Blair SMACS admission

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:bottom line - they are looking for a consistent track record of STEM awesomeness - consistent high map-m scores 275+, years of STEM-based extra circular stuff i.e. math competitions & science fair participation, solid As across STEM subjects, 100+ hours of volunteering. for FARMS kids the bar will be lower but the rest of applications will be in one big pool. no one will know if the kid from a particular middle school or of a particular race. Student is assigned a number so they cant easily guess what is the ethnicity unless in the essay kid mentions that they are bilingual. but I think they know the gender. our kid went though the process this year and it was very very stressful for all 8th graders that had aspersions to get into these competitive programs.

Really? They expect kids to have 100+ hours of volunteering? By the beginning of 8th grade? I highly, highly doubt this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:bottom line - they are looking for a consistent track record of STEM awesomeness - consistent high map-m scores 275+, years of STEM-based extra circular stuff i.e. math competitions & science fair participation, solid As across STEM subjects, 100+ hours of volunteering. for FARMS kids the bar will be lower but the rest of applications will be in one big pool. no one will know if the kid from a particular middle school or of a particular race. Student is assigned a number so they cant easily guess what is the ethnicity unless in the essay kid mentions that they are bilingual. but I think they know the gender. our kid went though the process this year and it was very very stressful for all 8th graders that had aspersions to get into these competitive programs.

Really? They expect kids to have 100+ hours of volunteering? By the beginning of 8th grade? I highly, highly doubt this.

One of DC's friends had over 90 by the end of 6th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:bottom line - they are looking for a consistent track record of STEM awesomeness - consistent high map-m scores 275+, years of STEM-based extra circular stuff i.e. math competitions & science fair participation, solid As across STEM subjects, 100+ hours of volunteering. for FARMS kids the bar will be lower but the rest of applications will be in one big pool. no one will know if the kid from a particular middle school or of a particular race. Student is assigned a number so they cant easily guess what is the ethnicity unless in the essay kid mentions that they are bilingual. but I think they know the gender. our kid went though the process this year and it was very very stressful for all 8th graders that had aspersions to get into these competitive programs.

“Years of STEM extra curriculars”? Do you know how much that stuff costs? If this is true no wonder upper middle class kids have an advantage. Not to mention the fact that the pandemic made many of these things virtually impossible. What about the smart shy kids who are high achievers but not into competitions? Also my own kid is at TPMS magnet and has never once had the opportunity to participate in a science fair. The circulated list of “gifted” summer camps and opportunities START at $1000 a week. This seems in the realm of the pushy parent and I hope you are very wrong about these “requirements”.

On the other hand, all the info about entry to the middle school magnet program I got from DCUM seemed very biased. My own kid took MAP a few days ago and reported that his scores were the highest in his home room and among the highest among the magnet kids, excluding those taking geometry in 7th who were higher. This is the first time I’ve heard him compare scores ever, but he’s clearly breezing through TPMS easily getting As and finding the magnet classes very little effort, so I assume the Blair program could be a good fit, if he decides he wants to do it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:bottom line - they are looking for a consistent track record of STEM awesomeness - consistent high map-m scores 275+, years of STEM-based extra circular stuff i.e. math competitions & science fair participation, solid As across STEM subjects, 100+ hours of volunteering. for FARMS kids the bar will be lower but the rest of applications will be in one big pool. no one will know if the kid from a particular middle school or of a particular race. Student is assigned a number so they cant easily guess what is the ethnicity unless in the essay kid mentions that they are bilingual. but I think they know the gender. our kid went though the process this year and it was very very stressful for all 8th graders that had aspersions to get into these competitive programs.

Really? They expect kids to have 100+ hours of volunteering? By the beginning of 8th grade? I highly, highly doubt this.

They don’t!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Really? They expect kids to have 100+ hours of volunteering? By the beginning of 8th grade? I highly, highly doubt this.

When my kid graduated from clemente a few years ago there was a girl in the magnet program with over 500 hours. There were probably 5 other with 300?

I doubt they are looking at this as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Really? They expect kids to have 100+ hours of volunteering? By the beginning of 8th grade? I highly, highly doubt this.

When my kid graduated from clemente a few years ago there was a girl in the magnet program with over 500 hours. There were probably 5 other with 300?

I doubt they are looking at this as well.

Last year, during the Zoom awards at TPMS they recognized some students who had completed their entire SSL requirement in middle school - that’s 75 hours. I don’t remember the exact number of students recognized but it was a handful, maybe 4 or 5. And this is at a school with a strong culture of volunteering through the Difference Makers club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:bottom line - they are looking for a consistent track record of STEM awesomeness - consistent high map-m scores 275+, years of STEM-based extra circular stuff i.e. math competitions & science fair participation, solid As across STEM subjects, 100+ hours of volunteering. for FARMS kids the bar will be lower but the rest of applications will be in one big pool. no one will know if the kid from a particular middle school or of a particular race. Student is assigned a number so they cant easily guess what is the ethnicity unless in the essay kid mentions that they are bilingual. but I think they know the gender. our kid went though the process this year and it was very very stressful for all 8th graders that had aspersions to get into these competitive programs.

Really? They expect kids to have 100+ hours of volunteering? By the beginning of 8th grade? I highly, highly doubt this.

They don’t!

Many magnet kids from TPMS have around 100h by Nov of 8th grade. TPMS has a program called difference makers that is actively encouraging kids to volunteer throughout the year. Our DC had a little over 100h and had bunch classmates and friends that had a lot more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:bottom line - they are looking for a consistent track record of STEM awesomeness - consistent high map-m scores 275+, years of STEM-based extra circular stuff i.e. math competitions & science fair participation, solid As across STEM subjects, 100+ hours of volunteering. for FARMS kids the bar will be lower but the rest of applications will be in one big pool. no one will know if the kid from a particular middle school or of a particular race. Student is assigned a number so they cant easily guess what is the ethnicity unless in the essay kid mentions that they are bilingual. but I think they know the gender. our kid went though the process this year and it was very very stressful for all 8th graders that had aspersions to get into these competitive programs.

“Years of STEM extra curriculars”? Do you know how much that stuff costs? If this is true no wonder upper middle class kids have an advantage. Not to mention the fact that the pandemic made many of these things virtually impossible. What about the smart shy kids who are high achievers but not into competitions? Also my own kid is at TPMS magnet and has never once had the opportunity to participate in a science fair. The circulated list of “gifted” summer camps and opportunities START at $1000 a week. This seems in the realm of the pushy parent and I hope you are very wrong about these “requirements”.

On the other hand, all the info about entry to the middle school magnet program I got from DCUM seemed very biased. My own kid took MAP a few days ago and reported that his scores were the highest in his home room and among the highest among the magnet kids, excluding those taking geometry in 7th who were higher. This is the first time I’ve heard him compare scores ever, but he’s clearly breezing through TPMS easily getting As and finding the magnet classes very little effort, so I assume the Blair program could be a good fit, if he decides he wants to do it

Congratulations on the great MAP score. My DC keeps mentioning that 7th graders at TPMS are very very strong set of kids.

I totally agree that there are many pricy STEM activities that give rich kids major advantage but there are many free or inexpensive ways to show of deep interest in STEM.
Being part of a school math club, lego club, science bowl are all free. Many math competitions are free too. Getting all As is free. Science Fair in MoCo is free - there are no in-school invitations or announcements for it. Pushy parents keep an eye on stuff like sciencemontgomery.org and give thier kids a heads up about this opportunity.

My DC is in TPMS 8th grade. There are several kids with very high 280+ MAP-M scores that were rejected by Blair. I don't know what info they put in their application but per my DC one common theme for these kids was that they were not solid A students. A bunch of Cs (probably due to lost or late HW submissions) and high MAP-M shows that the kid is capable but not willing or able to be organized.

Blair SMACS has a great video on their website that crisply describes what they are looking for. Strong organizational skills is one of these characteristics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:bottom line - they are looking for a consistent track record of STEM awesomeness - consistent high map-m scores 275+, years of STEM-based extra circular stuff i.e. math competitions & science fair participation, solid As across STEM subjects, 100+ hours of volunteering. for FARMS kids the bar will be lower but the rest of applications will be in one big pool. no one will know if the kid from a particular middle school or of a particular race. Student is assigned a number so they cant easily guess what is the ethnicity unless in the essay kid mentions that they are bilingual. but I think they know the gender. our kid went though the process this year and it was very very stressful for all 8th graders that had aspersions to get into these competitive programs.

Really? They expect kids to have 100+ hours of volunteering? By the beginning of 8th grade? I highly, highly doubt this.

They don't. My child is a senior at Blair SMACS. Got in when there was an admissions test. good MAP M score. I think my kid's highest was in 280s. No STEM-based extracurriculars at all other than middle school science fairs. So that's that. Normal volunteering hrs. Good teacher recs. Liked and continues to like math. Not FARMS. Program has been challenging and the peer group very good. With top 20 kids being truly exceptional. Good program with fairly well-grounded and generally well-rounded kids. My advice - don't stress too much. There are limited seats. So without an admissions test, a lot of luck is needed. And if your kid doesn't enjoy doing math, don't force him/her. It is just not fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:bottom line - they are looking for a consistent track record of STEM awesomeness - consistent high map-m scores 275+, years of STEM-based extra circular stuff i.e. math competitions & science fair participation, solid As across STEM subjects, 100+ hours of volunteering. for FARMS kids the bar will be lower but the rest of applications will be in one big pool. no one will know if the kid from a particular middle school or of a particular race. Student is assigned a number so they cant easily guess what is the ethnicity unless in the essay kid mentions that they are bilingual. but I think they know the gender. our kid went though the process this year and it was very very stressful for all 8th graders that had aspersions to get into these competitive programs.

“Years of STEM extra curriculars”? Do you know how much that stuff costs? If this is true no wonder upper middle class kids have an advantage. Not to mention the fact that the pandemic made many of these things virtually impossible. What about the smart shy kids who are high achievers but not into competitions? Also my own kid is at TPMS magnet and has never once had the opportunity to participate in a science fair. The circulated list of “gifted” summer camps and opportunities START at $1000 a week. This seems in the realm of the pushy parent and I hope you are very wrong about these “requirements”.

On the other hand, all the info about entry to the middle school magnet program I got from DCUM seemed very biased. My own kid took MAP a few days ago and reported that his scores were the highest in his home room and among the highest among the magnet kids, excluding those taking geometry in 7th who were higher. This is the first time I’ve heard him compare scores ever, but he’s clearly breezing through TPMS easily getting As and finding the magnet classes very little effort, so I assume the Blair program could be a good fit, if he decides he wants to do it

Spot on. Parent of a TPMS kid here.

Congratulations on the great MAP score. My DC keeps mentioning that 7th graders at TPMS are very very strong set of kids.

I totally agree that there are many pricy STEM activities that give rich kids major advantage but there are many free or inexpensive ways to show of deep interest in STEM.
Being part of a school math club, lego club, science bowl are all free. Many math competitions are free too. Getting all As is free. Science Fair in MoCo is free - there are no in-school invitations or announcements for it. Pushy parents keep an eye on stuff like sciencemontgomery.org and give thier kids a heads up about this opportunity.

My DC is in TPMS 8th grade. There are several kids with very high 280+ MAP-M scores that were rejected by Blair. I don't know what info they put in their application but per my DC one common theme for these kids was that they were not solid A students. A bunch of Cs (probably due to lost or late HW submissions) and high MAP-M shows that the kid is capable but not willing or able to be organized.

Blair SMACS has a great video on their website that crisply describes what they are looking for. Strong organizational skills is one of these characteristics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:bottom line - they are looking for a consistent track record of STEM awesomeness - consistent high map-m scores 275+, years of STEM-based extra circular stuff i.e. math competitions & science fair participation, solid As across STEM subjects, 100+ hours of volunteering. for FARMS kids the bar will be lower but the rest of applications will be in one big pool. no one will know if the kid from a particular middle school or of a particular race. Student is assigned a number so they cant easily guess what is the ethnicity unless in the essay kid mentions that they are bilingual. but I think they know the gender. our kid went though the process this year and it was very very stressful for all 8th graders that had aspersions to get into these competitive programs.

You forgot the SAT requirement - it needs to be 1520+ (unless the applicant has published in a peer reviewed journal in any area in science, math or computer science).



Seriously though, please don't get discouraged by the PP. There are plenty of kids in the magnet who do not check some of these boxes.

- Blair magnet parent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:bottom line - they are looking for a consistent track record of STEM awesomeness - consistent high map-m scores 275+, years of STEM-based extra circular stuff i.e. math competitions & science fair participation, solid As across STEM subjects, 100+ hours of volunteering. for FARMS kids the bar will be lower but the rest of applications will be in one big pool. no one will know if the kid from a particular middle school or of a particular race. Student is assigned a number so they cant easily guess what is the ethnicity unless in the essay kid mentions that they are bilingual. but I think they know the gender. our kid went though the process this year and it was very very stressful for all 8th graders that had aspersions to get into these competitive programs.

“Years of STEM extra curriculars”? Do you know how much that stuff costs? If this is true no wonder upper middle class kids have an advantage. Not to mention the fact that the pandemic made many of these things virtually impossible. What about the smart shy kids who are high achievers but not into competitions? Also my own kid is at TPMS magnet and has never once had the opportunity to participate in a science fair. The circulated list of “gifted” summer camps and opportunities START at $1000 a week. This seems in the realm of the pushy parent and I hope you are very wrong about these “requirements”.

On the other hand, all the info about entry to the middle school magnet program I got from DCUM seemed very biased. My own kid took MAP a few days ago and reported that his scores were the highest in his home room and among the highest among the magnet kids, excluding those taking geometry in 7th who were higher. This is the first time I’ve heard him compare scores ever, but he’s clearly breezing through TPMS easily getting As and finding the magnet classes very little effort, so I assume the Blair program could be a good fit, if he decides he wants to do it

Congratulations on the great MAP score. My DC keeps mentioning that 7th graders at TPMS are very very strong set of kids.

I totally agree that there are many pricy STEM activities that give rich kids major advantage but there are many free or inexpensive ways to show of deep interest in STEM.
Being part of a school math club, lego club, science bowl are all free. Many math competitions are free too. Getting all As is free. Science Fair in MoCo is free - there are no in-school invitations or announcements for it. Pushy parents keep an eye on stuff like sciencemontgomery.org and give thier kids a heads up about this opportunity.

My DC is in TPMS 8th grade. There are several kids with very high 280+ MAP-M scores that were rejected by Blair. I don't know what info they put in their application but per my DC one common theme for these kids was that they were not solid A students. A bunch of Cs (probably due to lost or late HW submissions) and high MAP-M shows that the kid is capable but not willing or able to be organized.

Blair SMACS has a great video on their website that crisply describes what they are looking for. Strong organizational skills is one of these characteristics.

I guess I’m not really a pushy parent! Can you share a link to the video you refer to? I can’t find it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:bottom line - they are looking for a consistent track record of STEM awesomeness - consistent high map-m scores 275+, years of STEM-based extra circular stuff i.e. math competitions & science fair participation, solid As across STEM subjects, 100+ hours of volunteering. for FARMS kids the bar will be lower but the rest of applications will be in one big pool. no one will know if the kid from a particular middle school or of a particular race. Student is assigned a number so they cant easily guess what is the ethnicity unless in the essay kid mentions that they are bilingual. but I think they know the gender. our kid went though the process this year and it was very very stressful for all 8th graders that had aspersions to get into these competitive programs.

“Years of STEM extra curriculars”? Do you know how much that stuff costs? If this is true no wonder upper middle class kids have an advantage. Not to mention the fact that the pandemic made many of these things virtually impossible. What about the smart shy kids who are high achievers but not into competitions? Also my own kid is at TPMS magnet and has never once had the opportunity to participate in a science fair. The circulated list of “gifted” summer camps and opportunities START at $1000 a week. This seems in the realm of the pushy parent and I hope you are very wrong about these “requirements”.

On the other hand, all the info about entry to the middle school magnet program I got from DCUM seemed very biased. My own kid took MAP a few days ago and reported that his scores were the highest in his home room and among the highest among the magnet kids, excluding those taking geometry in 7th who were higher. This is the first time I’ve heard him compare scores ever, but he’s clearly breezing through TPMS easily getting As and finding the magnet classes very little effort, so I assume the Blair program could be a good fit, if he decides he wants to do it

Congratulations on the great MAP score. My DC keeps mentioning that 7th graders at TPMS are very very strong set of kids.

I totally agree that there are many pricy STEM activities that give rich kids major advantage but there are many free or inexpensive ways to show of deep interest in STEM.
Being part of a school math club, lego club, science bowl are all free. Many math competitions are free too. Getting all As is free. Science Fair in MoCo is free - there are no in-school invitations or announcements for it. Pushy parents keep an eye on stuff like sciencemontgomery.org and give thier kids a heads up about this opportunity.

My DC is in TPMS 8th grade. There are several kids with very high 280+ MAP-M scores that were rejected by Blair. I don't know what info they put in their application but per my DC one common theme for these kids was that they were not solid A students. A bunch of Cs (probably due to lost or late HW submissions) and high MAP-M shows that the kid is capable but not willing or able to be organized.

Blair SMACS has a great video on their website that crisply describes what they are looking for. Strong organizational skills is one of these characteristics.

I guess I’m not really a pushy parent! Can you share a link to the video you refer to? I can’t find it.

FYI - not every middle school offers math clubs and science bowl. Our MCPS middle school doesn't have anything like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:bottom line - they are looking for a consistent track record of STEM awesomeness - consistent high map-m scores 275+, years of STEM-based extra circular stuff i.e. math competitions & science fair participation, solid As across STEM subjects, 100+ hours of volunteering. for FARMS kids the bar will be lower but the rest of applications will be in one big pool. no one will know if the kid from a particular middle school or of a particular race. Student is assigned a number so they cant easily guess what is the ethnicity unless in the essay kid mentions that they are bilingual. but I think they know the gender. our kid went though the process this year and it was very very stressful for all 8th graders that had aspersions to get into these competitive programs.

“Years of STEM extra curriculars”? Do you know how much that stuff costs? If this is true no wonder upper middle class kids have an advantage. Not to mention the fact that the pandemic made many of these things virtually impossible. What about the smart shy kids who are high achievers but not into competitions? Also my own kid is at TPMS magnet and has never once had the opportunity to participate in a science fair. The circulated list of “gifted” summer camps and opportunities START at $1000 a week. This seems in the realm of the pushy parent and I hope you are very wrong about these “requirements”.

On the other hand, all the info about entry to the middle school magnet program I got from DCUM seemed very biased. My own kid took MAP a few days ago and reported that his scores were the highest in his home room and among the highest among the magnet kids, excluding those taking geometry in 7th who were higher. This is the first time I’ve heard him compare scores ever, but he’s clearly breezing through TPMS easily getting As and finding the magnet classes very little effort, so I assume the Blair program could be a good fit, if he decides he wants to do it

Congratulations on the great MAP score. My DC keeps mentioning that 7th graders at TPMS are very very strong set of kids.

I totally agree that there are many pricy STEM activities that give rich kids major advantage but there are many free or inexpensive ways to show of deep interest in STEM.
Being part of a school math club, lego club, science bowl are all free. Many math competitions are free too. Getting all As is free. Science Fair in MoCo is free - there are no in-school invitations or announcements for it. Pushy parents keep an eye on stuff like sciencemontgomery.org and give thier kids a heads up about this opportunity.

My DC is in TPMS 8th grade. There are several kids with very high 280+ MAP-M scores that were rejected by Blair. I don't know what info they put in their application but per my DC one common theme for these kids was that they were not solid A students. A bunch of Cs (probably due to lost or late HW submissions) and high MAP-M shows that the kid is capable but not willing or able to be organized.

Blair SMACS has a great video on their website that crisply describes what they are looking for. Strong organizational skills is one of these characteristics.

I guess I’m not really a pushy parent! Can you share a link to the video you refer to? I can’t find it.

FYI - not every middle school offers math clubs and science bowl. Our MCPS middle school doesn't have anything like that.

You could always volunteer to start one!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:bottom line - they are looking for a consistent track record of STEM awesomeness - consistent high map-m scores 275+, years of STEM-based extra circular stuff i.e. math competitions & science fair participation, solid As across STEM subjects, 100+ hours of volunteering. for FARMS kids the bar will be lower but the rest of applications will be in one big pool. no one will know if the kid from a particular middle school or of a particular race. Student is assigned a number so they cant easily guess what is the ethnicity unless in the essay kid mentions that they are bilingual. but I think they know the gender. our kid went though the process this year and it was very very stressful for all 8th graders that had aspersions to get into these competitive programs.

“Years of STEM extra curriculars”? Do you know how much that stuff costs? If this is true no wonder upper middle class kids have an advantage. Not to mention the fact that the pandemic made many of these things virtually impossible. What about the smart shy kids who are high achievers but not into competitions? Also my own kid is at TPMS magnet and has never once had the opportunity to participate in a science fair. The circulated list of “gifted” summer camps and opportunities START at $1000 a week. This seems in the realm of the pushy parent and I hope you are very wrong about these “requirements”.

On the other hand, all the info about entry to the middle school magnet program I got from DCUM seemed very biased. My own kid took MAP a few days ago and reported that his scores were the highest in his home room and among the highest among the magnet kids, excluding those taking geometry in 7th who were higher. This is the first time I’ve heard him compare scores ever, but he’s clearly breezing through TPMS easily getting As and finding the magnet classes very little effort, so I assume the Blair program could be a good fit, if he decides he wants to do it

Congratulations on the great MAP score. My DC keeps mentioning that 7th graders at TPMS are very very strong set of kids.

I totally agree that there are many pricy STEM activities that give rich kids major advantage but there are many free or inexpensive ways to show of deep interest in STEM.
Being part of a school math club, lego club, science bowl are all free. Many math competitions are free too. Getting all As is free. Science Fair in MoCo is free - there are no in-school invitations or announcements for it. Pushy parents keep an eye on stuff like sciencemontgomery.org and give thier kids a heads up about this opportunity.

My DC is in TPMS 8th grade. There are several kids with very high 280+ MAP-M scores that were rejected by Blair. I don't know what info they put in their application but per my DC one common theme for these kids was that they were not solid A students. A bunch of Cs (probably due to lost or late HW submissions) and high MAP-M shows that the kid is capable but not willing or able to be organized.

Blair SMACS has a great video on their website that crisply describes what they are looking for. Strong organizational skills is one of these characteristics.

I guess I’m not really a pushy parent! Can you share a link to the video you refer to? I can’t find it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7tIVLmhbXM&ab_channel=PeterOstrander