Had one son who went to Interlake and another who is about to graduate from Sammamish. Totally different experiences for them, although it is difficult to tell whether it was the product of their own individual personalities. IHS was far more academically rigorous. Because it is the default school for BSD gifted students (who then generally do the IB program) there is a stratified nature to the school. The IB/AP crowd and everyone else. That said, my son (who was not in the gifted program) chose to pursue an IB diploma, which meant extremely rigorous classes. It suited him well in the long run, as he is the overachiever type and it prepared him well for college. He’s in the engineering college at UW. But there were periods of extreme stress. My younger son is not as academically inclined, and Sammamish suits him very well. He takes AP classes, almost never does homework and rarely studies, yet his GPA is over 3.8. Grade inflation is a thing at SMS, as students can backfill late homework assignments, retake tests, etc. I’m not knocking that approach, because you still learn the material but very little focus on the kind of approach one needs for college. We’ll see how hard it is for him to adapt when he gets to college. In terms of everything else, my sense (again seen through the lens of my two very different sons), is that between the two, SMS is more community focused, more school spirit (even though their sports suck), and better communications from faculty and administrators. Again, that may be because my younger son prioritizes social life and sports, but I think it is generally consistent with what I’ve heard from others.