What are the odds of us getting out last choice? DCC

[Anonymous]

We are moving into a house that is zoned to Einstein but pretty close to Northwood and Blair. Our plan is to keep our kids in their current school this year and then to move our kids.

9th grader is hoping for SMACS or Wheaton engineering, but if he doesn’t get in, his choices in the order he actually wants them are Blair, Wheaton, Einstein, Northwood, Kennedy.

By not putting Einstein in the top 2 what does that do to his odds of getting Kennedy? We don’t have a huge problem with it other than location, so we’re wondering if it makes more sense to put Blair Einstein (does anyone get into Blair that way) or Wheaton Einstein as his first two.

[Anonymous]

I don't ever recall hearing about anyone getting their 5th choice. And if you do, you can do the 2nd round to try again for a school you ranked higher.

[Anonymous]

How realistic is he being about the chances of getting into the Blair magnet? If he's a strong candidate for Blair, then he's got a great shot at Wheaton Engineering as well.

We are inbounds for Blair and I don't know anyone who got in from the regular DCC lottery. You can keep asking around, but I would not necessarily waste a spot trying to rank Blair in the DCC process.

Wait. Rereading your question, do you have a current 9th grader? That changes a lot of things. If you have a current 8th grader, that's one thing. If you have a current 9th grader, Blair magnet and Wheaton engineering are not on the table. You'll have to focus on the programs that start in 11th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How realistic is he being about the chances of getting into the Blair magnet? If he's a strong candidate for Blair, then he's got a great shot at Wheaton Engineering as well.

We are inbounds for Blair and I don't know anyone who got in from the regular DCC lottery. You can keep asking around, but I would not necessarily waste a spot trying to rank Blair in the DCC process.

Wait. Rereading your question, do you have a current 9th grader? That changes a lot of things. If you have a current 8th grader, that's one thing. If you have a current 9th grader, Blair magnet and Wheaton engineering are not on the table. You'll have to focus on the programs that start in 11th.

He’s 8th now, and will be 9th. I think he’s got as good a shot as other kids at Blair, but it doesn’t seem like admissions is predictable? I am not sure if he would like SMCS or Wheaton engineering more and will apply to both.

[Anonymous]

He will get into one of his first three choices. I would not worry about him ending up at Kennedy, as you fear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't ever recall hearing about anyone getting their 5th choice. And if you do, you can do the 2nd round to try again for a school you ranked higher.

+1
We did get Blair, out of bounds, in the lottery and it was DC's first choice. We have never heard of anyone else getting Blair in the lottery out of bounds though.

[Anonymous]

What do you mean "move your kids"?

[Anonymous]

Rank them and hope for the best. Don’t rule out Einstein. Blair magnet has 100 slots and last year had 800 apply. We got waitlisted.

[Anonymous]

If your kid is science-focused, one thing to know about Einstein is that their high level science classes are all IB classes only, not AP. Not saying that's bad, it's just not typical for MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Nobody is getting into Blair through choice. It's already way too overcrowded.

[Anonymous]

If your third choice is Einstein and you're zoned for Einstein, I don't understand how you could wind up at Kennedy? Einstein is a great school, so please don't rule it out. I also don't know anyone who got into Blair through the choice process, but I know some (impressive) students who got into the magnets.

[Anonymous]

We’re zoned for Einstein and I personally don’t see a reason to choose Blair over Einstein outside of a magnet program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your third choice is Einstein and you're zoned for Einstein, I don't understand how you could wind up at Kennedy? Einstein is a great school, so please don't rule it out. I also don't know anyone who got into Blair through the choice process, but I know some (impressive) students who got into the magnets.

It's unlikely, but technically possible. You are only guaranteed your zoned school if you rank it first, or second and you don't get your first choice. So if you are zoned for Einstein and rank it third, you could end up assigned to any of the five schools. Still, almost everyone gets one of their top three schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nobody is getting into Blair through choice. It's already way too overcrowded.

Einstein and Wheaton are more overcrowded than Blair.

Blair -337
Einstein -410
Wheaton -362

https://gis.mcpsmd.org/cipmasterpdfs/MP24_Chapter4DCC.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How realistic is he being about the chances of getting into the Blair magnet? If he's a strong candidate for Blair, then he's got a great shot at Wheaton Engineering as well.

We are inbounds for Blair and I don't know anyone who got in from the regular DCC lottery. You can keep asking around, but I would not necessarily waste a spot trying to rank Blair in the DCC process.

Wait. Rereading your question, do you have a current 9th grader? That changes a lot of things. If you have a current 8th grader, that's one thing. If you have a current 9th grader, Blair magnet and Wheaton engineering are not on the table. You'll have to focus on the programs that start in 11th.

He’s 8th now, and will be 9th. I think he’s got as good a shot as other kids at Blair, but it doesn’t seem like admissions is predictable? I am not sure if he would like SMCS or Wheaton engineering more and will apply to both.

“Other kids” in general don’t have a good shot at SMACS. What does your kid have to offer? What classes taken? What grades? What MAP-M scores? Is he good at writing and showing passion in the essay?