Sure, if you get in. For middle school magnets (and the gifted and talented ES programs), they are a lottery among eligible students. And the criteria for eligibility are pretty broad, varying by the income level of the school. There are many, many more people in the lottery than their are spots, and some very disappointed parents. For HS there is an application process where they consider grades (very easy to get all As in MCPS because of how they calculate GPA), test scores, and a very short essay -- no interview like in DCPS. Some kids have lots of choices while others have very few, and some who have the test scores to get in nevertheless choose to stay at their home school to be with their friends and avoid the sometimes lengthy travel that would be required. (This is a large county, and school starts earlier here than in DCPS.) So yeah, the magnets are great if you can get your kid in and if they are willing to go, but most strong students go to their home school. And again, the quality of the difference in program because MCPS and a high-quality DC school (Deal, Wilson) is not that great. So, for people who are unhappy with their lottery results in DC, MCPS is certainly an option, but it's not he only one, and it's not some nirvana where kids are getting a spectacular education. It's on par with good DCPS. People could move to MoCo or to upper NW and have a similar experience. |
The independent schools you listed are very difficult to get into, especially for 9th. The first two listed have a 10% acceptance rate. |
Yes, they are. Just like your child still needs to learn English at school even though they speak it at home. Native speakers still need to learn their own language to become fluent in it. |
Not really. It's an DMV urban myth that the schools are really tough to crack. The main criteria for admission seems to be putting forward a decent student from a family unlikely to hassle admins with the ability and willingness to fork over the 25-30K. My B+ unhooked white male student surprised us by sailing into several top Catholic high schools this spring (we though he'd be lucky to get into one). Kid scored high on the rather easy entrance exam, particularly for math, so they wanted him. Meanwhile, he failed to get into Walls or Banneker. |
we moved from Adams Morgan to Ward 3 when my oldest was about to enter 8th grade so DD would have JR as an option - none of my kids chose to go there - all 3 chose catholic HS but it was much less stressful to have the public option IB for us. Still sad because I loved my old house and neighborhood - but it was the right choice |
I'll repeat - the INDEPENDENT schools listed in the previous post are hard to get into. The Catholics are much easier to get into. |
I think you got lucky. We know families with A students and high HSPT test score who did not get into Gonzaga though were admitted to SJC. |
If the system has time to schedule a home visit but not time to check whether they are paying DC taxes, even though that is part of the enrollment process every year, that is a system fault. |
The independent schools listed aren't very hard to get into if you the kids start really young in their feeders and you're fine with plonking down 40K+ every year all the way up and dealing with challenging commutes if you live East of Rock Creek. But then richies like that seldom live outside Wards 1, 2 and 3. |
My kid is a jock. Gonzaga adores jocks. Banneker and Walls, not so much. |
Girl that is a trash take. If a school teaches English to native English speakers whose first language at home is English, are they really “teaching” English? 🙄 |
I know a ton of heritage language speakers who speak the language often but really are r as fluent as a high school student. Not the “me lamo Brad” kids but the engaged AP student. |
Aren’t |
Not everyone on the Hill has: - an extra 120k - a kid who does well on standardized tests “let them eat cake.” |