MCPS High School Magnet Decisions

[Anonymous]

On a different note:
Blair SMCS (30 min drive) vs RMIB(15 min drive);
DD is STEM inclined; looking at safety, diversity, transport, rigor, etc. Which one is better??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On a different note:
Blair SMCS (30 min drive) vs RMIB(15 min drive);
DD is STEM inclined; looking at safety, diversity, transport, rigor, etc. Which one is better??

Tough choice! Go to all the admit days, interview current students, and check out the bus schedules for noth schools. Sometimes the farther school isn't much earlier. Mine ended up choosing Blair because of math progression and that it was closer (also orchestra opps), but RM seemed awesome.

[Anonymous]

Stem inclined? Blair, no question.

[Anonymous]

My DD also was not picked for MS lottery. Our home school had several brilliant kids who all stayed back because of lottery. Now most of them have got multiple invitations, probably highest number invited from our home middle school was from this year! Including my DD. So yes remaining back in home school didn't have a huge disadvantage, which all the parents had feared.
But my eldest went to MS magent and now in Poolesville a day I will tell you that she had so much more awesome learning experience being in the MS magnet - overnight trip to observatory, Boston trip for a week, so many good clubs to choose from etc , all of which my youngest missed because she wasn't picked in the lottery! So it is not just about keeping scores up, it is the overall enrichment! I say put su h programs in more schools and provide access to all the kids who can handle the rigor and can benefit from enrichment!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD also was not picked for MS lottery. Our home school had several brilliant kids who all stayed back because of lottery. Now most of them have got multiple invitations, probably highest number invited from our home middle school was from this year! Including my DD. So yes remaining back in home school didn't have a huge disadvantage, which all the parents had feared.
But my eldest went to MS magent and now in Poolesville a day I will tell you that she had so much more awesome learning experience being in the MS magnet - overnight trip to observatory, Boston trip for a week, so many good clubs to choose from etc , all of which my youngest missed because she wasn't picked in the lottery! So it is not just about keeping scores up, it is the overall enrichment! I say put su h programs in more schools and provide access to all the kids who can handle the rigor and can benefit from enrichment!

Agree and also getting bored at home school for three more years after elementary school is another issue. Nevertheless smart kids just get math enrichment outside while having to put up with simple easy math classes at school.

[Anonymous]

This doesn't relate to TPMS/Blair, but for RCMS/Poolesville SMCS, we were told more than 50% (last year) were *not* from RCMS. So that would be the pre- lottery cohort. At the welcome night this year, we saw so many parents from our middle school (not a magnet MS - maybe 10 or 11 kids). There are only 60 seats at PHS SMCS, and even assuming they put out 70 offers, that's a lot from 1 non-magnet middle school. So perhaps the same thing will happen down county. Maybe a ton of kids from pyle and frost have gotten offers.

[Anonymous]

Poolesville SMCS does not have nearly as high of a yield as Blair so they put out a lot more offers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This doesn't relate to TPMS/Blair, but for RCMS/Poolesville SMCS, we were told more than 50% (last year) were *not* from RCMS. So that would be the pre- lottery cohort. At the welcome night this year, we saw so many parents from our middle school (not a magnet MS - maybe 10 or 11 kids). There are only 60 seats at PHS SMCS, and even assuming they put out 70 offers, that's a lot from 1 non-magnet middle school. So perhaps the same thing will happen down county. Maybe a ton of kids from pyle and frost have gotten offers.

My STEM leaning kid from Pyle got into RMIB but not Blair. There has been silence at school about who else got in..would love to know who else from Pyle kids got invite from Blair or RMIB, and if they are going to accept ( going to wither magnet instead of Whitman). Anyone here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This doesn't relate to TPMS/Blair, but for RCMS/Poolesville SMCS, we were told more than 50% (last year) were *not* from RCMS. So that would be the pre- lottery cohort. At the welcome night this year, we saw so many parents from our middle school (not a magnet MS - maybe 10 or 11 kids). There are only 60 seats at PHS SMCS, and even assuming they put out 70 offers, that's a lot from 1 non-magnet middle school. So perhaps the same thing will happen down county. Maybe a ton of kids from pyle and frost have gotten offers.

My STEM leaning kid from Pyle got into RMIB but not Blair. There has been silence at school about who else got in..would love to know who else from Pyle kids got invite from Blair or RMIB, and if they are going to accept ( going to wither magnet instead of Whitman). Anyone here?

*would love to know how many students from Pyle Middle School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On a different note:
Blair SMCS (30 min drive) vs RMIB(15 min drive);
DD is STEM inclined; looking at safety, diversity, transport, rigor, etc. Which one is better??

STEM inclined or Math inclined? There is a difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On a different note:
Blair SMCS (30 min drive) vs RMIB(15 min drive);
DD is STEM inclined; looking at safety, diversity, transport, rigor, etc. Which one is better??

STEM inclined or Math inclined? There is a difference.

I think either way, Blair has more advanced math, science and computer science classes than RM.

[Anonymous]

STEM inclined (not crazy about math but tests nicely). Any comments on safety between the 2 schools?

[Anonymous]

Similar issues at both schools. RMIB has had more known incidents lately, Blair had more incidents a few years ago. DC who is a junior at Blair has not witnessed any issues personally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On a different note:
Blair SMCS (30 min drive) vs RMIB(15 min drive);
DD is STEM inclined; looking at safety, diversity, transport, rigor, etc. Which one is better??

STEM inclined or Math inclined? There is a difference.

I think either way, Blair has more advanced math, science and computer science classes than RM.

RM offers the same high level math courses (same content, might be packaged differently) as Blair. The science is just as rigorous, and in my opinion better from the standpoint that the two year IB courses have actual breadth and depth of content. Blair has a larger variety of science electives and more topics to sample, but that doesn’t mean more advanced. Blair is definitely better for computer science. RM has a ridiculous amount of clubs and is very competitive in the major competition clubs, including science ones. Both Blair and RM are great programs for math and science- just different emphases and styles.

To the PP, I think the commute is the most important factor for your kid. Pick the shortest one (15 min to RM). And yes if the commute was shorter to Blair I would say Blair. You are talking 30 min extra a day, 2.5 hours per week, to study or be involved in activities. It’s easier to get to school for sports or plays or dances. You are likely closer to more friends. And Rockville Town Center is a great gathering place at lunch, weekends, or library to work together after school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On a different note:
Blair SMCS (30 min drive) vs RMIB(15 min drive);
DD is STEM inclined; looking at safety, diversity, transport, rigor, etc. Which one is better??

STEM inclined or Math inclined? There is a difference.

I think either way, Blair has more advanced math, science and computer science classes than RM.

RM offers the same high level math courses (same content, might be packaged differently) as Blair. The science is just as rigorous, and in my opinion better from the standpoint that the two year IB courses have actual breadth and depth of content. Blair has a larger variety of science electives and more topics to sample, but that doesn’t mean more advanced. Blair is definitely better for computer science. RM has a ridiculous amount of clubs and is very competitive in the major competition clubs, including science ones. Both Blair and RM are great programs for math and science- just different emphases and styles.

To the PP, I think the commute is the most important factor for your kid. Pick the shortest one (15 min to RM). And yes if the commute was shorter to Blair I would say Blair. You are talking 30 min extra a day, 2.5 hours per week, to study or be involved in activities. It’s easier to get to school for sports or plays or dances. You are likely closer to more friends. And Rockville Town Center is a great gathering place at lunch, weekends, or library to work together after school.

Don't listen to this poster who is completely ignorant about the differences in the two programs. I have no idea why someone would want to take the so much time to write stuff that's easily verifiable as false.
The Blair science electives are more advanced and there are more of them and it's the same for math. I have had kids at both and the RMIB one went through the higher level and while they do have their own version of multivariable calc they did not have advanced geometry, discrete math, logic, and all the other things Blair offers.