What would you do? (Santa Clara, Pleasanton: good schools, college, high income)

[eegirl]

Where would you live if your SO got a job in Silicon Valley? Our main focus is our kids, family life/quality schools. My DH does not mind a commute (driving, ride sharing, public transportation are all options). We want a school like the one we have now, high academics, but not a pressure cooker. We value arts, sports, and free time too. Thank you in advance for your suggestions!

[hsw]

Really depends upon one's housing budget and public vs pvt schools...

SV, esp PA area, is arguably one of world's two most intellectually intense urban regions, alongside Manhattan/Greenwich....

Many smart, high-achieving parents...and a disproportionate share of high-achieving kids....and many mediocre kids whose parents can easily donate generously to college of choice to solve silly admissions games....

If nothing else, those astute kids who are raised in SV gain an early, real-world intro to life in a highly competitive economy....an exposure that kids in Podunk (or even the EastBay/Marin suburbs) often lack until much later, if at all, in life.....

[MtnSurfer]

Check out Morgan Hill. That seems like a nice family area in commuting distance to the SV. If I hadn't found work in Monterey that is where we would look for our family.

Also my wife grew up in SJ and enjoyed living in Saratoga and Santa Clara with her family. I am sure there are other good options depending on your budget as hsw mentioned.

I think a healthy balance between academics and simply having fun is important for young children. And developmental research tends to supports this as well.

- Derek

[EllenOlenska]

Originally Posted by hsw

Really depends upon one's housing budget and public vs pvt schools...

SV, esp PA area, is arguably one of world's two most intellectually intense urban regions, alongside Manhattan/Greenwich....

Many smart, high-achieving parents...and a disproportionate share of high-achieving kids....and many mediocre kids whose parents can easily donate generously to college of choice to solve silly admissions games....

If nothing else, those astute kids who are raised in SV gain an early, real-world intro to life in a highly competitive economy....an exposure that kids in Podunk (or even the EastBay/Marin suburbs) often lack until much later, if at all, in life.....

Is this really true? I would think that ANY high income area would have high achieving parents who push their kids to be the same way. La Jolla, Del Mar, Marin, Malibu, etc.

[eegirl]

Thank you for the Morgan Hill suggestion, we will check into it. We have been looking at Pleasanton and Palo Alto. Any thoughts?

[MtnSurfer]

I have heard the commute from Pleasanton to the SV can be really bad grid lock. I am not sure about Palo Alto to the SV. There may also be some public transportation options depending on where your husband will work.

[Luke9686]

The main factor is going to be budget. If you can narrow down a budget, you will get more relavant responses. If you're budget is $300,000 you will get way different responses than if your budget is a million.

[AA702]

Cupertino has some good schools. I acutally grew up in that area. I know that its mostly very smart asian kids that are dominating in academics. Makes some of the other smart kids look bad.

[sonarrat]

I grew up in Morgan Hill. The commute is nowhere near as bad as it used to be, you're usually at the limit between Cochrane and Capitol Expwy on 101 (15 miles). The deeper you go into the Silicon Valley from there, though, the worse it is.

[EZrhythm]

I'd choose Pleasanton out of all of those suggested. Much more of what you're looking for and friendlier neighbors. Stay away from Santa Clara county (SJ, Cup, SV, MH, Milpitas, etc.) as much as possible.