Tell me about your child's transition from 8th grade Private to 9th Grade Magnet

[Anonymous]

Our base school is Blair. DS is a 7th grade stem kid, strong student, good grades, hardworking. His interests are mostly connected to engineering and biology. Currently attending a small K-8. We're interested in applying for both Blair SMACS and Wheaton Magnet Engineering.

My question is how often to private school kids actually get selected for magnets? It seems the MS magnets prepare students well, their testing is done through MCPS, etc. While DS is a strong student, his school only offers Algebra 1 in 8th grade. He is doing accelerated math in 7th now (some Algebra while others are doing Pre-Algebra), but in order to work ahead, he'll have to take outside courses over the summer to have completed Geometry in 8th grade. He would love all of the rigor and opportunities that a stem magnet could provide, but I would imagine this would be hard for an admissions team to see when the current school doesn't have more rigorous math options or clubs.

Regarding external assessments, our school doesn't do standardized testing. PARCC and Map are among the accepted tests, but I have no idea where to take these if my kid isn't an MCPS student?

In any case, if you have helped your child make this leap from private to magnet, would love to hear about your experience. Does it sound like it would be worth a shot, or should we just set our sites on requesting our base school, Blair, as our #1 choice and encourage DS to just do STEM academy, AP and honors courses?

[Anonymous]

My DC moved from a well regarded private to the Blair magnet. It has been a really good experience for them. The magnet offers the opportunity to take Magnet Geometry the summer before school starts. So as long as your kid finishes Algebra by 8th, they can catch up to the other kids by the time school starts.

There are some extraordinarily bright students in the program, plus kids coming from MCPS magnets so they have already completed Algebra II and can take Functions - what was Precalc in our day, as 9th graders. That is about a 1/3 of kids - everyone else takes a Precalc class that is basically Alg 2 and Precalc rolled into one over 3 semesters. And computer science - there are definitely kids that are more advanced. But my kid handled all of it fine with good grades and loves the cohort - both in the magnet and how diverse the rest of the school is.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Algebra in 7th is a normal MCPS track so they will be on target but understand each program takes about 100 students and about 800-900 apply. Have a back up plan.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for this.

Our backup is going to our in boundary school—Blair (assuming we get our first choice for DCC). We realize it’s a long shot to get into the competitive magnets. I’ve just always viewed it as more of a long shot for applicants from privates. Just trying to gauge if that’s accurate or not.

[Anonymous]

My DS was in private from K-8 and accepted into a few MCPS magnets including Wheaton's Biomedical Science program. He accepted a different program and is so, so happy he did (he's in 9th grade now). We used Homeschool Boss to take the MAP tests. You should allow him to apply to the programs he wants and see what happens.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Just to say - that you are guaranteed your home school if you rank it first. Also, Blair offers as much rigor and enrichment in STEM classes as your child will want, even outside of the magnet.

[Anonymous]

OP again—for those who transitioned from smaller schools, how did your DC handle the move to a much bigger school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again—for those who transitioned from smaller schools, how did your DC handle the move to a much bigger school?

It can be overwhelming at first, but they do meet kids in classes and clubs pretty readily. If your child plays a fall sport, that is super helpful too. Or if they will be in an active fall activity like marching band, etc.

[Anonymous]

My DS came from a small private school. Like previous parent mentioned we used Homeschool Boss for MAP testing which was recommended by magnet coordinator. Transitioning was a little tough the first 3 weeks of school. Child played a fall sport so that helped to keep her busy while she looked for her tribe of friends. Generally all the kids are really nice and a good number of them came from private and other settings other than MCPS. Mine is extremely introverted and she found her people. Now that she has found her way, I encourage her to help other kids that she sees sitting alone and befriend them. But I wouldn't worry....give it the first quarter. Children are quite resilient to say the least. It is an excellent program and a supportive environment.