never done this. Also keep hearing parts zoned for Forestville elementary will be rezoned, most houses without septic are here. Very confused.

Chantilly parent here. We love it and on that budget you can have a mansion around here. But if the commute matters to you, unless your hours are flexible, think long and hard.

You can probably find houses under $1.1 million in Great Falls.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would avoid McLean, Chantilly, and Oakton as they are all way overcrowded and have trailers everywhere.

OP here, Which ones do you recommend ?

The registrars at Chantilly and Oakton definitely gave the impression that they are super crowded and didn’t want any HS tours. Or, I should say they sounded super stressed.

McLean not at all though it’s a big school, teachers, front staff and kids all seemed so nice. Same at Langley.

Nice until you are in

Not everyone will have a good experience, but Langley and McLean are both exceptionally good public schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would avoid McLean, Chantilly, and Oakton as they are all way overcrowded and have trailers everywhere.

OP here, Which ones do you recommend ?

The registrars at Chantilly and Oakton definitely gave the impression that they are super crowded and didn’t want any HS tours. Or, I should say they sounded super stressed.

McLean not at all though it’s a big school, teachers, front staff and kids all seemed so nice. Same at Langley.

Nice until you are in

Anonymous wrote:If you liked McLean, look for a house that's zoned for Timber Lane/Longfellow/McLean in Falls Church (22046). The houses are cheaper due to Timber Lane having a lower GS rating. I live in this cluster and can walk to the metro and downtown Falls Church, and Tysons is 3 miles away.

Thank you !!

If you liked McLean, look for a house that's zoned for Timber Lane/Longfellow/McLean in Falls Church (22046). The houses are cheaper due to Timber Lane having a lower GS rating. I live in this cluster and can walk to the metro and downtown Falls Church, and Tysons is 3 miles away.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Probably TJ could be an option?

Agree, Why not TJ.

OP here, lol that would be ideal. My AAP DC is naturally gifted and we haven’t spent money on math and ELA tutoring from 5 years of age. It’s unlike he stands a chance compared to his peers who have been trained since age 5 in math & ela and are doing Algebra 2/Geometry in Grade 7. My second Non AAP will never cope in TJ environment. So there is a strong need for a good base HS school.

You want to believe other kids have been trained since age 5 because you do not want to admit your kids are not so good.

Every child has its own unique strengths. I just don’t understand why parents tutor their kids so early to stay competitive. In our current MS/HS only 5% of the kids are in Algebra 1(25/475) in 7th grade. All these kids were tutored from a very young age and as early as 5 yrs.

Sounds like you're coming from a weak school district and your kids might be in for a bit of an academic shock when they start school here. You might want to look at schools that are less intense than Langley and McLean. The Vienna schools have excellent reputations.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with responders here, commute is king. You will never regret a short commute. Also (God forbid) you have to pick up your children from school because of illness or something, you are right there. Peace of mind will go a long way.

Since you mentioned Tysons, I would also recommend Marshall. SOL scores are just as good (if not better) than McLean across the board the last few years. Only reason it gets neglected at times is because of IB vs AP. But still a top tier academic school.

It’s the IB program. If I am not wrong you can’t transfer credits to college like AP. Am I right ?

New poster here. You're wrong; most colleges give credit for "HL" (higher level ) IB exams just as they do for AP exams. You will see a LOT of overwrought misinformation on DCUM about IB, how it works, and whether colleges give credit for IB; there are posters on DCUM who will insist that it's not as rigorous as AP, there's no college credit given etc.--not accurate. Please talk to the IB coordinator office at any IB high school if you might move in boundary for an IB school, to get the facts on things like this. Because there's less IB in the county, and fewer parents know about it, some AP parents like to post about it but lack first-hand knowledge. Our DC got an excellent HS education at Marshall with IB. No issues getting college credit and colleges knew what IB is and how rigorous it is.

Anonymous wrote:Agree with responders here, commute is king. You will never regret a short commute. Also (God forbid) you have to pick up your children from school because of illness or something, you are right there. Peace of mind will go a long way.

Since you mentioned Tysons, I would also recommend Marshall. SOL scores are just as good (if not better) than McLean across the board the last few years. Only reason it gets neglected at times is because of IB vs AP. But still a top tier academic school.

It’s the IB program. If I am not wrong you can’t transfer credits to college like AP. Am I right ?

Agree with responders here, commute is king. You will never regret a short commute. Also (God forbid) you have to pick up your children from school because of illness or something, you are right there. Peace of mind will go a long way.

Since you mentioned Tysons, I would also recommend Marshall. SOL scores are just as good (if not better) than McLean across the board the last few years. Only reason it gets neglected at times is because of IB vs AP. But still a top tier academic school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would avoid McLean, Chantilly, and Oakton as they are all way overcrowded and have trailers everywhere.

OP here, Which ones do you recommend ?

The registrars at Chantilly and Oakton definitely gave the impression that they are super crowded and didn’t want any HS tours. Or, I should say they sounded super stressed.

McLean not at all though it’s a big school, teachers, front staff and kids all seemed so nice. Same at Langley.

+1

McLean and Langley are really nice. The only thing that is an issue is the rampant drug problem.

Nice try. The statistics are online provided by FCPS. And besides, the test scores coming out of those schools show there are not “rampant” drug problems.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would avoid McLean, Chantilly, and Oakton as they are all way overcrowded and have trailers everywhere.

OP here, Which ones do you recommend ?

The registrars at Chantilly and Oakton definitely gave the impression that they are super crowded and didn’t want any HS tours. Or, I should say they sounded super stressed.

McLean not at all though it’s a big school, teachers, front staff and kids all seemed so nice. Same at Langley.

+1

McLean and Langley are really nice. The only thing that is an issue is the rampant drug problem.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don't think there's any FCPS schools where it isn't teachers/students/locals doing murals and artwork....

Then you’d be wrong, apart from the artwork in art classes.

Ok then, the schools that my kids have been at (2 different ES, 1 MS, 2 HS) have all had students and/or students and an artist-in-residence do the murals.

Mine are still in ES, but it's been that way for both of my kids' schools. All of the murals have been painted by the 5th-6th grade students and art teachers.