Magnet v AP classes

[Anonymous]

Sorry for my ignorance but my kids are not at that age yet and I am not from this area. I am confused about magnet programs in high schools around here. What's the difference between being in a magnet and just taking several AP courses? Does a magnet somehow boost you for college admissions? And if you are in a magnet program within a so so high school, are you anyway physically separated from the other kids in the school? (Does everyone know - "that's a magnet kid over there"). Are there magnets for middle schools too? what's the point of those?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry for my ignorance but my kids are not at that age yet and I am not from this area. I am confused about magnet programs in high schools around here. What's the difference between being in a magnet and just taking several AP courses? Does a magnet somehow boost you for college admissions? And if you are in a magnet program within a so so high school, are you anyway physically separated from the other kids in the school? (Does everyone know - "that's a magnet kid over there"). Are there magnets for middle schools too? what's the point of those?

First, there are 3 application (test-in) programs in MoCo: The Blair math/science magnet, the Blair communication arts program (CAP) and the Richard Montgomery IB program. Only the math-science magnet and the IB program are called "magnets" although the CAP is the third competitive application program, but there's some rule against having two programs labelled "magnet" in one school, or something like that (if someone else knows, maybe they can explain). For all three programs, kids fill out an application (available from the MoCo website), get teacher recs, write essays, and then take a MoCo proprietary test in December. Most of these programs are highly competitive: I think RMIB takes about 1/9 applicants, and the two Blair programs each take 1/5 or 1/6 applicants.

There are also a lot of programs in the "downcounty consortium" that kids can apply to through a lottery. For example, Einstein has an IB program. Because it's lottery, getting in is basically down to luck. I think, however, that if you put Einstein IB as your first choice on the lottery form, the odds of getting in are pretty good.

The Blair magnet kids take "magnet" classes plus APs in non-magnet subjects like english lit and world history. The IB kids take IB classes (check out the RM website for these) plus, typically, AP math and science classes. The CAP kids take CAP classes (writing, journalism, theater) plus AP classes in humanities and sciences, plus Blair magnet classes if they want and meet the prerequisites. The Blair magnet classes are typically very intense. For example, the Blair "Magnet Statistics" class is AP statistics, which is a year-long class, but smooshed into one semester (fortunately the teacher is great), and most of the kids will take AP stat in the spring.

[Anonymous]

9:56 again. I should have clarified that my previous post was about HS magnets. There are two MS magnets: the humanities program at Eastern and the math/science magnet at TPMS. My kid went through the latter and liked it a lot. These follow a similar application process: download the form from the MoCo website, fill out the application, get teacher recs, and take a test in December.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:9:56 again. I should have clarified that my previous post was about HS magnets. There are two MS magnets: the humanities program at Eastern and the math/science magnet at TPMS. My kid went through the latter and liked it a lot. These follow a similar application process: download the form from the MoCo website, fill out the application, get teacher recs, and take a test in December.

Pp, you left out poolesville which is the equivalent of Blair magnet for hs up county and Clemente which is the ms magnet for math science and humanities up county. Op didn't state location...

[Anonymous]

The magnet courses are coordinated -- so the three courses (for example, Media, World Studies and English in the MS Humanities) study overarching themes in an interdisciplinary way, the teachers cooperate, and some projects cover multiple classes. So there's more of a "mission" over several years than individual AP classes.

[Anonymous]

OP -- for math, the magnets tend to have resources and curric options not available in regular schools. For context, I was at the middle school Math Counts regional competition today at U of Md. The top scorers were overwhelmingly dominated by the two magnets.

[Anonymous]

You asked about a magnet boosting a kid's chances in college admission. Colleges are well-acquainted with the magnet programs in suburban DC school districts, so in that sense it really helps. Most colleges assign admissions people to each region, so the regional admissions person will know the differences among schools in this area. If by some chance your kid applies to a school that hasn't heard of his/her magnet, the school summary sheet that the HS guidance counselor sends off with your application will make things quite clear - I think you can see these if you go to individual HS guidance office pages.

On the other hand, your kid in a magnet will be competing against lots of other really bright kids, and typically the magnet schools have 2-3 dozen (yes, dozen) national merit scholarship semi-finalists per graduating class, and this could make it tough. I guess I wouldn't want my kid taking the AP course in a school like RM or Blair, which aren't whole-school magnets, unless they were focused on a non-magnet subject like art. In other words, your hopeful pre-med student in the regular Blair program would face tough competition from the science magnet kids, although possibly this has worked for some.