Wheaton vs Elmhurst vs Oak Park (Chicago, Evanston: condo, home, where to buy)
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Wheaton has a 22 minute commute to where? 22 minutes to down town Chicago? In rush hour? I think not. Any place can have a 22 minute commute depending on where people are going. another reason why "data" needs to be heavily contextualised.
Wheaton has a 22 minute commute to where? 22 minutes to down town Chicago? In rush hour? I think not. Any place can have a 22 minute commute depending on where people are going. another reason why "data" needs to be heavily contextualised.
To employment centers in nearby Naperville, Oak Brook, or the greater Schaumburg area...
To employment centers in nearby Naperville, Oak Brook, or the greater Schaumburg area...
Right, and other places have 22 on average commutes to other "employment centers"... I can understand how certain personalities would be drawn to Wheaton, but basing it's value over other places that also have easy commutes to relative "employment centers" doesn't reflect any kind of commuter advantage unless a person was going to work in Naperville, Oak Brook... which the OP isn't.
Well, not that y'all care but the last two interviews went well....Now to wait to see if I made the cut for the final, face-to-face interview before touring high schools.
Now as far as these neighborhoods....there is no job or neighborhood that would make any commute worth 2 hours one way and since I will be the only parent in the state after the move, I feel the need to be more accessible than that.....I think Oak Park is going to be out of the question until the boy is in college.
So this brings us to Wheaton vs. Elmhurst...are there any other details that I might want to consider with these two areas, since the communities have a similar commute and apparently both have excellent schools?
I've been attempting to research rental properties (I don't want to buy a property until I am familiar with the area myself) on craigslist, homes.com, etc and Wheaton seems to have more options on each website. Are there other/better places to look for rental properties in these areas?
I suspect that the presence of College of DuPage (local community college) on the Glen Ellyn / Wheaton border tends to drive a lot more opportunities for rentals in Wheaton as compared to Elmhurst. I general I would not recommend being too close to the COD campus to try to distance myself from some of the younger / less responsible kids that are attempting to live near the community college. I would also try to focus on area nearer the nicer homes as there is a bit of a split with school quality along those lines too.
Elmhurst is arguably more uniform in some ways, though there are clusters of older apartments most of the town has rather nice single family homes. Some of the rentals are probably on the small side though you can sometimes do well renting a townhouse or condo from a private party. School performance does vary with income (which happens pretty much everywhere...) but the town has made efforts to try to ensure that resources and staffing between schools are fair / equal.
Overall it would be hard to really "go wrong" in either area and I suspect that once you are down to comparing indivual rentals the tipping factor will probably be just which was has the best balance of space / value / convenience.
Right, and other places have 22 on average commutes to other "employment centers"... I can understand how certain personalities would be drawn to Wheaton, but basing it's value over other places that also have easy commutes to relative "employment centers" doesn't reflect any kind of commuter advantage unless a person was going to work in Naperville, Oak Brook... which the OP isn't.
When Chet says "employment center," he usually means huge office buildings that employ tons of white collar professionals. No, not everheree is within a 22 minute drive of that (like where I live, for instance).
Did you not understand what he meant or were you just being snide?
Actually, Wheaton has numerous apartments near downtown and near Wheaton College. These areas are pleasant, established neighborhoods.
It should be noted that undergraduates at Wheaton College tend to live on campus rather than in apartments. Besides, you're just not going to have the kind of problems with students at Wheaton College than you would at most universities. Even students at non-religious private liberal arts colleges, such as Elmhurst College, generally won't give you anywhere near the level of difficulties that most state university students will. That said, I have minimal experience with Elmhurst College itself.
Both Wheaton North and Wheaton-Warrenville South are good schools. Interestingly, Wheaton North has slightly higher ACT scores despite being more of a socioeconomic mix and having a slightly higher percentage of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunches. Both schools serve a mix of established areas and modern, upscale neighborhoods. However, this mix is more skewed towards the modern, upscale neighborhoods at South than it is as North. This may make it slightly easier to fit in socially at North for someone who's not going to be living in an expensive home. (The decision may essentially be made for you by default, given that the affordable homes and apartments tend to be in the Wheaton North attendance area.)
Is it the case that your son will be going directly to high school and that you can therefore disregard the quality of middle schools?
Wheaton has no areas which should be avoided entirely. Some neighborhoods are more upscale than others, but all areas are safe, pleasant and offer good schools. However, there are apartment complexes just north of the city proper, in Carol Stream, which should be avoided. These complexes are generally near Schmale Road, north of Geneva Road but south of North Avenue. This area is rough, and many of the complexes have substantial numbers of Section 8 tenants.
At least in our area in Iowa, the middle schools feed directly into the high schools within a certain boundary. So I figure by touring the high school, I can get a chance to talk with the office/guidance counselor about programs that may be specific to that high school before rental-shopping on that side of town. It seems in our current city that some high schools are more focused on college/AP classes and others on vocational training...and I'd like to know that about the high school before I send him to the respective middle school for one semester.
I'm more nervous than he is about making friends etc before high school. He seems extremely confident that his athletic skills will be sufficient for his social needs but he's never moved between states, as I did as an elementary student. I had a horrible experience adjusting and making friends but I also was not allowed to be involved in extracurricular activities, which may have contributed to my lack of socializing opportunities. To be fair, I moved into a very small town with less than 300 in my graduating class and by 2nd grade when I arrived, the girls' cliques of the haves/have nots were well formed. I would imagine/hope in a city of Wheaton's or Elmhurst's size, and with boys, this sort of small town snobbery would be less oppressive and it does seem that in our current city, he's never had any problems fitting in.
It is also very possible that he simply just is not as much of a nerd/geek/dork as I was......and thank goodness for that~
But...if anyone has input on the middle schools, by all means...please share!!
Oh and another question....Danada Farms has practically taken over the Wheaton area Craigslist rentals with their listings....they do look nice enough and would accommodate our pets, but the simple fact that they appear to have SO many THs available gives me pause. Are they as nice as they look and the neighborhood reasonably close to schools/shopping? Also, they appear to be closer to the Glenbard High School than to the Wheaton South high school...
When Chet says "employment center," he usually means huge office buildings that employ tons of white collar professionals. No, not everheree is within a 22 minute drive of that (like where I live, for instance).
Did you not understand what he meant or were you just being snide?
There are other places that are 22 minute drive from "employment centers" (not limited to "huge office buildings). Not everyone works in "huge office buildings", so i dont see why the benefits of commuting are limited to commutes to "huge office buildings". I'm sure Chet would clearly write what he means if he was referring to singular types of profession. It's too bad you don't have a 22 minute commute.
Last edited by chitownperson; 09-07-2012 at 10:51 PM..
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It is also very possible that he simply just is not as much of a nerd/geek/dork as I was......and thank goodness for that~
