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We are moving to Charleston area in March. We have visited and searched all the towns surrounding Charleston. Schools are top on our list. We found that we liked the Mt. Pleasant area the best. I will be working on the old Naval base with is a reasonable commute to Mt. Pleasant. My question, is Mt. Pleasant that much better of an area than say Summerville? Other than it's close location to the beaches. Price is not a major issue, but the schools are. I have personally visited the area several times and found myself downtown, Mt. Pleasant, beaches and FLetc. I never really found the need to travel to the other areas other than the Tanger outlets in N. Charleston. I would really appreciate any info or advice anyone has to offer. I want to make sure we are making the right decision and not overlooking an area.
If price isn't an issue than you should go with Mt. Pleasant or Daniels Island. I personally don't think there is that much of a difference between schools in Summerville and schools in Mt. Pleasant, but the commute to downtown & the beaches is much better from Mt. Pleasant obviously.
I don't live in Mt. Pleasant but really like the area. I have no regrets buying in Goose Creek and love my house/my kids' schools/husband's commute. The down falls of Mt. Pleasant, for me, would be evacuation during Hurricanes and commute to my husband's work. Commute for my husband was a huge consideration. Just like any surrounding area, there are also good/bad in Mt. Pleasant. Even though I was dead set on buying in Summerville at first, I don't regret not buying there. So if I had to relocate from GC...it probably wouldn't be to Summerville. I like Summerville fine enough....but not enough to ever up and relocate there from GC.
We probably spend most of our recreation/family time in Mt. Pleasant but would rather commute for entertainment/recreation than have a long commute daily for my husband.
Personally, Mt. Pleasant gets thumbs up from me if you enjoyed the area. I recently visited Johns Island and loved the feel of it.....very low key but coastal feeling. I have NO IDEA about the schools.
I don't live in Mt. Pleasant but really like the area. I have no regrets buying in Goose Creek and love my house/my kids' schools/husband's commute. The down falls of Mt. Pleasant, for me, would be evacuation during Hurricanes and commute to my husband's work. Commute for my husband was a huge consideration. Just like any surrounding area, there are also good/bad in Mt. Pleasant. Even though I was dead set on buying in Summerville at first, I don't regret not buying there. So if I had to relocate from GC...it probably wouldn't be to Summerville. I like Summerville fine enough....but not enough to ever up and relocate there from GC.
We probably spend most of our recreation/family time in Mt. Pleasant but would rather commute for entertainment/recreation than have a long commute daily for my husband.
Personally, Mt. Pleasant gets thumbs up from me if you enjoyed the area. I recently visited Johns Island and loved the feel of it.....very low key but coastal feeling. I have NO IDEA about the schools.
I did research on pretty much all of the schools in Charleston.. I can tell you overall I was not happy with what I saw in John's Island schools..
If you have the money and kids Mt P is a huge draw. Never will have
kids but the schools there have great reps.
So if you do not super luck out with landing a slot at Buist or the other
magnets or go private ,for the kids,mt p is the answer.
Although Wando is bursting at the seams and can be unruly.
Vibewise, i love coleman out to sullivans and 17 below Bowman. Love
the dense urban infill on coleman across from sbux. Plans include road
narrowing and landscaped medians. Will be great to get a main
st feel there.17 south of bowman is a pleasure to drive.
The rest just gets too sprawly and congested for me.
The schools in North Charleston and John's Island really don't have great reputations . Mt. Pleasant has the best reputation of Charleston County, I think. Summerville/Goose Creek are in other counties.
I think kids and schools are the reason why people locate in Mt. Pleasant. We live in West Ashley and the schools here are just average, nothing special. But, we don't have kids. With schools, a lot of people who do chose to live on John's Island or in areas where the public schools aren't as good don't even see that as an issue if they send their kids to private school (a lot of them do).
As far as the area goes, we like West Ashley a lot. It doesn't get the klout Mt. Pleasant does, but it's still a great place to live and a great place to raise a family. There are tons of families out where we live.
Depends on the age group too. The Academic Magnet school in N. Chas is one of the best in the country. Whereas Mt. Pleasant has some outstanding options for elementary school age kids (Mt. P Academy).
I did research on pretty much all of the schools in Charleston.. I can tell you overall I was not happy with what I saw in John's Island schools..
Is it just the test scores? Thank you for saying something because I truly didn't have a clue.
I know my kids don't go to the best schools but they are receiving a proper education (in GC/Berkeley). We just received PASS test results from last year and my son scored exemplary on all subjects given in 5th grade and my 4th grader (at the time) "met" expectations but was very close to the exemplary cut-off for subjects given. To me a SAFE school with a strong sense of community is better than a school with the best test scores. I'm very proud of my kids' test scores but I hate standardized testing and the emphasis put on them. I just don't want my kids to be a test score in the school system and I do worry about administration looking at my children as a test scores in the schools with great reputations.
I feel like my thoughts/words contradict themselves...lol. Hopefully I'm making sense.
The schools in North Charleston and John's Island really don't have great reputations . Mt. Pleasant has the best reputation of Charleston County, I think. Summerville/Goose Creek are in other counties.
A part of North Charleston is also in Dorchester County.
Mt P isn't better or worse than any other area down there. Its different. Just like West Ashley, Summerville, Goose Creek, downtown- each area is different in it's own way. Just wherever you fit in best.
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I have personally visited the area several times and found myself downtown, Mt. Pleasant, beaches and FLetc. I never really found the need to travel to the other areas other than the Tanger outlets in N. Charleston. I would really appreciate any info or advice anyone has to offer. I want to make sure we are making the right decision and not overlooking an area.
. Mt. Pleasant has the best reputation of Charleston County, I think. Summerville/Goose Creek are in other counties. 
