Deciding between magnets

[Anonymous]

If your child used to easy As, and not ready to work very hard, do not go to any magnets. Life in magnets is not easy and to get straight As for 4 years is extremely difficult (almost impossible, unless you work very very hard.)
Most courses at magnets are above AP level, so local school for just good smart kid who enjoys live is better option. You may also get better outcome from local school too, since your child will have better GPA.
Children will have a chance to be burned down in college, they do not have to be burned down in HS...

I look at Magnets from different perspective.
If your child is a nerd that does not fit into normal kids circle, then magnets is a must.
I have two nerdy kids with social issues and one is normal kid who is extremely social. So two kids are in magnet, and one in regular school. All are happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I imagine it will be hard for my high performing child to see his grades sink at RMIB..but a good life lesson I think. He is too used to an easy A and being a top student.

Your DS will have to earn it. No easy As.

[Anonymous]

Also choosing... Also hiding sex of DC... Also better logistics with RM...
Logistics is code for many things, more activities outside of school, more of DC's friends will be at RM as well as losing the 60+ min of DC's time and who knows how much parent time driving to projects and activities.
For middle school, we chose home school over Easter and Takhoma mostly because we didn't like the idea of specializing so early when DC had no clear preference. So bored...

[Anonymous]

Agree this decision is dependent on student and family specifics. My child mostly interested in comp sci and to be near some of his friends so basically had mind made up to go to SMCS magnet over RM. Also hardly even considered other two magnet programs and local honors program was accepted to. Very disinterested at RM open house too. Doing wee and very happy with choice so far - although the long days and travel really limit out of school activity options. Makes demands on family too.

[Anonymous]

After reading multiple posts, I gather the general impression of RMIB is this program prepares students to growth to the extend of their entire life, a well rounded better educated person; While the SMACS programs tune to preparing students to have an edge in STEM work force.

I work in a place that have more STEM PhDS than, well, non-PhDS, (we joked about if we throw a stone in the cafeteria during lunch time, we have an 80% the stone hits a PhD)

However, if you isolate the management level and look closer, majority of them are STEM PhDS AND Great writers. They have exceptional time management skill, managing skill, analyzing ability, prompt decision making, and great at presentations, speech.

DC got into RMIB, PHS SMACS and GE. I really want her to choose RMIB, but it will be her decision.

[Anonymous]

I'm the OP of the thread on choosing between Blair CAP and Blair science/math magnet. DC wants to go into STEM as a career but leaning heavily toward CAP in large measure because that's where friends are going. While I think the math/science is better for college applications, and that DC would be happier with the ccurriculum in more science classes than that in more drama classes, I'm also keen for my DC to have fun in high school and appreciate the non-academic aspects. It IS nice to have your friends in your cohort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After reading multiple posts, I gather the general impression of RMIB is this program prepares students to growth to the extend of their entire life, a well rounded better educated person; While the SMACS programs tune to preparing students to have an edge in STEM work force.

I work in a place that have more STEM PhDS than, well, non-PhDS, (we joked about if we throw a stone in the cafeteria during lunch time, we have an 80% the stone hits a PhD)

However, if you isolate the management level and look closer, majority of them are STEM PhDS AND Great writers. They have exceptional time management skill, managing skill, analyzing ability, prompt decision making, and great at presentations, speech.

DC got into RMIB, PHS SMACS and GE. I really want her to choose RMIB, but it will be her decision.

One thing to keep in mind is a lot of RM kids go to engineering/STEM field in college and beyond. I suppose the opposite maybe true for Blair SMAC kids (going non-STEM field) as well. My own kid (RMIB grad) is a PhD student (engineering) at a top tier engineering school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your child used to easy As, and not ready to work very hard, do not go to any magnets. Life in magnets is not easy and to get straight As for 4 years is extremely difficult (almost impossible, unless you work very very hard.)
Most courses at magnets are above AP level, so local school for just good smart kid who enjoys live is better option. You may also get better outcome from local school too, since your child will have better GPA.
Children will have a chance to be burned down in college, they do not have to be burned down in HS...

I look at Magnets from different perspective.
If your child is a nerd that does not fit into normal kids circle, then magnets is a must.
I have two nerdy kids with social issues and one is normal kid who is extremely social. So two kids are in magnet, and one in regular school. All are happy.

It's not that hard to get straight As at
Takoma Park MS. Seems much harder at Eastern.

[Anonymous]

"However, if you isolate the management level and look closer, majority of them are STEM PhDS AND Great writers. They have exceptional time management skill, managing skill, analyzing ability, prompt decision making, and great at presentations, speech."

I can think of many reasons why isolating the management level is NOT the way to start this conversation but that seems to be heading away from the main topic of this thread.

Certainly these are great things to have. "exceptional time management skill, managing skill, analyzing ability, prompt decision making, and great at presentations, speech."

My question is can you learn them before you have any grounding in how to actually do something well?

[Anonymous]

Parent of a girl, deciding between Eastern and Takoma. It is tough that Takoma cancelled the orientation - the Eastern presentation was extremely impressive.

From conversations with other parents, it seems that Takoma is more integrated with the rest of the MS, while Eastern is more of a school within a school?

Any thoughts from parents that have been through the programs appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parent of a girl, deciding between Eastern and Takoma. It is tough that Takoma cancelled the orientation - the Eastern presentation was extremely impressive.

From conversations with other parents, it seems that Takoma is more integrated with the rest of the MS, while Eastern is more of a school within a school?

Any thoughts from parents that have been through the programs appreciated.

I have a 6th grader at Eastern. I think that they are integrated, but my child prefers the magnet classes and magnet teachers to the non magnet program. The magnet program is fantastic if your child loves reading, social studies, and media. There are a couple of downsides as compared to Takoma. I get the impression from talking to TPMS magnet parents that the workload at Eastern is much heavier, at least in 6th. Takoma is on a block schedule (which would be wonderful, imho). Also, if your child plays an instrument they can choose band or orchestra in 6th at Takoma and they can start a foreign language in 6th. (These last two were not important to my child).

I don't think you can go wrong though. Does your child prefer the magnet classes taught at Eastern or the ones taught at Takoma?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parent of a girl, deciding between Eastern and Takoma. It is tough that Takoma cancelled the orientation - the Eastern presentation was extremely impressive.

From conversations with other parents, it seems that Takoma is more integrated with the rest of the MS, while Eastern is more of a school within a school?

Any thoughts from parents that have been through the programs appreciated.

Even though there are more girls at Eastern, your DD will find a nice, tight, supportive peer group at each school. Both programs require a lot of group work. Both are integrated in that you have to take nonmagnet classes with the neighborhood schools. Overall, the magnet classes at both are very strong, though it seems the nonmagnet teachers at Takoma ( in general) are better.

Takoma has nicer facilities and the block system is so much nicer in terms of having longer classes for discussions and labs and for spreading out homework. However, Eastern magnet kids get a lot of special field trips to work on projects that Takoma magnet doesn't provide.

Ask your daughter if she prefers math/science or humanities as this matters most. My Takoma child far surpasses my Eastern child in what she learns in math and science. On the other hand, my Eastern child probably reads, researches and writes as much or more in one quarter as my Takoma child in one year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of a girl, deciding between Eastern and Takoma. It is tough that Takoma cancelled the orientation - the Eastern presentation was extremely impressive.

From conversations with other parents, it seems that Takoma is more integrated with the rest of the MS, while Eastern is more of a school within a school?

Any thoughts from parents that have been through the programs appreciated.

Even though there are more girls at Eastern, your DD will find a nice, tight, supportive peer group at each school. Both programs require a lot of group work. Both are integrated in that you have to take nonmagnet classes with the neighborhood schools. Overall, the magnet classes at both are very strong, though it seems the nonmagnet teachers at Takoma ( in general) are better.

Takoma has nicer facilities and the block system is so much nicer in terms of having longer classes for discussions and labs and for spreading out homework. However, Eastern magnet kids get a lot of special field trips to work on projects that Takoma magnet doesn't provide.

Ask your daughter if she prefers math/science or humanities as this matters most. My Takoma child far surpasses my Eastern child in what she learns in math and science. On the other hand, my Eastern child probably reads, researches and writes as much or more in one quarter as my Takoma child in one year.

One more thing to add, if your DD comes from an HGC, she won't find the workload too difficult at Eastern as they are used to doing big projects. Mine has plenty of free time in 6th grade. Still the volume of work is greater than 6th grade at TKMS, where homework, with the exception of math and a language, was almost nonexistent.

[Anonymous]

Be sure to read the threads on workload. People saying RMIB students do 4-5 hrs of HW per night. If your child loves math and physics it seems Blair would be the better choice. Sounds like kids are happier there than RM pressure cooker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're having a tough time deciding between Eastern and Takoma Par for DD, especially since Takoma has cancelled their orientation meeting.

Why did they cancel?

The meeting was scheduled for Tuesday night, but got cancelled because of schools being closed. TP has decided not to reschedule.

We missed the open house in the fall, figured we would have an opportunity to visit if DD got in. DD is into both humanities and math/science and especially programming.

That's kind of weird, choosing not to reschedule. The CAP meeting was cancelled due to the weather and they just bumped it to the following week.