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I am quite familiar with Northview High in Johns Creek. I do not know much about Alpharetta High. I know Northview is very highly ranked, and competes with Walton High for top spot. I think Alpharetta High is in Atlanta Magazine's top 10.
I like the Alpharetta High area better due to proximity to much more amenities (Northpoint mall, Wills park, employment centers, downtown Roswell...), and I like some of the subdivisions there.
Questions:
(a) What is the current academic reputation of Alpharetta High, if you are aware? Do you know anyone who has recently been to Alpharetta High, and their general opinion?
(b) How is the Alpharetta High area in general, from a living (primarily safety issues) point of view? Anything to be concerned about with regard to living in that area?
(c) I think Northview (and its neighbor Chattahoochee High) send the most students to UGA. If my kids are generally smart and good achievers, does it make a difference which high they go to? Does being in Alpharetta High actually give them an advantage, if it is not as competitive as Northview but still well regarded? Plus we are Asian Indian, and I think Alpharetta High would have a significantly lower % of Asian Indians than Northview - would that be helpful as far as admissions to UGa/GTech go. How about with top national Universities (outside of UGA/GTech)?
(d) I think Alpharetta High would be a more well rounded school than Northview. I recall in 2011 (or may be 2009 or 2010) it might have been Atlanta magazine's most well rounded school. Any opinion?
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Thank you for any info. And if there is anything you wish to share by Direct Message, please feel free to do so. Thanks!
I know some high schoolers all over North Fulton. All the public high schools from Roswell on up north measure up academically. I think you might get a better answer to some of your questions you have if you visit the specific schools. I personally know Chattahoochee, Roswell, and Johns Creek high schools the best from friends and family.
Johns Creek is a newer high school, but from what I know, the students themselves seems to mirror Chattahoochee right now to a large degree in 2012. I think JCHS has been open 3 years now. Northview is more in line with JCHS and CHS.
True, the Asian population is much larger east of 400 but given that situation, my guess is most selective colleges would like a geographical mix of incoming freshman from different states. Keep in mind, the metro area has a lot of great students to choose from, so to them little differences between North Fulton, Gwinnett or some other area probably would not matter to the typical admissions staff as they look at several factors for each applicant. All these metro Atlanta kids have more competition to deal with for admissions and scholarships than some star student from rural Georgia county with one public high school. The Georgia star student in the rural county definitely has the advantage over most anyone in metro Atlanta.
I think in terms of crime and that sort of thing, the areas are all about the same. As for my own preference to the areas in general, I am a bit more partial to parts of East Cobb than I am most of North Fulton.
Don't know much about the academics, but I had an event at Alpharetta High and was extremely impressed by the facilities. I know that doesn't mean the education is great, but it felt more like a small college campus than a public high school.
I don't want to downplay UGA, but if your goal is going there, any of the above average schools should be fine. When people talk about education at the high end places, it's usually because they want their kids to go to the Ivy Leagues, or the Northwesterns, Stanfords, etc.
To go to UGA as an in state student shouldn't be that difficult for any in state student who does well.
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FromGA,
My guess would be that your children will have a much better shot at getting into an Ivy if they attended Alpharetta or even Peachtree Ridge over Northview. If your boys are ranked in the top 3% of Alpharetta... it is probably equavalent to ranking in the top 10 -15% in Northview.
I was pretty shocked that Northview blew all four Irvine High Schools out of the water in the recent Newsweek ranking... and the Irvine Unified School District is among one of the best in California.
I knew my alma mater (Univ. of Florida) has gotten much more difficult to get into since I was there. The average GPA of incoming freshmen is ABOVE 4.0! Of course, I always thought awarding an extra point for AP classes was kind of BS, but that's neither here nor there.
I didn't know UGA had followed suit, but it looks like it has.
Are there certain high schools that UGA seems to prefer? I would imagine that since they are nearby, they would know that pretty much all the North Fulton schools are good, I wouldn't think they would be too discerning between Alpharetta, Chattahoochee, Northview, Peachtree Ridge, etc.
Probably the best thing to distinguish yourself nowadays is some kind of atypical extracurricular activities, volunteer work, part-time job, take a unique foreign language, etc.
I'm glad I went to school in the 90s! I did well in school, but wasn't a joiner. Extracurriculars were not my thing. I'd strongly encourage my kid to participate in them nowadays, though, even if they aren't school associated.
Thanks for the responses. So far, the responses have been neutral to positive as far as Alpharetta High is concerned.
I currently rent in Johns Creek, so this would be a change (for the reasons I mentioned in the original post).
Anyone want to discourage me from moving to Alpharetta High area for any reasons related to either these specific schools, or the general areas around these schools? There are some negative posts in greatschool about the administration in Alpharetta High, but I have seen that kind of posts about the elementary my kids currently attend, and irt was no big deal.
I knew my alma mater (Univ. of Florida) has gotten much more difficult to get into since I was there. The average GPA of incoming freshmen is ABOVE 4.0! Of course, I always thought awarding an extra point for AP classes was kind of BS, but that's neither here nor there.
I didn't know UGA had followed suit, but it looks like it has.
Are there certain high schools that UGA seems to prefer? I would imagine that since they are nearby, they would know that pretty much all the North Fulton schools are good, I wouldn't think they would be too discerning between Alpharetta, Chattahoochee, Northview, Peachtree Ridge, etc.
Probably the best thing to distinguish yourself nowadays is some kind of atypical extracurricular activities, volunteer work, part-time job, take a unique foreign language, etc.
I'm glad I went to school in the 90s! I did well in school, but wasn't a joiner. Extracurriculars were not my thing. I'd strongly encourage my kid to participate in them nowadays, though, even if they aren't school associated.
UGA has indeed become much more selective. A unique foreign language isn't quite enough. What will help, is dual enrollment during high school. Check out both schools to see what they offer. Every single student in my son's class (Milton) who dual enrolled, was accepted at both Tech and UGA.
UGA has indeed become much more selective. A unique foreign language isn't quite enough. What will help, is dual enrollment during high school. Check out both schools to see what they offer. Every single student in my son's class (Milton) who dual enrolled, was accepted at both Tech and UGA.
That is interesting, because when the admissions people spoke from UGA they really pushed AP classes over joint enrollment if students had to choose. Did your boys also take AP classes?
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