Bellaire HS v. Lamar HS

i dont remember years well I actually think it was 2001....give me a break turned 21 today!!!! still hungover..

 

Age-wise, that should be correct. My brother turns 21 April 28th.

 

Westside

 

i went to bellaire and if you are concerned with academics and you are talking about lamar vs bellaire

then bellaire hands down no question..

at bellaire it was cool to be smart

i know enough people that graduated from lamar to know that wasnt the case..

this really should be a no brainer if you are talking academics

 

i went to lamar and thought it was a great school. strictly academic bellaire is highly respected but i don't see how choosing lamar would hurt her future in any possible way.

 

I graduated Bellaire in 2000, but I think that 'cliques' stereotype is overrated. Bellaire has a lot of rich students just like Lamar has a lot of rich students from the West U area. Just flip a coin and pick one but I think either school is OK.

 

I graduated Bellaire in 1993. It's just like any other school in regards to social/cultural aspects. There are rich, snotty kids, poor kids bussing in from around town and middle class kids that really could care less about any of the high school cliquish crap.....just like at every other school.

The academics are definitely head and shoulders above Lamar. My personal experience being 1 summer school class at Lamar was a cakewalk. I had a few friends that transferred from Bellaire to Lamar(because they couldn't make the Bellaire baseball team) and they said the academics were much less stressful and easier.

Unless she is going to be exceeding the 4.0 GPA barrier, I don't think it will matter all that much where she goes. Bellaire will definitely be tougher in the top 10-20%.

 

As for the private schools, I don't know why Episcopal is getting so much love. I thought the heavyweights in Houston were still St. John's and Kinkaid. I went to Awty International, btw, which was fairly strong academically and didn't seem to have the clique issues of larger schools or the snobbishness of the high-falutin' private schools -- but then, we were having classes in an old bomb warehouse, so how snobbish can you get? They have real buildings now and I imagine the snob-factor has likely increased somewhat.

I do want to speak to the IB program, which I had taken a decade ago. I think the IB is a better and more rigorous program than the more American equivalent, the AP. But, it doesn't get the recognition of American colleges that the AP gets. Going to college, it is much easier to get credit for what you've done in AP than in IB. If you want to leave the country for college though, IB is much much more helpful. I didn't do that myself (my brother did and reaped the rewards of the IB in that), but for my own educational enrichment, it was something I'm glad I did. But again, for colleges, AP is the more accessible for American colleges, so that may be a factor in your decision.

 

Make your daughter a trendsetter.

Send her to Wheatley.

 

Hold on just one second. Maybe things have changed at Bellaire and Lamar since I was in high school (BHS c/o 89), but I can't even believe that people are talking about rich kids and cliques at BHS when comparing it to Lamar.

I went to Lanier Middle School where the popular clique was made up entirely of rich kids who treated me like a castmember of Freaks and Geeks. But whenever I hung out with friends from other middle schools, the girls would want to get to know me. Conclusion: Lanier was cliquish.

Guess where all those rich Lanier kids went? That's right -- Lamar (and a few to Episcopal).

At BHS I did just fine socially, thank you. Yeah, there were some cliques but, like another poster said, you didn't have to worry about not being cool if you got good grades. And yeah, there were some rich kids, but it's not like they ran the school. They didn't.

Many of my best friends in life are still people I hung out with in high school -- moreso than some of my college friends.

Academically, it's not even a choice. BHS totally prepared me for college. Yeah, it's ultra-competetive,but that was good for me. When I got to college (Berkeley -- a pretty competive school) and people complained about it being cutthroat, I couldn't believe it. It was nothing compared to BHS. In fact, I found college easier than high school.

But hey -- Lamar's a great school, too. Like another poster said, it really doesn't matter all that much where you go to high school as long as you get good enough grades to get into the college of your choice.

But don't try to tell me that BHS had more rich kids and cliques than Lamar.

 

It really really depends on how well your daughter can handle the competition, and don't just make the decidsion for your daughter, ask her, trully ask her without pressuring her.

If she goes to Bellaire and have what it takes, she'll get better teachers, a better education, and be much much more prepared for colleges. However, if the competition is too much for her (H.S. programs, especially the ones in schools like Bellaire are much different from J.H.S. levels), it could really hurt when her class rank comes out and shes not at or near the top of her class. But she'll still have better SAT's I think. But a valedictorian from Bellaire have much better chance of getting into really really exclusive schools (like Wharton from Penn) than a valedictorian from Lamar.

If she goes to Lamar, the competition would be easier, but it might not prepare her as well when it comes to college and stuff. But she can be rewarded with higher class rank and possibly a better college because of that.

So once again, it all comes downto how well do you think your daughter can handle H.S. Once again, the most important thing is too consult her.

 

My son is a junior right now at Bellaire. He faced the same choice three years ago. Both schools are fine. Being sort of shy, he preferred Bellaire. He is very satisfied with it and as junior is finally starting to adjust to the competition.

He went to Lanier. Lamar is considered by many the school for the very social. West U and River Oaks go there. You have the River Oaks, St. John's drop out/ sibling crowd that is really rich, not just the children of your average professionals as at Bellaire or also Lamar.

Racially the two schools are similar, with Bellaire having more Asians, Lamar more African Americans. Anglos and Hispanics are very similar and are the two larger groups apprimately 80% at both schools. The Asians, with their incredible work ethic, make it tough to achieve the top 10% at Bellaire.

A personal friend who has a son my boy's age taught at Lamar for over 5 years and now has roughly 5 years at Bellaire. Last I heard she thought the non Vanguard classes at Bellaire are better than Lamar. Doesn't apply to your daughter, but perhaps effects the general tone of the two schools. Her son goes to Bellaire.

On one recent year, approx 3 years ago, Bellaire had approx 70 National Merit Finalists, the most of any school in the United States, though smaller more elite schools, particularly on the East Coast always have a higher percentage. It is not uncommon for National Merit Finalists to not be in the top 10% if, like my son, they don't study enough.

Nikestrad, assuming good rank at HSPVA, would have obviously been high in the top 10% at Bellaire as HSPVA requires studying, also.

If you aren't concerned about the 10% rule which will probably be gone in a year or two, I would think Bellaire. Assuming your girl can hang with the socials, and are thinking elite school, maybe Lamar, as having a high class rank is always good. I doubt her SAT score will be effected.

If like we did, before moving, you live much closer to Lamar than Bellaire I would definitely choose Lamar. Distance is very important for high school.

We personally know more kids who turned out unhappy at Lamar than Bellaire, for what that is worth.

 

Education is #1 at Bellaire. Hands down.

Plus, the whole point is to get your kid into a good college.... which Bellaire excels at like no other.

 

I think the better score can make a difference in your SAT scores.. some schools prep more for it.. etc.. obviously if you work hard on your own you can do the same, but some schools just go through more vocab etc because they are used to knowing what the kids need to know to do well..

also a lot of colleges take into account what hs you went to.. you might have a lower gpa at bellaire, but it is known as a good academic school which helps

 

better school sorry

 

This is true, but colleges are fickle. They may also say they've already got too many kids from Bellaire and want more diversity.

Btw, I agree with you that the school will affect SAT scores. The test grades education; why wouldn't your school have an effect on that?

 

juanvaldez.. well it depends on what state you are applying to I guess. Rice and local schools probably have a lot of bellaire already... I know there are a few schools in Texas in particular that Vandy has a lot of kids from so after a while the school starts to build up a good reputations with the colleges.. but I see your point.. they don't want too many from the same schools.. it's a little less of a problem if you end up at an out of state one though

I believe some take into account the known dificulty of your school when looking at your gpa.. that's partly why I think public schools can hurt you (other than those like bellaire) because if I had a 4.0 from a public school or a 4.0 from a really good private school.. i'd tend to think the private school person is probably more ready. even though the public school kid did all he could..

 

AP tests (or IB tests), and maybe even SAT IIs, but the SAT I is a different story.

As far as math goes, I don't think there was anything on it that wasn't taught to me my freshman year. The analogies were a matter of vocab, etc. With the increased enrollment in SAT prep courses like Kaplan and Testmasters, and even more home-study materials widely available, your particular school matters very little IMO. The only exception might be getting stuck with an absolutely horrid math teacher, or a blowoff English class. If you want to do particularly well, you can; perhaps some schools force-feed it more, but I would assume Pole's daughter is bright enough not to need that.

BTW, from my experience/knowledge, JuanValdez is right; as far as the privates go, Kinkaid and St. John's are the real heavyweights for academics. I've heard Episcopal referred to by numerous people as the school for impressively rich kids who couldn't get into Kinkaid or SJS. Episcopal's campus and facilities are no doubt top notch, and apparently its baseball team rivals Bellaire.

 

nikestread. yeah but some schools take the time to actually do SAT test prep..