Blair magnet vs TJ: which would you apply to and why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are picking where to live for the wrong reason.
You should pick TJ and VA for better in-state college options

Except if your child wishes to pursue a career in STEM then VA options are a lot worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ, it is easier to get in due to size

I think this is fuzzy math though. Blair kids are selected from much smaller area than TJ - which covers much larger area/kids. One could argue, 500 kids (or whatever the number) from much larger student body has more higher caliber kids than 500 kids from much smaller area.

Yes, the 100 students selected each year for Blair come from a pool of around 8000+. I'm not sure what the numbers are for rising 9th graders for FCPS and how many seats FCPS gets from the TJ allotment.

[Anonymous]

Blair Pluses
Smaller cohort, theoretically higher caliber
More racial, SES diversity

TJ Pluses
Much smaller school
Less competition for certain sports teams
Fewer security issues
More options for college in state
Whole school magnet which theoretically means all classes will be better

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Blair Pluses
Smaller cohort, theoretically higher caliber
More racial, SES diversity

TJ Pluses
Much smaller school
Less competition for certain sports teams
Fewer security issues
More options for college in state
Whole school magnet which theoretically means all classes will be better

Blair has better options for end state college if you want to pursue a STEM career. UMDCP CS, math and engineering are better ranked than any VA school.

[Anonymous]

Blair is gritty. You might like or feel neutral about it but some kids or families might not like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blair Pluses
Smaller cohort, theoretically higher caliber
More racial, SES diversity

TJ Pluses
Much smaller school
Less competition for certain sports teams
Fewer security issues
More options for college in state
Whole school magnet which theoretically means all classes will be better

Blair has better options for end state college if you want to pursue a STEM career. UMDCP CS, math and engineering are better ranked than any VA school.

csrankings.org shows UMD as #11 in the world for CS and #5 for AI. I don't think any VA schools are even in the T25.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the goal of this question? If you live in Maryland you apply to one. If you live in Virginia you applied to the other. Seriously ridiculous.

We are moving into the area and can settle in either state, within boundaries to make an attempt to get in.

Unless I really thought I had a Feynman level genius, I would not do any magnet. Magnets are really great for about the top 1/3rd of the class, but the bottom half of the class at either magnet does not have great acceptance rates either at top private universities or at top public universities. Both Blair and TJ are pressure cookers where grade-driven suicides are not unheard of. College acceptances would be better, grades would be better, snd mental health would be better, if student were in the top 10-15% at their non-magnet high school than being in the bottom 50% of the graduating class at TJ or Blair magnet.

This is not a popular view on DCUM, but why should I care what other people think ?

[Anonymous]

The W high schools in MCPS and the better high schools (e.g., Langley HS, McLean HS, and a few others) in FCPS all offer a wide range of advanced math and science courses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the goal of this question? If you live in Maryland you apply to one. If you live in Virginia you applied to the other. Seriously ridiculous.

We are moving into the area and can settle in either state, within boundaries to make an attempt to get in.

Unless I really thought I had a Feynman level genius, I would not do any magnet. Magnets are really great for about the top 1/3rd of the class, but the bottom half of the class at either magnet does not have great acceptance rates either at top private universities or at top public universities. Both Blair and TJ are pressure cookers where grade-driven suicides are not unheard of. College acceptances would be better, grades would be better, snd mental health would be better, if student were in the top 10-15% at their non-magnet high school than being in the bottom 50% of the graduating class at TJ or Blair magnet.

This is not a popular view on DCUM, but why should I care what other people think ?

I think you're describing TJ more than Blair. The bottom 50% of the class at Blair does really well. A lot of kids want to go to UMD because of the lower tuition and everyone we know who wanted to go got scholarships to go there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Blair Pluses
Smaller cohort, theoretically higher caliber
More racial, SES diversity

TJ Pluses
Much smaller school
Less competition for certain sports teams
Fewer security issues
More options for college in state
Whole school magnet which theoretically means all classes will be better

Getting in UVA or VT or WM from TJ is even more hard than from a base school. Only the top 25% meet the bar. Rest go to GMU, VCU or OOS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the goal of this question? If you live in Maryland you apply to one. If you live in Virginia you applied to the other. Seriously ridiculous.

We are moving into the area and can settle in either state, within boundaries to make an attempt to get in.

Unless I really thought I had a Feynman level genius, I would not do any magnet. Magnets are really great for about the top 1/3rd of the class, but the bottom half of the class at either magnet does not have great acceptance rates either at top private universities or at top public universities. Both Blair and TJ are pressure cookers where grade-driven suicides are not unheard of. College acceptances would be better, grades would be better, snd mental health would be better, if student were in the top 10-15% at their non-magnet high school than being in the bottom 50% of the graduating class at TJ or Blair magnet.

This is not a popular view on DCUM, but why should I care what other people think ?

I think you're describing TJ more than Blair. The bottom 50% of the class at Blair does really well. A lot of kids want to go to UMD because of the lower tuition and everyone we know who wanted to go got scholarships to go there.

This was definitely NOT the experience of our friends and neighbors whose kids went to Blair magnet, but were not in the top 1/3rd of the graduating class.

[Anonymous]

What happened to them? Are you saying it's a tragedy they didn't all go to T25 schools?

Your assertion sounds really off based on the last two years outplacement but I don't know much beyond that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the goal of this question? If you live in Maryland you apply to one. If you live in Virginia you applied to the other. Seriously ridiculous.

We are moving into the area and can settle in either state, within boundaries to make an attempt to get in.

Unless I really thought I had a Feynman level genius, I would not do any magnet. Magnets are really great for about the top 1/3rd of the class, but the bottom half of the class at either magnet does not have great acceptance rates either at top private universities or at top public universities. Both Blair and TJ are pressure cookers where grade-driven suicides are not unheard of. College acceptances would be better, grades would be better, snd mental health would be better, if student were in the top 10-15% at their non-magnet high school than being in the bottom 50% of the graduating class at TJ or Blair magnet.

This is not a popular view on DCUM, but why should I care what other people think ?

I think you're describing TJ more than Blair. The bottom 50% of the class at Blair does really well. A lot of kids want to go to UMD because of the lower tuition and everyone we know who wanted to go got scholarships to go there.

TJ has always been a lot more of a toxic pressure cooker. I heard it's gotten better since cracked down on the rampant cheating but don't really know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What happened to them? Are you saying it's a tragedy they didn't all go to T25 schools?

Your assertion sounds really off based on the last two years outplacement but I don't know much beyond that.

I recently read that two-thirds of the graduation class has a UW3.75. Overall the program and selection process does a great job.

[Anonymous]

DD went to Blair and has a close college buddy who went to TJ. She thinks he got a stronger experience at TJ because it is a whole school magnet so all the classes were filled with very focused kids. Also she felt (though does not know) that they probably had more funding for equipment etc.