Oops, swap in the humanities version of that! |
Really? What about extracurriculars and such? And are the MAP-R scores really that low? |
Do they really care much about extracurriculars, apart from those who may have won a recognizable and verifiable award relevant to their magnet discipline (math competition, writing award). Would they really care that a kid is a good swimmer or started a robotics class recently? It’s easy enough for an applicant to make up and not easy for the admissions panel to verify. |
It's worse to have such subjective criteria. OP's kid clearly has well-resourced parents willing to drive him to a gazillion activities including at 4 am. And accepting a kid because they write a compelling 150 word essay about the joys of working on their parent's car is also stupid. Add that to the focus on using a single data point from the gameable MAP-M or MAP-R tests rather than COGAT and you have some very non-robust selection criteria for these magnet programs, despite some people on this board arguing that they're the best and brightest and the future discoverers of the cure of cancer. |
Swimming, probably not, but they want people who express an interest in the program. |
| If you only get o e essay and you apply to both RMIB and Blair SMCS, how do you distinguish yourself in the essay? |
Yeah I have the same question. |
The student talks about the themself, and gets matched to a program that fits. You can't go to both program, so you don't have to worry about being being invited to both. It's OK to be honest! |
I mean, why would one ever want options? Or a backup in case one doesn't get selected to one's first choice? Certainly, a kid who would might be on the margin for that first choice couldn't possibly be more likely to have a better chance at a second. And why wouldn't they simply want to stay at their home school if they didn't get that first choice? All schools provide equally! And it's not as though kids can have more than one interest growing up. Right? Right?!?!
|
My kid got accepted to both - his essay started with his passion for STEM and then he worked in some of his other interests (literature, history etc) and then tied them together. |
| My kid was accepted in both. I didn’t read the essays. Big reader and loves math. |