Need help finding a home (Philadelphia, Chester: homes, private schools, university)

[R&M]

We're a married couple with one boy in high school and one in college. I'll be teaching in the University City area and my spouse will be pursuing new opportunities in the area. We will have a car but we would like to find a place that will accomodate a mass transit option to the University City area. We would like something that is quiet as we're not into nightlife and we would even like to avoid road/train noise if possible.

We of course want a fantastic high school and would really like to find one that offers electronics/robotics options. If you know of communities that may work for us we would appreciate your help greatly!

Best

[Tangled Threads]

Drexel Univ. hosts an annual robotics competition that includes high school students. You may want to try to get in touch with someone involved with that and find out what schools participate.

[toobusytoday]

This year the Robotics tournament is being hosted at Temple. I think they said that Drexel is doing some renovations where it's usually done. My son is on a team and we're attending. Coincidentally, he's at one in Trenton right now! It's FIRST Robotics. Usfirst.org - Welcome to FIRST Here is the event website for the March tournament at Temple: Philadelphia Regional - Home

I'm in the Lehigh Valley, so it's a bit too far to commute. I'm sure you will find a good school in Philly with a team.

[orrmobl]

There are many great places around Philadelphia to live. The commute is always a big part of the equation.

Close access to University City would likely mean somewhere in nearby Delaware or Chester counties.

As for high schools, not sure about the robotics programs but I can give you a ranking of nearby high schools.

Conestoga High (Tredyffrin Twp, further out from most other towns to follow, parts of Wayne and Devon, Berwyn, Paoli, parts of Malvern)

Central Bucks (Again further out as it is in Bucks Co.)

Radnor (closer in, big money area, Villanova, parts of Wayne, Radnor, Devon, Rosemont maybe?)

Unionville-Chadds Ford (Chadds Ford, parts of West Chester, further out along Route 1 South, would have to drive to catch the train in Media/Elwyn, beautiful area, nice people, semi-rural and quiet, great schools)

Lower Merion (Closest to the city, even bigger money, gets you the shortest commute)

Garnet Valley (slightly in from Chadds Ford along Rt 1, keep up with the Joneses, new housing developments)

Wallingford-Swarthmore (closer in, liberal, mixed group of folks but very welcoming, walkable areas, tree lined areas, very quaint, no real down town, high taxes, very good high school)

Rose Tree Media (closer in, mixed group of people, great walkable downtown with Trader Joe's and bars and restaurants, very good high school)

Further out you would hav places like:

West Chester (very family friendly, popular, good schools, great walkable downtown, no direct train to city)

Downingtown/Lionville/Chester Springs/Exton schools (slightly better than West Chester, more rural areas, bigger homes and lots, further commute)

Great Valley (Malvern and Willistown Twp which is near parts of Newtown Square and Edgemont, very good schools, better than Downingtown and West Chester, big area with lots of different types of people and housing - one slice of Willistown is near Rt 3/West Chester Pike between Newtown Square and Edgemont).

[kimrocktherealtor]

I'm not sure if you're open to private schools, but in lower bucks county near Newtown (it's technically in Langhorne but right outside of Newtown) the George School which is a private quaker school has a teacher who specializes in Robotics.. He actually wrote a book called "BasicX and Robotics: The Art of Making Machines Think.” and is a pretty famous robotics person.. He teaches at the school and has a few speciality classes/seminars there on an ongoing basis for students. Something to consider. If you wanted your son to go to the George school, you could conveniently live in Newtown PA which is right off of I-95 giving you about a half hour commute to UPenn each day.

[R&M]

Thanks for the insightful responses.

[DailyJournalist]

Haddonfield, NJ