<p>Other than Ellicott City and Columbia, Howard County is pretty much devoid of “downtown” atmosphere. Lots of parks around, though. Look at Elkridge – it is close to Ellicott City, parts of it are districted for Centennial, and it has a really wonderful park, Rockburn Branch Park, right there. Lots of cool stuff in Rockburn – hiking/mountain biking/riding trails, a mountain bike skills park, a frisbee golf course, easy access to Patapsco State Park, tennis courts, ball fields, etc., etc., etc… The part of Elkridge that is not districted for Centennial goes to Howard, which is also a good school, but with stats that don’t necessarily stand out like Centennial’s do. Also, Elkridge tends to be a bit cheaper than Ellicott City. </p>
<p>Here’s a link to all the parks in Howard County, just FYI, since that seems important to you. Some of them are very small, but then some are huge and expansive like Centennial, Rockburn, Schooley Mill, etc… <a href=“http://www.howardcountymd.gov/Departments.aspx?ID=1679”>http://www.howardcountymd.gov/Departments.aspx?ID=1679</a></p>
<p>You should also be aware that right now the teacher’s union and board of education are at an impasse in negotiation of the new contract for the teachers. I don’t know what to believe about who is being unreasonable, and I’m not taking a side, just letting you know. Google it, and you’ll find lots of articles about it, I’m sure. Issue for your situation is that I’ve heard rumblings of the union advising teachers to not do “extra stuff” like write recommendations, etc., until the contract is finalized. That particularly hurts seniors. I’m guessing your daughter will mainly have recommendations from her current school, so that might not be an issue, but thought I’d give you a heads up. Now I’ll be quiet – sorry for the multiple posts.</p>
<p>Do you have younger kids as well? If not, then perhaps you might consider buying a house where you ultimately want to live and sending her to a private school (if possible) or renting for the school year in a “good district” while you find a house you like, without worrying as much about schools. Although this district will be submitting her application, much (most) will come from her past high school including recommendations etc. Hope you find a good place to land and that your daughter find her people at her new high school.</p>
<p>This is a great point, @mom2and. If this is your last kid, there are many, many private school options, which might make more sense than buying a house for the school district that you’ll only use for a year. </p>
<p>A word of caution about Baltimore. Baltimore is crazy into private schools - grown adults with advanced degrees, when meeting for the first time will ask each other where they went to high school. Very clique-y and bizarre to people that move here as adults. Most people my husband works with think I’m nuts for allowing my kid to go to public school. My daughter believes her boyfriend’s mom hopes they break up so he will find a girl who went to the girls’ school associated with his boys’ school. </p>
<p>I will put my plug in for Dulaney (north of Towson) with a large student body, tons of EC options (every kind of club and interest!) and a great college acceptance list every year. My favorite area to look at homes would be the Hampton area, surrounds an old plantation - now a national historic site. Also borders on Loch Raven Reservoir and Cromwell Valley Park with acres and acres of hiking trails. You would have to drive to downtown Towson.</p>
<p>If you want to be in a more walkable city or neighborhood location - Stoneleigh and Anesleigh near Towson University are fantastic neighborhoods where people really bond with their neighbors. The high school for this zone is Towson - again a very strong school, not as large or as “well to do” as Dulaney. I am pretty sure Towson outranked Dulaney on the last USNWR ranking, or perhaps it was WashPo ranking - but Dulaney is generally considered the “jewel” of BCPS.</p>
<p>Two of my brothers went to Delaney after having a year at Calvert Hall (private boys school), one by choice, one after being asked to ‘explore other educational opportunities.’ Both were happy at Delaney. Another brother graduated from Calvert Hall, and also was pleased with his choice. We knew lots of kids from all the catholic schools and a few from the Lutheran school. I can’t tell you how many boys I met who attended Gilman, Princeton, Yale law. It was like a path they were put on in Kindergarten and they all followed it, then returned to Baltimore to settle down, get married, and repeat.</p>
<p>Back when I lived in Baltimore (late 70’s/early 80’s) no one went to public school in Baltimore City unless it was to one of the application schools (Western, Poly) and even then, most went to private schools. </p>
<p>I also live in Howard County, in Elkridge, for the past 8 years. My daughter just graduated in the top 15% of a HCPSS towards the middle of the above list. I considered sending her to one of the many girls’ private schools in the area after middle school but opted to let her go forward at the neighborhood school after talking to a few parents. It’s widely known and recognized in the region that Montgomery County and Howard County have some of the best public schools in the country. They flip flop from year to year in 1st and 2nd place according to test scores.</p>
<p>I would look into whether your child is able to test into the Gifted & Talented classes like both of my children did in the 4 & 5th grade. There are Honor classes offered but they are only 1 grade level above the regular curriculum, as opposed to GT curriculum that is 2 grade levels above. Five of my daughter’s original middle school classmates even graduated high school a year early because they had the maximum amount of credits needed at the completion of their junior year. There are countless AP classes offered at most of the high schools in the area and a specific focus on extracurricular activities outside of solely athletics.</p>
<p>One of the major draws for me regarding this school system, compared to Montgomery County’s schools- of which I’m a graduate (Montgomery Blair), is the GT Independent Research Program. This program begins with leadership seminars in middle school and an opportunity to take classes after an interview selection process for rising sophomores and above. My daughter is a proud graduate of 3 years in the program, which culminated in an unique Intern/Mentor half-day internship program where they are placed with professionals in the field of their choosing. I can’t stress enough how this particular course shaped my shy and reserved daughter into a true leader, talented speaker (won 2 speech contests) and confident student. She had an amazing GT resource teacher who retired after the end of this school year. I’m sure the level of success for the program varies from school to school but it’s an awesome opportunity for college preparation.</p>
<p>PM if you need more details</p>
<p>We live in Howard County, and my kids went to a school in the top third to half of the county. They both had significantly higher than average SAT scores for the county, but even though their grades were what I consider very good (4.2-4.3 weighted for one) they were NOT in the top ten percent of the class. I think he was barely in top 20%. Stating the obvious, If you go to a school a little lower in the rankings, you might do better in the percentile rankings, which some colleges weight more heavily than others. We moved from Montgomery County because our school in that county wasn’t one of the top on the list. I think the variance in Montgomery County is much higher than HoCo. I think could have lived with my kids going to any of the HoCo schools, and our public school experience was very good. Good luck.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for the help! We finally finished house hunting and it looks like it will be Howard High School for our son, and our daughter will go to private with her friend (long story). Anyone with kids at Howard or know anyone? </p>
<p>I see you’ve decided, and I can’t comment on the school you’ve chosen as I don’t know it. I hope you and your children enjoy it! I mostly wanted to express my sentiment that ailinsh1 was spot on in the description of River Hill. My cousin attended the school and is more out of touch with issues of affluence than nearly anyone I know, and I can be quite out of touch myself at times! Additionally, he was always almost the only black student in his class, which none of his family thinks was good for him.</p>
<p>Yes, this was one of our concerns with River Hill as well as Dulaney High in Baltimore County. We are not affluent by any means and we definitely liked the diversity (racial and socioeconomic) at Howard much better! 
</p>
<p>So glad you found a good situation for your children!!!</p>
<p>Welcome to HoCo! I never knew there were so many of us on CC. We need to form an afluenza support group!</p>
<p>Stick with Howard County. It’s better than Baltimore County.</p>
<p>Congrats to the Original Poster on finding their new home and school. Just want to say hi to all the other Towson folk out here - didn’t realize there would be so many. DS is just about to start junior year and beginning to fully engage in the college admissions process. </p>
<p>Congrats on your decision @vibrio and welcome to the area! Baltimore is a great place to live! </p>
<p>Another “Welcome to HoCo.” Looks like there are plenty of us who can give you recommendations for things close by. </p>
<p>The unthinkable happened - our housing offer fell through… someone outbid us at above listing price and we go kicked out! 
It turns out that after all that work (2 family trips to the area for house hunting), we might be looking at renting an apartment for a year while the kids finish school. I got a recommendation for a “luxury” complex called Orchard Park in Ellicott City, zoned for Marriotts Ridge HS. I think we will try to go for renting from a big management company instead of a private landlord, just because we will be renting sight unseen. We can’t afford another trip out there at this point. And we haven’t rented in so long that I’d rather deal with a more standardized infrastructure than trying to get lucky with individual landlords. </p>
<p>Anyone out there knowledgeable about this particular complex (<a href=“http://orchardparkellicottcity.com/”>http://orchardparkellicottcity.com/</a>), or renting in the Ellicott City area? Or about Marriotts Ridge? Please post here or PM me! We’re panicking slightly at this point. Glad to have so many Howard Co natives here with me… thanks in advance. </p>
<p>What a stressful time. I don’t know a lot about Marriott’s Ridge, but it’s a very new HS and I know people who have kids there and like it just fine. I know nothing about the apartments. </p>
<p>I’m sorry, how stressful. There is a Residence Inn very close to Howard High if you don’t want to commit to a long term lease sight unseen. Also, most of the private home rentals are managed by management companies so you may be able to find a house long distance. </p>