can you get into a top college if you don't do CAP/Magnet/IB?

[Anonymous]

And to PP what did you mean "if you are in a good W school" Wheaton?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And to PP what did you mean "if you are in a good W school" Wheaton?

Not the PP, but "W school" is shorthand for a cluster of high schools that serve a higher income/higher education demographic in the western portion of Montgomery County, and all have W in their names: Whitman, Wootton, Walter Johnson, Winston Churchill (did I miss one?). Not Wheaton which is located in a lower socioeconomic area of the county.

Because of where those "W schools" are located, they are full of super-achievers. The PP's point was that another school, like Wheaton, a bright kid can be a big fish and may stand out at college admissions time.

[Anonymous]

OP-I would visit the MCPS website look at the curriculum etc. Then I would try to get hold of some of the work the teachers send home. It will give you a better idea of what is actually going on in schools.

If you can, try to meet parents who haven't been selected by MCPS to meet with you and talk to them. My DS spoke to kids his age and received some honest advice.

Don't believe everything on DCUM or the published hype. MCPS has a million dollar PR department.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And to PP what did you mean "if you are in a good W school" Wheaton?

Not the PP, but "W school" is shorthand for a cluster of high schools that serve a higher income/higher education demographic in the western portion of Montgomery County, and all have W in their names: Whitman, Wootton, Walter Johnson, Winston Churchill (did I miss one?). Not Wheaton which is located in a lower socioeconomic area of the county.

Because of where those "W schools" are located, they are full of super-achievers. The PP's point was that another school, like Wheaton, a bright kid can be a big fish and may stand out at college admissions time.

Yes -- in Montgomery County, Churchill HS is a W school, and Wheaton HS isn't.

(And for what it's worth, I'd say "affluent/rich" and "poor". The percent of students who are receiving or have ever received FARMS at Whitman, Wootton, Walter Johnson, and Churchill HSs are <5%, 11%, 18%, and 9%, respectively. For Wheaton HS, it's 80%.)

[Anonymous]

I agree with the advice to avoid Blair or Richard Montgomery if your kid is not in the Blair magnet/CAP, or in the RMIB program.

I'll go against the grain here, though, and advise you to to look at W schools instead of Wheaton high schools. College admissions officers at the top schools pay a lot of attention to the degree of difficulty at your school. The W schools have a well-earned reputation for rigor. For yucks, you could read The Overachievers about stress at Whitman. While I'm certain many Wheaton/Northwood kids work extremely hard, it's unfortunate that the reputation just hasn't caught up (yet).

If you do go the Wheaton high school route, your kid might be able to show mastery by taking lots of APs and getting 5s on them (kids applying to the most selective colleges generally send their AP 5s in with their SATs, even though AP scores aren't a required part of the application). But it may be a little early to know if your kid will be interested in going the AP-heavy route.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the advice to avoid Blair or Richard Montgomery if your kid is not in the Blair magnet/CAP, or in the RMIB program.

I'll go against the grain here, though, and advise you to to look at W schools instead of Wheaton high schools. College admissions officers at the top schools pay a lot of attention to the degree of difficulty at your school. The W schools have a well-earned reputation for rigor. For yucks, you could read The Overachievers about stress at Whitman. While I'm certain many Wheaton/Northwood kids work extremely hard, it's unfortunate that the reputation just hasn't caught up (yet).

If you do go the Wheaton high school route, your kid might be able to show mastery by taking lots of APs and getting 5s on them (kids applying to the most selective colleges generally send their AP 5s in with their SATs, even though AP scores aren't a required part of the application). But it may be a little early to know if your kid will be interested in going the AP-heavy route.

I am certain this is true. It is also undoubtedly true that a high achieving kid will find a bigger peer group at the W schools. But in terms of college admissions, there's also a numbers game to consider. For example, let's say an admissions officer at Ideal U is looking at 35 strong applicants from Whitman, and 2 strong applicants from Northwood (just to use as an example). Who will have the better chance at admission, the Northwood kids, or #s 34 and 35 from the Whitman pool?

Obviously the W schoosl have many advantages over Wheaton, Kennedy, Rockville, etc. But it's an interesting argument.

[Anonymous]

LOL
Also depends what your kid will major in, in college.

If it is Ethnic Studies in Harvard, vs. Mechanical Engineering in a good State School?

[Anonymous]

OP, I appreciate the question but it is a silly one. I could understand the question of you were considering moving to FredCo or PG County but MoCo is one of the best school systems in the country and it should be obvious that kids make it to the most selective universities from all of the schools in the county.

[Anonymous]

'I agree with the advice to avoid Blair or Richard Montgomery if your kid is not in the Blair magnet/CAP, or in the RMIB program. '

Just curious OP..whose advice were you agreeing with because I don't see this advice in this thread. RM neighborhood kids are all eligible to apply to the IB program for 11th and 12th grades if they have completed the MYP program. They are only competing against themselves for spots which is a HUGE perk for the RM cluster.

[Anonymous]

I worked in college admissions at a top 15 liberal arts college. With similar test scores and similar programs, Kid x who is in the bottom half of the top 20% at a W school is not getting in while kid y who is in the top 10% at Wheaton IS getting in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am certain this is true. It is also undoubtedly true that a high achieving kid will find a bigger peer group at the W schools. But in terms of college admissions, there's also a numbers game to consider. For example, let's say an admissions officer at Ideal U is looking at 35 strong applicants from Whitman, and 2 strong applicants from Northwood (just to use as an example). Who will have the better chance at admission, the Northwood kids, or #s 34 and 35 from the Whitman pool?

Obviously the W schoosl have many advantages over Wheaton, Kennedy, Rockville, etc. But it's an interesting argument.

Probably neither. They compete against each other in the same school but they also compete against everyone that the application officer reads. Changing schools isn't magically going to make the kid a better applicant. The Ws have more competition, but they also get more kids into top colleges. This is precisely BECAUSE their top of the classes is above the other schools. 2 kids from Churchill and Whitman each might get into Harvard/Yale/Princeton while 0 get in from Northwood.

Also I was talking to Harvard admissions officer when I was visiting. They explicitly said that grades and SAT scores are only used to see whether or not the applicant is qualified to go to Harvard, then they are ignored. They estimated that 3/4 of the kids applying are qualified to go. Being #35 as opposed to #1 isn't the crippling disadvantage that you think it is. The applicant will be accepted (or rejected) for some other reason.

I vote for a W school. The environment there is great for a high achiever. DS has had a lot of success finding friends of similar interests as him that I doubt he would be able to find anywhere else.

Of course if you just care about your child getting into a college you can brag about and your child inherits that attitude, I would say that no matter where s/he goes to high school s/he's going to have no chance. The admissions officers can tell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:'I agree with the advice to avoid Blair or Richard Montgomery if your kid is not in the Blair magnet/CAP, or in the RMIB program. '

Just curious OP..whose advice were you agreeing with because I don't see this advice in this thread. RM neighborhood kids are all eligible to apply to the IB program for 11th and 12th grades if they have completed the MYP program. They are only competing against themselves for spots which is a HUGE perk for the RM cluster.

PP here. 7:34 and 8:25 recommended against Blair if you're not in CAP or the magnet. I agree with that. I may be misquoting, but I understood that argument to be that the numbers were more against you at Blair than at Wheaton high schools, because lots more Blair kids are applying to selective colleges than from some other area high schools. s

But, I stand corrected re RM - I didn't know that about neighborhood kids being eligible to enter the IB program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For yucks, you could read The Overachievers about stress at Whitman.

I think that the meaning you intended this sentence to have is not the meaning I'm getting from it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For yucks, you could read The Overachievers about stress at Whitman.

I think that the meaning you intended this sentence to have is not the meaning I'm getting from it.

Well, we can't control how your mind works. For everybody else out there, the Overachievers is an eye-opening book about the high stress levels and cut-throat academic competition at a W school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For yucks, you could read The Overachievers about stress at Whitman.

I think that the meaning you intended this sentence to have is not the meaning I'm getting from it.

Well, we can't control how your mind works. For everybody else out there, the Overachievers is an eye-opening book about the high stress levels and cut-throat academic competition at a W school.

So you did mean to have "yuck" and "Whitman" in the same sentence? That's the meaning I got.