My daughter is in 8th grade at Lanier. She has been accepted into the IB program at Lamar, which is our zoned high school. She has also been accepted into the foreign languages magnet program at Bellaire. We need to make a decision between the two schools in the next week or so. I know there are a number of Bellaire grads on this board, and suspect there are a few Lamar grads as well. I would appreciate any observations or recommendations concerning the differences between Bellaire and Lamar. Because there is quite a bit of information on various websites about SAT scores, student demographics, teacher experience, and the like, I am particularly interested in subjective views, such as how the social/cultural atmosphere may vary between the schools. For background, my daughter is an excellent student who gets straight A’s and tests well, although she is not class valedictorian type material, particularly at Bellaire. She is self-reliant and creative. Outside of class, she plays lacrosse, which they have at both Bellaire and Lamar. Most of her friends will be at Lamar, but she will know a few kids at Bellaire. While it is way too early to tell, she is probably not going to go to UT or A&M (too big), and I would not be surprised if she goes to college out of state. Thoughts?
Bellaire. That school is HARD! But they do have great teachers, and I think I read from somewhere that it ranks in top 10 public high school in the nation.
edit: Do realize that by the time your daughter graduate from that school, she's going to become a no life loser just like every person I know from Bellaire.
Bellaire High School crushes the spirit of those in the middle of the pack. By your description, your daughter sounds like one of those. The school is filled with rich, spoiled people who buy their way through, and who would smoke joints than study. I went through this bull**** highschool and would HIGHLY recommend that your daughter not go here. It is very overrated. There are a lot of distractions, and potential disasters. Go to Lamar. Bellaire High was the biggest mistake of my life.
I went to Bellaire from the 10th grade on. Thought it was a great school. Didn't seem nearly as cliqueish as other schools. Of course, I graduated in 1990. My brother and sister went to Bellaire recently. My sister ran into problems there, and ended up going to Lamar for her senior year. Even she said Bellaire was the better school. She graduated in '99. My brother thought Bellaire was just fine, also. He had a great time there. He graduated in '01. The people who are saying Bellaire isn't a good school are just bitter. Bellaire over Lamar every time. But, if you can afford it, Episcopal High School is Better than Bellaire these days.
Bellaire will improve her SAT score by at least 100 points. If her plans are UT/A&M, either is fine. If she wants to go to Rice/Stanford/MIT, Bellaire does much more in helping to get kids there.
You mention that Bellaire isn't that cliqueish early in your post and then suggest Episcopal if possible at the end of your post. Was that intentional? Isn't the tuition at Episcopal around 11K - 12K?
That's what I was wondering, given that "most of her friends will be at Lamar." She sounds like a smart, level-headed (or as much as one can be as a teenager) kid. She'll get a solid education at either school, and in the grand scheme of things, where she goes to H.S. isn't that big a deal.
I meant that I haven't been there in 14 years. Things can change. Episcopal is the only school in Houston I would recommend over Bellaire, but I do think it is the better school. As far as tuition? How would I know? My son is only 5 and lives 600 miles away.
I really didn't know about Episcopal High School until last year when I found out how many people from this college went there. It is apparently really good now days.
I graduated from Bellaire...i think in 2000? It is a very competitive school, but I enjoyed it. It might be a little cliqish but hell what high school isnt?? The major drawback from bellaire is the competition...im a pretty smart kid but I dont apply myself so I ended up at the back of the 25% which was fine back then, but I wouldnt have gotten into UT now if I went there...hope it all works out....go cardinals lol
Ugh. I don't believe your school will help your test scores. As I mentioned in my thread, I attend HSPVA; I'm zoned to Bellaire. I have friends at both schools. Honestly, I get a little sick of the overwhelming amount of hype surrounding Bellaire academics- I've had people tell me "you wouldn't be able to be Bellaire's top 10%, it's so hard!" And they say this to me with the knowledge that I'm a National Merit Finalist with a perfect SAT score. The school won't make you mediocre. It won't make you brilliant, either. This is HISD- there are going to be good and bad teachers everywhere, at all schools. Bellaire does not control the market on the good ones. I'd imagine that your daughter will be able to be happy at either school. Lamar is no slouch of a school by any standards, especially the IB program. If she's got more friends there, and it's closer, I'd imagine she'd find her comfort level much easier there than at Bellaire. On the flip side, your daughter could always go to Bellaire and leave to Lamar if she's unhappy, while the converse wouldn't be true. I know that Bellaire doesn't accept magnet transfers. I'm not sure about switching into the IB program at Lamar, but I'd imagine for a zone student it'd be plausible.
My guess on the tuition was off by several thousand. <a HREF="http://admin.ehshouston.org/admissions/">Admission Office</a> <i>...... TUITION: The tuition for 2003-2004 is $15,386. Parents should expect a yearly tuition increase in response to inflation......</i> For that kind of money, one should expect a good education.
Wow, I think I'm glad I left Houston just in time. The only reason I got into Tulane and got a scholarship at Miami was because of the piss-poor education at the current public school I'm at. My problem is I've become EXTREMELY lazy, just exerting enough energy for the bare minimum to get good grades. Factor that in with the waste of time that the block schedule is and you get a formula for a shock in college. I was zoned for Bellaire, but I would've gone to St. John's since my brothers went there. Of course I wasn't accepted to SJS twice and didn't feel like trying again. I suppose if I did go to either school I would be MUCH better prepared for college (my older brother who graduated from Syracuse in '02 said it was nothing compared to the workload at SJS). Now if Bellaire is as good a school as it's made out to be (academically) in this thread, I would personally choose it over Lamar. I would vote against the IB program because the school I am at is one of the only schools in Alabama that has an IB programme. It's literally becoming extinct (was around 50 students 3 years ago to 30 the next, 15 last to only 3 this year). I'm not in it, but 80% of my classes have been the same classes (AP), combined with IB students. I personally feel it's a waste of time with an amazing amount of pointless busy work. The language aspect of IB is real stupid; after 5 'years' of language, you send a couple of audio tapes where you have conversations with the teacher to the IB center in Wales or wherever. Whatever that foreign language program at Bellaire is sounds more enticing than IB. DON'T do IB.
