HPISD vs. North Dallas Private Schools (Plano, Garland: student loan, how much, buying)

[lynnsl]

Originally Posted by hsw

I appreciate "bubbles" like HP or StMarks or Stanford Engineering or Goldman or Google, etc because they reflect the "diverse" set of characters, inequities and Darwinian selection any ambitious kid will encounter throughout life in any competitive, lucrative, innovative industry in world...life isn't fair, and never will be, but at no time in history have so many smart, self-made (and relatively young) people been among US' wealthiest people...stuff we routinely see today in any region with a dynamic, entrepreneurial, IQ-based economy, but rarely saw back in '80s or prior

LOVE IT - and yes... this is exactly why I would expect to see more diversity at say, St. Marks than in the HPISD. Kids with different color skin can test their way in, poorer kids can test their way in...St. Marks from what we hear is notorious for being very merit-based in admissions... you cant test your way into a $5mm house in HP. You can get a scholarship to St. Marks or finance the tuition. According to their materials, a fair amount of students go one of those two options. Sure the majority will still be white, rich, etc... but I have to believe that the "Darwinian" approach of admissions to a school like that results in some amount of diversity (not just racial, but in general)...

[pepper131]

Originally Posted by lynnsl

Lakewood is a possibility, but in the same way as Southlake is awfully far West, it seems awfully far East.

It's a quick route into downtown from Lakewood via La Vista which turns into Live Oak. Or any of the other downtown feeder streets that run SW-NE: Ross, Gaston. Takes about 15 minutes.

[TurtleCreek80]

Lynn-

It's ok to disagree; that's what makes horse races, right?

You are correct that I have not searched every nook and cranny of Carroll ISD. But it's hard to look past a $133k median income in the district ($175k for Southlake proper) and only 6 kids on free lunch programs. Also, don't knock the "rednecks" who own ranches/ farms in that part of Tarrant County. The Barnett Shale natural gas fields are underground, and many of the long-time owners signed lucrative lease deals ($25k per acre upfront at the height, plus drilling royalties). When the price of natural gas rises again - and it will in the next 10-20 years- those rednecks (and any other landowner who signed a deal) will have a nice monthly check.

As for Lakewood- if you like it, don't write it off due to distance to downtown. It's a 15-20 minute commute on surface streets. Ross Ave is a great quick route. It takes me 10 minutes to get to Lakewood Village from Turtle Creek in Uptown. You'd be familiar with all the side streets that cut to 75 in no time!

I think to send 20-25% of a class to Top 50 schools is outstanding. Closer to 35% when you count kids who choose Business Honors and Plan II at UT, which are statistically as hard to get I to as Duke, Rice, etc. SATs are comprable, too.

You also have to recognize what a tremendous influence UT has on the city, particularly the Park Cities, where several parents have been on the Board of Regents in the past few decades.

Also, your Dukes/ Ivies/ Rice work on quotas for their bread & butter feeder schools. A friend who worked for an Ivy admissions office confirmed this. The high school counselors play a major part in brokering deals to get x kid into Brown because he's the most artistically inclined, y kid I to Penn because he's the best shot on the Wharton track, z kid into Amherst because she's an intellectual, etc. It is not a free-for-all. It's all carefully calculated.

I'll leave you with this: 10 years ago, I was the 2nd to last person in my class to make the Top 25%. I had the equivelent of a 3.6 GPA (7.2 on HP's 8.0 scale). I took 2-3 Honors and AP classes each year; made 3 4's and 3 5's on the six AP tests I took. 1400 on the old SAT (2100 on today's, I think?). 780 on the Writing/Literature SAT II, low 700s on History. All that- and I ranked #78 in my class!! I applied to a Top 10 Liberal Arts college (waitlisted, never accepted), a Top 20 Liberal Arts school (accepted with about 25% tuition financial aid & academic scholarship), and one of our fine state universities (accepted with multiple academic scholarships). I chose state school over a higher ranked liberal arts school (that would have sounded more impressive) because I didn't want to sign up for $50k in studet loans to graduate from the liberal arts school. I also wasn't ready to move 1500 miles away at 18. I also wanted to be in a sorority and be involved in extracurriculars that only a state school can offer. It was all of these decisions combined that allowed me to land a great job in Manhattan after graduation- the fact I had no student loans made it easier to live in NYC on a meager startig salary, the leadership positions I held in college (managing a $750k budget for one org) were impressive on my resume and helped me get noticed, and I was finally ready to leave Texas and live somewhere else.

Many HP kids who get in to more impressive schools, choose a UT, TCU, A&M or SMU for similar reasons. Many of those kids in my class have gone onto grad school at HBS, Harvard Law, Georgetown, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Wharton, etc.

[theloneranger]

Originally Posted by lynnsl

Lakewood is a possibility, but in the same way as Southlake is awfully far West, it seems awfully far East. Husband commute to Downtown is just one concern, he would probably say the least important. We are looking at some of the Disney street type areas, which is Northwest Dallas. But like you, still figuring it all out. My guess is that we are going to have to decide what we are most willing to compromise, because we are not going to have it all. We spent time in the Park Cities area this weekend and then went to the Cotton Bowl today. We are excited to come to Dallas. And looking for where we will live is stressful, but fun!

Disney streets are very close to where I grew up--very tight-knit community and families. The families all know each other even though their kids go to different schools.

Lakewood is essentially right in the heart of Dallas. It's around 5 minutes from downtown. If you're going to send your kids to private school, it's not a great location, but otherwise it's a really great location. If you were working west of downtown or in Collin County, it might not be as great.

[Lakewooder]

Lakewood is about 10 minutes to downtown - isn't that where your husband is working? How is that 'awfully far east'?

To me it's in the center (of the universe).

[hamiltonpl]

I wouldn't rule Lakewood out either. From downtown Dallas to Southlake, it's about 45 minutes to an hour. From Lakewood, it's about 10-15 minutes (if you're on the north side of Lakewood).

[lynnsl]

we drove southlake to downtown dallas on at least 3 occasions (after staying with friends). It was never 45 min-1 hr. It was consistently 30 min-40min. Maybe we just got lucky.

Lakewood was of course very close to downtown...when I said far east, I meant from anything but downtown. From shopping, Cowboys game, Ft. Worth Zoo, friends in other areas of Dallas, many of the private schools, etc. We are still learning the geography, so I could be wrong...but I looking at a map right now, and is there any debate that Southlake is far west and Lakewood is far east...when talking about the DFW metroplex? If Lakewood isnt far east, what is more east than it?

thanks!

[TurtleCreek80]

Lakewood is a neighborhood IN the city of Dallas, just like Preston Hollow and the Disney Streets. Southlake is a suburb outside city linits. It is not even in Dallas County (Tarrant) and is mostly considered a suburb of Ft Worth, like Keller and Westlake.

There are suburbs that extend another 15-20 miles beyond Lakewood to the east of downtown, including Mesquite (older, inner ring suburb), Rockwall (wonderful family suburb with great school district on Lake Ray Hubbard) and newer developments that are farther out in Forney.

Geographically, Southlake is as far northwest as Rockwall is east, maybe a few mikes farther actually. Lakewood is the same distance downtown (roughly) as the northern edge of the Park Cities.

You are correct; Lakewood is a haul (40- 50 min roundtrip drive) to Jesuit, lamplighter, Greenhill, and Cistercian, and still a 30 min drive to St Mark's. I know a family that lived about 2 blocks up Fisher and all their kids went to Hockaday and St Mark's, so people do definitely make that drive.

[lynnsl]

funny the perspective that a 40 min round trip to somewhere is a "haul"... :-) Come experience some Austin or San Antonio traffic!

[TurtleCreek80]

I think it's a haul when you're driving your kids carpool 2x a day, in additon to any other driving to kids' sports practices and other extracurricular activities, along with any work/volunteer/errands that mom does throughout the day.