Blair SMCS Open House

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would be more worried that the program goes downhill with the regional magnet changes. But you might as well send your kid and try it.

And take a spot away from a kid whose home school is Blair. Pretty selfish to just “try it” and take a spot from others.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Hoping to connect with parents who were at the Blair open house last night to compare observations. We really loved the teachers. The students were very bright. Everyone seemed happy and engaged. Though it was clear that there are a few schools that send a large number of students and they were all together. Our child is the only one from their school so making us wonder how easy it would be to break into those established groups. Also, the program is what it is because of the teachers so concerned what if the teachers leave. Would love to hear others' thoughts so we can make an informed decision by the 13th.

What are the few schools that send a large number of students?

A question was raised on the future regional model. Though they tried to say all will be well, clearly noone knows at this point.

Also, I noticed the majority of accepted students was of certain race.

What "skin color"? Pasty white? Almond white? Brown? Dark brown? Black? Purple? Other?

That was an observation. Why are you so offended? I am white, majority accepted are Asians. Acceptance is merit based. No lottery. I am all for that. Let the best be the best.

Yet some poster from Blair in-bound in the other thread still insists that the program wouldn't head downhill starting from next year. Look at MIT: when the "racial preference" is forced to be removed from the enrollment metrics since two years ago, 47% of MIT new undergrads are Asian now, compared to 41% previously. MIT is probably the one that most strictly enforces merit-based criteria.

... I'm not saying things are not going to change at Blair, there are plenty of valid reasons to think it will, but are you literally saying "there will be less Asians at Blair after making it regional, so that means it will be worse?"

[Anonymous]

I have a senior in the magnet. She has enjoyed and benefited from the program but the commute, homework and lack of sleep are a lot. Given that and the upcoming program changes, loss of the magnet coordinator, I would not choose it for my younger child and I know other parents who have come to the same conclusion.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My current sophomore came from a middle school with only one other student accepted to SMCS that year. They have plenty of people they are friendly with at school, but haven't formed any close friend groups. I think they think that other kids who came in with a larger group from their middle school have had it easier in that respect, although my kid isn't super outgoing, which probably plays into it as well.

Also, our home middle school was not very good, and they definitely came in with a less solid math foundation than students from some other schools. This made Precalc pretty challenging and they had a lot of catching up to do, but we expected that. My kid loves the science classes, though, and thinks every one of their science teachers has been outstanding. Overall, my kid is happy with the choice to attend SMCS and looking forward to some interesting electives next year.

Similar experience here. The lack of close friends is hard and the work is a grind. It’s a great program if you’re prepared for your family to rearrange your lives to accommodate the intense level of homework (don’t let the kids at the open house mislead you - it’s consistently more than two hours every single night) and for your kid to be permanently sleep deprived! (I guess that sounds like we have regrets…. I’m not sure)

The students at the open house said they get about eight hours of sleep each night. They seemed genuinely happy and spoke positively about the program. The overall atmosphere felt welcoming and supportive. But they also said if you do sports, then expect less sleep.

Yeah, current magnet parent here, that’s not been our experience at all, nor of any of my kid’s friends. As a whole magnet kids are chronically sleep deprived. I remember when we went to the open house they said the same thing and downplayed the homework. I don’t know why - a badge of honor perhaps? The homework load is intense if you plan to do well in the program.

My sophomore probably gets more like 7-7.5 hours of sleep but that’s not solely because of homework it’s because they also have downtime and watch tv, etc. My main observation would be that the kids with the best time management skills fare the best. You have to stay on top of the schedule and deadlines and yes, there is a lot of homework but it’s doable, even with sports (and tv!), if you’re the kind of kid who is organized and stays on top of things. I also agree with the PP that it’s not always the magnet classes that have the most work. My kid had a very hard English teacher last year and that class rivaled the magnets in terms of stress. Also magnet engineering is pretty low key and doesn’t really have much work outside of school. Math is the worst.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My current sophomore came from a middle school with only one other student accepted to SMCS that year. They have plenty of people they are friendly with at school, but haven't formed any close friend groups. I think they think that other kids who came in with a larger group from their middle school have had it easier in that respect, although my kid isn't super outgoing, which probably plays into it as well.

Also, our home middle school was not very good, and they definitely came in with a less solid math foundation than students from some other schools. This made Precalc pretty challenging and they had a lot of catching up to do, but we expected that. My kid loves the science classes, though, and thinks every one of their science teachers has been outstanding. Overall, my kid is happy with the choice to attend SMCS and looking forward to some interesting electives next year.

Similar experience here. The lack of close friends is hard and the work is a grind. It’s a great program if you’re prepared for your family to rearrange your lives to accommodate the intense level of homework (don’t let the kids at the open house mislead you - it’s consistently more than two hours every single night) and for your kid to be permanently sleep deprived! (I guess that sounds like we have regrets…. I’m not sure)

The students at the open house said they get about eight hours of sleep each night. They seemed genuinely happy and spoke positively about the program. The overall atmosphere felt welcoming and supportive. But they also said if you do sports, then expect less sleep.

Students who showed up in the open house are likely signing up not only because they have time but also because they likely feel positive about the program. So the view is biased. I have a kid with very strong math foundation and genuine interest in that. They never spent more than 2 hours per night on STEM course works. Magnet course load was the lightest for them overall. Most of their homework time were actually spending on ELA and social science courses. They spent a ton of free time on exploring deeper and self-study topics they are interested in or on competitions and ECs.

That speaks about what kind of students should accept the offer and go there. If you feel overwhelmed and don’t have confidence that your kids will be successful then don’t send

[Anonymous]

Our child came from a private school and new zero people when she started. Freshman year she needed a little help for a couple of months filling in holes during Precalculus, but otherwise has never had trouble with the coursework. When she accepted, we talked about having a realistic expectation of 3 hours a night on average of homework and did she want to commit to that. That has rarely been true - many days where 1 hour or less and rare days when it is 3 hours. Many more light days than heavy days. In bed by 1030 most nights.

I'm not sure if the folks above posting are trying to scare people, or if there is really is a lot of variability in how hard kids have to work. It does not feel like my child's friends live stressed out either.

As for friends, she had not-close-friends but people to text and sit with at lunch for most of freshman year and then found better friends sophomore year. I actually think that's pretty common when starting a new school.

Has been a very good experience for our child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our child came from a private school and new zero people when she started. Freshman year she needed a little help for a couple of months filling in holes during Precalculus, but otherwise has never had trouble with the coursework. When she accepted, we talked about having a realistic expectation of 3 hours a night on average of homework and did she want to commit to that. That has rarely been true - many days where 1 hour or less and rare days when it is 3 hours. Many more light days than heavy days. In bed by 1030 most nights.

I'm not sure if the folks above posting are trying to scare people, or if there is really is a lot of variability in how hard kids have to work. It does not feel like my child's friends live stressed out either.

As for friends, she had not-close-friends but people to text and sit with at lunch for most of freshman year and then found better friends sophomore year. I actually think that's pretty common when starting a new school.

Has been a very good experience for our child.

There are many people in the wait pool anxiously hoping for spots to open up. My experience last night was positive, and I didn’t share the same concerns that some others expressed here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our child came from a private school and new zero people when she started. Freshman year she needed a little help for a couple of months filling in holes during Precalculus, but otherwise has never had trouble with the coursework. When she accepted, we talked about having a realistic expectation of 3 hours a night on average of homework and did she want to commit to that. That has rarely been true - many days where 1 hour or less and rare days when it is 3 hours. Many more light days than heavy days. In bed by 1030 most nights.

I'm not sure if the folks above posting are trying to scare people, or if there is really is a lot of variability in how hard kids have to work. It does not feel like my child's friends live stressed out either.

As for friends, she had not-close-friends but people to text and sit with at lunch for most of freshman year and then found better friends sophomore year. I actually think that's pretty common when starting a new school.

Has been a very good experience for our child.

Math has consistently been the most homework for my kid, who is very organized. There are also a lot of big group projects that can be challenging when team mates don’t carry their weight and also take many, many hours. The extra period means more homework across more classes. Kids who succeed in the program are not only very smart but very organized and motivated. But they do have hours of homework most nights and at weekends. We’ve had to cancel weekend trips because they don’t leave time for homework and my child won’t miss school ever because even one sick day misses so much content that it’s hard to keep up.

You just need to think hard about whether that’s the high school experience you want for your kid.

[Anonymous]

[list]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our child came from a private school and new zero people when she started. Freshman year she needed a little help for a couple of months filling in holes during Precalculus, but otherwise has never had trouble with the coursework. When she accepted, we talked about having a realistic expectation of 3 hours a night on average of homework and did she want to commit to that. That has rarely been true - many days where 1 hour or less and rare days when it is 3 hours. Many more light days than heavy days. In bed by 1030 most nights.

I'm not sure if the folks above posting are trying to scare people, or if there is really is a lot of variability in how hard kids have to work. It does not feel like my child's friends live stressed out either.

As for friends, she had not-close-friends but people to text and sit with at lunch for most of freshman year and then found better friends sophomore year. I actually think that's pretty common when starting a new school.

Has been a very good experience for our child.

Math has consistently been the most homework for my kid, who is very organized. There are also a lot of big group projects that can be challenging when team mates don’t carry their weight and also take many, many hours. The extra period means more homework across more classes. Kids who succeed in the program are not only very smart but very organized and motivated. But they do have hours of homework most nights and at weekends. We’ve had to cancel weekend trips because they don’t leave time for homework and my child won’t miss school ever because even one sick day misses so much content that it’s hard to keep up.

You just need to think hard about whether that’s the high school experience you want for your kid.

Is your kid in the function track?

[Anonymous]

I’d guess that the parents who claim their kids don’t have much homework have kids who are not in the most rigorous classes, are letting their classmates carry their weight in group projects and are not among the highest achievers. My kid’s workload is very similar to the other very studious high achieving kids they spend time with and it’s a heavy load.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would be more worried that the program goes downhill with the regional magnet changes. But you might as well send your kid and try it.

And take a spot away from a kid whose home school is Blair. Pretty selfish to just “try it” and take a spot from others.

It's not taking a slot if the local kid doesn't make the cut

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d guess that the parents who claim their kids don’t have much homework have kids who are not in the most rigorous classes, are letting their classmates carry their weight in group projects and are not among the highest achievers. My kid’s workload is very similar to the other very studious high achieving kids they spend time with and it’s a heavy load.

No you are at least partially wrong. My kid was in function track, taking most rigorous courses with straight A, as a matter of fact, exhausted all electives in one subject that makes them becoming TA in senior year for a lower-grade course. They have two out-of-school ECs that consume like 15 hours per week practice time, and did well on STEM competitions and did two summer interns that had led to publications and conference presentations. They had like ~ 10 days each year that they couldn't finish homework before 10:30 pm (and they had to arrive home like 9 pm or so 3 nights per week for EC).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d guess that the parents who claim their kids don’t have much homework have kids who are not in the most rigorous classes, are letting their classmates carry their weight in group projects and are not among the highest achievers. My kid’s workload is very similar to the other very studious high achieving kids they spend time with and it’s a heavy load.

Whoa! NP. I had to answer this one. There are students (I know at least one!) who don't fall into any category that you describe and yet doesn't seem to spend much time doing hw. Talk about naive, clueless, obnoxious.

[Anonymous]

The magnet teachers are great, genuinely experts in their subjects, and enjoy teaching. We have two DCs in the SMCS; they have no regrets. Both take the most rigorous math and CS tracks, plus sports. I would say 10th grade is the worst so far, in terms of sleep. Long nights (midnight generally, and into 2 or 3 am, once every two weeks) and group sessions and homework on the weekends, balanced with sports meets and other ECs. If you choose the magnet, be generous with demonstrating your love for your kids. They are still young and need plenty of parental support. It is a sacrifice for both kids and parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d guess that the parents who claim their kids don’t have much homework have kids who are not in the most rigorous classes, are letting their classmates carry their weight in group projects and are not among the highest achievers. My kid’s workload is very similar to the other very studious high achieving kids they spend time with and it’s a heavy load.

No you are at least partially wrong. My kid was in function track, taking most rigorous courses with straight A, as a matter of fact, exhausted all electives in one subject that makes them becoming TA in senior year for a lower-grade course. They have two out-of-school ECs that consume like 15 hours per week practice time, and did well on STEM competitions and did two summer interns that had led to publications and conference presentations. They had like ~ 10 days each year that they couldn't finish homework before 10:30 pm (and they had to arrive home like 9 pm or so 3 nights per week for EC).

How long ago did your kid graduate?