If my kid wants Wheaton engineering more than Blair but would take Blair if not offered Wheaton

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does it make sense to apply to Blair? I guess I don’t know how admissions is done.

Are you in the DCC? Assuming so, which school is your home school? Son should apply to both magnet programs and put Wheaton as first choice for DCC lottery. If your home school is Wheaton he could put Blair first to have an option, but very unlikely to get in to Blair that way.

Why put nay school other than home as a first choice? How does that impact magnet selection?

So, in the DCC, your 8th grader will be asked to fill out a form for school choice, which has nothing to with magnet admissions. Students in the DCC can go to any DCC HS by choice (lottery to ensure it isn't too lopsided). Everyone does this. If you don't put one down, you may not even get your home school (though most do). I think it gets submitted by early Nov. (I am about 3 years out from this, so apologies if things have changed).

So, what pp was suggesting is to choose Wheaton for this, so that even if kid does not get into the magnet, they could still do tge academy. It's all very confusing!

[Anonymous]

I would apply to both. If kid gets in at both, go to the admitted students ' days and ask current students about their experiences. I have kids that got in to multiple programs: 1 went to Blair and the other to Wheaton engineering. Both got/are getting amazing educations. Both programs are first rate.
My Blair kid is at an Ivy and placed out of all math major base courses (calc, mvc, linear algebra) because of Blair's amazing math teachers.
My Wheaton kid builds/races cars with Society of Women Engineers which has a fantastic faculty mentor. She is also loving the drama director/program and has had some terrific English and history teachers. Wheaton students can earn dual credit in engineering courses through RIT.

[Anonymous]

If your student is really motivated by the engineering classes, I’d put Wheaton as home school choice. As a previous poster indicated, Wheaton Academy students can take all the same engineering (and biomed) classes as those within the magnet cohort. I found at Blair the magnet classes are nominally open to those outside the magnet, but historically that rarely occurred. Many ambitious non-magnet students at Wheaton are taking AP Physics C and even Multivariable calc, Organic chem, and other high-level classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes of course, because what if he doesn’t get into blair?

My understanding is that Blair is harder to get into than Wheaton, so I am wondering if there is a chance he would get into Blair SMACS and not Wheaton Engineering?

Obviously I know he could get into neither.

— OP

+ 1 million
Wheaton engineering is much much easier to get in, kids who did not get in Blair go there

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your student is really motivated by the engineering classes, I’d put Wheaton as home school choice. As a previous poster indicated, Wheaton Academy students can take all the same engineering (and biomed) classes as those within the magnet cohort. I found at Blair the magnet classes are nominally open to those outside the magnet, but historically that rarely occurred. Many ambitious non-magnet students at Wheaton are taking AP Physics C and even Multivariable calc, Organic chem, and other high-level classes.

Wheaton parent here. Academy classes are not entirely the same as magnet but many great options and some crossover.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes of course, because what if he doesn’t get into blair?

My understanding is that Blair is harder to get into than Wheaton, so I am wondering if there is a chance he would get into Blair SMACS and not Wheaton Engineering?

Obviously I know he could get into neither.

— OP

+ 1 million
Wheaton engineering is much much easier to get in, kids who did not get in Blair go there

Not necessarily. It is a smaller program and is growing rapidly in appeal. The above view may have been true several years ago (my first chose Blair over Wheaton because she wanted a broader program), but Wheaton is on the rise, appealing to those with more focused or applied interests and has fewer seats.

As I said previously, I'd apply to both. Then, if kid gets into both, go to the admitted students' events and talk to current students. Program administrators can connect admitted students with current students if they don't know any or if they want more input.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes of course, because what if he doesn’t get into blair?

My understanding is that Blair is harder to get into than Wheaton, so I am wondering if there is a chance he would get into Blair SMACS and not Wheaton Engineering?

Obviously I know he could get into neither.

— OP

+ 1 million
Wheaton engineering is much much easier to get in, kids who did not get in Blair go there

New poster here, and I’m wondering if this will actually be true this year. My DC is currently in the TPMS math/science magnet, and says that everyone they know is interested in both Blair AND Wheaton. With Wheaton having only 30 spaces, I think it will be very competitive in the first round. (Though I hope I’m wrong, since my DC really wants to go there!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes the selection is independent and there are fewer spots at Wheaton

But also fewer candidates? Because Wheaton is just the DCC? Maybe I'm wrong, I thought I'd heard that Blair was the more selective program.

All students attending a DCC middle school can apply to Wheaton. This includes out-of-area students attending the MSMC (Parkland, Loiederman, Argyle). Wheaton also has many students apply but not get in. The two programs are different and appeal to different highly qualified students. Choosing one to apply to over the other based on popularity is a poor way to decide.

Yes, so many non dcc kids at TPMS/Eastern will also apply.
They only take 30 students for each program.

30 students for what programs?

[Anonymous]

How does this work? Do you have to rank choices? If my kid applies for Blair SMAC, and CAP and Wheaton engineering, is he considered for each program individually? Or will he only get accepted to one? Basically is there a downside to applying to everything you might consider?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does this work? Do you have to rank choices? If my kid applies for Blair SMAC, and CAP and Wheaton engineering, is he considered for each program individually? Or will he only get accepted to one? Basically is there a downside to applying to everything you might consider?

Selection is independent but there’s only one application so it can be difficult to tailor to both stem and humanities. Kids get into multiple programs all the time though so apply to any that dc would consider…

[Anonymous]

Apply to both.

Then rank Wheaton first on the DCC ranking list and go to the engineering academy if he doesn’t get into the Wheaton magnet or Blair magnet.

My son is at the Wheaton engineering academy and likes it. I haven’t been able to figure out how much less challenging it is than the magnet. But I’m kind of glad he didn’t have to take AP Physics and Pre Cal as a freshman, which he would have had to do for the magnet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes the selection is independent and there are fewer spots at Wheaton

But also fewer candidates? Because Wheaton is just the DCC? Maybe I'm wrong, I thought I'd heard that Blair was the more selective program.

All students attending a DCC middle school can apply to Wheaton. This includes out-of-area students attending the MSMC (Parkland, Loiederman, Argyle). Wheaton also has many students apply but not get in. The two programs are different and appeal to different highly qualified students. Choosing one to apply to over the other based on popularity is a poor way to decide.

Yes, so many non dcc kids at TPMS/Eastern will also apply.
They only take 30 students for each program.

30 students for what programs?

30 for Biomed
30 for Engineering

(Wheaton has to distinct magnets -- they have some math, science overlap and then have program specific classes)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does this work? Do you have to rank choices? If my kid applies for Blair SMAC, and CAP and Wheaton engineering, is he considered for each program individually? Or will he only get accepted to one? Basically is there a downside to applying to everything you might consider?

Selection is independent but there’s only one application so it can be difficult to tailor to both stem and humanities. Kids get into multiple programs all the time though so apply to any that dc would consider…

Yes, mine always scored higher in verbal and has some top notch humanities honors but did not get into CAP but had good results from Blair and Wheaton Engineering. She wrote essay on something STEM related (can't remember exactly). I think they saw that and screened her out. Very happy at Wheaton. Loves the program and has had fantastic English and History teachers.

But, if your kid is interested in Blair and Wheaton, a STEM related essay could appeal to both. As far as I know, there is no ranking for the magnets. The people talking about ranking is for DCC school selection which is separate from magnet apps. This is essentially a pool of schools that all kids have to choose from for regular HS. You'd think you would go to home school if you don't submit, but that is not the case. Kids rank choices (if home school is 1st, they will get home school). The magnet admissions is a whole different layer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes the selection is independent and there are fewer spots at Wheaton

But also fewer candidates? Because Wheaton is just the DCC? Maybe I'm wrong, I thought I'd heard that Blair was the more selective program.

All students attending a DCC middle school can apply to Wheaton. This includes out-of-area students attending the MSMC (Parkland, Loiederman, Argyle). Wheaton also has many students apply but not get in. The two programs are different and appeal to different highly qualified students. Choosing one to apply to over the other based on popularity is a poor way to decide.

Yes, so many non dcc kids at TPMS/Eastern will also apply.
They only take 30 students for each program.

30 students for what programs?

30 for Biomed
30 for Engineering

(Wheaton has to* distinct magnets -- they have some math, science overlap and then have program specific classes)

*two (not to)!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes of course, because what if he doesn’t get into blair?

My understanding is that Blair is harder to get into than Wheaton, so I am wondering if there is a chance he would get into Blair SMACS and not Wheaton Engineering?

Obviously I know he could get into neither.

— OP

+ 1 million
Wheaton engineering is much much easier to get in, kids who did not get in Blair go there

New poster here, and I’m wondering if this will actually be true this year. My DC is currently in the TPMS math/science magnet, and says that everyone they know is interested in both Blair AND Wheaton. With Wheaton having only 30 spaces, I think it will be very competitive in the first round. (Though I hope I’m wrong, since my DC really wants to go there!)

Blair is way more popular, like no one single student turn down Blair for Wheaton. That was 3 year ago though