Blair for gifted kid, but not magnet

[Anonymous]

TPMS and SSI are probably the top schools academically in the DCC if your child is not in the magnets.

[Anonymous]

I am glad many of this thread had a different experience, but mine has had the opposite. Highly gifted kid not in magnet and basically miserable at the low level of expectations overall at the school.

[Anonymous]

So much Blair envy on display. It's hands down the best HS in the county if you are serious about academics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am glad many of this thread had a different experience, but mine has had the opposite. Highly gifted kid not in magnet and basically miserable at the low level of expectations overall at the school.

If truly “highly gifted” your kid would have been offered a place in the magnet or one of the other programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Inherent disadvantage - perhaps - if they are looking to go to MIT - then the magnet kids will "likely" be the ones that take those slots. The non-magnet kids still get into great schools - Amherst, Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, etc. but they don't shine quite like the STEM kids who've gotten straight As and are finalists in the Intel competition.

This is wrong. Very smart non-magnet kids with impressive matriculations. And even in the magnet the kids PP describes are very few. Most magnet kids are not in that category, and now even less with the new magnet formulation that picked up a lot of kids who did not go to TPMS. By far the most popular college destination for magnet kids is UMD.

+1 I don’t know why many on dcum assume Blair magnet and W go to the top tier. Look at the data. Almost none get into the top tier—most go to UMD-type schools.

Except the actual data that's published shows that both Blair and Richard Montgomery too far better than the W's in terms of elite admissions.

Okay so I’m going to call your bluff. Since when does MCPS list name and school attending after graduation? Or even percentages who attend a place like UMD. I’ve seen (sometimes) a noted student article on one student - but that’s it. I don’t have dog in hunt. Disliked MCPS vibe for my kids so left it pre-pandemic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So much Blair envy on display. It's hands down the best HS in the county if you are serious about academics.

Ah Poolesville want to weigh in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am glad many of this thread had a different experience, but mine has had the opposite. Highly gifted kid not in magnet and basically miserable at the low level of expectations overall at the school.

If truly “highly gifted” your kid would have been offered a place in the magnet or one of the other programs.

Even the non-magnet stem
courses at Blair (and then magnet classes junior/senior year) are definitely hard enough for your “gifted” kid. Assuming Calc BC as a sophomore and then the world opens at Blair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Inherent disadvantage - perhaps - if they are looking to go to MIT - then the magnet kids will "likely" be the ones that take those slots. The non-magnet kids still get into great schools - Amherst, Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, etc. but they don't shine quite like the STEM kids who've gotten straight As and are finalists in the Intel competition.

This is wrong. Very smart non-magnet kids with impressive matriculations. And even in the magnet the kids PP describes are very few. Most magnet kids are not in that category, and now even less with the new magnet formulation that picked up a lot of kids who did not go to TPMS. By far the most popular college destination for magnet kids is UMD.

+1 I don’t know why many on dcum assume Blair magnet and W go to the top tier. Look at the data. Almost none get into the top tier—most go to UMD-type schools.

Except the actual data that's published shows that both Blair and Richard Montgomery too far better than the W's in terms of elite admissions.

Just a reminder that many graduating high school students choose where to attend--and even where to apply--based on finances. UMD is an excellent deal in-state. It's faulty reasoning to assume that kids who attend UMD didn't "get into the top tier" schools or that a high school's number of "elite admissions" is a standardized measure of quality. It costs money to apply to most selective private colleges and universities, and many families rule them out on the basis of finances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Inherent disadvantage - perhaps - if they are looking to go to MIT - then the magnet kids will "likely" be the ones that take those slots. The non-magnet kids still get into great schools - Amherst, Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, etc. but they don't shine quite like the STEM kids who've gotten straight As and are finalists in the Intel competition.

This is wrong. Very smart non-magnet kids with impressive matriculations. And even in the magnet the kids PP describes are very few. Most magnet kids are not in that category, and now even less with the new magnet formulation that picked up a lot of kids who did not go to TPMS. By far the most popular college destination for magnet kids is UMD.

+1 I don’t know why many on dcum assume Blair magnet and W go to the top tier. Look at the data. Almost none get into the top tier—most go to UMD-type schools.

Except the actual data that's published shows that both Blair and Richard Montgomery too far better than the W's in terms of elite admissions.

Okay so I’m going to call your bluff. Since when does MCPS list name and school attending after graduation? Or even percentages who attend a place like UMD. I’ve seen (sometimes) a noted student article on one student - but that’s it. I don’t have dog in hunt. Disliked MCPS vibe for my kids so left it pre-pandemic.

It's published in Bethesda magazine every year - not perfect - but that gives an idea of acceptances/matriculation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Inherent disadvantage - perhaps - if they are looking to go to MIT - then the magnet kids will "likely" be the ones that take those slots. The non-magnet kids still get into great schools - Amherst, Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, etc. but they don't shine quite like the STEM kids who've gotten straight As and are finalists in the Intel competition.

This is wrong. Very smart non-magnet kids with impressive matriculations. And even in the magnet the kids PP describes are very few. Most magnet kids are not in that category, and now even less with the new magnet formulation that picked up a lot of kids who did not go to TPMS. By far the most popular college destination for magnet kids is UMD.

+1 I don’t know why many on dcum assume Blair magnet and W go to the top tier. Look at the data. Almost none get into the top tier—most go to UMD-type schools.

Except the actual data that's published shows that both Blair and Richard Montgomery too far better than the W's in terms of elite admissions.

Okay so I’m going to call your bluff. Since when does MCPS list name and school attending after graduation? Or even percentages who attend a place like UMD. I’ve seen (sometimes) a noted student article on one student - but that’s it. I don’t have dog in hunt. Disliked MCPS vibe for my kids so left it pre-pandemic.

It's published in Bethesda magazine every year - not perfect - but that gives an idea of acceptances/matriculation

e.g. https://moco360.media/2021/09/06/college-bound-6/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many magnet kids are not super wealthy and UMD gives them very generous aid. DD got free tuition (not free room and board) and turned down full pay at Cornell. Of course Cornell would have been an experience but at $80K a year? No could not justify it.

That said ...remember the magnet is only about half the day. For English, SS, language and electives kids are mixed in with the rest of the school so there is no second class citizen vibe.

Magnet kids get into great schools. I happened to get into Cornell, UPenn, UVA, Carnegie Mellon, Case Western and 5 others. I got accepted into every college I applied to. I went to UMCP because I was (1) going into engineering (2) my folks were actual middle class (3) UMD offered me a full time/room and board. I have yet to regret it 20 years later.

Magnet kids are smart - we are well aware outside of perhaps MIT/Caltech and a handful of other colleges, for STEM you will get a pretty similar/equal education at UMD Honors.

-Blair grad from late 90s.

[Anonymous]

From DC at Blair - the STEM kids that get into MIT/Ivies from Blair (and there a few) generally do not advertise their admissions accept to close friends and family. It appears to be a humility thing and not wanting others who didn't get in to feel bad since it's such a lottery anyway. So it's hard to tell from published data/IG accounts just where these kids go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Inherent disadvantage - perhaps - if they are looking to go to MIT - then the magnet kids will "likely" be the ones that take those slots. The non-magnet kids still get into great schools - Amherst, Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, etc. but they don't shine quite like the STEM kids who've gotten straight As and are finalists in the Intel competition.

This is wrong. Very smart non-magnet kids with impressive matriculations. And even in the magnet the kids PP describes are very few. Most magnet kids are not in that category, and now even less with the new magnet formulation that picked up a lot of kids who did not go to TPMS. By far the most popular college destination for magnet kids is UMD.

+1 I don’t know why many on dcum assume Blair magnet and W go to the top tier. Look at the data. Almost none get into the top tier—most go to UMD-type schools.

Except the actual data that's published shows that both Blair and Richard Montgomery too far better than the W's in terms of elite admissions.

Okay so I’m going to call your bluff. Since when does MCPS list name and school attending after graduation? Or even percentages who attend a place like UMD. I’ve seen (sometimes) a noted student article on one student - but that’s it. I don’t have dog in hunt. Disliked MCPS vibe for my kids so left it pre-pandemic.

Why are you even on this forum?

[Anonymous]

UMD is now turning down top mcps grads in anticipation they will not accept UMD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree most magnet kids still go to College Park.

--magnet teacher at a DCC school

And one main magnet math advanced-course teacher came from College Park.