Most likely moving to Memphis next summer!

[CristenS]

I see a few homes for sale on Princeton - all of those would be fine areas (around Mendenhall, north of Walnut Grove).

By NW of University campus, do you mean the U of M? That is much further away, right next to East High School. I'd be surprised if those homes are zoned for White Station High. The area around the U of M is nice in areas, not nice in areas. It's more urban and so it really can change from street to street on how nice and safe the neighborhood is.

The Joffre area NW of UofM is okay, but again, right across from East High. I can't believe any of that would be zoned Richland or White Station. If you mean the High Point area, that is much further north of the UofM, and possibly some of the eastern parts are zoned for those schools. Have you typed the street addresses into the Shelby County School Zone Tracker to make certain?

School zones:

Edulog WebQuery

[MStoAZ]

Originally Posted by CristenS

I see a few homes for sale on Princeton - all of those would be fine areas (around Mendenhall, north of Walnut Grove).

By NW of University campus, do you mean the U of M? That is much further away, right next to East High School. I'd be surprised if those homes are zoned for White Station High. The area around the U of M is nice in areas, not nice in areas. It's more urban and so it really can change from street to street on how nice and safe the neighborhood is.

The Joffre area NW of UofM is okay, but again, right across from East High. I can't believe any of that would be zoned Richland or White Station. If you mean the High Point area, that is much further north of the UofM, and possibly some of the eastern parts are zoned for those schools. Have you typed the street addresses into the Shelby County School Zone Tracker to make certain?

School zones:

Edulog WebQuery

I can give you the street, it's zoned to WSES and WSMS and East High School. It's Cowden Ave. in 38111. Thank you!

[CristenS]

What do you plan to do with high school later on? Because honestly that would be my main concern....you can find okay elementaries and middles throughout town, but for high school - you have to do White Station. Preferably the optional program. If you are zoned for East High, I'm not sure how easy it would be to get into White Station High at all, let alone their optional program.

If you are in it for the long haul, I think it would be much easier on you to live somewhere zoned for the schools you want, instead of worrying about what you'll do later on.

Plus Cowden is a pretty long drive from Richland and WS. If that matters to you. Personally I'd rather be closer to my 'area' public school.

Cowden east of Highland is pretty student-centered, lots of rentals, people park along the street, etc. I'd steer clear of that if I was buying and had kids.

The WS area is much more established and stable than anything near the U of M. There is a huge new development going in on Highland near Central, and I'm not sure what it will do to the area. Commercial, apartments, etc.

[MStoAZ]

Originally Posted by CristenS

What do you plan to do with high school later on? Because honestly that would be my main concern....you can find okay elementaries and middles throughout town, but for high school - you have to do White Station. Preferably the optional program. If you are zoned for East High, I'm not sure how easy it would be to get into White Station High at all, let alone their optional program.

If you are in it for the long haul, I think it would be much easier on you to live somewhere zoned for the schools you want, instead of worrying about what you'll do later on.

Plus Cowden is a pretty long drive from Richland and WS. If that matters to you. Personally I'd rather be closer to my 'area' public school.

Cowden east of Highland is pretty student-centered, lots of rentals, people park along the street, etc. I'd steer clear of that if I was buying and had kids.

The WS area is much more established and stable than anything near the U of M. There is a huge new development going in on Highland near Central, and I'm not sure what it will do to the area. Commercial, apartments, etc.

Got ya. For High School, chances are we will have moved again, most likely out of Memphis. I'll be beginning work on my doctorate by that time, so we will have to move somewhere with a solid doctoral program for Urban Education.

[tiforever]

I tend to disagree with most of the people on this thread (and that's ok, lol).

I'm a Memphis native and have never wished to live in the city. If I didn't have kids, it MAY be cool to live in a hipster part of midtown. However, we moved from Bartlett to Arlington 7 years ago and it was the best decision ever. For your price range, I feel sure you can find something. Are we far from everything? That's relative and it's all what you are used to. There are always going to be further places like Munford, Atoka, Oakland, etc.

I lived on the Raleigh/Bartlett border prior to moving here and didn't find it necessarily desirable. That said, there are plenty of great neighborhoods and houses in the Bartlett area. Feel free to search around the 38002 zip code, which includes part of Bartlett or Unincorporated areas that aren't in Arlington City limits.

As far as White Station schools go, I know they used to be the top in the city, but I was told just yesterday that they have declined terribly. I'm not quite sure how reliable the source is, but her child goes to Shady Grove (I think) and is not happy with it at all. She said she won't even consider White Station. House-wise, there are plenty of lovely homes in that area.

[DubbleT]

Shady Grove is not and never has been a top tier school, it is (or maybe was) just a fairly decent n'hood elementary. Same goes for White Station elementary. The preferred elementary schools, for parents wanting their kids in the White Station optional programs, have been Richland, and the Grahamwood Elementary optional program.

And again the non optional programs at those schools at all levels (K-12) have always been so-so, nothing new there. That's why I mentioned that if they were not interested in the optional program they are no better off with that n'hood than they would be in the suburbs. It's not that those schools that are so great, it's the one specific program within the schools. (Some people chose to move into that n'hood because it gave them a slightly higher chance of being accepted into those programs.)
However WSHS is still topping out the list of Nat'l merit scholars in the state and is ranked in the top ten high schools in the state according to last years US News. That's based on test scores of both optional and non optional students together, and that tells me the optional program is still hitting it out of the park on test scores.

[MStoAZ]

So, I just wanted to update everyone on our search. We have made an offer and it was accepted for a house in East Memphis just south of Shady Grove Elementary in 38120. It's a large Jewish community and the neighbors are older and have lived in the area for over 20 years. We move in July. Very excited!

Thank you for all your help!

[CristenS]

Very good neighborhood. Congratulations!