If accepted to Blair Stem and Richard Montgomery IB

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How is your child's tolerance for BS? Try to answer this honestly question, in the privacy of your own mind. If it's very low, go to the Blair. The student needs to be able to live with BS to go to RMIB. It's a much more pompous program.

What do you mean by BS?

[Anonymous]

We are in cluster for RM, so my kid went to RMIB even though they are a math kid (like really good at math). I asked DC if they should've applied to Blair, and they said no. Not only because of the commute but because, per their friend at Blair magnet, the social scene there is not great. They are now at college as a dual CS/math major. They have peers in their major from both magnet programs (and TJ in VA, too).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blair is a strong program but niche, for STEM obviously but majority pre-engineering. RMIB is better for kids who like STEM and humanities, and produces excellent analytical writers across disciplines. Historically RMIB has had better college outcomes because Ivy+ schools prefer a broader liberal arts focus. Blair does better with MIT. Both are very competitive but RMIB students are a little more chill. Last year RMIB produced twice as many NMSF as Blair. This year it was reversed, Blair produced twice as many. So the cohorts vary too.

Debatable. From MS the truly brilliant kids went to Blair, the grinders and strivers went to RMIB.

A lot of these posts are not nice which makes me think that most families did not actually have a choice in schools. My older DC went to RMIB but did not get into Blair. Younger DC went to Blair after getting into both. Both enjoyed their time at the schools.

The reality is that the Blair magnet curriculum focuses on STEM but the kids themselves are very well-rounded. My younger child was surprised and happy to find the vast majority of kids are not "pre-engineering" whatever that means. You will find a cohort of kids who are are really into math and science at Blair and do almost all their activities in those fields but it's probably less than 20 percent of them and some of you would be shocked to find that this is probably about the same percentage at RMIB. These are not kids who have had "tutors" since they were 5 but many did do enrichment just like how if you're a star hockey player you might have been doing hockey since 5.

There are only a handful of kids who go to MIT every year from Blair as compared to maybe zero or 1 at RMIB. Blair from our experience does better in Ivy admissions but really it's based on the individual kid and it does not make sense to compare. RMIB is also a larger program because of all the kids who are allowed to join without testing in 11th and 12th so that skews results.

It's really uncharitable to call people grinders and strivers but from DC1 and DC2's middle school more standout smart kids did go to Blair while the really organized hardworkers went to RMIB. There is some sense because it's harder to do well in STEM at the level of Blair with just hard work IMO. You have to have some aptitude whereas with most other classes, even at a high level like RMIB, hard work will get you really far if you have a decently high IQ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is your child's tolerance for BS? Try to answer this honestly question, in the privacy of your own mind. If it's very low, go to the Blair. The student needs to be able to live with BS to go to RMIB. It's a much more pompous program.

What do you mean by BS?

I’m not that poster but the IB program is run internationally and headquartered I think in Switzerland which means that there are a lot of IB rules and requirements set externally. Maybe that comes across as “BS” to some people? I did find it a little bureaucratic at times but that’s always the trade off with a program that has international standards.

My kid graduated from RMiB recently and is at a top ranked private college—she has found herself very well prepared for the classes there.

[Anonymous]

I think they were talking about the administrators locally at RM.

[Anonymous]

It is really rare to have a choice OP.

In DC's W feeder MS school there was exactly one kid. They ran into a different kid they knew at the open house for the one school DC got into and that kid said he was the only one at his MS which is feeder into a different W. I mention Ws to show these are very good high performing schools with high performing kids.

We know both kids since elementary and both are very well rounded although the second kid has a parent that is known in STEM. One picked Blair and the other RMIB.

[Anonymous]

Two things that have not been mentioned yet. Blair's size can be a negative and the fact that there's a second magnet at the school can be good or bad. There is a lot of competition for clubs and spots on the debate team, etc. so your child may not get to do her first choice of activity all the time.

Blair kids are done with most of their required classes by the end of 10th so 11th and 12th can be fun and full of electives. RMIB requirements go up until 12th and even at the end of 12th your child will be stressed out taking the IB tests. That was a drag.

[Anonymous]

We ended up going with RMIB, but it was a tough decision. We were impressed by both at the open houses. DH is a professor and felt that developing strong writing skills should be prioritized for college readiness, that high-level STEM work could come later if DC decided they wanted that. But our kid wasn't as into robotics and comp sci as some of their peers, and did very well with languages. Also really liked math, and met a young woman who ended up at Princeton for math who talked up RMIB. For DC RMIB was the right choice. I would say you need to have an excellent work ethic, because all the writing projects are very time-consuming. It is a grind in that sense, if that's what PP was referring to. Blair kids seem to have more time for ECs for that reason, too. Workload is not quite as time-intensive.

[Anonymous]

RMIB is more well rounded -- lots of kids go on to major in STEM or humanities, and some both.

Blair students pretty much all end up majoring in STEM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two things that have not been mentioned yet. Blair's size can be a negative and the fact that there's a second magnet at the school can be good or bad. There is a lot of competition for clubs and spots on the debate team, etc. so your child may not get to do her first choice of activity all the time.

Blair kids are done with most of their required classes by the end of 10th so 11th and 12th can be fun and full of electives. RMIB requirements go up until 12th and even at the end of 12th your child will be stressed out taking the IB tests. That was a drag.

Blair is also more of a feeding frenzy for college admissions because the kids are all applying to the SAME T-10 SCHOOLS, with virtually identical profiles. Very hard to stand out, especially given that there's even competition for school clubs as PP said. There's competition at RMIB, of course, but with some specializing in STEM, some specializing in humanities, or some interdisciplinary combo, the academic profiles are more varied. But even at RMIB, in a given year 40-70 kids are applying to Ivies, Hopkins, and Duke. For example, more than 60 kids applied to Hopkins this year. Three got in early, and maybe a few more will get in RD, but that means many qualified kids will not be admitted. It seems to be even worse at Blair, again because the kids' profiles are so similar. It's easier to stand out at the home school imo, if that's an important factor in the decision. Otherwise, it's a bit easier to stand out at RMIB, especially in STEM since it's a smaller pool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Blair is a strong program but niche, for STEM obviously but majority pre-engineering. RMIB is better for kids who like STEM and humanities, and produces excellent analytical writers across disciplines. Historically RMIB has had better college outcomes because Ivy+ schools prefer a broader liberal arts focus. Blair does better with MIT. Both are very competitive but RMIB students are a little more chill. Last year RMIB produced twice as many NMSF as Blair. This year it was reversed, Blair produced twice as many. So the cohorts vary too.

Wrong.
Blair has better college outcomes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Blair is a strong program but niche, for STEM obviously but majority pre-engineering. RMIB is better for kids who like STEM and humanities, and produces excellent analytical writers across disciplines. Historically RMIB has had better college outcomes because Ivy+ schools prefer a broader liberal arts focus. Blair does better with MIT. Both are very competitive but RMIB students are a little more chill. Last year RMIB produced twice as many NMSF as Blair. This year it was reversed, Blair produced twice as many. So the cohorts vary too.

Huh????
Wrong. When was the last time RMIB has produced more NMSFS than Blair? It has to be at least 10 years ago and it rarely happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:RMIB is more well rounded -- lots of kids go on to major in STEM or humanities, and some both.

Blair students pretty much all end up majoring in STEM.

That doesn't make them less well rounded. DC is fluent in two world languages and an expert in European history, like their father who has PhD in engineering and has read tens of thousand of pages of history books. A lot of bright kids like history and languages but don't make it their major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Blair is a strong program but niche, for STEM obviously but majority pre-engineering. RMIB is better for kids who like STEM and humanities, and produces excellent analytical writers across disciplines. Historically RMIB has had better college outcomes because Ivy+ schools prefer a broader liberal arts focus. Blair does better with MIT. Both are very competitive but RMIB students are a little more chill. Last year RMIB produced twice as many NMSF as Blair. This year it was reversed, Blair produced twice as many. So the cohorts vary too.

Tell me you have no idea of what you're talking about without telling me you have no idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:RMIB is more well rounded -- lots of kids go on to major in STEM or humanities, and some both.

Blair students pretty much all end up majoring in STEM.

That doesn't make them less well rounded. DC is fluent in two world languages and an expert in European history, like their father who has PhD in engineering and has read tens of thousand of pages of history books. A lot of bright kids like history and languages but don't make it their major.

That's nice for your kid, but how many Blair students do you think are that well rounded? Not many.

Whereas RMIB students are more well rounded since the STEM oriented kids still have to take the IB humanities classes, and vice versa.