Top 10 Schools in MoCo

[Anonymous]

due to magnet school student's magnet class schedules, they only can make it to one PE, one art, one social studies period of the day, etc. so YES, they are all together. they can only do one slot of availability given their fixed magnet class slots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:due to magnet school student's magnet class schedules, they only can make it to one PE, one art, one social studies period of the day, etc. so YES, they are all together. they can only do one slot of availability given their fixed magnet class slots.

Not the case at Blair SMAC except for non Magnet classes in the final (additional) class period. If your child has English, social studies or PE in the last period they will be with Magnet kids exclusively/primarily but all the other classes my kid has been in (English, SS, language and PE/Fine Arts) have neighborhood kids which is great. The kids in AP World History are going to be strong students and hard working kids and there are plenty of these at Blair outside of the Magnet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Frankly, I do not give a rat's ass about the ranking. Does my kid have a good shot of getting stellar grades, great SAT and AP scores, learning the material, filling content gaps, having excellent EC activities at the end of 4 years? Is he willing to work hard and not depend on MCPS to spoon feed him? Am I willing to support him? Why would I care what the school rating of any other MCPS school is? Why do I care where Joe Shmoe goes? My student is a rising 9th grader in PHS SMACS program - so should he take it easy because by being in PHS he will automagically succeed?

None of the public and private schools in DMV is of the same caliber as Stuyvesant. We should try and concentrate on what is important.

Blair SMACS puts Stuyvesant to shame

I don't get all the Blair SMACS boosters on this forum ... It's a great program, but you all act like it's God gift to man.

Also, Stuyvesant is the #4 public HS in America on Niche. The number 1 MD high school on that site--Poolesville--is #30. Given how many high schools there are in the country, statistically anything in at least the top 100 is equivalent, so certainly MD high schools can't be said to "put Stuyvesant to shame."

Compare what Stuy have done with over 3000 magnet students with Blair SMACS 400 students and then come talk to me.

[Anonymous]

Just call any Fortune 500 company and ask what they think of Sty students. Then ask about Blair. Compare the responses. Or in the case of Blair, the "Whaaa?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Frankly, I do not give a rat's ass about the ranking. Does my kid have a good shot of getting stellar grades, great SAT and AP scores, learning the material, filling content gaps, having excellent EC activities at the end of 4 years? Is he willing to work hard and not depend on MCPS to spoon feed him? Am I willing to support him? Why would I care what the school rating of any other MCPS school is? Why do I care where Joe Shmoe goes? My student is a rising 9th grader in PHS SMACS program - so should he take it easy because by being in PHS he will automagically succeed?

None of the public and private schools in DMV is of the same caliber as Stuyvesant. We should try and concentrate on what is important.

Blair SMACS puts Stuyvesant to shame

I don't get all the Blair SMACS boosters on this forum ... It's a great program, but you all act like it's God gift to man.

Also, Stuyvesant is the #4 public HS in America on Niche. The number 1 MD high school on that site--Poolesville--is #30. Given how many high schools there are in the country, statistically anything in at least the top 100 is equivalent, so certainly MD high schools can't be said to "put Stuyvesant to shame."

Compare what Stuy have done with over 3000 magnet students with Blair SMACS 400 students and then come talk to me.

Regardless of what you might think, Stuy, Poolesville, and TJ continue to be ranked above Blair.

Give me concrete reasons why you think Blair should be ranked above those schools. Until then I'll maintain my position that the schools are roughly equivalent, given that those other three are whole-school magnets (or at least have magnet programs that are a larger percentage of the student body than at Blair).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just call any Fortune 500 company and ask what they think of Sty students. Then ask about Blair. Compare the responses. Or in the case of Blair, the "Whaaa?"

Exactly. My NYC-area family members have heard of Poolesville, TJ, and Sidwell, in terms of DC-area high schools. When I said we were moving to the DC area, they said "Oh, they have Poolesville and TJ, right? Those are like the Stuy and Bronx Science of the DC area."

None have heard of Blair.

[Anonymous]

alums that is. The NYC magnets are very well known nationally, as are their alumni. It is a proxy for a very strong IQ, horsepower, work ethic, and tenacity. As you can imagine, competing versus millions of students to get in and then succeed.

This rep might change with their new diversity policies their new hispanic mayor put in place for NYC magnet school seats. I plan to stop donating if the data shows drop in quality admits or in test or college placement results. Or them grooming grads to be fluff majors who can't hack math classes in college.

[Anonymous]

meant new NYC superintendent in place.

I think my parents would have put me and my sibs in private school rather than roll the dice on what is currently going on in NYC public schools' magnets. Or they would have relocated out of that borough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just call any Fortune 500 company and ask what they think of Sty students. Then ask about Blair. Compare the responses. Or in the case of Blair, the "Whaaa?"

Exactly. My NYC-area family members have heard of Poolesville, TJ, and Sidwell, in terms of DC-area high schools. When I said we were moving to the DC area, they said "Oh, they have Poolesville and TJ, right? Those are like the Stuy and Bronx Science of the DC area."

None have heard of Blair.

No to poolesville. Ie no national reputation.

Yes to TJ. national rep is strong on Wall street, engineering jobs, colleges, tech jobs.

[Anonymous]

What's with the poolesville booster on here?

WTF is the student body that is even pulling from and how can that compare to SFS, Sty or TJ. Not even close.

like comparing a top Beijing HS to a "top" HS in the boonies of China. No dice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just call any Fortune 500 company and ask what they think of Sty students. Then ask about Blair. Compare the responses. Or in the case of Blair, the "Whaaa?"

Exactly. My NYC-area family members have heard of Poolesville, TJ, and Sidwell, in terms of DC-area high schools. When I said we were moving to the DC area, they said "Oh, they have Poolesville and TJ, right? Those are like the Stuy and Bronx Science of the DC area."

None have heard of Blair.

No to poolesville. Ie no national reputation.

Yes to TJ. national rep is strong on Wall street, engineering jobs, colleges, tech jobs.

You can say no, but I'm not lying when I say that my family members have heard of it, as has my husband, who has worked extensively in higher education. And why wouldn't it have reputation beyond the DC area? It's the number 30 school in the country on Niche and 116 on US News. I really don't understand the Poolesville bashing on this board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's with the poolesville booster on here?

WTF is the student body that is even pulling from and how can that compare to SFS, Sty or TJ. Not even close.

like comparing a top Beijing HS to a "top" HS in the boonies of China. No dice.

Wow. Elitist, much?

Explain to me, then, why Poolesville is ranked #2 in MD on US News (117 overall in the country) and #1 in MD on Niche (#30 nationally).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's with the poolesville booster on here?

WTF is the student body that is even pulling from and how can that compare to SFS, Sty or TJ. Not even close.

like comparing a top Beijing HS to a "top" HS in the boonies of China. No dice.

This one:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/high/magnet-ecology.aspx
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/high/magnet-science.aspx
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/high/magnet-humanities.aspx

The information is easy to find on line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's with the poolesville booster on here?

WTF is the student body that is even pulling from and how can that compare to SFS, Sty or TJ. Not even close.

like comparing a top Beijing HS to a "top" HS in the boonies of China. No dice.

This one:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/high/magnet-ecology.aspx
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/high/magnet-science.aspx
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/high/magnet-humanities.aspx

The information is easy to find on line.

The thing is, though, PP fundamentally believes upcounty kids are stupider than downcounty. That's why a magnet school that draws from those kids can't possibly be as good as one that draws from downcounty kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Frankly, I do not give a rat's ass about the ranking. Does my kid have a good shot of getting stellar grades, great SAT and AP scores, learning the material, filling content gaps, having excellent EC activities at the end of 4 years? Is he willing to work hard and not depend on MCPS to spoon feed him? Am I willing to support him? Why would I care what the school rating of any other MCPS school is? Why do I care where Joe Shmoe goes? My student is a rising 9th grader in PHS SMACS program - so should he take it easy because by being in PHS he will automagically succeed?

None of the public and private schools in DMV is of the same caliber as Stuyvesant. We should try and concentrate on what is important.

Blair SMACS puts Stuyvesant to shame

I don't get all the Blair SMACS boosters on this forum ... It's a great program, but you all act like it's God gift to man.

Also, Stuyvesant is the #4 public HS in America on Niche. The number 1 MD high school on that site--Poolesville--is #30. Given how many high schools there are in the country, statistically anything in at least the top 100 is equivalent, so certainly MD high schools can't be said to "put Stuyvesant to shame."

Compare what Stuy have done with over 3000 magnet students with Blair SMACS 400 students and then come talk to me.

Regardless of what you might think, Stuy, Poolesville, and TJ continue to be ranked above Blair.

Give me concrete reasons why you think Blair should be ranked above those schools. Until then I'll maintain my position that the schools are roughly equivalent, given that those other three are whole-school magnets (or at least have magnet programs that are a larger percentage of the student body than at Blair).

Are you really that gullible?
On PAPER, they will always rank above Blair. They are all-Magnet schools (except for Poolesville which is three Quarter Magnet ). Also , Blair is minority -Majority, so they will never rank Blair higher.
But on the field performances, where it actually matters, none of them can match Blair. Blair outshines them all.