So excited to move back home! :) (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh: transplants, how much, attorney)

[ThreeMeninMyLife]

I grew up in Washington Crossing PA. Born in Trenton NJ and raised in WC. I went to Council Rock high school. I am currently down south in NC. Its ok, but its too hot and I hate the southern accents LOL

My family and I are going to move back home soon! My new job will help relocate me in terms of paying for closing costs, etc. I will be working in Upper Merion/KOP.

Can anyone tell me where a good place to live to commute there would be? It is about 1 hour from my home I grew up in, so Im not as familiar with the area. I do know that 76 is a bear (the traffic is the part I DONT miss being down here LOL). I dont mind a commute, but would rather it be only 20-30 mins max.

Thanks GO EAGLES! :P

[orrmobl]

Assuming you have kids, Tredyffrin schools are the best in the area so Paoli, Berwyn, parts of Wayne, Devon and Malvern cover that.

Radnor and Lower Merion schools are next in terms of quality, still top 10 in the state but you will be living in snob central as well as paying over $500k for a house...not that you won't in Tredyffrin but you get green space and a tad more land with that as well...

Then Great Valley schools which is also Malvern, less expensive than the areas above, great schools, nice people, small downtown but not the old fashioned walkable down town like a place like Wayne has.

West Goshen/West Chester, also good schools...you're moving into top 25 vs top 10 now, more affordable, more greenspace, charming downtown with restaurants, shopping etc, people seem to love it...more of that old fashioned small town feel but further from work.

Downingtown schools you're looking at Exton, Chester Springs (McMansion central), Lionville (also some McMansions) and Downingtown (the "wrong side" of the Downingtown SD). Some places have lots of green space, mostly looking at new developments, car suburb, no downtown to speak of...

If you'd rather drive east-west, you can look at Collegeville which also has good schools (top 80 in the state) and tons of brand new developments...straight shot down 422 to KOP. You could also consider Phoenixville which is an up an coming area, schools in the top 80s as well...mix of redeveloping walkable downtown, older housing stock as well as new developments and McMansions I would think, affordable, trendy, etc...

Note that as you go down this list, you get more bang for your buck...

Really depends how much you have to spend, how big a house/yard you need and how far you want to drive, how good you want the schools to be but if you go with any of those above, you can't really go wrong.

[ThreeMeninMyLife]

Thank you so much for the info. We do have kids-2 boys ages 2 and 4. Thanks a ton! That is very helpful. Im sooooo excited! Can you tell?

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by orrmobl

Assuming you have kids, Tredyffrin schools are the best in the area so Paoli, Berwyn, parts of Wayne, Devon and Malvern cover that.

Radnor and Lower Merion schools are next in terms of quality, still top 10 in the state but you will be living in snob central as well as paying over $500k for a house...not that you won't in Tredyffrin but you get green space and a

I'll mention the area to the nw of Upper Merion which is very scenic, relatively affordable area and comes with a very good schools district (Owen J Roberts)

East Coventry
North Coventry
French Creek
East Vincent
West Vincent



Welcome home and sorry to momentarily hijack this thread but Oorm seems to have gone bloody mad, especially the proclamation that the Mainline schools are overrated.Apparently he's gotten a hold of a bad school website and is running wild with it. So just to clarify.


Inquirer Report Card on the Schools - Philadelphia Inquirer

SAT scores for area high schools

Lower Merion High School

Math-598
Verbal- 582
Writing-576

Lower Merion-Harriton
Math-596
Verbal-571
Writing-572

Radnor
Math-598
Verbal-574
Writing-566

Tredyffrin-Easttown
Math-582
Verbal-574
Writing-568

Unionville-Chadds Ford
Math-572
Verbal-556
Writing-545

Wallingford-Swarthmore Strath Haven
Math-564
Verbal-544
Writing-533

Central Bucks East
Math-544
Verbal-533
Writing-533

[orrmobl]

Originally Posted by rainrock

Welcome home and sorry to momentarily hijack this thread but Oorm seems to have gone bloody mad, especially the proclamation that the Mainline schools are overrated.Apparently he's gotten a hold of a bad school website and is running wild with it. So just to clarify.

She's not at all sorry and as you can see, is hypersensitive to anything remotely disparaging to her beloved Main Line...seems a case of not being able to see the forest for the trees or not being paranoid if they really are out to get you, but anyway.

Tredyffrin IS the Main Line, and I said next in term of school quality were Radnor and LM, also Main Line. But the people/attitude you have to deal with there, a la Rainrock, make it less desirable for the common folk and transplants to live there...just my and others, locals and transplants alike, observations, but no need to inject facts into Rain's fantasy world.

Rain's much used Inky info is for high schools only, so assuming your kids are in high school, maybe this single point of info is relevant. Also bear in mind Radnor and LM are pressure cookers with kids so focused on the right school they learn nothing save how to game the system to get what they want...good old fashioned family values, Main Line style. Again this come from a guy who tutors these poor kids, and says they are at the breaking point from the pressure...if this is what good schools mean to you, then go for it.

Tredyffrin may have some of this pressure, but being further out and having a more socioeconomically diverse group of people, I hope its not quite as bad. I went to school with a Conestoga grad and he was down to earth as can be...he was at a Penn State commuter campus so maybe he was at the bottom of his class but I still think Berwyn, Paoli and sections of Wayne and Malvern being so far out/bordering on areas like Newtown Square and Malvern, make them less detached and insular, and more welcoming to new people as there is less of the country club mentality and large estates upon which to hide from the unwashed masses.

Here's the article to which I refer often:
Three of top school districts in state hail from Allegheny County - Pittsburgh Business Times:

And lo and behold I found allegations of grade changing at Radnor HS, what a surprise!

http://www.waynesuburban.com/WebApp/appmanager/JRC/SingleWeekly?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pg_wk_article&r 21.pgpath=%2FWSU%2FHome&r21.content=%2FWSU%2FHome% 2FTopStoryList_Story_1332278 (broken link)

"At RHS, a lack of ‘policies, controls and procedures’

The attorney who investigated two occasions of administrative grade-changing and a large-scale student-cheating incident at Radnor High School says both were the result of a “perfect storm.”

Michael Levin, who also served as Radnor Township School District special counsel during last year’s collecting-bargaining negotiations, writes in his report that a dearth of “policies, controls and procedures” was among the causes of the recent incidents.

The cheating and grade-changing are essentially unrelated except that they were both investigated by Levin, that they were both exposed by chance, and that they were the latest in a series of contentious and unpleasant occurrences that have cast a pall over the school district."

But I guess Rain will say these are limited instances because Radnor is too upscale to have cheaters and corruption, right?

[rainrock]

Also bear in mind Radnor and LM are pressure cookers with kids so focused on the right school they learn nothing save how to game the system to get what they want...good old fashioned family values, Main Line style.

Recklessly judgemental. Have you sunken so low as to delve into criticising family values of people you have never met?Thats a tell tale sign of ignorance.

[orrmobl]

Anecdotal evidence, my friend, just passing it along. A guy who tutors on the Main Line said how bad he feels for the Radnor kids because of all the pressure. The parents pay him obscene amounts of money to get the kids the test scores needed to get into the "right" school.

Or am I making this, plus the above article (nice way to not respond to it btw) up?

[DITC]

Originally Posted by orrmobl

Anecdotal evidence, my friend, just passing it along. A guy who tutors on the Main Line said how bad he feels for the Radnor kids because of all the pressure. The parents pay him obscene amounts of money to get the kids the test scores needed to get into the "right" school.

Or am I making this, plus the above article (nice way to not respond to it btw) up?

I do not understand this phenomenon. I can tell by the average SAT scores that these PA towns are probably really competitive. Sending a kid to a school like this is so overrated for the tax price you pay. The competition is completely unnecessary and puts too much stress on a kid. There are excellent schools out there where the SAT scores are lower (around 1000ish) that have the same amount of resources but are more well balanced and not just top heavy with competitive smart kids. These places offer a kid the same shot at getting into college.

[merrlane]

Originally Posted by DITC

I do not understand this phenomenon. I can tell by the average SAT scores that these PA towns are probably really competitive. Sending a kid to a school like this is so overrated for the tax price you pay. The competition is completely unnecessary and puts too much stress on a kid. There are excellent schools out there where the SAT scores are lower (around 1000ish) that have the same amount of resources but are more well balanced and not just top heavy with competitive smart kids. These places offer a kid the same shot at getting into college.

Just my 2 cents........ I don't really think high schools/and families these days are really preparing kids to be on their own in college & to do well. Colleges are all about partying. Kids at 18 are not mature enough to be in an "everything goes" atmosphere... IMO. Currently my family & I live in an infamous "CA party college" town.
AGAIN just my 2 cents but frankly....... I will encourage my kids to go to a good jr college before they go off to finish the remaining college education unless I see some REAL maturity on their part. (and so far at 11 & 9 ...... I'm not seeing it! lol) This way they can mature abit more and not be such a young kid in what is largly a very out of control atmosphere.
The fact that parents seem to ONLY want their kids to test high so they can go to a prestigeous college and that seems to be what they are most concerned about. So when they get there they are completely unprepared.