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I dunno I think chapel hill schools are a bit overblown there is a ton of kids living in apartments from lower SES families going to those schools. I think you're going to find a haves and haves not situation.
I've heard good feedback about chatham schools if you are looking for a more normal experience or one like yours if you went through public schools elsewhere in NC
Yes I found this to be true when we lived there.
I would for sure look into Chatham but I think the commute to RTP would be too far?
I lived off Whitfield last time. This time I would like to be more in town but the places I like ( like Eastwood Lake) feed into East I believe.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
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My friend's child transferred from East to Carrboro when they moved. And she confirmed that Carrboro is a less stressful environment than East is. My daughter goes to Carrboro and likes it which says a lot because she disliked our middle school (Culbreth). There are high-achieving kids at Carrboro, but there are also average kids, too. So far we have found most of the teachers to be good (again after a much more mixed experience in middle school).
And to address hey_guy's comment about lots of lower SES families going to CH schools, it is absolutely true. If I recall correctly, free and reduced lunch students make up 20-25% of the student population. In that way, it will be a different experience than in some of Cary's affluent schools where there are very few low-SES students. It can be a problem if you have a student who is on the lower end of the achievement scale. Sometimes they will be in classes with more discipline problems and kids who don't want to be there. If your kid is more likely to take honors classes, then there won't be an issue.
The size of Carrboro can be a negative and/or a positive. For example, there is no marching band, although I believe they're starting one. If you want to do marching band, I think you have to go to Chapel Hill High. There is no homecoming dance, and a lot of sports teams don't have JV because there aren't enough kids to fill them. And because they're a newer school, I heard some complaints last year that they didn't have as many college recruiters come by as East did, for example. i.e. we may not be on everyone's radar yet. Or East just has its act together more than Carrboro does. On the other hand, the kids mostly all know each other and the staff, you're more likely to make a sports team, the building is very nice as it's only 10 years old, etc. It has its pros and cons. Overall, we've been relatively pleased.
My friend's child transferred from East to Carrboro when they moved. And she confirmed that Carrboro is a less stressful environment than East is. My daughter goes to Carrboro and likes it which says a lot because she disliked our middle school (Culbreth). There are high-achieving kids at Carrboro, but there are also average kids, too. So far we have found most of the teachers to be good (again after a much more mixed experience in middle school).
And to address hey_guy's comment about lots of lower SES families going to CH schools, it is absolutely true. If I recall correctly, free and reduced lunch students make up 20-25% of the student population. In that way, it will be a different experience than in some of Cary's affluent schools where there are very few low-SES students. It can be a problem if you have a student who is on the lower end of the achievement scale. Sometimes they will be in classes with more discipline problems and kids who don't want to be there. If your kid is more likely to take honors classes, then there won't be an issue.
The size of Carrboro can be a negative and/or a positive. For example, there is no marching band, although I believe they're starting one. If you want to do marching band, I think you have to go to Chapel Hill High. There is no homecoming dance, and a lot of sports teams don't have JV because there aren't enough kids to fill them. And because they're a newer school, I heard some complaints last year that they didn't have as many college recruiters come by as East did, for example. i.e. we may not be on everyone's radar yet. Or East just has its act together more than Carrboro does. On the other hand, the kids mostly all know each other and the staff, you're more likely to make a sports team, the building is very nice as it's only 10 years old, etc. It has its pros and cons. Overall, we've been relatively pleased.
Thank you- this kind of feedback is what I am looking for.
I know when my son was at Smith there was no one to coach lacrosse. (a sport all my kids play). They ended up getting an injured player from UNC to coach. I was surprised as it is so big up here in the midwest (and at UNC and Duke).
I do know about lower income as my elementary kid was invited over for a playdate and I was surprised when I arrived at the address and it was a trailer park. They were extremely kind people and my son remained friends with their son the entire year we lived there. He was only in 2nd grade at the time but I loved that he never seemed to notice the difference between their house and the much bigger houses of his other friends. Plus he loved that they spoke Spanish
East didn't have a Homecoming dance back when we were there. I was so surprised. Up here we do the parade, dance, etc It's a pretty big deal. I was also surprised that the elementary schools don't do more parties and such. We have a big Halloween parade and V-day parties and what not. At Morris Grove they didn't do anything. Not saying one is better, it's just different.
I don't know about Morris Grove but at Carrboro Elementary they did have quite a few special events — not necessarily centered around Valentine's or Halloween, but they have a big school fair every year and quite a few school dances (mostly just snacks and loud music in elementary school) and of course the big school play.
Chapel Hill High has the marching band. I have a friend whose kid attends East and he comes over to CHHS to do marching band.
I don't know about Homecoming, etc, but that's centered around football, no? Football's not a big thing in Chapel Hill or Carrboro high schools.
I don't know about Morris Grove but at Carrboro Elementary they did have quite a few special events — not necessarily centered around Valentine's or Halloween, but they have a big school fair every year and quite a few school dances (mostly just snacks and loud music in elementary school) and of course the big school play.
Chapel Hill High has the marching band. I have a friend whose kid attends East and he comes over to CHHS to do marching band.
I don't know about Homecoming, etc, but that's centered around football, no? Football's not a big thing in Chapel Hill or Carrboro high schools.
Oh I am so glad they do a school play. I find that I am not as wrapped up in the other school stuff (parties, dance-a-thons, etc) as I was with my older ones. My younger two don't seem to be as much into it.
And yes, Homecoming is a football game, dance, parade, etc. I agree that when I lived there kids did not flock to the friday night football games like they do here or where I grew up in Michigan. But we are for sure in football territory (go Bucks). Of course most are hanging out on what we call "hormone hill"
You'll need a 4.7 with at least 5 APs plus clubs, sports, volunteer work and a p/t job to get into Chapel Hill in Wake County is what we've been told at our high school. This is verbatim, after having the school social workers telling us not to stress out our kids by expecting them to do all of the above. Good luck.
This is true for the "big deal" high schools. The high-achieving Western Wake (Green Hope, Apex, Panther Creek etc) Broughton, and the Magnets...... not necessarily all WCPSS high schools. Someone coming from Garner or Knightdale would have a better shot with the same GPA/SATs as a student from the big dog schools.
CHCCS sends a higher proportion of it's graduates to UNC than any other school system (at least that's what they say) but it's a small high-performing district so that skews it. It is definitely harder to get into UNC from a CHCCS or big-deal WCPSS school than most school districts. I went to the graduation ceremonies for East and CH High this past June. Both of those schools had literal DOZENS of valedictorians. I believe East had over 30.
What's really telling is I know of several peers whose parents work for UNC (faculty and non-faculty) who chose to live in Durham County (mostly Jordan High School zone) specifically so their kids would have a better shot of getting into UNC....even with parents who work there!
Going to UNC after living in CH? Does your child for sure want to go to UNC?
Well two will be staying here and going to Ohio State (one is already there now). But I have two more and I am guessing at least one will want to go. Who knows.
My bigger concern is just daily life in a school that is crazy hard on the kids.
This is true for the "big deal" high schools. The high-achieving Western Wake (Green Hope, Apex, Panther Creek etc) Broughton, and the Magnets...... not necessarily all WCPSS high schools. Someone coming from Garner or Knightdale would have a better shot with the same GPA/SATs as a student from the big dog schools.
CHCCS sends a higher proportion of it's graduates to UNC than any other school system (at least that's what they say) but it's a small high-performing district so that skews it. It is definitely harder to get into UNC from a CHCCS or big-deal WCPSS school than most school districts. I went to the graduation ceremonies for East and CH High this past June. Both of those schools had literal DOZENS of valedictorians. I believe East had over 30.
What's really telling is I know of several peers whose parents work for UNC (faculty and non-faculty) who chose to live in Durham County (mostly Jordan High School zone) specifically so their kids would have a better shot of getting into UNC....even with parents who work there!
This is true for the "big deal" high schools. The high-achieving Western Wake (Green Hope, Apex, Panther Creek etc) Broughton, and the Magnets...... not necessarily all WCPSS high schools. Someone coming from Garner or Knightdale would have a better shot with the same GPA/SATs as a student from the big dog schools.
CHCCS sends a higher proportion of it's graduates to UNC than any other school system (at least that's what they say) but it's a small high-performing district so that skews it. It is definitely harder to get into UNC from a CHCCS or big-deal WCPSS school than most school districts. I went to the graduation ceremonies for East and CH High this past June. Both of those schools had literal DOZENS of valedictorians. I believe East had over 30.
What's really telling is I know of several peers whose parents work for UNC (faculty and non-faculty) who chose to live in Durham County (mostly Jordan High School zone) specifically so their kids would have a better shot of getting into UNC....even with parents who work there!
So this might be a dumb question but when UNC pulls from a district do they take the top from the whole district or do they break it down between high schools?
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