Yikes..

[Anonymous]

I remember when MCPS used to brag about their national rankings? I know someone will probably blame the drop on covid, but since the entire country went through covid, I don't think that's the issue here? If MCPS can't correct this soon, then I think yes, it will impact which kids get into good colleges.

MD/National Ranking
#1/#104 Whitman
#2/#167 Wootton
#4/#248 Poolesville
#5/#294 Churchill
#8/#491 BCC
#9/#572 RM
#15/#707 WJ
#18/#771 NW
#25/#965 QO
#28/#1,114 Damascus
#34/#1,467 Blair
#35/#1,554 Blake
#37/#1,729 Paint Branch
#42/#2,040 Wheaton
#43/#2,056 Sherwood
#49/#2,209 Rockville
#50/#2,219 Clarksburg
#54/#2,386 Springbrook
#68/#3,246 Magruder
#71/#3,606 Einstein
#81/#4,052 Northwood
#97/#5,576 Gaithersburg
#110/#6,169 Kennedy
#131/#7,669 Seneca Valley
#134/#8,025 Watkins Mill

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/search?state-urlname=maryland&district-id=104047&ranked=true

[Anonymous]

I know that my senior's WJ's teachers have mostly been excellent, at least in the core subjects like the major APs. We were in another MCPS school last year, and teachers were BAD.

[Anonymous]

Where these HS stand with US News has absolutely no bearing on kids getting into college. Colleges just look at the course rigor and student performance.

In fact, coming from a competitive HS can hurt kids as they stand out less among their classmates.

[Anonymous]

Poor leadership, mismanagement of funds, lack of oversight, changing demographics, decline in employee morale, etc.

All of which has led to a decline in MCPS over the past 15 years. Anyone who has been around long enough can see that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where these HS stand with US News has absolutely no bearing on kids getting into college. Colleges just look at the course rigor and student performance.

In fact, coming from a competitive HS can hurt kids as they stand out less among their classmates.

I find that very difficult to believe that a school in Boondock, StateX and TopOfTheList, Virginia will be treated equal on a college admissions board. I think it's more likely that some schools will use the rank as a weighting factor on the GPA as a possible cutoff, since Boondock straight-A may not be the same as a TopOfTheList A's and B's?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where these HS stand with US News has absolutely no bearing on kids getting into college. Colleges just look at the course rigor and student performance.

In fact, coming from a competitive HS can hurt kids as they stand out less among their classmates.

"colleges just look at the course rigor"?
You seriously believe that a college admissions board, with thousands of candidates every year, will look up each candidate HS "course rigor?" lol.

"coming from a competitive HS can hurt kids"?
Everyone knows TJ (even a college admissions board). Besides, you just contradicted yourself? You just said "course rigor" mattered, but now you're arguing that it hurts kids?

It's pretty clear you're making stuff up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where these HS stand with US News has absolutely no bearing on kids getting into college. Colleges just look at the course rigor and student performance.

In fact, coming from a competitive HS can hurt kids as they stand out less among their classmates.

"colleges just look at the course rigor"?
You seriously believe that a college admissions board, with thousands of candidates every year, will look up each candidate HS "course rigor?" lol.

"coming from a competitive HS can hurt kids"?
Everyone knows TJ (even a college admissions board). Besides, you just contradicted yourself? You just said "course rigor" mattered, but now you're arguing that it hurts kids?

It's pretty clear you're making stuff up.

No, PP has a point. And, you seem somewhat ignorant on this.

Admissions officers know rigor from school profile, being in MCPS (which top colleges know well, and from counselor survey/rec.

What's more relevant is if there is a history of some kids from the school getting in to the college. That would suggest the school is a known entity to the AO.

She is also correct about competitive high schools. Top colleges don't offer admission to lots of kids from one school. It's why some private school counselors steer students away from some schools because they know there they will likely get passed over. You bring up TJ, and it is especially true there. The kids don't stand out like they would at tgeir home schools because the entire school is magnet, and colleges don't want to take a large amount from one school.

Students really need it all in this admissions climate-- rigor, grades, and some means of standing out in a way that suggests they would bring additional skills/talents the college wants.

The school ranking thing may be a bummer for status reasons, but I don't think it will seriously affect college admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I remember when MCPS used to brag about their national rankings? I know someone will probably blame the drop on covid, but since the entire country went through covid, I don't think that's the issue here? If MCPS can't correct this soon, then I think yes, it will impact which kids get into good colleges.

MD/National Ranking
#1/#104 Whitman
#2/#167 Wootton
#4/#248 Poolesville
#5/#294 Churchill
#8/#491 BCC
#9/#572 RM
#15/#707 WJ
#18/#771 NW
#25/#965 QO
#28/#1,114 Damascus
#34/#1,467 Blair
#35/#1,554 Blake
#37/#1,729 Paint Branch
#42/#2,040 Wheaton
#43/#2,056 Sherwood
#49/#2,209 Rockville
#50/#2,219 Clarksburg
#54/#2,386 Springbrook
#68/#3,246 Magruder
#71/#3,606 Einstein
#81/#4,052 Northwood
#97/#5,576 Gaithersburg
#110/#6,169 Kennedy
#131/#7,669 Seneca Valley
#134/#8,025 Watkins Mill

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/search?state-urlname=maryland&district-id=104047&ranked=true

????
What's the point of posting this? You do know that this ranking came out long time ago, right? And if I remember correctly that person (you?) started that thread the same way. Are you the same person digging up old threads, trying to create drama?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I remember when MCPS used to brag about their national rankings? I know someone will probably blame the drop on covid, but since the entire country went through covid, I don't think that's the issue here? If MCPS can't correct this soon, then I think yes, it will impact which kids get into good colleges.

MD/National Ranking
#1/#104 Whitman
#2/#167 Wootton
#4/#248 Poolesville
#5/#294 Churchill
#8/#491 BCC
#9/#572 RM
#15/#707 WJ
#18/#771 NW
#25/#965 QO
#28/#1,114 Damascus
#34/#1,467 Blair
#35/#1,554 Blake
#37/#1,729 Paint Branch
#42/#2,040 Wheaton
#43/#2,056 Sherwood
#49/#2,209 Rockville
#50/#2,219 Clarksburg
#54/#2,386 Springbrook
#68/#3,246 Magruder
#71/#3,606 Einstein
#81/#4,052 Northwood
#97/#5,576 Gaithersburg
#110/#6,169 Kennedy
#131/#7,669 Seneca Valley
#134/#8,025 Watkins Mill

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/search?state-urlname=maryland&district-id=104047&ranked=true

????
What's the point of posting this? You do know that this ranking came out long time ago, right? And if I remember correctly that person (you?) started that thread the same way. Are you the same person digging up old threads, trying to create drama?

This was posted before? I searched and I can't find it? Where's the link?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where these HS stand with US News has absolutely no bearing on kids getting into college. Colleges just look at the course rigor and student performance.

In fact, coming from a competitive HS can hurt kids as they stand out less among their classmates.

"colleges just look at the course rigor"?
You seriously believe that a college admissions board, with thousands of candidates every year, will look up each candidate HS "course rigor?" lol.

"coming from a competitive HS can hurt kids"?
Everyone knows TJ (even a college admissions board). Besides, you just contradicted yourself? You just said "course rigor" mattered, but now you're arguing that it hurts kids?

It's pretty clear you're making stuff up.

lol... you probably don't have anyone applying to college just yet... but you'll see

[Anonymous]

I’m ok with this list there are nearly 24,000 public high schools in 50 states

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where these HS stand with US News has absolutely no bearing on kids getting into college. Colleges just look at the course rigor and student performance.

In fact, coming from a competitive HS can hurt kids as they stand out less among their classmates.

I find that very difficult to believe that a school in Boondock, StateX and TopOfTheList, Virginia will be treated equal on a college admissions board. I think it's more likely that some schools will use the rank as a weighting factor on the GPA as a possible cutoff, since Boondock straight-A may not be the same as a TopOfTheList A's and B's?

Difficult as it is for you to believe, it is true. Just sat in on a U Chicago admission talk. Essentially the elite colleges do know what you could do at your high school. A strong-but-not-exceptional record at a top school, to them, means you didn't try all that hard. An exceptional record at a not strong school means you tried as hard as you were could.
There is also an interest in regional diverstity; to put it sarcastically, The Harvards of the world don'l like to be considered a finishing school for "Georgetown Day". But no worries, legacy admissions and well places endowments can over come that!

[Anonymous]

My kid is at #131/#7,669 Seneca Valley. I've been very happy with the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Poor leadership, mismanagement of funds, lack of oversight, changing demographics, decline in employee morale, etc.

All of which has led to a decline in MCPS over the past 15 years. Anyone who has been around long enough can see that.

+1. Couldn’t be happier that reality finally caught up to the b.s. All of the above is true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where these HS stand with US News has absolutely no bearing on kids getting into college. Colleges just look at the course rigor and student performance.

In fact, coming from a competitive HS can hurt kids as they stand out less among their classmates.

"colleges just look at the course rigor"?
You seriously believe that a college admissions board, with thousands of candidates every year, will look up each candidate HS "course rigor?" lol.

"coming from a competitive HS can hurt kids"?
Everyone knows TJ (even a college admissions board). Besides, you just contradicted yourself? You just said "course rigor" mattered, but now you're arguing that it hurts kids?

It's pretty clear you're making stuff up.

No, PP has a point. And, you seem somewhat ignorant on this.

Admissions officers know rigor from school profile, being in MCPS (which top colleges know well, and from counselor survey/rec.

What's more relevant is if there is a history of some kids from the school getting in to the college. That would suggest the school is a known entity to the AO.

She is also correct about competitive high schools. Top colleges don't offer admission to lots of kids from one school. It's why some private school counselors steer students away from some schools because they know there they will likely get passed over. You bring up TJ, and it is especially true there. The kids don't stand out like they would at tgeir home schools because the entire school is magnet, and colleges don't want to take a large amount from one school.

Students really need it all in this admissions climate-- rigor, grades, and some means of standing out in a way that suggests they would bring additional skills/talents the college wants.

The school ranking thing may be a bummer for status reasons, but I don't think it will seriously affect college admissions.

The Imperial Hubris of these statements are deafening. so I decided to test your theory. Although MCPS doesn't publish the official stats for where graduates end up, Bethesda Magazine publishes a mini-version. You're free to make up your own opinions (just say, "I can't prove it, but I think..."), but I hope you can back up your statements with facts and citations please?

According to the data, both statements you made are not accurate. A quick glance at the data shows that there are anomalies where a certain college does show a preference for MCPS students (ex. Boston College seems to love BCC students?), but it's on a school-by-school basis whether or not the admissions rates are higher or lower than the school's overall acceptance rate.

I used the "top-4" as examples.

2020: https://bethesdamagazine.com/2020/10/05/college-bound-5/
CalTech 6 of 65 (9.2%)
Harvard 12 of 227 (5.3%)
MIT 14 of 182 (7.7%)
Yale 16 of 260 (6.1%)

2021: https://bethesdamagazine.com/2021/09/06/college-bound-6/
CalTech 10 of 75 (13.3%)
Harvard 7 of 246 (2.8%)
MIT 6 of 170 (3.5%)
Yale 12 of 259 (4.6%)

2022: https://bethesdamagazine.com/2022/09/13/here-are-the-colleges-where-bethesda-area-high-school-grads-applied-got-accepted-and-enrolled/
CalTech 6 of 78 (7.7%)
Harvard 10 of 293 (3.4%)
MIT 11 of 195 (5.6%)
Yale 9 of 280 (3.2%)

The acceptance rates of these schools are:
CalTech: 3.9%
Harvard: 4%
MIT: 4.1%
Yale: 5.3%

What the numbers tell us is that CalTech admissions officers may love MCPS, and MIT might have an extra candidate or two accepted; that's about all that you can say is good about the numbers. Even CalTech dropped the percentage of MCPS applicants admitted by a significant amount (equivalent to a 40% drop from the prior year), so hopefully that trend won't continue.