First, Im sure there will be plenty jokes of uber rich, overprivileged kids, blah, blah, blah. I went to public school and so I'm right there with ya. It seems to me that these two schools offer the best academics of the Houston area private schools. The questions I pose are: 1. which school has stronger academics. 2. which school has better extra curricular activities 3. which school's kids get into the top colleges. Any interesting anectodal information -- positive or negative -- would be appreciated too. Thanks.
There were tons of alumni from both at Rice, back when I was a scholar. Probably a safe bet at either place. I'd say that the Kinkaid students were possibly a teeny bit less pretentious, but that's not saying much.
Not sure if you are asking for yourself or your kids, but its Kinkaid....might want to make sure you get that right first. :grin: :grin: My sisters went to St Johns, thats about all the help I can give.
I know from talking to parents of kids that attend kincaid that kincaid has a strong Jewish influence, where they get plenty of days off and stuff for different Jewish holidays. Not saying thats a bad thing just something thats different from strake
Honestly, if its a guy send him to either Strake or St. Thomas. I have had people ask me if I went to those two schools (I went to STH) just due to how I treat people when I am around them. They both instill a long standing moral tradition in their students, and all of us academically have been asked to give our best. Its a brotherhood and something like that you cant pay money for.
All anecdotal experience, both now as an adult and when I was in high school. SJs seemed to have slightly better academics but Kinkaid had a better athletics (except lacrosse) and fine arts program. In HS, I knew four people very well at SJ and about a dozen at Kinkaid; all of them went on to attend great colleges. My nephew graduated from SJs last year and he goes to college at an Ivy League. That being said, Kinkaid had the reputation for the popular kids doing drugs like cocaine and hashish, and it seemed to have a snobbish culture. Also, there was a divide between those who lived in the surrounding Memorial (or River Oaks) area and those who commuted from different lower-income neighborhoods. SJs didn't appear to have this division.
My cousin went to Kincaid. He said the cafeteria was fabulous. When he was there, you could get a steak if your parents would spring for it. Hope that helps.
I graduated from Kinkaid, class of '95. If I wasn't an alumnus of either school, I would chose St. John's. Academically, St. John's is better, a higher percentage of their students go to Ivy League schools than do Kinkaid alumni. The difference between the two schools, with respect to extracurricular activities, is not that great. I was involved in athletics and theater in highschool, and I'm sure I could have done the same if I had gone to St. John's. As for the issue of drug use at Kinkaid, I never noticed any of that during my time there. I am not sure about St. John's culture, but I figure the student body is equally socially diverse as Kinkaid's. From what I know, there is a higher percentage of minority students at St. John's, minorities including Asians and more Asians (South and East Asians). I hope this helps.
i went to st. john's and absolutely loved it. sure some kids are pretentious, but overall very down to earth and well rounded. you could easily say i'm biased, but i honestly do believe st. john's is the best academically, and in terms of matriculation to top tier schools, is rivaled by few schools in the south. i would certainly send my children to st. john's over kinkaid. all of this being said, kinkaid is certainly better in terms of athletics and is definitely the second best school in houston in terms of academics (i.e. not a bad place to be). there are plenty of kids at kinkaid that are smarter than those at sjs, but overall education is more emphasized at st. john's. hope that helps, please ask me any questions you have.
in terms of drug use, it is really picking up in both schools. kinkaid has historically been more of a cocaine friendly place but that crowd is growing at st. john's. LOTS of kids at st. john's smoke pot and i'm sure its the same at kinkaid. its getting to be almost unavoidable in certain crowds...
I went to Bellaire, but did get to know quite a few SJ/Kincaid kids due to my math geekiness at the time. Didn't really find much of a difference between the students at the two schools. Also didn't find much of a difference between their education and Bellaire's AP/IB program. I'm sure they have better overall standards. If your kid's really smart and can get into the best programs, I'm not sure it's that worth the money for a private school education. There are risks with public schools too, but I don't believe it's any worse than private schools... and they cost a lot less.
If you have the cash, can handle your kid being away for nine months and really want to get them into top schools, you might want to also look up north.
I was a visiting lecturer at St. John's a few times and I found the kids to be very sharp. I know two of the teachers at Kinkaid (both English teachers) and they are both the rare and special sort of teachers that can and do change their students' lives for the good and forever. One of them was at St. John's when I gave my talks there and both used to teach in the Vanguard program at Jones. As for athletics, I only know a little about the tennis team at Kinkaid (which is coached by one of my friends that also teaches English). They have had some pretty significant success I think, at least since my friend started coaching, and I can't imagine a more supportive or more inspirational coach. I'd go with Kinkaid for those two teachers alone.
No love for Awty?? And I'm surprised at how many went to one of the two private schools that the OP asked about. Cool.
