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Old 03-20-2017, 12:08 PM
 
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We are relocating to North Carolina from the west coast and our child was accepted into Durham Academy, Cary Academy and Cardinal Gibbons for high school. My child is a good student but we are not that familiar with the schools, and they currently go to a top public school. We work in Cary, but are willing to commute for the best school. I would appreciate any opinions on the schools and where to live.
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Old 03-20-2017, 12:18 PM
 
Location: Chapelboro
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Public schools in Wake County are very good. Any reason you're looking at private if you've been in public?
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Old 03-20-2017, 12:29 PM
 
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Which one did your child like the best? Which one did you get the best "vibe" from?

All 3 are really good schools. If you want to split hairs, DA and Cary Academy are considered 2 of the "top" private schools in the area (along with Ravenscroft). Are you religious/catholic?

The "best school" for your kid depends on who they are as a person & student. You really can't go wrong with any of those 3 if you are set on private.
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Old 03-20-2017, 01:39 PM
 
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Thanks for your responses. My son currently goes to one of the top public schools in the state of California, and it is very big, but since the city we live in is its own school district he knows most of the kids he would be going to school with. We did look at Green Hope, but he does not want to go to a large school where he wouldn't know anyone. That's the only reason we applied to privates. We've also heard stories about redistricting even if you live in the district. We are Catholic, but that is not the main reason we would want him to choose a school. It's difficult to make a decision when we don't really know anyone at the schools, but it is good to at least have a choice.
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Old 03-20-2017, 02:05 PM
 
Location: under the beautiful Carolina blue
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We have a child at Gibbons and after a rough transition (he DID NOT want to go there) he loves it.

I would probably let your child make the decision based on how he felt about each school. To me Gibbons is just small enough without "everyone knows every minute detail about me" syndrome but just big enough without being GHHS or PCHS (And I have one at GHHS as well). Unfortunately it's highly unlikely you'll find anyone with experience at all three schools but for us it's within the budget and we knew enough about it to know it would be a great fit for him (even if he didn't agree initially LOL). Speaking only about Gibbons I can tell you that they fully expect their students to "stay busy" and they call them "co-curriculars" not "extra curriculars" because of it. My son has surprised me with some of the things he wants to get involved in and I know if he had gone to GHHS he wouldn't be going down these paths. It's a "good peer pressure" kind of place without the "there's 200 kids in my class with straight As" pressure of GHHS.
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Old 03-20-2017, 02:14 PM
 
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Thank you for your perspective on Gibbons. My son really liked that school, since it is most similar to the school he is attending now. How much homework do the students usually have at Gibbons? Do you find the academics very rigorous? He qualified to be in all of the honors classes as a 9th grader, but he wants a challenge. Any information would be helpful.
Thanks.
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Old 03-20-2017, 02:18 PM
 
6,799 posts, read 7,295,494 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cindyz90266 View Post
Thanks for your responses. My son currently goes to one of the top public schools in the state of California, and it is very big, but since the city we live in is its own school district he knows most of the kids he would be going to school with. We did look at Green Hope, but he does not want to go to a large school where he wouldn't know anyone. That's the only reason we applied to privates. We've also heard stories about redistricting even if you live in the district. We are Catholic, but that is not the main reason we would want him to choose a school. It's difficult to make a decision when we don't really know anyone at the schools, but it is good to at least have a choice.
He's not going to know anyone at CA, DA or CG either.

Last edited by BC1960; 03-20-2017 at 02:42 PM..
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Old 03-20-2017, 02:34 PM
 
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Gibbons is about half the size of GHHS (1300 vs 2400). At a smaller school it would probably be easier to make friends than at a larger school. If there would have been a public high school that is high performing and the size of Gibbons, he would go there, but there is not any that I know of. Public school was our preference but your districts are huge and there are no districts for different cities like there are here.
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Old 03-20-2017, 03:12 PM
 
Location: NC
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Sometimes, by letting our kids take the easy path, we end up inhibiting their growth.
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Old 03-20-2017, 03:16 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cindyz90266 View Post
At a smaller school it would probably be easier to make friends than at a larger school.
That wasn't my experience. I moved to a school that was small and all the kids had know each other for a long time and it took a while until I didn't feel like an outsider. When I went away to college, I went to a huge university with kids from all over and everyone was trying to make new friends. As much as people move into this area and change schools within the area, I think most kids around here are used to new kids and there are lots of other kids that would be in the same boat.

And at any rate, a school with 1000+ students is still large. I just can't see that it would be all that much different from a school with 2000+.

You can't go wrong with any of these schools, and by all means do what you think is best for your family, but it's a lot of money to spend just for a "probably" that doesn't seem like it would necessarily hold true.
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