Transfer into Westlake HS? (Houston, Austin: fit in, renter, condos)

[Austin2016]

achtungpv, thank you for the information. Is this your firsthand experience? Sometimes a school's reputation precedes itself so I want to make sure that I find the best possible solution for my son. I feel bad about him needing to change school in Junior year. My child will mostly likely be involved with the symphony or robotics team.

[blakely]

Originally Posted by Austin2016

achtungpv, thank you for the information. Is this your firsthand experience? Sometimes a school's reputation precedes itself so I want to make sure that I find the best possible solution for my son. I feel bad about him needing to change school in Junior year. My child will mostly likely be involved with the symphony or robotics team.

I think the blanket characterization that the whole school is "cliquish" is unfair. Are there cliques? Some, yes. I think the same could be said about most schools in the country.

I know many kids in both symphony and robotics at WHS- some of the most sincere, hard-working and grounded kids you could meet. If that is the crowd your son is interested in, he should be fine. Note that the robotics program is currently taking applications for studentswho are interested in participating next year. I would have him at least fill out that application now so that he can get a spot if he wants one. It tends to be over-subscribed, but if he demonstrates interest now, that will help ensure he is on their list for fall. He may want to choose between symphony or robotics since both can require a fair amount of time. Some kids manage to do both, but a lot pick between the two. I'm not sure if symphony requires an audition. You might want to call to inquire if he can just join symphony or must audition for placement.

i think the main thing at a big school like Westlake is for kids to have a "home." The school is so big that there are lots of different groups within the larger community that makes up Westlake High School. The kids who get lost are the ones who have no group to which they belong. It doesn't really matter if it's yearbook, sports, robotics, band, dance or symphony...but just be sure he finds a community within and he will do fine.

[Austin2016]

Thank you blakely for the information! Yes. He most likely will have to choose which activity to do and it has been hard for him to decide so for now we just continue with both.

[hts]

You won't get any argument from me that Eanes/Westlake is the very best (non-charter) high school in the Austin metro. LASA of course is very good if charter is your thing (my boys both attended one of the BASIS charter schools in Phx before we relocated to ATX 2 years ago this month, and I believe that BASIS is academically superior to LASA, but that's an argument for another day).

It would not be a great commute, but I would mention Dripping Springs as well. Academically, I put it right behind Westlake (again, excluding LASA) and we preferred it over all the others mentioned (LT, Leander, Vander, Westwood, etc.). It's an AP (not IB) school, so that may be a non-starter for you. My son will have completed 3 AP classes by the end of this month and is on track to complete 10 by the time he graduates. The tennis team is ok at best (my boy is a sophomore on JV and takes private lessons locally 3x/week and we're also sending him away to two 1-week camps (I believe Newk requires a minimum of 2-week consecutive and he didn't want to do that).

In any event, I do know the Canadian university system and as far as I'm concerned, the only two schools up north worth a crap (generally speaking) are the U of Toronto and McGill--they're both competitive with some of our best. For the record, some of the schools we've just begun evaluating (again, my boy is just finishing up his sophomore year) are Cornell, Duke, Dartmouth, Penn, Chicago, Swarthmore/Haverford, Brown and Rice).

Westlake is a fantastic HS and Eanes is without doubt the premier school system in the metro--if you can afford it, I'd highly recommend. Best of luck to you and your family on your relo!

[Austin2016]

Thanks for the information, hts. UBC and Queens are not bad either. There is also University of Waterloo which offers top notch undergraduate education in a very competitive environment.

[hts]

I have a number of good friends who graduated from U Waterloo (I used to work for OTEX). We all agreed it's good, not great. Queens and UBC are similar IMHO, but of course all of this is extremely subjective.

[A-Tex]

Originally Posted by hts

You won't get any argument from me that Eanes/Westlake is the very best (non-charter) high school in the Austin metro. LASA of course is very good if charter is your thing (my boys both attended one of the BASIS charter schools in Phx before we relocated to ATX 2 years ago this month, and I believe that BASIS is academically superior to LASA, but that's an argument for another day).

It would not be a great commute, but I would mention Dripping Springs as well. Academically, I put it right behind Westlake (again, excluding LASA) and we preferred it over all the others mentioned (LT, Leander, Vander, Westwood, etc.). It's an AP (not IB) school, so that may be a non-starter for you. My son will have completed 3 AP classes by the end of this month and is on track to complete 10 by the time he graduates. The tennis team is ok at best (my boy is a sophomore on JV and takes private lessons locally 3x/week and we're also sending him away to two 1-week camps (I believe Newk requires a minimum of 2-week consecutive and he didn't want to do that).

In any event, I do know the Canadian university system and as far as I'm concerned, the only two schools up north worth a crap (generally speaking) are the U of Toronto and McGill--they're both competitive with some of our best. For the record, some of the schools we've just begun evaluating (again, my boy is just finishing up his sophomore year) are Cornell, Duke, Dartmouth, Penn, Chicago, Swarthmore/Haverford, Brown and Rice).

Westlake is a fantastic HS and Eanes is without doubt the premier school system in the metro--if you can afford it, I'd highly recommend. Best of luck to you and your family on your relo!

LASA is not a charter school. It is a highly selective magnet school in AISD.

[hts]

Originally Posted by A-Tex

LASA is not a charter school. It is a highly selective magnet school in AISD.

Thank you for correcting me.

[mesmer]

Westlake is getting a new principal next year: Westlake High principal resigns | www.statesman.com

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by hts

It would not be a great commute, but I would mention Dripping Springs as well. Academically, I put it right behind Westlake (again, excluding LASA) and we preferred it over all the others mentioned (LT, Leander, Vander, Westwood, etc.).

What are basing the strength of dripping springs academics on?

DS high has an average SAT of 1650

Westwood is 1821
LASA is 1948
Westlake is 1786
lake travis 1670
Vandegrift 1686


basis scottsdale 2075
basis tucson 1939
uni high tucson 1916