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Go with Mamaroneck. Most parents choose Scarsdale because the they think it's a one way ticket to the Ivy League. It's not, nor is any school district. Plenty of Scarsdale grads end up in "B" and "C" colleges because they just happen not to be academic and/or they don't work hard.
While Scarsdale is a pressure cooker, Mamaroneck is not because of it incredible economic diversity. In the same class you will have a child of an investment banker, a cop and a recent Mexican immigrant.
The SAT stat is meaningless. Scarsdale will always have the highest SAT scores in the county because just about every Scarsdale parent is a college grad, and the parents have chosen Scarsdale because it is the "best" district. In Mamaroneck that is far from the case.
mmm interesting comment, a recent Mexican immigrant may be an investment banker or an attorney, the reality is that there are affluent hispanic families in Mamaroneck and indeed the rest of Westchester.
I think for some reason most people assume that a recent immigrant is poor especially if they are from Mexico. I don't think RubyGreta you made this assumption yourself, but that is how that part of your post comes across.
In Mamaroneck there are immigrants and expats from Europe, India, Japan, China, Africa to name a few and majority of them are affluent and work in tech companies, the United Nations, wall street etc. This is one of the reasons other than proximity to the waterfront and golf clubs, that people gravitate towards places like Mamaroneck. They know they are more likely to find like minded expats and well travelled people that are truly open to diversity ....not because they cannot afford to live in Scarsdale etc. I think it is clear to everyone that a person that chooses to spend $6.5M or even a $1M on a house in Mamaroneck can easily purchase a home in Scarsdale.
mmm interesting comment, a recent Mexican immigrant may be an investment banker or an attorney, the reality is that there are affluent hispanic families in Mamaroneck and indeed the rest of Westchester.
I think for some reason most people assume that a recent immigrant is poor especially if they are from Mexico. I don't think RubyGreta you made this assumption yourself, but that is how that part of your post comes across.
In Mamaroneck there are immigrants and expats from Europe, India, Japan, China, Africa to name a few and majority of them are affluent and work in tech companies, the United Nations, wall street etc. This is one of the reasons other than proximity to the waterfront and golf clubs, that people gravitate towards places like Mamaroneck. They know they are more likely to find like minded expats and well travelled people that are truly open to diversity ....not because they cannot afford to live in Scarsdale etc. I think it is clear to everyone that a person that chooses to spend $6.5M or even a $1M on a house in Mamaroneck can easily purchase a home in Scarsdale.
No racist intent here, Ekulu. Yes, there may be a couple of Mexican investment bankers living in Orienta. But the vast majority are relatively poor immigrants who live in the "Flats." Back in the 60's it was relatively poor Italian immigrants who lived in the Flats. Let's be honest.
I go to Mamaroneck High School, and I would have to say that our school might be better then Scarsdale now.
While it is true that we have diversity, there are also many honors and AP classes. Scarsdale, to my knowledge, has recently cut the number of AP classes that they offer, making it less challenging. This was proven when the valedictorian of Scarsdale was rejected from Stanford University, while another student from Mamaroneck was accepted. The Mamaroneck student had taken all honors and AP classes, and took part in the prestigious Original Science Research program, which is a 3 year honors science program.
This year, a significant number of Mamaroneck students have already been admitted into top tier and Ivy League schools. I personally know of people going to Duke, Stanford, Yale, several to Columbia, Cornell, and Northwestern. By spring, there will be many more in the mix. In addition to Original Science Research, I take Chinese. This is yet another course not offered by Scarsdale.
In my opinion, going to, and doing well at Mamaroneck is the better option. I also forgot to mention our many, many clubs that make it easier for students to find something that interests them. We also have a phenomenal field hockey team, who were state finalists this year, beating Scarsdale in sectionals.
As others have said, schools similar except for Mamnk immigrant population. This dilutes average performance, skews statistics and misleads those basing their conclusions on all the published info in magazines, school profile lists, etc. The situation is similar to the Horace Greeley (Chappaqua) vs Fox Lane (Mt Kisco, Bedford, Pound Ridge) story. The kids of affluent, well educated parents will do well in either place. If you're an immigrant with english issues the odds are against you. And, despite what every Scarsdale family would have you believe, while almost every kid in Scarsdale does go someplace, most don't actually end up at in the Ivy League. They just make themselves sick trying to get there.
Conclusion: Make your decision based on where you and your kids would feel more comfortable socially. Much has been posted on respective pros/cons of these towns, cultural generalizations, etc. Up close they're very different.
well said, I tried to give you some rep but my browser (Safari) is having some issues.
As long as the school offers honors and AP courses at all grades in formative subjects such as math, natural science and English, you should be fine with either. The real pain in the neck happens when a school cannot offer a formative AP/honors class to all qualified students.
I go to MHS good high school lots of drugs lotta weird kids a few smell bad but credit where it's due the school is decent and teachers are good lots of drugs LoTS of teenagers drinking the devils water praise Jesus I know a kid who does crack
I go to MHS good high school lots of drugs lotta weird kids a few smell bad but credit where it's due the school is decent and teachers are good lots of drugs LoTS of teenagers drinking the devils water praise Jesus I know a kid who does crack
Do they teach punctuation or sentence structure there?
As the parent of two kids at MHS, I have to strongly disagree with the general opinions of this thread. If you have smart kids, Scarsdale is the place for you. If you have average kids or kids with special needs, MHS is the place for you. There is no academic enrichment until 11th grade when AP classes are offered. That means your kids will be in English classes with non native English speaking kids. You can imagine the pace of such a class. They label a math class as advanced but it is the equivalent of regular math at Scarsdale. Most recently, the district made AP classes available to everyone. So, they are dumbing those classes down too. As a result, many of the dumbed down AP classes don't go quickly enough to cover all of the material. So, your kid will need private tutoring to get a good score on the AP test.
On the plus side at MHS, the Original Science Research program is fantastic and the environment is safe and friendly.
If I had to choose one or the other to *live* in, it would be Mamaroneck; it just seems to have more going on. However, that's simply my impression, as I live in another part of Westchester. Obviously, either choice will be generally fine; they are both nice areas with great schools.
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