Sydney, Australia to Chicagoland (?) (Deerfield, Hinsdale: houses, safe neighborhood, private schools)

[mwj119]

Originally Posted by Hiruko

Tmi

Hahaha

[asliarun]

An important thing to note is that Evanston and Wilmette are the only two Northshore suburbs that have both CTA and Metra train lines to downtown. The Purple line starts from the Linden station in East Wilmette.

So you could also take the CTA all the way to work, and it would likely drop you a block away from your office. It is slower than the Metra but will be a really good option for cold winters.

Also more info about the Wilmette gymnastics center: [url=http://www.wilmettegymnastics.com/]WELCOME TO WILMETTE GYMNASTICS

[eb23]

Originally Posted by mwj119

OP- Not a very helpful response, but one point I'd like to clarify.

Thank you for your thoughtful and detailed response. This, among the others I've received in this thread or privately do re-enforce the correctness of our choice to consider the USA as the next, hopefully last stop of our life journey.

Bringing out the point of the schools and ratings, you are spot on that my analysis was as good as the measurement system itself, but an important point is the affluence of the area. For which Chicago's North Shore seems like a good spot.. As good as many others, so I should be focusing on the area alone plus the real estate there... Browsing the available properties on the internet, when I see the stock of Naperville, my desire to be in Deerfield grows a lot, despite the fact the best (?) K school of IL is in Naperville.

At the same time, there is that proverbial line on the sand to determine that "good enough" threshold to eliminate the analysis paralysis... I have met people with much less of a start achieving very great things science or career wise.

Going through the schooldigger, Illinois stands out amongst all the other states, loud and clear. Funnily enough, I was not considering Illinois at the beginning, focusing on WA, where, as the "common knowledge has", it rains the most. It was my director's idea about IL, and after reviewing it, I realised the advice was more than sound.

Considering the HQ is at the Basking Ridge, NJ, and the amount of business WA feels like a nice, but secluded place to kill my career. However, I wouldn't be too keen on moving to NJ or NY - NY would have been a nice place to be if I was in my 20's, not 40's, NJ -- not sure at all - despite being there for a few time I did not catch the vibe... Chicago -- never been there, but considering it is the 3rd US metro out of which I've been to the first two (NYC and LA), I'm happy to place a bet.. That much for a guy who does not gamble, relying solely on the advice by the colleagues, school ratings and friendly feedback here.

Thanks for the graph you shared on the NY Times Website, yet another one to analyse.

Just to elaborate on the criteria:

1. Climate, least sun for my daughter coupled with
2. Best schooling and extracurricular activities she and her sister can get
3. My ability to sustain the 1 and 2 that is contingent on either strength of Verizon business there OR ability of my wife to step in with her photography business, that is contingent on affluent neighborhood where the residents are willing to spend money on her art

the other things are pretty much a bonus without going much into the crime and anything else that shouldn't be a problem considering the above criteria.. As you mentioned -- money determines everything, it is so clear in the US..

[nana053]

Originally Posted by eb23

<snip>

Considering the HQ is at the Basking Ridge, NJ, and the amount of business WA feels like a nice, but secluded place to kill my career. However, I wouldn't be too keen on moving to NJ or NY - NY would have been a nice place to be if I was in my 20's, not 40's, NJ -- not sure at all - despite being there for a few time I did not catch the vibe... Chicago -- never been there, but considering it is the 3rd US metro out of which I've been to the first two (NYC and LA), I'm happy to place a bet.. That much for a guy who does not gamble, relying solely on the advice by the colleagues, school ratings and friendly feedback here.

You would NOT want to be in NYC for schooling. The system is INSANE there. I have a friend who teaches in NYC and has both her kids in school there with the oldest going to high school next year. Believe me, the NYC schools are just crazy in terms of getting into a good school.

Chicago is much better than either NYC or LA especially the suburbs of Chicago. I love Evanston, Skokie and any place on the north shore. I lived a few blocks from the lake in Evanston for over 30 years and it is fantastic for bringing up kids and for the schools.

[mwj119]

Originally Posted by nana053

You would NOT want to be in NYC for schooling. The system is INSANE there. I have a friend who teaches in NYC and has both her kids in school there with the oldest going to high school next year. Believe me, the NYC schools are just crazy in terms of getting into a good school.

Chicago is much better than either NYC or LA especially the suburbs of Chicago. I love Evanston, Skokie and any place on the north shore. I lived a few blocks from the lake in Evanston for over 30 years and it is fantastic for bringing up kids and for the schools.

They aren't looking to move into any city. They are looking to move to the suburbs.

nana- Are you saying that NYC MSA has no match for Skokie? Good lord. Places like Scarsdale, Short Hills, Greenwich, Bronxville, Darien?

OP, upper tier IL schools are great. Sunshine in IL is the same as many other areas in the Northern/Midwest/Northeast US. Plenty of athletics to be had, at every level, in any metro. I'm just not sure what kind of research has lead you to believe that IL schools are superior to other prominent areas of the US. The idea that Illinois' top tier schools are better vs. their counterparts in places like Northern NJ or Westchester County, or any other areas like these, is incorrect based on every metric I you can find.

https://www.usnews.com/education/bes...states-compare
https://www.forbes.com/sites/reneemo...chool-systems/
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-sta...ings/education
https://wallethub.com/edu/e/states-w...-schools/5335/

Again, I think Chicagoland and most specifically the North Shore is fantastic. But, respectfully, I'd recommend you visit here first as opposed to taking a coworkers advice coupled with your own school research.

[eb23]

Originally Posted by nana053

You would NOT want to be in NYC for schooling. The system is INSANE there. I have a friend who teaches in NYC and has both her kids in school there with the oldest going to high school next year. Believe me, the NYC schools are just crazy in terms of getting into a good school.

Chicago is much better than either NYC or LA especially the suburbs of Chicago. I love Evanston, Skokie and any place on the north shore. I lived a few blocks from the lake in Evanston for over 30 years and it is fantastic for bringing up kids and for the schools.

I'm doing my best to avoid the NYC It was a nice place to visit but living there would be too much of a stress for not much gain... So far, Chicago suburbia seems like the place to be -- schools and climate - click-click. Great people, if I were to judge by all of your comments in this thread and others

[eb23]

Originally Posted by mwj119

They aren't looking to move into any city. They are looking to move to the suburbs.

nana- Are you saying that NYC MSA has no match for Skokie? Good lord. Places like Scarsdale, Short Hills, Greenwich, Bronxville, Darien?

OP, upper tier IL schools are great. Sunshine in IL is the same as many other areas in the Northern/Midwest/Northeast US. Plenty of athletics to be had, at every level, in any metro. I'm just not sure what kind of research has lead you to believe that IL schools are superior to other prominent areas of the US. The idea that Illinois' top tier schools are better vs. their counterparts in places like Northern NJ or Westchester County, or any other areas like these, is incorrect based on every metric I you can find.

https://www.usnews.com/education/bes...states-compare
https://www.forbes.com/sites/reneemo...chool-systems/
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-sta...ings/education
https://wallethub.com/edu/e/states-w...-schools/5335/

Again, I think Chicagoland and most specifically the North Shore is fantastic. But, respectfully, I'd recommend you visit here first as opposed to taking a coworkers advice coupled with your own school research.

Schooldigger among other online ranking resources were my tool in research. Comparing the top positions is pretty much self explanatory. First Illinois school to dip below 96 is position N50, being Kipling Elementary in Deerfield. See the attached image.


I understand the numbers themselves won't tell the whole story but the trend is quite obvious. Every state of interest that I checked was not as impressive as IL... And then, more research via Niche on educational level, income and so on.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer...9799999998&z=5

[mwj119]

Originally Posted by eb23

Schooldigger among other online ranking resources were my tool in research. Comparing the top positions is pretty much self explanatory. First Illinois school to dip below 96 is position N50, being Kipling Elementary in Deerfield. See the attached image.


I understand the numbers themselves won't tell the whole story but the trend is quite obvious. Every state of interest that I checked was not as impressive as IL... And then, more research via Niche on educational level, income and so on.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer...9799999998&z=5

What standardized test does NJ and IL take outside of SAT/ACTs? If they don't take the same standardized tests, how can Schooldigger compare them? Are you sure Schooldigger isn't simply comparing how well top schools in the IL do on the IL standardized testing? And NJ comparing NJ standardized testing?

Anyways, fair enough OP, don't mean to to press you on this topic. Just wanted to offer a counter opinion.

Happy to go into detail about the North Shore area, or to elaborate on this topic further! DM me if you want some additional information/have any questions.

[nana053]

Originally Posted by eb23

I'm doing my best to avoid the NYC It was a nice place to visit but living there would be too much of a stress for not much gain... So far, Chicago suburbia seems like the place to be -- schools and climate - click-click. Great people, if I were to judge by all of your comments in this thread and others

I agree with that. I grew up in a small town outside NYC. My husband grew up on Long Island and was born in Brooklyn Hospital. We still have relatives there and go back to visit once in a while. Took the grandchildren to the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade a few years ago (my dd actually worked the parade once holding onto one of the large balloons).

Someone mentioned the New York suburbs. It is true that they have good schools, but, imo, the suburbs mentioned are almost as stressful as the city. Burbs in New Jersey would be an option there as well.

[eb23]

Originally Posted by mwj119

What standardized test does NJ and IL take outside of SAT/ACTs? If they don't take the same standardized tests, how can Schooldigger compare them? Are you sure Schooldigger isn't simply comparing how well top schools in the IL do on the IL standardized testing? And NJ comparing NJ standardized testing?

Anyways, fair enough OP, don't mean to to press you on this topic. Just wanted to offer a counter opinion.

Happy to go into detail about the North Shore area, or to elaborate on this topic further! DM me if you want some additional information/have any questions.

Thanks a lot! I'm sure I will reach out when have more specific questions! I cannot really elaborate on any of the questions you raised with regards to the testing methodology and the validity of the rankings -- just using the data at my disposal to the best of my ability. I'm sure whether it is NJ or IL or NY or MA, all will offer decent schooling opportunities and everything else.