Young family needs advice on schools, etc (Philadelphia, Media: apartments, to rent)

[123moving]

Hello everyone. We are looking for some advice and input about moving to Philly. We have read over the sticky with the initial questions and answered them down below if anyone prefers to skip ahead.

What we are having the hardest time with is figuring out which school district makes the most sense. I have read about various districts such as TE, Radnor, Lower Merion, etc. We are looking for the absolute best public education available. Things like the highest average SAT score, number of AP courses taken/offered, number of national merit scholars, quality of colleges/universities graduates attend, etc will weigh heavily in our decision. Am I on the right track with these school systems? Is there a better school district that I am overlooking? We have so many questions about this but do not want to bombard everyone right off the bat.

I also see that Masterman scores very highly in the national rankings. What are your thoughts on how this school compares to the ones listed above? What school districts are comparable on the NJ side of metro philly?

When are you moving? TBD prob sometime in the next year.
Where are you coming from? Cincinnati
Why are you moving? Career opportunity
Where will you be working? Radnor
Have you been here yet? Yes

Will you buy or rent? rent/lease for 1-2 years depending on how long it takes to familiarize with the surroundings and be SURE about our purchase.
If buying, are you looking for a house or a condo? House only - no condos.
How much can you spend? We would like to keep it under 600K
If renting, are you looking for an apartment, a townhouse or loft? We are open to renting a small house in the burbs or an apartment in the city. We would like to rent in the area where we think we would end up buying.
How much can you spend? TBD. I must say I have no clue what rents are going for in Philly, though.
Do you prefer hi-rise or walk up? If we are talking apartments - Hi rise/elevator, please!

Are you married or single? Do you have children? Married with toddler.
Do you prefer public or private schools? Prefer public but willing to pay for private if it provides a demonstrated (much higher SAT's etc), substantial advantage.
Do you have pets? One small dog (13 pounds)
Do you want or need a yard? We would like a small yard for the toddler and dog.
Are you keeping a car? Yes, 2.
Do you prefer bustling activity or calm and quiet? We like both in the community we live in but at night it needs to be QUIET. No noise from trains, traffic, etc.

What do you want to be closest to?
Work
Shopping
Basic services (supermarket, drugstore, etc.)
Nightlife
Train or subway stations - Of course it would be nice to live close to work but schools are the main priority. After that, we would like the community have a developed, upscale, walkable shopping district and be located within 20 mins of major chain stores (groceries, home improvement, etc).

Do you want to live with people of a similar age, race, religion or sexual preference or do you prefer a diverse neighborhood? Diversity is a neutral factor for us. We think it has positive value but will not sacrifice quality of education to guarantee diversity.

Coke or Pepsi?

[Angus215]

Masterman is a magnet school in philadelphia. like the other magnets, they take the best students from the 1.5 million population of the city of philadelphia, so naturally they are going to have good students that are all on a college prep track. if you live in the city, that's an option assuming your children can get accepted.

there are many, many excellent public school systems in suburban philadelphia, of which you've named a few. it's difficult to find a lot of hard data to support arbitrary rankings about which district is better than others, but below is a list compiled by philadelphia magazine. most of the districts in the top 50 (and all in the top 25) are excellent.

The Top 50 School Districts 2008 - Philadelphia Magazine - phillymag.com

If you really want to send your kids to THE BEST schools, rather than split hairs about which excellent public school system is better than the other, i'd live somewhere with reasonable property taxes and send them to private schools. there are many excellent private schools in and around philadelphia (both parochial and secular), and many people (particularly those who are religious and/or have a lot of money) send their kids to them. below is a ranking including both public and private schools. as you can see, all of the very best schools are private, which makes sense considering they can choose who goes to their school and they tend to come from more affluent families. Quite honestly, i'd question even whether the public schools on this list are actually better than some of the other privates.

Top Schools: 2006 - Philadelphia Magazine - phillymag.com

[123moving]

Thank you for the links. And thanks for the opinion about private schools. This is the kind of stuff only locals can tell you!

The second link with the best of both private and public schools is very helpful. I will spend some time visiting the websites of the private schools to see if one really stands out. We definitely prefer a secular schooling environment to a religious one, so I am very happy to see secular schools on that list.

I assumed it would be ultra competitive to get into Masterman. Any idea how many kids attempt admission to Masterman each year? Is it mandatory that Philly students take a test to determine where they attend high school? Philly is a large city so I am trying to gauge the actual competition for spots in Masterman. 1.5 million sounds a little more daunting than say, 2k apps for 300 seats, KWIM?

Quite honestly, i'd question even whether the public schools on this list are actually better than some of the other privates.

I was a little confused by what you meant. The more I read that sentence over, the more confused I got! Were you saying that you doubt whether the public schools on the list are really better than other private schools on the list? Or that you thought the public schools possibly should have been rated even higher than some of the private schools? I am interested since there seem to be few public schools on that list.

[ElijahAstin]

If you'll be working in Radnor, you do NOT want to live in South Jersey. Talk about a hellish commute.

I think Radnor itself has just what you're looking for. Lower Merion and TE are also very close and worth checking out as well. I agree with Angus about not splitting hairs as to the "rankings." There are no appreciable quality of education differences between the T10 Districts.

As for your budget, 600k won't get you a palace on the Main Line, but it will still afford you a very nice single-family home on a decent plot of land. If you want more bang for your buck without sacrificing school district quality, I would recommend looking to the greater Malvern/Media areas. The commute will be a bit longer, but nothing unmanageable (think somewhere in the 20-30 minute ballpark).

[Angus215]

Originally Posted by 123moving

I was a little confused by what you meant. The more I read that sentence over, the more confused I got! Were you saying that you doubt whether the public schools on the list are really better than other private schools on the list? Or that you thought the public schools possibly should have been rated even higher than some of the private schools? I am interested since there seem to be few public schools on that list.

all the public schools on that list are excellent. i just question whether they're actually better than any of the private schools on that list, or even some private schools not on that list . . .if you compare an average student at each school.

and just to be clear, the public school systems around philly in general are excellent - very good relative to many other areas of the country. all i'm saying is that if it's extremely important to send your kids to "the best" schools, those are going to be private not public. personally, i think publics and privates both have their pros and cons and i have not yet decided where i will send my child.

i don't know the specifics about the application process for the philadelphia magnets. however, there are other magnets aside from masterman that are also very good. central high is the one that comes to mind but there are also a number of magnets that specialize in different areas (ie. arts/performing arts, sciences, etc). some of the posters on this forum are very familiar with the process.