Advice on Choosing Between Blair (General Admission) and Wheaton PLTW Biomed

[Anonymous]

DS chose Wheaton Biomed over Blair SMCS and it was the best choice he could have made. Amazing experience. He started a bio project at Wheaton and carried it through to his lab in college. Wheaton also introduced him to bio-informatics which he has incorporated into his work. DS is on his way to med school next year. My other child did Blair SMCS and it is a very different experience. If your kid is at all interested in bio, consider Wheaton. It’s also a great school (and a beautiful building).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS chose Wheaton Biomed over Blair SMCS and it was the best choice he could have made. Amazing experience. He started a bio project at Wheaton and carried it through to his lab in college. Wheaton also introduced him to bio-informatics which he has incorporated into his work. DS is on his way to med school next year. My other child did Blair SMCS and it is a very different experience. If your kid is at all interested in bio, consider Wheaton. It’s also a great school (and a beautiful building).

Can you tell me a little more about the differences between Blair and Wheaton? It’s looking like we’ll end up with one kid in SMCS and one in Wheaton PLTW.

[Anonymous]

(I know how different the programs here, i mean more about how that plays out and what you see as the pros and cons of each)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS chose Wheaton Biomed over Blair SMCS and it was the best choice he could have made. Amazing experience. He started a bio project at Wheaton and carried it through to his lab in college. Wheaton also introduced him to bio-informatics which he has incorporated into his work. DS is on his way to med school next year. My other child did Blair SMCS and it is a very different experience. If your kid is at all interested in bio, consider Wheaton. It’s also a great school (and a beautiful building).

Can you tell me a little more about the differences between Blair and Wheaton? It’s looking like we’ll end up with one kid in SMCS and one in Wheaton PLTW.

In our experience, Wheaton biomed was much more of a program with a defined cohort who shared common interests and got to know each other really well. It was a tight group. The projects helped this. DS also got to know his teachers well and they are interested and encouraging. DS still keeps in touch with a couple of them. Wheaton is smaller generally and something about the school is just friendlier. Blair SMCS in our experience was more just taking classes, it was much less defined and more individual. Friendships were from sports or clubs, or from kids’ home middle schools, not so much from the program. If you are unsure about specializing in bio, that may be a consideration, Blair is broader.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS chose Wheaton Biomed over Blair SMCS and it was the best choice he could have made. Amazing experience. He started a bio project at Wheaton and carried it through to his lab in college. Wheaton also introduced him to bio-informatics which he has incorporated into his work. DS is on his way to med school next year. My other child did Blair SMCS and it is a very different experience. If your kid is at all interested in bio, consider Wheaton. It’s also a great school (and a beautiful building).

Can you tell me a little more about the differences between Blair and Wheaton? It’s looking like we’ll end up with one kid in SMCS and one in Wheaton PLTW.

In our experience, Wheaton biomed was much more of a program with a defined cohort who shared common interests and got to know each other really well. It was a tight group. The projects helped this. DS also got to know his teachers well and they are interested and encouraging. DS still keeps in touch with a couple of them. Wheaton is smaller generally and something about the school is just friendlier. Blair SMCS in our experience was more just taking classes, it was much less defined and more individual. Friendships were from sports or clubs, or from kids’ home middle schools, not so much from the program. If you are unsure about specializing in bio, that may be a consideration, Blair is broader.

Thanks - this is very helpful. I definitely got the impression that there is more support at Wheaton than I’ve ever heard about at Blair.

[Anonymous]

Let the kid choose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let the kid choose.

The kid’s opinion is a factor, but not the deciding one.

[Anonymous]

Can’t lose having a smaller cohort anlongside Wheaton’s awesome principal. Good admins and teachers are so important but I am not familiar with Blair so might be the same there? Your kid has the option to switch to Blair if it’s not a good fit, right? And not the other way around?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let the kid choose.

The kid’s opinion is a factor, but not the deciding one.

It should be. Parents shouldn’t force a kid to attend a school or a program they don’t want to attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let the kid choose.

The kid’s opinion is a factor, but not the deciding one.

And folks wonder why kids have issues growing up and making decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let the kid choose.

The kid’s opinion is a factor, but not the deciding one.

And folks wonder why kids have issues growing up and making decisions.

This. Our DC had the choice between Wheaton engineering and Blair SMCS and while we gave our opinion and laid out some of the pros and cons as we saw them, we were very clear that this was ultimately their decision. I honestly didn’t want to be blamed for the next 4 years every time something was hard, unexpected, or otherwise didn’t go well.

[Anonymous]

If the choice is between one of the Wheaton programs and REGULAR Blair, choose Wheaton.

If you are choosing between the magnet at Blair and Wheaton, I'd choose Blair. The cohort can be ... a little suffocatingly small.

Great principal at Wheaton, though. And a beautiful building! Easier to get on sports teams, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the choice is between one of the Wheaton programs and REGULAR Blair, choose Wheaton.

If you are choosing between the magnet at Blair and Wheaton, I'd choose Blair. The cohort can be ... a little suffocatingly small.

Great principal at Wheaton, though. And a beautiful building! Easier to get on sports teams, too.

I wondered about this, as my kid just accepted a spot in one of Wheaton's magnets. 30 kids per program per year is tiny! Do they do their English/history/etc. with other students from the wider Wheaton community?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the choice is between one of the Wheaton programs and REGULAR Blair, choose Wheaton.

If you are choosing between the magnet at Blair and Wheaton, I'd choose Blair. The cohort can be ... a little suffocatingly small.

Great principal at Wheaton, though. And a beautiful building! Easier to get on sports teams, too.

I wondered about this, as my kid just accepted a spot in one of Wheaton's magnets. 30 kids per program per year is tiny! Do they do their English/history/etc. with other students from the wider Wheaton community?

They do non-magnet classes with other Wheaton kids - and aren’t both magnets together for math, so 60 kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let the kid choose.

The kid’s opinion is a factor, but not the deciding one.

And folks wonder why kids have issues growing up and making decisions.

This. Our DC had the choice between Wheaton engineering and Blair SMCS and while we gave our opinion and laid out some of the pros and cons as we saw them, we were very clear that this was ultimately their decision. I honestly didn’t want to be blamed for the next 4 years every time something was hard, unexpected, or otherwise didn’t go well.

This. I agree with this approach. There is no perfect choice