Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can stretch to get into the Langley district, and you’ll find that it’s still a public school, just with more kids with more money to spend on clothes and drugs. Langley is no better academically than Fairfax, and does not have an academy program like Fairfax and Chantilly.

What’s the academy program?

Arts-oriented at Fairfax and STEM-oriented at Chantilly - additional courses and electives not available at Langley.

They can take shuttles to these programs if so interested.

Anonymous wrote:More AP offerings does not necessarily make for a better school. You need to have teachers that are qualified to teach. And Aug-May is teaching to the test. So a student who gets a 5 on an AP Physics test may not actually have learned to love or appreciate the subject matter.

Plus, unless they have more than 3 foreign language APs. I’m don’t see what extra APs Langley could offer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those are two very different communities and your housing budget would place you in very different social places - you’d be rich at Chantilly and poor at Langley. What are your other priorities?

I hear you. May be that’s the reason I want to move to GF.
We are an Asian couple and part of me wants to transition to that social strata.

DH is afraid to make that transition. I want kids to have that taste of a different social circle. My personal belief is that you become what group you are part of. We combined make around 275K and I am sure we would be in lower spectrum at Langley.

Please enlighten or correct me if my way of thinking is wrong.
Is there a different lens I should be looking through as well?

Langley is 19.20 percent Asian. DD went there. I think it is a better school than Chantilly. More AP offerings

It’s more Asian than that (more like 30%), and Chantilly has tons of AP classes. But thanks for demonstrating how Langley’s reputation for snobbery is well deserved.

More AP offerings does not necessarily make for a better school. You need to have teachers that are qualified to teach. And Aug-May is teaching to the test. So a student who gets a 5 on an AP Physics test may not actually have learned to love or appreciate the subject matter.

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I regret clicking on this thread. I am a parent of two Langley HS students. It is a solid school and my kids seem happy. Some inspiring teachers - and some that are adequate. Many opportunities to get involved in sports, music, clubs, etc. I cannot compare LHS to other schools in Fairfax County. Not striving for Ivy/Top 25 or whatever. Hoping kids find and are accepted at colleges that are good fits for them. Yes, there are some superficial, materialistic kids at LHS but many down to earth ones as well. The post from someone claiming to have graduated from LHS 10 years ago was insufferable- and does not speak for anyone but themself.

+100
And I would add that ALL schools have good and bad aspects to them. My kids also attend/attended Langley and I agree with your assessment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those are two very different communities and your housing budget would place you in very different social places - you’d be rich at Chantilly and poor at Langley. What are your other priorities?

I hear you. May be that’s the reason I want to move to GF.
We are an Asian couple and part of me wants to transition to that social strata.

DH is afraid to make that transition. I want kids to have that taste of a different social circle. My personal belief is that you become what group you are part of. We combined make around 275K and I am sure we would be in lower spectrum at Langley.

Please enlighten or correct me if my way of thinking is wrong.
Is there a different lens I should be looking through as well?

Langley is 19.20 percent Asian. DD went there. I think it is a better school than Chantilly. More AP offerings

Wow. I regret clicking on this thread. I am a parent of two Langley HS students. It is a solid school and my kids seem happy. Some inspiring teachers - and some that are adequate. Many opportunities to get involved in sports, music, clubs, etc. I cannot compare LHS to other schools in Fairfax County. Not striving for Ivy/Top 25 or whatever. Hoping kids find and are accepted at colleges that are good fits for them. Yes, there are some superficial, materialistic kids at LHS but many down to earth ones as well. The post from someone claiming to have graduated from LHS 10 years ago was insufferable- and does not speak for anyone but themself.

What's your basis for comparison to Chantilly, PP?

I have to laugh at the suggestion that Langley is "materially better" than Chantilly in any aspect other than family wealth. Chantilly is larger than Langley and has more high performing students in total, many of whom have attended AAP programs at Carson and Rocky Run MS. And, in fact, Chantilly has academic opportunities that Langley does not, since Langley has no STEM Academy.

I'd also like to see hard evidence Langley kids are doing better when it comes to college admissions. The destinations of the Langley seniors who've posted on Instagram in recent years are fine, but not spectacular.

I realize this is now a very outdated thread, but I wanted to add my perspective as a Langley graduate from ~10 years ago with many friends from the greater FCPS system. Firstly, Langley is a materially better performing school than Chantilly, and pretty much all other FCPS schools barring TJ (although it is more or less on par with McLean and Madison). It's undeniable that a larger proportion of students go to HYPSM/T20 colleges, and it has an extremely high rate of acceptance into UVA. It does seem to be a highly competitive environment compared to most other public schools, but I would say that there is a high standard expected of the average student.

Secondly, regarding wealth, there is a somewhat correct perception that Langely families are exorbitantly wealthy and that this creates an unwelcoming social circumstance for students of lesser means. I think that this reputation is largely driven by a minority of students that are from extraordinarily wealthy families that set the archetype, while most families are affluent, but in the financial strata of OP. I do not think that your children switching to Langley would feel isolated because their parents aren't multimillionaires, but there is fair concern that they could have difficulty acclimating to a school where they don't have any established social ties.

Lastly, I just want to mention that there is a strong culture of high academic and extracurricular standards at Langley (more so that most any other FCPS school). Students do feel an expectation to excel in the classroom and outside of it. As with any school, there are degenerates who will act recklessly, do drugs, and fail to rise to the standards of their peers, but I've witnessed that this is much more prevalent at Chantilly and other schools in the system. I think that concerns over attending Langley over a peer institution are pretty baseless, and frankly come from a place of insecurity. Overall, I don't think you can do better in NoVa aside from at TJ if your goal is the best possible outcomes for your kids, but it is largely contingent on them being able to handle the transition to a new school and being able to adapt socially quickly.