St. Pius vs Mount Vernon Presbyterian (transporting, house, public school)

[Tess4]

My daughter has been accepted to both these schools for 9th grade. She is very torn as to which to attend. We are aware they are very different schools but each has things she loves. Opinons? Academics, social life etc. One is much closer to our house and the other has about a 10 mile commute.

[CMMom]

How important is athletics to her, if at all? If it is important, I would go to St. Pius, as they have a much longer track record and play bigger schools in their division. Obviously, one is Catholic and one is not, so they are quite different in that sense. Both are good schools. If they are really completely equal in her eyes, I would push for the one that's closer to home since you'll be transporting her for at least a couple of years!

[AtlJan]

Closer to your home is also important for her socially as she goes through high school. She is more likely to have friends near by and do things w/ them at the closer school. Kids that lived far away from my high school either drove ("sped" actually!) up and down the highways all the time or were a bit left out of things.

[JPD]

If your kid is anything like me, they'll go to St. Pius, renounce Catholicism, and end up spending most of their time hanging out with the kids (mostly the bad ones) from the nearest public school.

Having said that, nobody who is Catholic would consider for even one second sending their kid to a Presbyterian school, so I'll assume the whole renouncing Catholicism thing probably isn't a big concern for you.

[dblackga]

All things being equal, I'd choose the closer one. St. Pius' athletic program is more well-developed, but there may be more opportunity to participate in a variety of sports at Mt. Vernon. In rush hour, 10 miles equal a two hour daily drive back and forth morning and afternoon if you are driving her to school. If there's reasonable transportation alternatives, then that makes it a more difficult choice. Also, if she will be driving herself to school in a couple of years, it may only be an issue for a couple of years.

Either one she chooses, she'll be happy as a clam the first week, so try not to feel this is a make-or-break decision. :-)

[Tess4]

Actually Mt. Vernon is appealing in that she could participate in no cut sports. Not much hope of making a St. Pius team. We are Catholic but had an older child attend MVP several years ago and have no problem with the religious aspect. My daughter is coming from public school. Leaning towards the closer school since social life is very important to my daughter and would like to have friends close to home. We would be driving her to MVP and I anticipate she would want to be at the school for after school activities which would put the trip home right at rush hour. She just really liked the small classes and more innovative curriculum at MVP. In the end I am pretty sure she will decide that it is not worth the commute. Still waffling at this point though.