Best high schools (including culture not just test scores) and place to live around Berwyn PA for family with teens (Dallas: to rent)

[snoopyo]

Help!!!!
My family is moving to PA this summer and I am trying to figure out the personalities of the Phili Suburbs around Berwyn. We are moving from a newer planned community that has a neighborhood pool and is bike and walking friendly. We are looking for good public schools, but ones where the kids are having fun and learning vs. feeling like the world will end if they don't get into Harvard because their mom went there My kids are both honor students and I would like to find a school that will challenge them but without the drama of class rank competition.
I keep reading threads about the money and snobby attitudes. Is that reality - is it keeping up with Jones' or just attitudes of I deserve more and cliques- or is it just that people have an excess of money which intimidates or annoys some people? And people have made subtle remarks about how different Randor township is from Lower Merion township but noone will say how they are different. We are looking at Radnor, Harriton (because of the IB program), Lower Merion, and Great Valley high schools. I have read some things about the competitive culture at Conestoga High School that turned me off of that school initially.

Does anyone have kids in these high schools and associated middle schools who could give some real feedback about the community cultures and local 'knowledge' about the schools.

We have moved many times when our kids were little and have lived in NY, Boston MA, the burbs outside of Dallas and Houston, and FL. And every move taught us you can't know a place until you live there. But this is the first move with a middle and high schooler and we don't have time to rent and then buy a house - we'd like to be able to jump right in.

Any opinions or thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by snoopyo

Help!!!!

Is on its way .

Originally Posted by snoopyo

My family is moving to PA this summer and I am trying to figure out the personalities of the Phili Suburbs around Berwyn.

Philly.

Originally Posted by snoopyo

We are moving from a newer planned community that has a neighborhood pool and is bike and walking friendly.

You can easily get one or the other, but both seldom come together around here.

Originally Posted by snoopyo

We are looking for good public schools, but ones where the kids are having fun and learning vs. feeling like the world will end if they don't get into Harvard because their mom went there

It isn't a question of one or the other. While some high schools are more competitive than others, the degree to which your kids get caught in the rat race is up to them. Suffice to say, the median student at these schools will be going to somewhere like Penn State, not Harvard.

Originally Posted by snoopyo

My kids are both honor students and I would like to find a school that will challenge them but without the drama of class rank competition.

Schools that are capable of preparing competitive students for competitive universities are invariably going to have a competitive undercurrent, which isn't a bad thing (IMO) because life is competitive. Obviously there are healthy and unhealthy ways of approaching competition, but once again, the degree to which your children engage in this culture is up to them.

Originally Posted by snoopyo

I keep reading threads about the money and snobby attitudes. Is that reality - is it keeping up with Jones' or just attitudes of I deserve more and cliques- or is it just that people have an excess of money which intimidates or annoys some people?

A bit of both, I suppose? While there's definitely a "keeping up with the Joneses" set on the Main Line, they're a fairly small (and for the most part easily avoidable) minority.

Originally Posted by snoopyo

And people have made subtle remarks about how different Randor township is from Lower Merion township but noone will say how they are different.

Not sure who says that, because they're far more alike than different. The biggest difference I can think of is that LM has a perennially large Jewish population (25-30%), and Radnor has a moderate, more newly established Jewish population (~10%). I'm guessing this makes no difference to you.

Originally Posted by snoopyo

We are looking at Radnor, Harriton (because of the IB program), Lower Merion, and Great Valley high schools. I have read some things about the competitive culture at Conestoga High School that turned me off of that school initially.

I went to Harriton, and if you want to talk easily avoidable pressure cooker culture, look no further than IB. The honors/AP kids, like myself, tended to be much happier/less caught up in the competition. Except for val/sal (and a confidential list kept on-hand for colleges that would otherwise penalize prospective students), Harriton and LM don't rank, by the way.

Originally Posted by snoopyo

Does anyone have kids in these high schools and associated middle schools who could give some real feedback about the community cultures and local 'knowledge' about the schools.

I went to Welsh Valley and Harriton. Ask me more specific questions and I'll give you answers.

[karengMainLine]

Hi there! Not sure if you have moved already, but I live in Berwyn and it is great. My kids are middle school ages. Just like anywhere, there will be a mix of cliques, snobs and also great people. You can't go wrong here. : )

[rainrock]

Based on competitiveness from highest to lowest I would rank Lower Merion, Radnor gap Great Valley.

Another very high achieving schol district is Unionville-Chadds Ford which is about 30 minutes swest from Berwyn. Much more laid back environment imo at least it used to be. Unionville -Chadds Ford is always ranked near the top of Pa public school along with LM,Radnor,GV. U-CF may be worth looking into if you are looking for a less stressful district.