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No worries!! We are a few months away from a final decision and will likely try to rent something over the summer to get a better sense of the different areas, towns and schools. Thanks for all your help!
Thanks for all your responses, clearly picking a school for my kids is a complicated decision! We've been looking at homes all over Westchester, and I just don't know how to know what's "best."
Don't be too concerned about "best." Clearly, there may be some school districts you would choose over others, but once you put together a list of your preferred school districts, then start putting in the other factors for each house you may look at.
When we first purchased 8 years ago, we looked at homes in a number of towns. We only looked in towns that had schools and commuting that would be acceptable. But beyond that, we went for the best house for our budget.
Bottom line is this: If anyone had choice of either school district to send their children "RYE" is clearly the better of the two "scholastically" speaking. This is a fact - Check all school the school reports. And what is wrong with residing in a wealthy area and providing your children with the best possible education for their future. Sounds like a lot of jealous people. These forums need to be more factual to really help people.
There are lots of people who can afford to live in the best parts of Rye (Rye School District) and choose instead to live in the part of Rye zoned for Rye Neck School District (a part of Rye which is more expensive than at least 75% of the rest of Rye by the way) and send his kids to Rye Neck schools. One thing people don't realize is that there are several factors that determine whether a kid ends up in Havard including whether or not they need to apply for financial aid. Needless to say a lot of kids in Scarsdale and Rye do not need financial aid and that helps their applications, it helps Ivy league schools to continue their needs blind acceptance policy for kids that cannot afford them without financial aid. If your child is smart he will do well in either. The advantage of going to Scarsdale and Rye is that the AVERAGE kid is perhaps more likely to be challenged since majority of the kids there are being pushed to do well by their parents and peer pressure. I do not think that majority of parents in Rye Neck will push their children to to the same extent as Rye and Scarsdale parents. The benefit of going to Rye Neck is that the kids get more individualized attention which is great for both average and smart children.
So if your child is not smart or self motivated, Scarsdale and Rye schools will keep him on his toes but will not necessarily get him into Ivy League schools infact it could be a deterrent since at the end of the day Havard and Stanford can only take so many Rye and Scarsdale students these universities want a diverse class. On the other hand a smart well rounded student in Rye Neck with a good application (financial needs or not) may have a better chance of getting in.
Lets agree to disagree...However, if you have equal grades and sat's scores from a kid and rye and one from rye neck and they were both trying per se for Yale--the kid from Rye would have the advantage coming from a far better school. I know people who this actually happenned to--- As this may bother or anger people, it is a fact. Rye is a better school district the classes are more difficult and they offer more AP Classes--also they begin to prepare kids for college as they already have the kids writing research papers---whereby most kids go to college and learn while attending a university how to write them. Again, this is all facts. Friends of mine.
I disagree with your post, see my previous post. Yale does not accept students based on how good the school they went to is, rather on the basis of a student's total profile - grade's and SATs yes.... but also other factors such as what else a student has done other than study including volunteer work, sports and other extra curricular activities, financial aid needed or not, including barriers a student had to overcome to stand out in the crowd academically and otherwise. A lot of smart rich children will not stand out in a school with lots of smart rich children, some will however due to other factors such as extracurricular activities and factors like yes even ethnicity and family background/type. Perhaps your Rye friend's kid had a 'better' profile/application in total than the one that the kid from the other school that had the same grades/scores. Academics are not the whole picture, if they were all top SAT scoring applicants will be in Ivy League schools and we know they don't all end up there even if they want to.
With regards to APs a lot of schools offer APs now so no that is not a major factor, I doubt that Rye offers more APs than Rye Neck (Rye Neck High has been on the top 100 high schools in the US more than once and the Newsweek rating is based a lot on APs). Infact some school district, Scarsdale is one example are moving away from APs. In Rye Neck they start research early too etc. With regards to difficulty of classes, one school district vs. another, how do you know? unless you have sat in on classes in both schools. Rye Neck has some programs for gifted children, so if your child is smart enough to get into those programs he/she will have more difficult classes than children in a regular class regardless of the school district.
Bottomline - I think Rye is a great school district, but so are Rye Neck, Mamaroneck, Irvington and lots of other good school districts in Westchester. Sending your kids to the schools with highest SAT scores will not guarantee Havard and may actually be a deterrent if your kid does not rise to the challenge and shine in those schools. If your child can be a star in another good school district he/she may actually stand a better chance of getting into Havard.
I think Ziggi has some self-esteem somehow wrapped up in Rye Schools, possibly explaining the emotional use of "jealous" instead of the correct term "envious". If you have status anxiety, like Ziggi, send your children to Rye schools!
In any event, both school districts are excellent. Scholastically, in the two fundamental subjects, Rye Neck beat Rye in English in 2010, and Rye beat Rye Neck in Math in 2010. So its six of one and half a dozen of the other. As has been pointed out, the parents of the student body at Rye are wealthier, with more children on public assistance at Rye Neck. Of course this is also seen in diversity. Rye Neck is considerably more diverse than Rye, if that is importnant to you. Bottom line, you can't go wrong with either. If you have the choice, then consider where your child would be happier.
Fact is, a student's success is more about the student than the school. But it's a disservice to the original poster's question to ignore the very real differences between the districts. Rye Neck is smaller and takes pride in more individualized attention. Rye is significantly more prestigious with higher test scores, college advancement, etc.
Yes, this is partially because Rye is wealthier, but it is really a self-reinforcing circle of which came first, chicken or the egg. Rye schools rate better because it is wealthier. And wealthier people create greater reman in Rye because the schools are better.
There is also something to be said - positive AND negative - about the different types of peer pressure in a super affluent school. There is more peer pressure towards working to get into good 4 year colleges, there is more peer pressure to think of professional careers, and there are more networking opportunities for ultimate career success. On the other hand, such schools can be an unhealthy pressure cooker, and can be overly competitive in terms of displays of affluence with kids needing expensive fashions and cars.
Rye Neck is made up for the most part of students from upper middle-class to wealthy parts of Mamaroneck and one of the wealthiest parts of Rye, Greenhaven. This exactly the same demographic as Rye School district i.e. for the most part upper middle class to wealthy. However, Rye Neck also has some English as a second language learners and this affects test scores of the school district as a whole, not of the individual students which at the end of the day is what matters.
The reality is that if your child is smart enough and well rounded enough to get into an Ivy League school he will be able to achieve this in either Rye or Rye Neck. Actually the size of the Rye Neck school district works to the advantage of the gifted child who at the end of the day needs individualized and differentiated learning which you are more likely to get at a small public school like Rye Neck or a good private school.
Lets agree to disagree...However, if you have equal grades and sat's scores from a kid and rye and one from rye neck and they were both trying per se for Yale--the kid from Rye would have the advantage coming from a far better school. I know people who this actually happenned to--- As this may bother or anger people, it is a fact. Rye is a better school district the classes are more difficult and they offer more AP Classes--also they begin to prepare kids for college as they already have the kids writing research papers---whereby most kids go to college and learn while attending a university how to write them. Again, this is all facts. Friends of mine.
I don't think you have ever visited Rye, Rye has homes that are on the cheap end of the scale to the wealthy homes by the water. So just to make it clear not everyone in Rye is wealthy or lives in an expensive home. This same demographic is what you will find in the Rye Neck school district. Take your car and drive round the parts of Mamaroneck and Rye that are zoned for Rye Neck and you will see that the demographic in terms of wealth is the same. The test scores are not different because Rye school district is wealthier than Rye neck school district it is not, two of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Rye are zoned for Rye Neck school district and there are also some neighborhoods in Mamaroneck that are pretty wealthy that are also zoned for Rye Neck school district.
Rye test scores are not better because it is a better school district than Rye Neck, it is not. The difference in test scores is due to the fact that Rye Neck also has some English as a second language learners and this is the only reason the test scores are different. Rye is essentially a 100% white school district, which is not okay for everyone especially people looking for some diversity. So while I will recommend Rye for some people I won't recommend it for all.
Also there are some programs you will find in Rye Neck due to its small size like program for children that are gifted in Math that you won't find in Rye.
I just looked up the statewide ranking of Rye HS and Rye Neck HS on SchoolDigger for Regents integrated algebra and English.
Rye Neck HS came in higher than Rye HS at joint 38th. Rye HS was at 49th.
There really is nothing between them. Diversity is the main difference.
Last edited by bg7; 05-19-2011 at 12:51 PM..
Reason: typos
There is a big difference between them atmosphere-wise, though. A school with less than 400 kids in it just doesn't offer as many choices in HS as a larger district like Rye. It's a plus or minus depending on your values, but for us personally, we were turned off by the exhorbitant taxes in Rye Neck for what you get (a small school district, but no town of your own).
Both are indeed fine districts, but your child will have a completely different school experience in one vs. another.
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