Magnet High Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS have a school similar to TJ in Virginia? What school would that be?

No. They have magnet programs embedded in different schools. The top three in demand are Blair, Richard Montgomery, and Poolesville. But there are many more.
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/high/

Are they any good? Is it a difficult process to get in? I had a foster child this year who went to an engineering magnet middle school and I was shocked at how easy her classes were and how bad her teachers were.

Blair magnet is a rough equivalent of TJ. Probably, slightly less rigorous but equally difficult to get in. RM magnet is humanities so can't be compared to TJ.
Don't know much about Poolesville.

No, Blair is definitely more difficult to get in and is honestly a bit more rigorous than TJ

Although smaller Blair has a higher SAT average, Intel scholars, NMSF, members of USA Math & Physics Olympiads and beats the stuffing out of TJ on It's Academic just for fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS have a school similar to TJ in Virginia? What school would that be?

No. They have magnet programs embedded in different schools. The top three in demand are Blair, Richard Montgomery, and Poolesville. But there are many more.
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/high/

Are they any good? Is it a difficult process to get in? I had a foster child this year who went to an engineering magnet middle school and I was shocked at how easy her classes were and how bad her teachers were.

Blair magnet is a rough equivalent of TJ. Probably, slightly less rigorous but equally difficult to get in. RM magnet is humanities so can't be compared to TJ.
Don't know much about Poolesville.

Wheaton also has stem magnets.

Only 3 magnets in MoCo HS - PHS, RM/IB, and Blair STEM. Others call themselves "magnet" but they are not true magnets

That's just untrue. Blair/CAP is criteria-based, as are the regional IB programs, Wheaton BioMedical Engineering, and the portfolio-based Einstein Visual Arts Program.

There are probably some others I'm forgetting, but it's certainly not just the three you mentioned.

Yes there are a wide range of admission based. magnets in Moco. FCPS seems to just have a single stem magnet that it shares with 3 or 4 other counties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS have a school similar to TJ in Virginia? What school would that be?

No. They have magnet programs embedded in different schools. The top three in demand are Blair, Richard Montgomery, and Poolesville. But there are many more.
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/high/

Are they any good? Is it a difficult process to get in? I had a foster child this year who went to an engineering magnet middle school and I was shocked at how easy her classes were and how bad her teachers were.

This year was a poor year to judge anything by. Classes covered much less content and the grading system was changed to be very generous.

What middle school are you talking about? MCPS doesn’t have an engineering magnet. If you meant Parkland MMS, be aware that the school is a whole school magnet and students in the entire catchment area are assigned by lottery (plus one here from out of area, also chosen by lottery.) It’s a very different program from a competitive application based magnet.

Says the employee of MCPS. Note: everyone in MoCo has a family member who works for the schools so they have vested interest in pretending it’s not an utter s*** show. The only good thing about MoCo are the cram schools - mathnaseum, Kumon, Et al. Everyone now realizes after Covid - it’s just a place to meet friends. The real work occurs after school. (South Korean model of education)

OP here. Yes, it was Parkland Middle School. I was surprised at how easy some of her teachers were. She'd show up to class, the teacher would take attendance, and then she would let them leave. I actually thought my foster dd was lying so I made sure to listen in a few times. Sure enough the teacher kept her for a total of 4 minutes. Other teachers did similar the orchestra teacher would say go practice for the whole class, or English teacher would say go read a book.

Also, my children attend other MCPS schools and we couldn't be happier with them. They are not an utter s***show. I was so impressed that they turned a sucky year into the best they could.

Hey OP - please consider that your foster daughter might not appreciate you sharing this story here. As foster parents, we have a special obligation not to break confidence - even more so than for our bio kids. Advertising that a girl child at Parkland, who does orchestra, was placed in foster care in another part of the county and that her foster mom "thought she was lying" about school isn't exactly showing the level of respect we've been trained to show these kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS have a school similar to TJ in Virginia? What school would that be?

No. They have magnet programs embedded in different schools. The top three in demand are Blair, Richard Montgomery, and Poolesville. But there are many more.
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/high/

Are they any good? Is it a difficult process to get in? I had a foster child this year who went to an engineering magnet middle school and I was shocked at how easy her classes were and how bad her teachers were.

This year was a poor year to judge anything by. Classes covered much less content and the grading system was changed to be very generous.

What middle school are you talking about? MCPS doesn’t have an engineering magnet. If you meant Parkland MMS, be aware that the school is a whole school magnet and students in the entire catchment area are assigned by lottery (plus one here from out of area, also chosen by lottery.) It’s a very different program from a competitive application based magnet.

Says the employee of MCPS. Note: everyone in MoCo has a family member who works for the schools so they have vested interest in pretending it’s not an utter s*** show. The only good thing about MoCo are the cram schools - mathnaseum, Kumon, Et al. Everyone now realizes after Covid - it’s just a place to meet friends. The real work occurs after school. (South Korean model of education)

OP here. Yes, it was Parkland Middle School. I was surprised at how easy some of her teachers were. She'd show up to class, the teacher would take attendance, and then she would let them leave. I actually thought my foster dd was lying so I made sure to listen in a few times. Sure enough the teacher kept her for a total of 4 minutes. Other teachers did similar the orchestra teacher would say go practice for the whole class, or English teacher would say go read a book.

Also, my children attend other MCPS schools and we couldn't be happier with them. They are not an utter s***show. I was so impressed that they turned a sucky year into the best they could.

Hey OP - please consider that your foster daughter might not appreciate you sharing this story here. As foster parents, we have a special obligation not to break confidence - even more so than for our bio kids. Advertising that a girl child at Parkland, who does orchestra, was placed in foster care in another part of the county and that her foster mom "thought she was lying" about school isn't exactly showing the level of respect we've been trained to show these kids.

Thanks for helping to keep their confidence. She was in another elective that was different than orchestra. Just using it as a for instance. Many details were changed. Pretty sure that you would not be able to tell who she was even if you were a teacher there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS have a school similar to TJ in Virginia? What school would that be?

No. They have magnet programs embedded in different schools. The top three in demand are Blair, Richard Montgomery, and Poolesville. But there are many more.
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/high/

Are they any good? Is it a difficult process to get in? I had a foster child this year who went to an engineering magnet middle school and I was shocked at how easy her classes were and how bad her teachers were.

Blair magnet is a rough equivalent of TJ. Probably, slightly less rigorous but equally difficult to get in. RM magnet is humanities so can't be compared to TJ.
Don't know much about Poolesville.

No, Blair is definitely more difficult to get in and is honestly a bit more rigorous than TJ

Although smaller Blair has a higher SAT average, Intel scholars, NMSF, members of USA Math & Physics Olympiads and beats the stuffing out of TJ on It's Academic just for fun.

The smaller is the key part. Blair picks the roughly 100 great students out of a similar sized county and TJ picks hundreds every year. They get to dip a lower in the pool due to being lager. That will always dilute your scores. The same effect why Blair has one of the lower SAT scores in the county despite having the program embedded to boost scores and perceptions. The larger school simply drowns out the statistics but one can speculate how low they would rank without importing those almost 100 kids assuming a few make it in form the IB naturally. While Takoma middle puts more kids in the program than any other middle, most of those kids are out of bounds too in the middle magnet except for the 25 set aside seats which were created because local kids were getting squeezed out of the local program by higher testing W kids.

This is where all the prepping accusations come from (because how dare a kids read a book prior to a test, cheaters) and why the East county wants to consider local peer group for admissions to tip the scales in the local favor. Funny part it is a quiet self own to all people who claim to have bought cheaper houses to get a more “better” peer group but turn around and want considerations for not having better peers for their kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS have a school similar to TJ in Virginia? What school would that be?

No. They have magnet programs embedded in different schools. The top three in demand are Blair, Richard Montgomery, and Poolesville. But there are many more.
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/high/

Are they any good? Is it a difficult process to get in? I had a foster child this year who went to an engineering magnet middle school and I was shocked at how easy her classes were and how bad her teachers were.

Blair magnet is a rough equivalent of TJ. Probably, slightly less rigorous but equally difficult to get in. RM magnet is humanities so can't be compared to TJ.
Don't know much about Poolesville.

No, Blair is definitely more difficult to get in and is honestly a bit more rigorous than TJ

Although smaller Blair has a higher SAT average, Intel scholars, NMSF, members of USA Math & Physics Olympiads and beats the stuffing out of TJ on It's Academic just for fun.

The smaller is the key part. Blair picks the roughly 100 great students out of a similar sized county and TJ picks hundreds every year. They get to dip a lower in the pool due to being lager. That will always dilute your scores. The same effect why Blair has one of the lower SAT scores in the county despite having the program embedded to boost scores and perceptions. The larger school simply drowns out the statistics but one can speculate how low they would rank without importing those almost 100 kids assuming a few make it in form the IB naturally. While Takoma middle puts more kids in the program than any other middle, most of those kids are out of bounds too in the middle magnet except for the 25 set aside seats which were created because local kids were getting squeezed out of the local program by higher testing W kids.

This is where all the prepping accusations come from (because how dare a kids read a book prior to a test, cheaters) and why the East county wants to consider local peer group for admissions to tip the scales in the local favor. Funny part it is a quiet self own to all people who claim to have bought cheaper houses to get a more “better” peer group but turn around and want considerations for not having better peers for their kids.

No one is concerned about students reading books before a test. The vast majority of highly gifted kids are readers or self-teachers. It’s the factory farmed kids who are being drilled for hours every week for years in private programs that tout themselves as the path to magnet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS have a school similar to TJ in Virginia? What school would that be?

No. They have magnet programs embedded in different schools. The top three in demand are Blair, Richard Montgomery, and Poolesville. But there are many more.
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/high/

Are they any good? Is it a difficult process to get in? I had a foster child this year who went to an engineering magnet middle school and I was shocked at how easy her classes were and how bad her teachers were.

Blair magnet is a rough equivalent of TJ. Probably, slightly less rigorous but equally difficult to get in. RM magnet is humanities so can't be compared to TJ.
Don't know much about Poolesville.

No, Blair is definitely more difficult to get in and is honestly a bit more rigorous than TJ

Although smaller Blair has a higher SAT average, Intel scholars, NMSF, members of USA Math & Physics Olympiads and beats the stuffing out of TJ on It's Academic just for fun.

The smaller is the key part. Blair picks the roughly 100 great students out of a similar sized county and TJ picks hundreds every year. They get to dip a lower in the pool due to being lager. That will always dilute your scores. The same effect why Blair has one of the lower SAT scores in the county despite having the program embedded to boost scores and perceptions. The larger school simply drowns out the statistics but one can speculate how low they would rank without importing those almost 100 kids assuming a few make it in form the IB naturally. While Takoma middle puts more kids in the program than any other middle, most of those kids are out of bounds too in the middle magnet except for the 25 set aside seats which were created because local kids were getting squeezed out of the local program by higher testing W kids.

This is where all the prepping accusations come from (because how dare a kids read a book prior to a test, cheaters) and why the East county wants to consider local peer group for admissions to tip the scales in the local favor. Funny part it is a quiet self own to all people who claim to have bought cheaper houses to get a more “better” peer group but turn around and want considerations for not having better peers for their kids.

No one is concerned about students reading books before a test. The vast majority of highly gifted kids are readers or self-teachers. It’s the factory farmed kids who are being drilled for hours every week for years in private programs that tout themselves as the path to magnet.

DP.. and so what if they do study extra harder to get into a competitive magnet?

I used to think like you, but I realized that when a parent hires a coach for a kid to get better in athletics, no one bats an eye, but if they do this for academics, then it's considered terrible. Why? IMO, academics is more important than athletics.

And before you think I hired a tutor for my kids, I have never done so. My DC is in a test in magnet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS have a school similar to TJ in Virginia? What school would that be?

No. They have magnet programs embedded in different schools. The top three in demand are Blair, Richard Montgomery, and Poolesville. But there are many more.
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/high/

Are they any good? Is it a difficult process to get in? I had a foster child this year who went to an engineering magnet middle school and I was shocked at how easy her classes were and how bad her teachers were.

Blair magnet is a rough equivalent of TJ. Probably, slightly less rigorous but equally difficult to get in. RM magnet is humanities so can't be compared to TJ.
Don't know much about Poolesville.

No, Blair is definitely more difficult to get in and is honestly a bit more rigorous than TJ

Although smaller Blair has a higher SAT average, Intel scholars, NMSF, members of USA Math & Physics Olympiads and beats the stuffing out of TJ on It's Academic just for fun.

The smaller is the key part. Blair picks the roughly 100 great students out of a similar sized county and TJ picks hundreds every year. They get to dip a lower in the pool due to being lager. That will always dilute your scores. The same effect why Blair has one of the lower SAT scores in the county despite having the program embedded to boost scores and perceptions. The larger school simply drowns out the statistics but one can speculate how low they would rank without importing those almost 100 kids assuming a few make it in form the IB naturally. While Takoma middle puts more kids in the program than any other middle, most of those kids are out of bounds too in the middle magnet except for the 25 set aside seats which were created because local kids were getting squeezed out of the local program by higher testing W kids.

This is where all the prepping accusations come from (because how dare a kids read a book prior to a test, cheaters) and why the East county wants to consider local peer group for admissions to tip the scales in the local favor. Funny part it is a quiet self own to all people who claim to have bought cheaper houses to get a more “better” peer group but turn around and want considerations for not having better peers for their kids.

Wrong, idiot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS have a school similar to TJ in Virginia? What school would that be?

No. They have magnet programs embedded in different schools. The top three in demand are Blair, Richard Montgomery, and Poolesville. But there are many more.
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/high/

Are they any good? Is it a difficult process to get in? I had a foster child this year who went to an engineering magnet middle school and I was shocked at how easy her classes were and how bad her teachers were.

Blair magnet is a rough equivalent of TJ. Probably, slightly less rigorous but equally difficult to get in. RM magnet is humanities so can't be compared to TJ.
Don't know much about Poolesville.

No, Blair is definitely more difficult to get in and is honestly a bit more rigorous than TJ

Although smaller Blair has a higher SAT average, Intel scholars, NMSF, members of USA Math & Physics Olympiads and beats the stuffing out of TJ on It's Academic just for fun.

The smaller is the key part. Blair picks the roughly 100 great students out of a similar sized county and TJ picks hundreds every year. They get to dip a lower in the pool due to being lager. That will always dilute your scores. The same effect why Blair has one of the lower SAT scores in the county despite having the program embedded to boost scores and perceptions. The larger school simply drowns out the statistics but one can speculate how low they would rank without importing those almost 100 kids assuming a few make it in form the IB naturally. While Takoma middle puts more kids in the program than any other middle, most of those kids are out of bounds too in the middle magnet except for the 25 set aside seats which were created because local kids were getting squeezed out of the local program by higher testing W kids.

This is where all the prepping accusations come from (because how dare a kids read a book prior to a test, cheaters) and why the East county wants to consider local peer group for admissions to tip the scales in the local favor. Funny part it is a quiet self own to all people who claim to have bought cheaper houses to get a more “better” peer group but turn around and want considerations for not having better peers for their kids.

Yes Blair and PHS pick 100 top stem students from a similar sized county whereas TJ picks 500 students from 4 counties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
DP.. and so what if they do study extra harder to get into a competitive magnet?

I used to think like you, but I realized that when a parent hires a coach for a kid to get better in athletics, no one bats an eye, but if they do this for academics, then it's considered terrible. Why? IMO, academics is more important than athletics.

And before you think I hired a tutor for my kids, I have never done so. My DC is in a test in magnet.

Plenty of people bat an eye.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS have a school similar to TJ in Virginia? What school would that be?

No. They have magnet programs embedded in different schools. The top three in demand are Blair, Richard Montgomery, and Poolesville. But there are many more.
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/high/

Are they any good? Is it a difficult process to get in? I had a foster child this year who went to an engineering magnet middle school and I was shocked at how easy her classes were and how bad her teachers were.

Blair magnet is a rough equivalent of TJ. Probably, slightly less rigorous but equally difficult to get in. RM magnet is humanities so can't be compared to TJ.
Don't know much about Poolesville.

No, Blair is definitely more difficult to get in and is honestly a bit more rigorous than TJ

Although smaller Blair has a higher SAT average, Intel scholars, NMSF, members of USA Math & Physics Olympiads and beats the stuffing out of TJ on It's Academic just for fun.

The smaller is the key part. Blair picks the roughly 100 great students out of a similar sized county and TJ picks hundreds every year. They get to dip a lower in the pool due to being lager. That will always dilute your scores. The same effect why Blair has one of the lower SAT scores in the county despite having the program embedded to boost scores and perceptions. The larger school simply drowns out the statistics but one can speculate how low they would rank without importing those almost 100 kids assuming a few make it in form the IB naturally. While Takoma middle puts more kids in the program than any other middle, most of those kids are out of bounds too in the middle magnet except for the 25 set aside seats which were created because local kids were getting squeezed out of the local program by higher testing W kids.

This is where all the prepping accusations come from (because how dare a kids read a book prior to a test, cheaters) and why the East county wants to consider local peer group for admissions to tip the scales in the local favor. Funny part it is a quiet self own to all people who claim to have bought cheaper houses to get a more “better” peer group but turn around and want considerations for not having better peers for their kids.

Yes Blair and PHS pick 100 top stem students from a similar sized county whereas TJ picks 500 students from 4 counties.

The largest demographic cohort common to Blair and West county schools has an SAT average around 50 points higher than any W. This is ironic since the magnet also is largely Asian and has little impact on this. It is funny that when you dig a little deeper you discover that things aren't always what some people would like you to believe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS have a school similar to TJ in Virginia? What school would that be?

No. They have magnet programs embedded in different schools. The top three in demand are Blair, Richard Montgomery, and Poolesville. But there are many more.
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/high/

Are they any good? Is it a difficult process to get in? I had a foster child this year who went to an engineering magnet middle school and I was shocked at how easy her classes were and how bad her teachers were.

This year was a poor year to judge anything by. Classes covered much less content and the grading system was changed to be very generous.

What middle school are you talking about? MCPS doesn’t have an engineering magnet. If you meant Parkland MMS, be aware that the school is a whole school magnet and students in the entire catchment area are assigned by lottery (plus one here from out of area, also chosen by lottery.) It’s a very different program from a competitive application based magnet.

She might mean a VA MS given her reference to TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS have a school similar to TJ in Virginia? What school would that be?

No. They have magnet programs embedded in different schools. The top three in demand are Blair, Richard Montgomery, and Poolesville. But there are many more.
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/high/

Are they any good? Is it a difficult process to get in? I had a foster child this year who went to an engineering magnet middle school and I was shocked at how easy her classes were and how bad her teachers were.

This year was a poor year to judge anything by. Classes covered much less content and the grading system was changed to be very generous.

What middle school are you talking about? MCPS doesn’t have an engineering magnet. If you meant Parkland MMS, be aware that the school is a whole school magnet and students in the entire catchment area are assigned by lottery (plus one here from out of area, also chosen by lottery.) It’s a very different program from a competitive application based magnet.

She might mean a VA MS given her reference to TJ.

Whoops - guess not. At any rate, I agree that last year is hardly a good year to judge any school by. That said, the equivalent of Blair at the MS level is Takoma Park and Eastern magnets - not Parkland - because TP and Eastern are application magnets and Parkland is a lottery. This is no slight to Parkland - I know a couple kids who went through that program and are doing exceedingly well, and the parents were very happy with the education (but it was a few years ago).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
DP.. and so what if they do study extra harder to get into a competitive magnet?

I used to think like you, but I realized that when a parent hires a coach for a kid to get better in athletics, no one bats an eye, but if they do this for academics, then it's considered terrible. Why? IMO, academics is more important than athletics.

And before you think I hired a tutor for my kids, I have never done so. My DC is in a test in magnet.

Plenty of people bat an eye.

really? How many posts are there on this forum about people making negative comments about hiring private coaches for some sport vs about people hiring tutors for kids who aren't behind academically?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
DP.. and so what if they do study extra harder to get into a competitive magnet?

I used to think like you, but I realized that when a parent hires a coach for a kid to get better in athletics, no one bats an eye, but if they do this for academics, then it's considered terrible. Why? IMO, academics is more important than athletics.

And before you think I hired a tutor for my kids, I have never done so. My DC is in a test in magnet.

Plenty of people bat an eye.

really? How many posts are there on this forum about people making negative comments about hiring private coaches for some sport vs about people hiring tutors for kids who aren't behind academically?

This isn't a sports forum.