Compare Westlake High to Lake Travis High School (Austin, Bowie: high schools, college)

[meredithT]

Thanks for all the info - I realize now that they are actually closer in numbers than I thought & I need to factor in the growth of Lakeway area too. I have taken the assumption that Westlake is a larger school off the table.

[texastrigirl]

Are you boaters?? We lived in Circle C (which we LOVED) when we were in Austin but if we ever move back, it will be to Lakeway. We were out on Lake Travis most weekends and it would be nice to take advantage of that more easily. It's a really special part of Austin. It's a nice community with a good blend of folks in all age ranges too.

[Danbo1957]

Official 2009-2010 attendance:


Westlake 2486
LakeTravis 1915

[Betina Foreman]

LTHS has much to offer without your child feeling lost in a sea of millions of other students. Personally I feel a smaller school is the better option as each child has more time with the instructor. Academically they do a great job of training your children to have the skills they need to succeed in life. Check out the schools at www.SchoolMatters.com or/and www.GreatSchools.com.

Lake Travis area has managed to hang on to its small-town (mayberry RFD on the lake) sort of vibe. It may change evenutally, but it is my favorite place to be and it is still growing. There are scores of new homes and new shops/cafes sprouting up all the time. There are also two new medical facilities under construction right now. Marshall Ford Marina is my personal favorite, but there are several to choose from. Lakeway is a little slower paced and more relaxed lifestyle than Austin in my opinion.

Lake Travis ISD is also far more affordable than Eanes ISD, unless your talking about a waterfront estate and there are plenty of those too. There are 35 homes with 2-4 bedrooms and 2 car garage, with a water view or hill country view in Lakeway priced between $220K-695K. There are 60 year old waterfront lake shacks-which are now few and far between, and plenty of homes built in the 80's and tons built in the boom years between 1995-2006. The drive to Austin is not too bad, just avoid high drive time. Moderator cut: not allowed Betina

[austin-steve]

I attended a parent meeting last night at WHS on the topic of class rank. WHS is considering dropping class rank because it seems to be disadvantaging great students who don't achieve the coveted top 10. Highland Park High School in Dallas has already done this, and other high performing Texas High Schools are considering it.

Some parents shared that their older kids already in college did not even apply at UT or A&M because they were not top 10 and didn't think they'd get in. In fact UT and A&M do accept non-top10 students, but the student perception is that they don't have a chance.

Many colleges use some type of automated sorting, and kids that are "low" in class rank (below their set percentage, whatever it might be), are flagged as "not good enough" when in fact those kids would have been high ranking if viewed against a state or national average.

Removing the ranking of students forces the colleges to look at the transcripts and make a determination. Some college recruiters have told WHS counselors bluntly that many of the kids flagged out of consideration would in fact be admitted without a class rank, due to the nuances of the selection process, which I didn't completely understand.

The other point brought up was that the kids obsess on their class rank, even the ones not in top 10, and they end up choosing a more academically rigerous set of courses, which sounds good at first, but often produces bright but un-rounded kids because they don't want to "waste" a course grade in Theater, taking a sport, or an interesting non-AP class.

Kids active in sports are also disadvantaged by the ranking system because many simply can't manage the coursework required to achieve top 10 due to practice and game commitments, or they just can't stay up until 1AM completing assignments.

The school personnel seem to favor a change. Top 10 has to be kept, by Texas Law, so there was discussion on how that would work. Just tell kids they are "top 10", or give their actual rank? The top 10 kids polled in a focus group all want to keep the ranking for everyone (for obvious reasons) and they say they've worked hard to achive and they want to know where they rank among peers. But they don't care if everyone below top 10 is unranked.

Anyway, I thought it was an interesting catch-22, that some schools are so successful at producing good students that some of the good students are disadvantaged in their college searches by their "average" class ranks, even though they produce above average (measured nationally and statewide) SAT, ACT and GPA scores.

Steve

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

Anyway, I thought it was an interesting catch-22, that some schools are so successful at producing good students that some of the good students are disadvantaged in their college searches by their "average" class ranks, even though they produce above average (measured nationally and statewide) SAT, ACT and GPA scores.

Steve

It is not really a catch 22, that is the whole point of the top 10% rule at UT.

Taking the best students period vs. taking the best students from each school has different outcomes, but I dont think either is inherently better.

My personal preference would be to take the best students period, but I recognize what people are trying to accomplish with the 10% rule.

[tmcd]

The top 10% rule was changed in the last leg session:

Texas Senate passes new top-10 admissions rule for UT-Austin | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | News: Education (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/education/stories/DN-top10_31tex.ART.State.Edition1.512385e.html - broken link)

For fall 2011, UT will limit automatic admissions to something around the top 8%.

I'd rather see automatic class rank admissions limited to less than 50% of the (in-state) freshman class, but 75% is better than 100%.

[Freddy D.]

To see the real difference between Westlake and Lake Travis ISD you should take a look at the number of National Merit Scholars from each school. Westlake is far superior in academics, while Lake Travis has made high school football its priority.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by Freddy D.

To see the real difference between Westlake and Lake Travis ISD you should take a look at the number of National Merit Scholars from each school. Westlake is far superior in academics, while Lake Travis has made high school football its priority.

Do you assume football is a priority because Lake Travis has been very successful recently? What exactly do you suppose LTHS has done to make football its priority?

[FueledByBlueBell]

I thought LTISD was building a new high school... somewhere near Serene Hills maybe?