blair > tj |
In Prince William the better schools are generally on the Western end of the county in Bristow,Gainesville, and Haymarket. There are exceptions though. In the middle, somewhat Eastern part of the county there is Benton Middle School and Colgan High, which are on par with the western schools. |
There are also individual elementary/middle/high schools with math and science specialty programs, but I don't know much about them. |
In Anne Arundel County, the clusters that are generally best regarded are Severna Park, Broadneck, and South River. But the magnets aren't typically in those clusters, as they are trying to distribute the most involved families/students to areas that are struggling. Check out this link for the middle school stem magnet locations: http://aacpsschools.org/asp/stem/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2540-42C1-STEM-MS-Information-Booklet.pdf |
Sorry - forgot the major exception is that South River does have a STEM magnet at the high school level. |
Blair is not that selective. Around 500 people applied last year-- if the rate was 3% then 15 people would have got in. |
| MoCo's HGC only takes the top 2% or 3% whereas FCPS AAP takes roughly the top 15%. The programs aren't comparable. |
This isn't rocket science. TJ admits roughly 500 students from FCPS annually. The Blair STEM program only admits 100 students from the entire county each year. MCPS and FCPS are comparable. |
| Good grief - Blair and TJ parents: GIVE IT UP. No one else cares about how competitive your snowflake's school is. The OP is looking for good non-test-in options for a FIVE YEAR OLD. And you're having a pissing match instead of being helpful. |
TJ is the best in the whole country! I even read it in some magazine once! |
Playboy? But seriously, as PP said, why don't you (TJ and Blair parents) make a separate thread and go at it? I am sure your participation here is NOT helping OP find answers. |
On paper they are, but in real competitions, they are eating dust!! |
I think the pp is mixing up TJ admissions with the often quoted 15% number thrown around about AAP. |
TJ isn't a part of AAP. The VAST majority of AAP kids don't get into TJ. I will take your word the MoCo's highly gifted program is more selective that AAP, but that has nothing to do with TJ. |
| I'm in nova and the elementary kids super interested in stem all go to nysmith (pre-k - 8th) and then TJ - they have an extensive bus system |