Andover and North Andover

[AtkinsonDan]

Originally Posted by sal1181

How is North Andover not as educated as Andover? It's not like the people in this town are losers. Check out the Brooks School which is also a day boarding school like Phillips but more expensive costing $55K a year. Real Estate is also hot in this town everything sells quickly if priced right.

Originally Posted by 495neighbor

The people I know from North Andover are all nice professional people.

Originally Posted by sal1181

495Neighbor I agree. North Andover is mostly
a white collar town. Someone posted that NA is not
as educated as Andover which is not true

Old reputations take forever to die. The belief that Andover is better than North Andover probably dates back to the 1800s or so.

[sgw99]

I lived in North Andover from age 10 to 17. My parents looked at both towns (wayy back in the day!) and chose N. Andover because at the time they had different age cutoffs and I would've been the youngest kid by 1+ year in Andover public schools (Sept. 1 vs. Dec. 31 dates). That has probably changed by now.

My info is pretty dated, but since you asked about the N. Andover country club, I'm not sure that's the best way to meet other families. I knew more families who were members of Cedardale in Haverhill.

I think either town is nice, although as others have mentioned, I would give Andover a slight edge because it has a bigger, nicer town center and the train station.

If you visit the schools, I would ask to see the % of students who go on to college, and a list of the colleges where they matriculated. That will give you some idea of the quality of the academics. When I was a student (again, a long time ago!) the top students at N. Andover went on to Ivy League and comparable colleges, but it was not a pressure-cooker environment. Also, some of the wealthier and/or most promising middle school students went to private high schools like Phillips Andover and Exeter.

[LexWest]

Originally Posted by sal1181

How is North Andover not as educated as Andover? It's not like the people in this town are losers. Check out the Brooks School which is also a day boarding school like Phillips but more expensive costing $55K a year. Real Estate is also hot in this town everything sells quickly if priced right.

Psst. No need to get so defensive (your hometown pride is showing). He must have been thinking of a neighboring community near the NH border... .Not that there's anything wrong with such a community, but it's not on par with the original discussion.

Originally Posted by AtkinsonDan

Old reputations take forever to die. The belief that Andover is better than North Andover probably dates back to the 1800s or so.

As evidenced by a few posts here, the Andover "elitism" continues. It's funny, really. To think they were originally the same town... .

In reality, I can't imagine most people giving anyone much grief over either town. They're both desireable communities if one can afford them. I especially love that there are no "trashy/dumpy" areas of Andover. Even the bordering areas of another, much less desireable neighbor, are still nice. (Much of Andover borders the nicer parts anyway... . ) With that in mind, it does appear to be a "Pleasantville" (at least in my opinion).

[lizzytex00]

I may not be the best person to give my opinion yet as I have only lived in Andover for month, but I can tell you that so far I absolutely love it. We recently moved here from Houston for my husband's job. I looked at several towns near where he will be working (Groveland) such as Georgetown, North Andover, West Newberry, Newburyport, and Danvers. I have a 14-year-old going into high school so obviously the school situation was very important. I did hear about the heroin issue, which definitely concerned me. From what I understand, it is a prevalent issue within the New England states. I know in Andover, my daughter immediately got involved in the Andover youth services program which was created 20 years ago to give kids something to do during the school year and over summer vacation - I am assuming to keep them out of trouble. I think if you are a parent who stays on top of what your kid is doing and their friends and that they are involved in something outside of school, then you are fine. It's been 30 years since I graduated and there were all kind of drugs in the school that I went to back in Houston that long ago. My parents made sure I was involved in sports and music so I didn't have any time to try any shenanigans!