I’m so glad I found this thread. I realize I’m chiming in late in the discussion, but I just wanted to share my personal experience. My sons attended a small private school in another state that was known locally to be an excellent college prep school. We moved to Virginia Beach in June and enrolled our children in a private high school. My older son, who is a junior and was in all honor classes at his previous school, and younger son, who is a sophomore and in core classes, were completely unprepared for the rigors of their new school. They did more work in their first nine weeks at their new school than they did all year at their previous school. The demands and expectations were in a different league. My Core student did more in 9 weeks of regular English 10 than my son who had taken Honors English 10 at the other school had done all year. It was overwhelming. I thought my kids were getting a solid education at their previous school, but now I know they weren’t. All high schools are most definitely not created equal. I’m so glad we made the move, and now the my kids have adjusted, they are too. They will be much better prepared for college, no matter where they go. I don’t know about schools in NOVA or ROVA, but I can tell you that my kid’s school here at the beach is tough.