Insider Input to HISD Magnet HS/Local Charter HS (Houston: credit, transfer)

[SWHoustonDweller]

HI!

Well I thought to look into City-Data for public input/opinion on certain HISD Magnet High Schools and local area Charter High Schools as well.

I went to a large diverse HISD public high school a few years ago and am now helping my youngest sibling who will be applying to high schools this upcoming academic school year. Looking back on the high school I chose to attend, there are some things I would like for him to have similar experiences with and some that I would rather him not have.

He is currently in a private K-8 School and would preferably like to go to a certain private high school, but with tuition increasing every year to amounts that seem more than college tuition, I am not sure my parents would look into paying for these schools if he was admitted into one of them. So with this we are looking into certain HISD High schools and Charter Schools.

The only HISD Magnet High schools we are considering are:

Bellaire Sr. High School
Eastwood Academy
DeBakey High School
Houston Academy for International Studies

and for Charter Schools:

Harmony Science
KIPP Houston High
YES Prep

I would like to have any meaningful input for members as far as not only academics and school environment, but things that only current students and parents or recent alumni or parents of alumni would know and that you wouldn't necessarily receive from a campus tour (which we will go on for every one of these schools) such as:

-->Student Life culture on campus, what does the typical teen do on the weekend (My high school was very competitive and students that were driven mainly spent their weekends catching up on AP/IB course work, or volunteering or working)

-->Academics, I am not referring to how many AP/IB course or dual-credit courses the a certain high school offers because this information can be found on the school website or by inquiring. I am looking to see what do students to in the class: discussions/ projects, etc. I had some great high school courses at the school I went to but some of my friends at neighboring schools were in classes were they would receive packets upon packets to complete that would either be taken for completion grades and a test based on these packets would be given weekly. Yes, this is a great and easy way to make an A, but this doesn't do much for learning (and I am sure if I were to ask this question at any of the schools they would not tell me flat out, "Yes, we prefer to give packets for students to complete.")

--> Drinking/Drugs, Yes common at all high schools in the country but would like to see to what extent. My HS had a pretty innovative way for students to participate in these activities and parents (knowingly) to disguise them as coordinated activities.


Thanks in advance and look forward to comments!







-->

[KatieKennedy]

Just curious why Carnegie Vanguard is not on your list. It is very highly rated and the new campus is incredible.

[SWHoustonDweller]

I went on previous peer experience, students that transferred after a few semesters in the school and unhappy with their initial choice of attending the school. Also, after looking on the school website it seems all classes are Pre-AP and AP and this wouldn't leave the choice of scaling down to a lower level if a course seemed too difficult, which I am guessing is the reason certain students transfer out. And also I believe the experience there would be somewhat similar to some experience I had in my high school: competitive environment. Very driven students were known for "grade-grubbing", sabotaging scores (throwing away your homework/assignments if left unattended, submitting anonymous false accusations to administrators on cheating/plagiarism, and overall cut-throat environment) and this is an experience that my brother doesn't need to go through.

[Schumacher713]

Originally Posted by KatieKennedy

Just curious why Carnegie Vanguard is not on your list. It is very highly rated and the new campus is incredible.

It is insanely hard to get into.

I went to High School for Engineering professions. It was an interesting experiences. Academically we were well ahead of most private schools. I mean way ahead. You also get lumped in with Booker T Washington for graduating. So, basically you will automatically graduate in the top 10%. Graduating in the top 2% is pretty easy. I was prepped for college. Every class is IB I think. I took every AP class available there. Calc I II II, physics, etc...

As for how competitive it is. I guess you could say it was. I was one of the favorites to be valedictorian when I was a freshman. But I am a big underachiever I never studied and skipped class a lot. That is pretty much my college career also.

As for drinking and drugs. It was pretty straight laced. Most of the kids were kind of nerds. All the partying with drinking and drugs I did with my private school friends. They party like rock stars. I also partied at Rice U a lot because my best friends older brother was there.

Student life was tricky. It was pretty much an all black school. My social life was with friends at other schools. The engineering professions people were too nerdy to really have fun with.

I know this school was not on your list, but automatically graduating in the top 10% gets into UT. Bellaire will be very competitive. He might not even graduate in the top 40%. You will have a much more fun social life there.