Milton vs. Johns Creek vs. South Forsyth (Atlanta, Alpharetta: homes, neighborhood)

[ABNGEORGIA]

My family and I are considering moving from the Buckhead/ Brookhaven area out to the burbs. We are concentrating mostly on North Fulton (Milton, Johns Creek) and possibly South Forsyth. We have elementary age children, and we will be doing public schools through high school. I'd love to hear any feedback on these areas and which you think is best and why? We want a good school system (obviously) but we also don't want a pressure cooker type school - we would rather have a well-rounded school than one that solely focusses on test scores, etc... We also want to have a decent size yard and definitely want swim, tennis, possibly golf neighborhood. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!!

[Mattie]

Milton and John's Creek have more similarities than differences. They both have similar family income averages, great schools, and lots of beautiful developments. Personally, I far prefer Milton, where you can drive 10 minutes to find what you need instead of sitting in the traffic of JC. You know Northview is a competitive high school, correct? I am hearing complaints from Milton parents that their kids are too stressed also. But, I had two recent graduates at Milton, and didn't find that to be the case. I tend to think the "stress" is caused by family expectations, and a desire to get into a college of choice, which always ends up boiling down to UGA, Tech, or out-of-state.

South Forsyth has a wider range of price points. I know two young couples who recently married and bought homes there, and got swim/tennis facilities with homes under $300,000. Those don't exist in Milton, and I don't think there are many, if any in JC either. But, the schools are also well regarded in South Forsyth.

[Persian Atlantan]

I am a Northview Alum. Of the 3 you listed, I would vote for Milton HS. Seems like the best overall school and location. Johns Creek High School gave me too much of a snobby rich kid vibe. South Forsyth HS is okay... But there are a lot of slightly better schools in the Johns Creek, Alpharetta Area. Lambert is a decent up and coming school. Chattahoochee is great as well. Northview is one of if not the most competitive and well regarded High School in the state of Georgia, but it would probably be better to send your children to a high school with great education but also with a lot less headaches and pressure. I enjoyed my time at Northview, but there were kids with a 90+ average who did not crack the top 50% of a class of 400+.

[roxyrn]

Don't forget Milton also has the new Cambridge High School.

[ABNGEORGIA]

My only hold-up with Milton is feeling far away from the normal everyday places (like Target, Publix, Whole Foods, etc...). Do any of you that live in the Milton area find that difficult? I may just not be familiar enough with the area to know where things really are. John's Creek I know has all of that accessible, but as someone mentioned the traffic seems pretty congested in that area.

[flyonpa]

Milton, has a Target, Walmart, Kroger's, Publix, WholeFoods, HomeDepo, Lowes all in / around the Windward /GA9 Area.

[roxyrn]

And in October, the first phase of Avalon opens which will include restaurants, movie theater, Whole Foods, LuLuLemon (just had to get than one in there) as well as numerous other stores and services. Don't forget Costco off of Windward and Sam's Club off Mansell.

[Mattie]

Originally Posted by ABNGEORGIA

My only hold-up with Milton is feeling far away from the normal everyday places (like Target, Publix, Whole Foods, etc...). Do any of you that live in the Milton area find that difficult? I may just not be familiar enough with the area to know where things really are. John's Creek I know has all of that accessible, but as someone mentioned the traffic seems pretty congested in that area.

It literally takes all of ten minutes to get to those stores. There is little, if any, traffic in Milton beyond the roads schools are on, and then, it's only during start and dismissal times. JC has traffic all day long.

[jazzcat22]

Originally Posted by Persian Atlantan

I am a Northview Alum. Of the 3 you listed, I would vote for Milton HS. Seems like the best overall school and location. Johns Creek High School gave me too much of a snobby rich kid vibe. South Forsyth HS is okay... But there are a lot of slightly better schools in the Johns Creek, Alpharetta Area. Lambert is a decent up and coming school. Chattahoochee is great as well. Northview is one of if not the most competitive and well regarded High School in the state of Georgia, but it would probably be better to send your children to a high school with great education but also with a lot less headaches and pressure. I enjoyed my time at Northview, but there were kids with a 90+ average who did not crack the top 50% of a class of 400+.

PersianAtlanta, I love that you didn't buy into snobby rich kid stuff! I just started my own thread about today's AJC article about how supposedly every student at Northview has at least a 70 GPA...

[maybetoday]

The schools at the elementary level are good as well in the milton and JC areas? I am interested in buying in one of these areas. We need access to the perimeter mall area as well as the 285 exit towards tucker for work.