Blair Magnet info session

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
We saw many Blair student girls speaking, 0 boys speaking. Strange. One boy was playing cello and another boy was with him.

I noticed that as well and assumed that: 1) girls may have volunteered more, and 2) they may have wanted to signal to the gfirls and parents of girls that girls do thrive there. This question was asked in my group and the students reported that most of their classes are well-balanced.

I have a boy at Blair and he never received any notification or request for volunteers. Maybe they only asked girls. The program is 60 percent male.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there shadow days possible?

Yes we were told they are doing shadow days.

Now through Feb 12, I think. 2hr visits. Call for appointment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We saw many Blair student girls speaking, 0 boys speaking. Strange. One boy was playing cello and another boy was with him.

I noticed that as well and assumed that: 1) girls may have volunteered more, and 2) they may have wanted to signal to the gfirls and parents of girls that girls do thrive there. This question was asked in my group and the students reported that most of their classes are well-balanced.

I have a boy at Blair and he never received any notification or request for volunteers. Maybe they only asked girls. The program is 60 percent male.


Mr. O sent a blanket email request for volunteers to ALL Blair Magnet students. Ask your boy to look at his MCPS email

[Anonymous]

We went to the invited students Open House and frankly I was blown away. I had a VERY negative impression of Blair Magnet after the fall OH, it felt like we were just being lectured at by the coordinator about what colleges the kids could or could not be expected to get into and a useless endless Q&A where people whined about not being the DCC and having to apply to Poolesville instead. This week's OH, on the other hand, was warm, inviting, informative. We met so many passionate teachers and fellow students, rotated through many classrooms and got to learn about the course progressions, what an actual student day looked like, what kinds of kids my kid would be taking classes with, and what they could and could not expect in terms of time commitments, what they'd be studying, how to make a balanced schedule while keeping in mind their magnet course loads. It's was wonderful. Honestly, before the open house I was encouraging my kid to go to another program they'd been invited to, but now I'm all in on the magnet. If you weren't able to attend I HIGHLY recommend calling the coordinator and setting up a shadow session (open until the 12th, I believe).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We went to the invited students Open House and frankly I was blown away. I had a VERY negative impression of Blair Magnet after the fall OH, it felt like we were just being lectured at by the coordinator about what colleges the kids could or could not be expected to get into and a useless endless Q&A where people whined about not being the DCC and having to apply to Poolesville instead. This week's OH, on the other hand, was warm, inviting, informative. We met so many passionate teachers and fellow students, rotated through many classrooms and got to learn about the course progressions, what an actual student day looked like, what kinds of kids my kid would be taking classes with, and what they could and could not expect in terms of time commitments, what they'd be studying, how to make a balanced schedule while keeping in mind their magnet course loads. It's was wonderful. Honestly, before the open house I was encouraging my kid to go to another program they'd been invited to, but now I'm all in on the magnet. If you weren't able to attend I HIGHLY recommend calling the coordinator and setting up a shadow session (open until the 12th, I believe).

I was the OH and this is not what happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We went to the invited students Open House and frankly I was blown away. I had a VERY negative impression of Blair Magnet after the fall OH, it felt like we were just being lectured at by the coordinator about what colleges the kids could or could not be expected to get into and a useless endless Q&A where people whined about not being the DCC and having to apply to Poolesville instead. This week's OH, on the other hand, was warm, inviting, informative. We met so many passionate teachers and fellow students, rotated through many classrooms and got to learn about the course progressions, what an actual student day looked like, what kinds of kids my kid would be taking classes with, and what they could and could not expect in terms of time commitments, what they'd be studying, how to make a balanced schedule while keeping in mind their magnet course loads. It's was wonderful. Honestly, before the open house I was encouraging my kid to go to another program they'd been invited to, but now I'm all in on the magnet. If you weren't able to attend I HIGHLY recommend calling the coordinator and setting up a shadow session (open until the 12th, I believe).

I was the OH and this is not what happened.

Agreed. The fall OH was amazing for parents and for students.

Me O did have a couple of slides designed to respond to the hordes of DCUM archetypes obsessed with AP exams and increasing their chance of Ivy admissions by 0.3%, which is what that PP was referring to

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We went to the invited students Open House and frankly I was blown away. I had a VERY negative impression of Blair Magnet after the fall OH, it felt like we were just being lectured at by the coordinator about what colleges the kids could or could not be expected to get into and a useless endless Q&A where people whined about not being the DCC and having to apply to Poolesville instead. This week's OH, on the other hand, was warm, inviting, informative. We met so many passionate teachers and fellow students, rotated through many classrooms and got to learn about the course progressions, what an actual student day looked like, what kinds of kids my kid would be taking classes with, and what they could and could not expect in terms of time commitments, what they'd be studying, how to make a balanced schedule while keeping in mind their magnet course loads. It's was wonderful. Honestly, before the open house I was encouraging my kid to go to another program they'd been invited to, but now I'm all in on the magnet. If you weren't able to attend I HIGHLY recommend calling the coordinator and setting up a shadow session (open until the 12th, I believe).

I was the OH and this is not what happened.

Agreed. The fall OH was amazing for parents and for students.

Me O did have a couple of slides designed to respond to the hordes of DCUM archetypes obsessed with AP exams and increasing their chance of Ivy admissions by 0.3%, which is what that PP was referring to

He was clearly critical of the extensive focus on college admissions and downplayed the role Blair plays in that. But it was hardly a lecture on "what kins of colleges the kids could or could not be expected to go to". If anything it was the opposite of that. OH was well tailored toward a broader audience, a vast majority of whom will never get to the finer points of planning their 9th grade schedule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We went to the invited students Open House and frankly I was blown away. I had a VERY negative impression of Blair Magnet after the fall OH, it felt like we were just being lectured at by the coordinator about what colleges the kids could or could not be expected to get into and a useless endless Q&A where people whined about not being the DCC and having to apply to Poolesville instead. This week's OH, on the other hand, was warm, inviting, informative. We met so many passionate teachers and fellow students, rotated through many classrooms and got to learn about the course progressions, what an actual student day looked like, what kinds of kids my kid would be taking classes with, and what they could and could not expect in terms of time commitments, what they'd be studying, how to make a balanced schedule while keeping in mind their magnet course loads. It's was wonderful. Honestly, before the open house I was encouraging my kid to go to another program they'd been invited to, but now I'm all in on the magnet. If you weren't able to attend I HIGHLY recommend calling the coordinator and setting up a shadow session (open until the 12th, I believe).

I was the OH and this is not what happened.

Agreed. The fall OH was amazing for parents and for students.

Me O did have a couple of slides designed to respond to the hordes of DCUM archetypes obsessed with AP exams and increasing their chance of Ivy admissions by 0.3%, which is what that PP was referring to

He was clearly critical of the extensive focus on college admissions and downplayed the role Blair plays in that. But it was hardly a lecture on "what kins of colleges the kids could or could not be expected to go to". If anything it was the opposite of that. OH was well tailored toward a broader audience, a vast majority of whom will never get to the finer points of planning their 9th grade schedule.

03:32 don't forget to turn off screens to help sleep at night

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We went to the invited students Open House and frankly I was blown away. I had a VERY negative impression of Blair Magnet after the fall OH, it felt like we were just being lectured at by the coordinator about what colleges the kids could or could not be expected to get into and a useless endless Q&A where people whined about not being the DCC and having to apply to Poolesville instead. This week's OH, on the other hand, was warm, inviting, informative. We met so many passionate teachers and fellow students, rotated through many classrooms and got to learn about the course progressions, what an actual student day looked like, what kinds of kids my kid would be taking classes with, and what they could and could not expect in terms of time commitments, what they'd be studying, how to make a balanced schedule while keeping in mind their magnet course loads. It's was wonderful. Honestly, before the open house I was encouraging my kid to go to another program they'd been invited to, but now I'm all in on the magnet. If you weren't able to attend I HIGHLY recommend calling the coordinator and setting up a shadow session (open until the 12th, I believe).

I was the OH and this is not what happened.

Agreed. The fall OH was amazing for parents and for students.

Me O did have a couple of slides designed to respond to the hordes of DCUM archetypes obsessed with AP exams and increasing their chance of Ivy admissions by 0.3%, which is what that PP was referring to

He was clearly critical of the extensive focus on college admissions and downplayed the role Blair plays in that. But it was hardly a lecture on "what kins of colleges the kids could or could not be expected to go to". If anything it was the opposite of that. OH was well tailored toward a broader audience, a vast majority of whom will never get to the finer points of planning their 9th grade schedule.

03:32 don't forget to turn off screens to help sleep at night

I am jet lagging, but it's a good tip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We went to the invited students Open House and frankly I was blown away. I had a VERY negative impression of Blair Magnet after the fall OH, it felt like we were just being lectured at by the coordinator about what colleges the kids could or could not be expected to get into and a useless endless Q&A where people whined about not being the DCC and having to apply to Poolesville instead. This week's OH, on the other hand, was warm, inviting, informative. We met so many passionate teachers and fellow students, rotated through many classrooms and got to learn about the course progressions, what an actual student day looked like, what kinds of kids my kid would be taking classes with, and what they could and could not expect in terms of time commitments, what they'd be studying, how to make a balanced schedule while keeping in mind their magnet course loads. It's was wonderful. Honestly, before the open house I was encouraging my kid to go to another program they'd been invited to, but now I'm all in on the magnet. If you weren't able to attend I HIGHLY recommend calling the coordinator and setting up a shadow session (open until the 12th, I believe).

+1 Disliked RM after the open house, did not bother going to Poolesville. Wheaton was also great but child will chose Blair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We saw many Blair student girls speaking, 0 boys speaking. Strange. One boy was playing cello and another boy was with him.

I noticed that as well and assumed that: 1) girls may have volunteered more, and 2) they may have wanted to signal to the gfirls and parents of girls that girls do thrive there. This question was asked in my group and the students reported that most of their classes are well-balanced.

I have a boy at Blair and he never received any notification or request for volunteers. Maybe they only asked girls. The program is 60 percent male.

Mr. O sent a blanket email request for volunteers to ALL Blair Magnet students. Ask your boy to look at his MCPS email

Not there. Maybe it only went to juniors and seniors

[Anonymous]

Many 9th graders were there too, boys and girls included. It was a good experience for them as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We saw many Blair student girls speaking, 0 boys speaking. Strange. One boy was playing cello and another boy was with him.

I noticed that as well and assumed that: 1) girls may have volunteered more, and 2) they may have wanted to signal to the gfirls and parents of girls that girls do thrive there. This question was asked in my group and the students reported that most of their classes are well-balanced.

I have a boy at Blair and he never received any notification or request for volunteers. Maybe they only asked girls. The program is 60 percent male.

Mr. O sent a blanket email request for volunteers to ALL Blair Magnet students. Ask your boy to look at his MCPS email

Not there. Maybe it only went to juniors and seniors

[Anonymous]

Hi, I am a boy in the magnet program and I was a student there that night. It's true that the panels happened to be primarily female but that's just who signed up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many 9th graders were there too, boys and girls included. It was a good experience for them as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We saw many Blair student girls speaking, 0 boys speaking. Strange. One boy was playing cello and another boy was with him.

I noticed that as well and assumed that: 1) girls may have volunteered more, and 2) they may have wanted to signal to the gfirls and parents of girls that girls do thrive there. This question was asked in my group and the students reported that most of their classes are well-balanced.

I have a boy at Blair and he never received any notification or request for volunteers. Maybe they only asked girls. The program is 60 percent male.

Mr. O sent a blanket email request for volunteers to ALL Blair Magnet students. Ask your boy to look at his MCPS email

Not there. Maybe it only went to juniors and seniors

There were underclass volunteers, but I don't know how they were recruited.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi, I am a boy in the magnet program and I was a student there that night. It's true that the panels happened to be primarily female but that's just who signed up.

My sociology professor told me that I should have daughters if I want to get love and care at my old age ... but there are always exceptions, sons can be caring too, like you ... kudos for volunteering!