We are districted for McLean, and we chose private for my kid. Coming out of Longfellow, there was concern about the size of McLean and while it is an excellent academic school, that creates a lot of stress within the student body, and that can really affect a kid. We have a strong student, was straight As at Longfellow, NJHS, etc. and I think those two years of ubercompetitiveness in all things was a lot. Additionally, most MHS classes are 30-32 students.

I do know kids that diverted from Longfellow to BOC and they are happy there. I think you *have* to be on board with the Catholic doctrine and social beliefs, to include abortion, and a lot of Catholic Families have strong feelings about that and political issues.

McLean is big and as we all know from this board, FCPS isn't doing much about it. The building is in bad repair - It's understood that on a daily basis, a toilet is going to be flooding a bathroom, there are rats in the cafeteria and a ceiling tile might fall from the ceiling during class. The trailer situation is real - a lot of them (probably in the neighborhood of 20 classrooms) and most students will spend a lot of time "not in the building" as a result.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Personally, I’d stick with lake Braddock. Good education and honestly, will be easier to get into good colleges from.

Not sure where OP gets her information about Lake Braddock, I have friends who live in Burke, love city and the school. All the kids have moved to good colleges too.

I Know people looking to move to Burke/Fairfax Station for Lake Braddock and Robinson as well.

+1

I have friends who went to McLean as kids, it was and still is a good school, but we chose Burke and Burke schools over the McLean area for a reason.

Who picks Burke over McLean? If you could afford a $2-4m house in McLean, you would likely pick it over Burke. Burke is a great area but it is in a far inferior location.

Fairfax Station is great but any area is "inferior" compare to McLean. However, I don't know about McLean HS.

Anonymous wrote:Don't know much about McLean HS but my kids have met throughout the years kids from Bishop O'Connell and honestly I would never send my kids there.

Those kids like to party hard, drink and smoke pot. So much for Catholicism!

Catholics are historically big drinkers, so it makes sense.

Anonymous wrote:Don't know much about McLean HS but my kids have met throughout the years kids from Bishop O'Connell and honestly I would never send my kids there.

Those kids like to party hard, drink and smoke pot. So much for Catholicism!

This x 1000

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If doing very well in private, why heck would you throw the kid in public school - and for the first time in high school no less? Sounds rough. I'd stay put with your kids cohort of friends and go to O'Connell if that's where they are all going. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Asking for trouble

This was put to OP earlier and she said his private school classmates were mostly heading to a bunch of different public schools for HS.

I don't doubt it, our DD is at a catholic K-8, but, I'd be on top of whether any friend is going to O'Connell. If feasible, I'd go there. Especially if the student is only average academically. While cream rises to the top at public, other outcomes from public parents I hear a lot are community college or technical school plans.

Sounds like those public school parents are quite unlikely to have had kids at a McLean or Lake Braddock.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If doing very well in private, why heck would you throw the kid in public school - and for the first time in high school no less? Sounds rough. I'd stay put with your kids cohort of friends and go to O'Connell if that's where they are all going. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Asking for trouble

This was put to OP earlier and she said his private school classmates were mostly heading to a bunch of different public schools for HS.

I don't doubt it, our DD is at a catholic K-8, but, I'd be on top of whether any friend is going to O'Connell. If feasible, I'd go there. Especially if the student is only average academically. While cream rises to the top at public, other outcomes from public parents I hear a lot are community college or technical school plans.

OP, you are going to get very different responses based on where you post your question. I would also suggest searching the private schools forum to read about experiences at O’Connell. I don’t have experience to share, but my nieces are very happy at O’Connell.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Personally, I’d stick with lake Braddock. Good education and honestly, will be easier to get into good colleges from.

Not sure where OP gets her information about Lake Braddock, I have friends who live in Burke, love city and the school. All the kids have moved to good colleges too.

I Know people looking to move to Burke/Fairfax Station for Lake Braddock and Robinson as well.

+1

I have friends who went to McLean as kids, it was and still is a good school, but we chose Burke and Burke schools over the McLean area for a reason.

Who picks Burke over McLean? If you could afford a $2-4m house in McLean, you would likely pick it over Burke. Burke is a great area but it is in a far inferior location.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Personally, I’d stick with lake Braddock. Good education and honestly, will be easier to get into good colleges from.

Not sure where OP gets her information about Lake Braddock, I have friends who live in Burke, love city and the school. All the kids have moved to good colleges too.

I Know people looking to move to Burke/Fairfax Station for Lake Braddock and Robinson as well.

+1

I have friends who went to McLean as kids, it was and still is a good school, but we chose Burke and Burke schools over the McLean area for a reason.

and that reason is price

No, sorry. Different reason. But related to money, so you're close.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Personally, I’d stick with lake Braddock. Good education and honestly, will be easier to get into good colleges from.

Not sure where OP gets her information about Lake Braddock, I have friends who live in Burke, love city and the school. All the kids have moved to good colleges too.

I Know people looking to move to Burke/Fairfax Station for Lake Braddock and Robinson as well.

+1

I have friends who went to McLean as kids, it was and still is a good school, but we chose Burke and Burke schools over the McLean area for a reason.

and that reason is price

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Personally, I’d stick with lake Braddock. Good education and honestly, will be easier to get into good colleges from.

Not sure where OP gets her information about Lake Braddock, I have friends who live in Burke, love city and the school. All the kids have moved to good colleges too.

I Know people looking to move to Burke/Fairfax Station for Lake Braddock and Robinson as well.

+1

I have friends who went to McLean as kids, it was and still is a good school, but we chose Burke and Burke schools over the McLean area for a reason.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:McLean does have a stronger academic reputation than O’Connell but that’s not the only consideration. What does DS want? It seems an introverted kid might want to stay with as many of his current friends as possible.

It's not an option. They are scattering to different public schools, none of which we are zoned for.

In that case I’d go with McLean. It’s apparently your base school, it’s stronger academically than O’Connell, and it has lots of ECs where an introverted kid can find his niche.

It's not actually our base school; we would have to move. Or rent something there for 4 years. I hate my current house so this is kind of a plus, but also irrelevant. I don't like our base school, and the scores there are abysmal.

You sound like one of these people who are never going to be truly satisfied. If you have a smart, driven kid they will excel at BOC or McLean. McLean is consistently in the top 10 public schools in VA. Unless you are talking about a kid that is a prodigy or extreme talent in some area they are going to get a fine education. Both smart and mediocre students from my kid's parochial are at BOC. I just don't think it's anything that special.

OP here - you must have missed it, but I don't have a smart, driven kid. Sounds like BOC is not as good as I had imagined based on my own experience. I think we'll take another look at LB and Robinson. It would certainly be easier.

Anonymous wrote:Personally, I’d stick with lake Braddock. Good education and honestly, will be easier to get into good colleges from.

Not sure where OP gets her information about Lake Braddock, I have friends who live in Burke, love city and the school. All the kids have moved to good colleges too.

I Know people looking to move to Burke/Fairfax Station for Lake Braddock and Robinson as well.

Don't know much about McLean HS but my kids have met throughout the years kids from Bishop O'Connell and honestly I would never send my kids there.

Those kids like to party hard, drink and smoke pot. So much for Catholicism!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I personally would stay at Lake Braddock.

McLean High will have many more academically strong students than Bishop O'Connell.

True. It's twice the size so it will have more of every type of student.

Seriously doubt McLean has as many Catholic kids as O'Connell.