Are magnets worth it for college admission?

[Anonymous]

I'm seeing some students from the various magnets not getting into the very top colleges. I'm wondering if the long bus ride, and work load are worth it now. Would it be better to stay at the home school and just focus on extra curricular activities? So many colleges now going test optional. Obviously you have to have the grades, but great grades from non magnets + great extra curriculars seem to be the way to go.

WDYT?

[Anonymous]

I have had two kids in the PHS magnet program. One is a current student and the other is in college.

No student should choose a magnet program for college admissions. Classes are harder GPAs may be lower than they would be if they attended the local HS. Go to Seneca Valley HS get perfect 5s on your APs and a 1600 SAT and you’ll likely have better college admissions results- if that’s your goal- there are many fewer kids at the school with this profile.

A student should only choose a magnet because they want to attend the school and they think it will enrich them in some way.

It’s what you do rather than where you go that will fundamentally shape your life experiences and how well you do in college.

Don’t get me wrong, there are lots of reasons to choose magnet programs and I’m so grateful my kids have had the opportunities- but college admissions is not the reason they chose the programs. They liked the programs the HS offered but we are under no illusion that “buys” them anything more than a HS experience that they prefer.

I can’t believe so many kids are willing to wake up at 5:30 am to catch the bus- that would be misery for us. To each their own though…

[Anonymous]

Don’t do magnet for college admission purposes. Some kids need more. If your kid is one of those then yes. If not, go to home school.

[Anonymous]

I've always thought of magnets as NEGATIVES for college admission. Colleges compare you with others at the same school. No university wants to admit 50-100 from the same school, no matter how good the school.

Yes, more magnet kids get in to top schools, but that's because magnets have the best and brightest students in the county. If their admissions procedures are at all reasonable (and I think they are), then I would expect almost ALL magnet kids who apply to top colleges to get in. That doesn't happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've always thought of magnets as NEGATIVES for college admission. Colleges compare you with others at the same school. No university wants to admit 50-100 from the same school, no matter how good the school.

Yes, more magnet kids get in to top schools, but that's because magnets have the best and brightest students in the county. If their admissions procedures are at all reasonable (and I think they are), then I would expect almost ALL magnet kids who apply to top colleges to get in. That doesn't happen.

OP here. Yes, agree. And yes, I realize that being in a magnet should be about the student needing that challenge, but for college admissions, it's clear being in a magnet can work against a high achieving student at a magnet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've always thought of magnets as NEGATIVES for college admission. Colleges compare you with others at the same school. No university wants to admit 50-100 from the same school, no matter how good the school.

Yes, more magnet kids get in to top schools, but that's because magnets have the best and brightest students in the county. If their admissions procedures are at all reasonable (and I think they are), then I would expect almost ALL magnet kids who apply to top colleges to get in. That doesn't happen.

OP here. Yes, agree. And yes, I realize that being in a magnet should be about the student needing that challenge, but for college admissions, it's clear being in a magnet can work against a high achieving student at a magnet.

I suppose that's possible but how is it "clear"? When my kid graduated she had a dozen or so close friends. 1 went to P, a couple went to Cornell, 1 Yale, 1 (or two can't remember) went to Berkeley, a few got BK scholarship and ended up at UMD, 1 WashU, 1 Harvey Mudd... They all ended up fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've always thought of magnets as NEGATIVES for college admission. Colleges compare you with others at the same school. No university wants to admit 50-100 from the same school, no matter how good the school.

Yes, more magnet kids get in to top schools, but that's because magnets have the best and brightest students in the county. If their admissions procedures are at all reasonable (and I think they are), then I would expect almost ALL magnet kids who apply to top colleges to get in. That doesn't happen.

OP here. Yes, agree. And yes, I realize that being in a magnet should be about the student needing that challenge, but for college admissions, it's clear being in a magnet can work against a high achieving student at a magnet.

Goodness OP, factors that go into admissions are a matrix. It isn't that simple. Sure, it CAN work against someone to be in a magnet if it means that grades, ECs, mental health, etc. suffer. But if they don't, it is generally an advantage. Though of course some would say that it is better to excel at a school that is likely to have less applicants to the target schools....

But if you are going to paint with an extremely broad brush, "it's clear" that being at a magnet is better than not being at a magnet.

[Anonymous]

You really can't single out a variable like this and say definitively "magnets are worse for college admissions because the kids are competing against each other." Yes, to a limited extent that's true -- but they're also competing against all kids in their school district, in their county, and in their state. Top colleges want geographic diversity, which means that if you really want to give your kid an advantage, leave MCPS and Maryland altogether and move to rural Wyoming. Top colleges do not want overrepresentation from counties and states with high-quality education systems (whether private or public), so it's a disadvantage to be in MCPS/MoCo period, at least as far as competitiveness in the sense of being compared to kids from the same area.

You also need to look at the state of college admissions generally. The past three years of the pandemic, and especially going test-optional, have upset the applecart altogether and have increased the competitiveness of what used to be target schools for really top-notch kids incredibly, and have made reach schools beyond the reach of most. Check out the college board, Reddit, or College Confidential for some very sobering truths.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've always thought of magnets as NEGATIVES for college admission. Colleges compare you with others at the same school. No university wants to admit 50-100 from the same school, no matter how good the school.

Yes, more magnet kids get in to top schools, but that's because magnets have the best and brightest students in the county. If their admissions procedures are at all reasonable (and I think they are), then I would expect almost ALL magnet kids who apply to top colleges to get in. That doesn't happen.

OP here. Yes, agree. And yes, I realize that being in a magnet should be about the student needing that challenge, but for college admissions, it's clear being in a magnet can work against a high achieving student at a magnet.

Goodness OP, factors that go into admissions are a matrix. It isn't that simple. Sure, it CAN work against someone to be in a magnet if it means that grades, ECs, mental health, etc. suffer. But if they don't, it is generally an advantage. Though of course some would say that it is better to excel at a school that is likely to have less applicants to the target schools....

But if you are going to paint with an extremely broad brush, "it's clear" that being at a magnet is better than not being at a magnet.

I don't know.. as a PP stated, a student is competing with the same kids in the same school/program. A high achieving kid at a lower ranked HS would do better in college admissions than one in a higher ranked HS and being one of a dozen kids with similar stats.

Big fish, little pond and all that.

I'm not trying to discourage people from sending their kids to magnets. I'm just noticing that admissions for magnet students isn't what I thought they'd be. There's a discussion about this also in the AAP forum about TJ. That's what made me start to think about this.

[Anonymous]

I’m getting so tired of all these posts asking if they do XYZ, have a pointy EC blah blah blah, will their kid get into college? The way the US college application system is rigged, getting into a top school is basically a lottery. Don’t make your kids miserable telling them to do stuff to get into college. Don’t make college such a huge pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Kids should do the magnets if they want to learn the content that’s being taught in the magnet or if they need a challenge and a cohort of students similarly situated. Whether it’s worth it schlepping on a bus, having long days, hyper focusing on a subject matter, no one knows except your kid, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m getting so tired of all these posts asking if they do XYZ, have a pointy EC blah blah blah, will their kid get into college? The way the US college application system is rigged, getting into a top school is basically a lottery. Don’t make your kids miserable telling them to do stuff to get into college. Don’t make college such a huge pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Kids should do the magnets if they want to learn the content that’s being taught in the magnet or if they need a challenge and a cohort of students similarly situated. Whether it’s worth it schlepping on a bus, having long days, hyper focusing on a subject matter, no one knows except your kid, OP.

If you are getting tired of it, then maybe stop reading it?

[Anonymous]

We are leaning towards no magnet, for 3 reasons:

1. Magnets are only pointy in a set of disciplines, not all of them. DD likes science and math, but also loves writing and the humanities. Since we are already in a great school cluster, we're leery of changing to a magnet in a school that perhaps won't have the same level of peers at the non-magnet level.

2. DD wants to stay with her best friend in high school, who is definitely not going to the magnet.

3. There is no college boost to attending a magnet. You attend because you want to specialize in those classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've always thought of magnets as NEGATIVES for college admission. Colleges compare you with others at the same school. No university wants to admit 50-100 from the same school, no matter how good the school.

Yes, more magnet kids get in to top schools, but that's because magnets have the best and brightest students in the county. If their admissions procedures are at all reasonable (and I think they are), then I would expect almost ALL magnet kids who apply to top colleges to get in. That doesn't happen.

OP here. Yes, agree. And yes, I realize that being in a magnet should be about the student needing that challenge, but for college admissions, it's clear being in a magnet can work against a high achieving student at a magnet.

Goodness OP, factors that go into admissions are a matrix. It isn't that simple. Sure, it CAN work against someone to be in a magnet if it means that grades, ECs, mental health, etc. suffer. But if they don't, it is generally an advantage. Though of course some would say that it is better to excel at a school that is likely to have less applicants to the target schools....

But if you are going to paint with an extremely broad brush, "it's clear" that being at a magnet is better than not being at a magnet.

I don't know.. as a PP stated, a student is competing with the same kids in the same school/program. A high achieving kid at a lower ranked HS would do better in college admissions than one in a higher ranked HS and being one of a dozen kids with similar stats.

Big fish, little pond and all that.

I'm not trying to discourage people from sending their kids to magnets. I'm just noticing that admissions for magnet students isn't what I thought they'd be. There's a discussion about this also in the AAP forum about TJ. That's what made me start to think about this.

a kid who spends 4 years at a school w/ limited rigor vs the same kid who spends 4 years at a magnet. Those two are not equal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t do magnet for college admission purposes. Some kids need more. If your kid is one of those then yes. If not, go to home school.

Totally agree! Mine needed the more that the Magnet gave; deeper classes/instruction, similar peers, etc… but IT DOES not help that much in terms of college acceptances. IT DOES help in being prepared better for college; time management, deeper understanding of info, work ethic, etc…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m getting so tired of all these posts asking if they do XYZ, have a pointy EC blah blah blah, will their kid get into college? The way the US college application system is rigged, getting into a top school is basically a lottery. Don’t make your kids miserable telling them to do stuff to get into college. Don’t make college such a huge pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Kids should do the magnets if they want to learn the content that’s being taught in the magnet or if they need a challenge and a cohort of students similarly situated. Whether it’s worth it schlepping on a bus, having long days, hyper focusing on a subject matter, no one knows except your kid, OP.

If you are getting tired of it, then maybe stop reading it?

16:41 PP here. Yeah, fair response. Sorry, I follow this forum because I have two kids in MCPS magnets and one who’ll be going the non-magnet route and I usually do have something to contribute to this forum, I promise. I’m just jaded from the current college application cycle!