Transferring to magnet from private on middle school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't do it OP. So far 2.0 hasn't hit the Magnets and GT programs as bad but I would not trust that it will not change. You're starting to see much fiercer competition as parents try to escape 2.0 so its great that your DD can get in. If she is that academically advanced, you should be staying in private unless you just can't afford it anymore. MCPS is going down the drain.

We had planned to do public magnet or home school (W school) but we're saving for private HS for both kids now.

I am not sure how much you need to worry about C2.0 quite honestly. It has impacted the HGCs because their Math curriculum was always the same as the regular MCPS curriculum - they just had more students working one, two and three years ahead. Now, with C2.0, they cannot do that anymore so people who were considering HGCs for their kids who are very advanced learners in Math might no longer find the HGC as attractive. I do not believe C2.0 has impacted the core HGC curriculum.
I am not sure how C2.0 impacts middle school so I am not sure whether Eastern or Takoma Park will be impacted at all.
Last year each school had around 800 applicants for 100 spots which we were told was higher than normal.
OP, I am not sure which school your child is in. There are so many different kinds of private schools but I know a couple of families who have first hand experience at NCS, Sidwell and Eastern and they thought the Humanities program was better (and the peer group more impressive) than Sidwell and NCS. I am sure Science and the electives are stronger at these schools and they are probably less 'rough' but anyone who has read "Queen Bees and WannaBes" knows these schools have their own social problems!

[Anonymous]

Thanks PP... I don't want to identify myself any further due to there are probably not a lot of kids that would transfer from private to public magnet MS next year. At the moment, I am thinking of having her apply and then we will see what happens. She's definitely in the competitive range given her test scores- but who knows. She could have a bad day, the day of the real test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks PP... I don't want to identify myself any further due to there are probably not a lot of kids that would transfer from private to public magnet MS next year. At the moment, I am thinking of having her apply and then we will see what happens. She's definitely in the competitive range given her test scores- but who knows. She could have a bad day, the day of the real test.

I'm the PP. I did not mean for you to identify the school your child was in, just pointing out that if you are looking to compare private schools to the middle school magnets, there are probably only a handful of private schools that are comparable. You will get the regular MCPS Math and Science curriculum at Eastern (but a higher proportion of advanced learners in these subjects) and the regular MCPS English and Social Studies curriculum at Takoma Park. Takoma Park is a great school overall, Eastern is, as a PP put it a little rough around the edges and the facility could use refurbishment! The peer group would be great for your child in both schools. I think you are wise to have her try out - you have many months before you need to make a decision about whether or not to send her. We definitely agonized over the decision but now that he is there, we can't imagine a better place for him.

[Anonymous]

My daughter transferred from private school to Takoma MS magnet. We gained something, and we lost something. As expected, in STEM we gained a lot. Liberal arts, even advanced program, was below our old school's level. You also want to consider the school environment - a private school may be a nice "bubble", while we found a public school to be is a little chaotic environment with little stress on discipline and good habits. Overall though, we are happy with the switch.