Blair SMACS admission

[Anonymous]

Can someone give me an overview of the process? What do they look for? I’m a parent of a 7th grader who might be a strong candidate and have found all the info on MCPS confusing and unclear. What do they look at beyond MAP and grades? Kid is in magnet algebra but not interested in math team or many extra curriculars. Mostly a shy but studious, smart kid who takes school work seriously. Is that what they look for, or the outgoing leader types?

[Anonymous]

This year there was a common app for high school magnets that just asked for a brief written statement and asked a couple other questions. I assume they also looked at MAP and grades. They used to have a more involved process with teacher recs and maybe additional testing before COVID.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This year there was a common app for high school magnets that just asked for a brief written statement and asked a couple other questions. I assume they also looked at MAP and grades. They used to have a more involved process with teacher recs and maybe additional testing before COVID.

Any idea what they are looking for? Does my kid need to suddenly get involved in a bunch of extra curriculars?!!

[Anonymous]

There was very little space to write about extracurriculars. I think they needed to briefly mention a few interests/activities. It would never have occurred to me to sign up for extracurriculars just for this application.

[Anonymous]

No one knows what they are looking for. Since they got rid of the COGAT my guess is the MAP scores become more important. And then have to keep up the straight As like everyone else. I doubt the activities are as important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one knows what they are looking for. Since they got rid of the COGAT my guess is the MAP scores become more important. And then have to keep up the straight As like everyone else. I doubt the activities are as important.

What level of MAP score?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one knows what they are looking for. Since they got rid of the COGAT my guess is the MAP scores become more important. And then have to keep up the straight As like everyone else. I doubt the activities are as important.

What level of MAP score?

I don't think it works that way but for a STEM magnet, you'd probably have a better chance with a score at or above the 99%. In the past, it was suggested they only looked at the percent so scoring 20 or 30 points above the 99% although great likely doesn't matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one knows what they are looking for. Since they got rid of the COGAT my guess is the MAP scores become more important. And then have to keep up the straight As like everyone else. I doubt the activities are as important.

What level of MAP score?

I don't think it works that way but for a STEM magnet, you'd probably have a better chance with a score at or above the 99%. In the past, it was suggested they only looked at the percent so scoring 20 or 30 points above the 99% although great likely doesn't matter.

I remember reading one poster claiming the median score admitted was around 270-275. I have no idea where they got this info or if it is true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one knows what they are looking for. Since they got rid of the COGAT my guess is the MAP scores become more important. And then have to keep up the straight As like everyone else. I doubt the activities are as important.

What level of MAP score?

I don't think it works that way but for a STEM magnet, you'd probably have a better chance with a score at or above the 99%. In the past, it was suggested they only looked at the percent so scoring 20 or 30 points above the 99% although great likely doesn't matter.

I remember reading one poster claiming the median score admitted was around 270-275. I have no idea where they got this info or if it is true.

I'm guessing there are additional factors since there are hundreds of kids with scores in that range and only 100 spots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This year there was a common app for high school magnets that just asked for a brief written statement and asked a couple other questions. I assume they also looked at MAP and grades. They used to have a more involved process with teacher recs and maybe additional testing before COVID.

Any idea what they are looking for? Does my kid need to suddenly get involved in a bunch of extra curriculars?!!

And publish a paper in a peer reviewed journal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one knows what they are looking for. Since they got rid of the COGAT my guess is the MAP scores become more important. And then have to keep up the straight As like everyone else. I doubt the activities are as important.

What level of MAP score?

I don't think it works that way but for a STEM magnet, you'd probably have a better chance with a score at or above the 99%. In the past, it was suggested they only looked at the percent so scoring 20 or 30 points above the 99% although great likely doesn't matter.

I remember reading one poster claiming the median score admitted was around 270-275. I have no idea where they got this info or if it is true.

I'm guessing there are additional factors since there are hundreds of kids with scores in that range and only 100 spots.

Not really. The top 1% of students at MCPS should be about 110 per grade. I know you’ll claim that there are more than 1 percent of kids in the 99th percentile on MAP in MCPS, but the facts don’t really support that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one knows what they are looking for. Since they got rid of the COGAT my guess is the MAP scores become more important. And then have to keep up the straight As like everyone else. I doubt the activities are as important.

What level of MAP score?

I don't think it works that way but for a STEM magnet, you'd probably have a better chance with a score at or above the 99%. In the past, it was suggested they only looked at the percent so scoring 20 or 30 points above the 99% although great likely doesn't matter.

I remember reading one poster claiming the median score admitted was around 270-275. I have no idea where they got this info or if it is true.

I'm guessing there are additional factors since there are hundreds of kids with scores in that range and only 100 spots.

Not really. The top 1% of students at MCPS should be about 110 per grade. I know you’ll claim that there are more than 1 percent of kids in the 99th percentile on MAP in MCPS, but the facts don’t really support that.

We're in Lake MoCobegon! All our kid are above average!

[Anonymous]

bottom line - they are looking for a consistent track record of STEM awesomeness - consistent high map-m scores 275+, years of STEM-based extra circular stuff i.e. math competitions & science fair participation, solid As across STEM subjects, 100+ hours of volunteering. for FARMS kids the bar will be lower but the rest of applications will be in one big pool. no one will know if the kid from a particular middle school or of a particular race. Student is assigned a number so they cant easily guess what is the ethnicity unless in the essay kid mentions that they are bilingual. but I think they know the gender. our kid went though the process this year and it was very very stressful for all 8th graders that had aspersions to get into these competitive programs.

[Anonymous]

It was stressful even when there was COGAT. Bottom line, there are very few spots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one knows what they are looking for. Since they got rid of the COGAT my guess is the MAP scores become more important. And then have to keep up the straight As like everyone else. I doubt the activities are as important.

What level of MAP score?

I don't think it works that way but for a STEM magnet, you'd probably have a better chance with a score at or above the 99%. In the past, it was suggested they only looked at the percent so scoring 20 or 30 points above the 99% although great likely doesn't matter.

I remember reading one poster claiming the median score admitted was around 270-275. I have no idea where they got this info or if it is true.

I'm guessing there are additional factors since there are hundreds of kids with scores in that range and only 100 spots.

Not really. The top 1% of students at MCPS should be about 110 per grade. I know you’ll claim that there are more than 1 percent of kids in the 99th percentile on MAP in MCPS, but the facts don’t really support that.

You could be 99% nationally on the CogAT and 96% in MCPS. On the MAP, the district's scores are also a few percentage points above the national median. I can only guess but it seems likely more than 1% are in the 99%. Even at my kid's MS I happen to know of almost 5 oids out of a grade of roughly 300, and I by no means know that many so suspect it several times that amount.