Friends moving to Pittsburgh. Need suggestions on good neighborhoods and schools

[gatorsmom]

So a dear friend of mine is moving with her family to Pittsburgh. Her husband is a general surgeon who is starting a fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Med center there. She is an MD also, a gastroenterologist but over the past year she cut her hours way down to spend more time at home with her kids. When they move, she won't work. They have 3 children, under the age of 10. The oldest 2 are serious swimmers. They are very active in our local swim team. When my friend and her family moves, she would like her kids to continue competing in swimming whether at their school or a local club.

Since she won't be working and her husband will be a full time student, their income will be greatly reduced. She said they have savings and they understand that they will be dipping into it but she would rather not dip into it too much. She told me she was looking at homes in Fox Chapel but they were out of her price range for the most part. She said Mt Lebanon looked more promising and the public school has an excellent swim team. Right now her girls are in a very small private school with tiny class sizes. She thinks it might be impossible for them to afford a private school in Pittsburgh because of their reduced income. So she's trying to find a very good public school. But she said she feels pretty lost because they know very little about the area.

Any suggestions on neighborhoods and good public schools that would be a good fit for them based on where her Dh will be working and the family's interests?

[AnnieW625]

Do they really need to buy a home? If they like Fox Chapel then could they rent there? I live in an higher col area (but more reasonable than some parts of my region) and the Catholic schools here offer tuition assistance so I wouldn't tell her to give up on that.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I have ideas but your inbox is full

[gatorsmom]

I have ideas but your inbox is full

Sorry! I just made some room in my inbox. All ideas and suggestions are appreciated!

[westwoodmom04]

Why is she not working given the significant drop in income? Hospitals are very good at finding jobs for trailing spouses that are doctors. If it is only for a year or two, as most surgical fellowships are, they should be renting as Annie suggested.

[TwinFoxes]

My friend lives in Shadyside and loves it. This is its Wikipedia entry, to give her/you and idea. But it sounds like your friend wants to live out in the suburbs, not really in Pittsburgh, so I don't know if it will be up her alley. My friend has kids, but I don't remember where they go. I do know that when she was looking the way she described the schools seemed to be a choice of awesome and awesomer. The private school tuition there is much cheaper than it is here, but I don't know how it compares to where you are. My friend is a professor at CMU, and can walk to work, it's a safe neighborhood.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadyside_(Pittsburgh)

ETA: Her kids go to private school, I don't know if I made that clear.

[georgiegirl]

Fox Chapel is pricey but they have great public schools. We have friends who purchased right outside of Fox Chapel proper but in their school district (I think something like that). Not sure what Shadyside schools are like, but the husband's commute would very short. (Shadyside is part of Pittsburgh, it's a neighborhood. But it's also pricey there. Squirrel Hill is another urban option, but I'm not sure about the schools.). Crossing any bridge or going through any tunnel will make for a long commute. I think that some people who live in Shadyside send their kids to private school. DH did his residency at Pitt, but we didn't have any kids back then. It's an awesome school and they do have some great swim teams there.

She should also find out which hospitals her husband will be at. Often they will rotate, but it might make a difference. The Pitt health system pretty much owns most of the local hospitals (many satellites)


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[mom2binsd]

I'd also have her look more at club swim teams vs schools as her kids are still pretty young. Honestly, most of the serious swimmers here swim more for their club teams than the high schools (most do both, but the primary focus is on their club team).

Maybe someone in your "swim world" has insight into which teams will suit her family. IN my small city of 150K we have about 5 year round teams, all with a slightly different focus, some hardcore and others which allow kids to do another sport. I would imagine in the Pittsburgh area there are a lot of swim teams.

[basil]

I used to live in Pittsburgh and worked at upmc, but my kids weren't old enough to go to school there. I'm assuming he's working at Presby/montefiore in Oakland mainly?

Fox chapel is pricey, but nice. Mt Lebanon does have good schools, should be able to find a rental. I wouldn't go Pittsburgh public schools, so I wouldn't plan to live in the city unless doing private (Shadyside, squirrel hill, are all Pittsburgh city). North of the city, north Allegheny is a good district. That was a better commute than the other locations because there is less traffic even though it looks farther on a map. (Sewickley, Wexford, Franklin park area). That's where my kids would have gone if we had stayed.

[Pear]

Pittsburgh is tricky. You have the rivers making commuting tough and a whole bunch of really awful schools scattered about. We ended up near Regent Square for housing and we did love the neighborhood. We left Pittsburgh before Dd started school, but we were seriously considering private school. It would have been a huge stretch financially since we won't use religious schools.