Middle School Magnet Admission Criteria
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Anonymous
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What are they? Does anybody know if they look at MAP-M and MAP-R?
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Anonymous
They look at the school record for fourth and fifth grade -- according to the program coordinator, at the parent meeting. Presumably this includes MAP-M and MAP-R. |
Anonymous
| but mainly it's the test they take in December....which is quite challenging. I think they only look at the rest of the stuff after the testing criteria is met - getting in is very competitive, not too many spots. The Takoma Park magnet often has 800 applicants for 100-125 spots. |
Anonymous
| Does anyone have links to statistics on the number of applicants and number admitted? |
Anonymous
I don't but if I remember correctly, each program had around 800-900 applicants last year and they each accepted just over 100. It is a fairly involved application, so most of the applicants are highly motivated and pretty qualified, so it is pretty tough to get in. |
Anonymous
Than's why I doubt the weight some are putting on the test. Why have the kids go through the essays, collect the grades, and get teacher reccs if it's mainly the test? I don't have an answer, just questioning... |
Anonymous
| I think there is a cutoff score for the HGC admissions. Is it the same for the middle school magnets? (Where you have to get a certain score to have other factors considered). |
Anonymous
| I think even the test they can't just have a cut off score. There are 4 sections (if applying to both programs) and they are all different. What if someone's a standout in 2 but not in the rest? I wonder if there's a way of weighing scores where there's a disparity? (I'm curious, and wish there were some behind the scenes article about the selection process. I know there probably never would be, but curious none the less.) |
Anonymous
Because once some applicants with low test scores have been eliminated from the pool, the remaining high-scorers compete against each other. At that point these other factors have some significance. |
Anonymous
| Is the test age-normed like the the HGC test? |
Anonymous
That would help my DD who has a late July birthday. |
Anonymous
After looking online, I see no clear statistics. I did find several reports on appeals, from which one could glean some statistics. Average scores for admitted students on various tests 2004-05: 25 (Raven), 39 SCAT, 21 on reading |
Anonymous
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they don't consider the PPs statistics (Ravens, etc) , I don't believe. When my son got his scores back from the test (given on a Saturday in December) last year, he did well on 2 out of the 3 tests. On the 3rd one he just didn't score as high as the other kids. He, of course, didn't get accepted. I called the school (not to contest it, just to better understand the criteria) and obviously there are kids who do well on all 3 sections and those are the ones who are considered for the program.
As one of the posters mentioned, once the scores have been evaluated, they have to look at the other items, like the essay questions, teacher recommendations, etc. to determine who to admit. And again...it's competitive, 100 spots for 800 applicants. |
Anonymous
| Does anyone remember what essay questions they asked in the application? |
Anonymous
| IIRC, one question was "describe yourself," one was "describe a challenge you faced and how you handled it," and one was "describe something academic that excited you and why." I'm paraphrasing but those were roughly them. |