Poolesville Global Ecology House
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Anonymous
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Can someone who has had kids go through this magnet program share their impressions? It seems like a lot of great field trips, but beyond that i don’t know much about it. Seems like a lot of hands on science - akin to Wheaton’s hands on engineering program? How’s the cohort compare to Blair’s stem magnet?
TIA |
Anonymous
Anyone from Down county send their DC up to this program? Seems amazing but too far for us in Silver Spring… |
Anonymous
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Poolesville Global is a great house. It’s perfect for smart kids who don’t want backbreaking work but who want to be surrounded by an excellent peer group. It’s not comparable at ALL to Blair SMCs though. The field trips are wonderful in terms of getting them outside to appreciate nature and they help bond the students. In my opinion, it’s the healthiest magnet program for a student’s well being and the one that everyone in the school wishes they were part of.
Students that graduated last year from Global went to schools including MIT, Harvard, USC, Brown, Michigan as well as UMD Honors. Students Freshman year have their last three classes in a rotation. The program has been revamped in the last few years. They used to take a lot of local students but now it’s almost out boundary students. Their new mantra is they want local representation but with only 10-15 local kids across all the magnet programs- the local ones are very strong. I have a freshman this year and one that graduated a few years ago from the program. |
Anonymous
I’m the one that posted below. It’s not worth it. Traffic is too heavy and the commute is a killer. We live 30 minutes away and it’s tough but worthwhile. |
Anonymous
That’s what I’m thinking, sadly. It’d be 45 minutes from us… Which is how long my other high schooler’s LOCAL bus would take sometimes, with all the stops, but I’m not kidding myself. I don’t think we could swing it, sadly. It sounds great!! |
Anonymous
| No one went to Harvard University from Poolesville LOL. |
Anonymous
Global parent again. If we lived in the DCC, I would look at the CAP program or a signature program at the home school. Wheaton Engineering, I’ve heard good things second hand things about. . Kids from Potomac were waking up at 5:30 in the morning to get to PHS. My kids need their sleep and that would be a deal breaker for us. |
Anonymous
Global is a relatively chill program. Therefore, pronto a good fit for many of the parents who post in this forum. |
Anonymous
| Probably not a good fit, that is. |
Anonymous
Why I’d like it!! The DCUM crowd is so obsessed with rankings and college acceptances. It’s gross. |
Anonymous
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My kid joined global this year. It is a fantastic program. My DD went to middle school Math Sci magnet and a lot of her friends were offered seats in both Poolesville SMAC and Global and most of the kids chose global. The ones who got into SMAC and wait listed for global were very disappointed. A few years ego, kids who did not get into SMAC would settle for global, now its the opposite!
The global program has a focus on science and social studies and for my DD who hated the computer science in middle school, it is perfect. Also the great advantage is if you were offered a seat in both SMAC and Global Eco, and you choose Global Eco house, you still get to take all the advanced math and computer science courses offered for the SMAC students. So while they are not overly burdened and overloaded as in SMAC (with extra hour of class everyday, its insane!), global kids get to do a lot of hands on stuff and they bond better as a group due to all the field trips and group projects they do. Also they have some of the best and most fun teachers in that program. And the peer group is just great. If you are worried about transportation, I know magnets buses run and cover most areas and they have 2 buses in the evening, one leaving at 2:30 and an activity bus leaving at 4:30 |
Anonymous
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OP, if your student is accepted into Global Ecology and Blair SMCS, go to the admitted students open houses (which hopefully will be in person this year), and get a vibe of the students - both current and prospective. Then consider which one is a better fit for your student.
Agree with PP, if accepted into both, your student has option to take Magnet math with the PHS SMCS students, so you get some of both worlds. The magnet math teachers are phenomenal, though they probably are at Blair too. |
Anonymous
| How many kids apply to global ecology vs get admitted? |
Anonymous
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PP with freshman Global student. The kids that my kid knows that were accepted to both SMCs and Global all chose SMCs. The ones that had the option of Humanities or Global went 50 percent each way.
SMCS is the best curriculum and best magnet program in Montgomery County for the RIGHT student. If your kid is the right student, you know. The kid who at a regular school was taking Algebra 2 in 8th and bored because it was so easy etc, winning math competitions etc. If your kid beat the TP Magnet kids at MathCounts- you are a good candidate. If my kid had been offered both Global and Blair SMCs and we lived down county, SMCs would be the better choices he to logistics/ traffic. |
Anonymous
I don’t know. They said they had 900 kids apply to Poolesville magnet programs last year. Probably Global receives the most applications because it encompasses the entire county. |