Blair CAP vs. Whitman

Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Reading everything here with interest. My DC has also gotten into CAP but from a non-magnet middle school. PP said that their DD has 2 hours of homework/night. Do others find something similar? Just weighing the extra period with my DC's ADHD and commute time and the stamina to handle a huge homework load daily. Thanks.



Yeah, I would love to know what's the homework differential between CAP and Whitman (if honors class, etc.). For example, if CAP is 2 hours of homework every night, what would it be like at Whitman, for example?

Homework load is so kid-dependent. One of my kids handled 5 APs (with As and 5s) both Jr and Sr years and never spent much time on homework. Other had much less rigorous classes but took much more time to do less homework.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Reading everything here with interest. My DC has also gotten into CAP but from a non-magnet middle school. PP said that their DD has 2 hours of homework/night. Do others find something similar? Just weighing the extra period with my DC's ADHD and commute time and the stamina to handle a huge homework load daily. Thanks.


Assuming they take 7-8 classes, that is 30 minutes per class, so that sounds reasonable. You need to ask your child.


Blair has block scheduling, so kids have 5 classes a day, with one a 90-minute double period and the others 45 minutes apparently (if I'm understanding the website correctly). I wish there was more information clearly laid out on the CAP website about this.
Anonymous
*Five classes a day but still 7-8 classes overall.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Reading everything here with interest. My DC has also gotten into CAP but from a non-magnet middle school. PP said that their DD has 2 hours of homework/night. Do others find something similar? Just weighing the extra period with my DC's ADHD and commute time and the stamina to handle a huge homework load daily. Thanks.



Yeah, I would love to know what's the homework differential between CAP and Whitman (if honors class, etc.). For example, if CAP is 2 hours of homework every night, what would it be like at Whitman, for example?

Homework load is so kid-dependent. One of my kids handled 5 APs (with As and 5s) both Jr and Sr years and never spent much time on homework. Other had much less rigorous classes but took much more time to do less homework.


Don't expect a light HW load at Whitman in all honors/AP classes. Also, the same sort of group of quirky kids exists at every school, you just have to find them.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:OP, we've been having the same debate at our house, although in our case it's a different W school vs. CAP. DD also got into RMIB but won't be going there (which is 100% fine with us). We have two older kids, one of whom went to the home W HS and one of whom went to RMIB, so we have those experiences for comparison.

DD is super into drama/theater, as are all of her Eastern friends, so she wants to go to CAP. My spouse and I have been discussing a lot and basically we decided that it's got to be our choice, not her choice, both for family reasons and based on our evaluation of what's best for her. Here's why we have decided she can't go to CAP:

1) CAP has a great program that's a continuation of Eastern (and really Barnsley as well since that's more of a humanities focus), but we are concerned about the quality of the rest of the classes outside CAP, given non-magnet Blair (which admittedly we have no experience with) vs. WJ. I want her to be able to take AP classes in 9th grade (AP Government), and I want her to have a strong all-around education, not simply a specialty in humanities that is most apparent in the first two years and then tapers off in junior/senior years.

2) The length of the school day (eight periods) and the length of the commute are huge factors. She's on the bus at 7 am and doesn't get home until 4:30 pm as it is (and that is the same bus schedule she'd have next year). With eight periods, that's a lot less time for extracurriculars, downtime, family time, and sleep, all of which are important. I can't find what time the activity buses run, but we aren't on a magnet activity bus route for Eastern and I don't think we'd be on one for Blair.

3) I am tired of not having a parent community to exchange favors and information with. Given the distances, there's no one to carpool with for afterschool activities. There aren't any parents I can rely on to exchange favors when there's a time crunch.

4) Relatedly, the logistics of getting her to/from school are too much for us. With traffic (and there's almost always traffic) it's 25-30 minutes each way. My spouse and I are working from home still but that's not going to last forever -- we can't just get over there to get her quickly on a moment's notice.

5) DD went to Barnsley ES before Eastern, so has been out of the neighborhood friend loop since 4th grade. None of her Barnsley friends went to Eastern, and none are going to the home HS. It's really becoming problematic because every get-together is a schlep, as all her friends are in Silver Spring. That's two hours of driving round-trip for us as her parents. She's lonely on weekends because there's no one local to hang out with. She suffers from some social anxiety, too, so is always reluctant to be the one to initiate a hang-out.

6) We know our home high school. It's a happy, well-run place and it's 600 kids fewer than Blair. Our older kid had a great experience there. DD has been out of the loop with her friends from elementary and the neighborhood, but still knows a lot of them and will reconnect and/or make new friendships. Our DD can put together a rigorous, challenging program and have a lot more time in her day both for school and for extracurriculars at the home HS.

7) We let our other kid go to RMIB -- it was her choice even though we weren't thrilled about it. We have experienced some of the issues above, and it's also been a brutal program both on its own merits and because of the pandemic. It's cost a lot in terms of time, stress, pressure, anxiety, etc. We are not happy that we're making this decision for our youngest instead of letting her make it for herself, but we're much more aware now of the impacts to our whole family of one kid going to a magnet program.

So that's where we are. Reading your posts, I'd say there's no compelling reason for your kid to go to CAP for some of the same reasons we have.


Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'd choose Whitman. Blair is a ridiculously large and over crowded school. The few kids I know who went to CAP were smart, but ended up in meh colleges, for what it's worth. Not saying that's the norm, but getting a leg up in college placement should not figure into your decision to go there. Being you live in the Whitman cluster, I think CAP would not be worth the hassle, since your home school is as good or better.


Your personal anecdote aside, Blair has the most impressive admissions of any HS in the county. Go read the Bethesda Beat issue that shows the stats. There's really no comparison.


Can you link the Bethesda Beat stats article, please


They publish the admission stats for thee schools annually. Blair is always the top performer. It's a great school but having two outstanding small magnets doesn't hurt.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-magazine/september-october-2021/college-bound-6/
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'd choose Whitman. Blair is a ridiculously large and over crowded school. The few kids I know who went to CAP were smart, but ended up in meh colleges, for what it's worth. Not saying that's the norm, but getting a leg up in college placement should not figure into your decision to go there. Being you live in the Whitman cluster, I think CAP would not be worth the hassle, since your home school is as good or better.


Your personal anecdote aside, Blair has the most impressive admissions of any HS in the county. Go read the Bethesda Beat issue that shows the stats. There's really no comparison.


Can you link the Bethesda Beat stats article, please


They publish the admission stats for thee schools annually. Blair is always the top performer. It's a great school but having two outstanding small magnets doesn't hurt.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-magazine/september-october-2021/college-bound-6/


The problem with this chart for Blair -- or for any other school -- is that there's no way to aggregate or disaggregate the data. If you have super-achieving kids applying to 20+ schools and getting into many of them -- well, that's one kid appearing as applied/admitted under multiple colleges. And what happens if you take the magnets out? No way to tell how the magnets skew the picture.

If you look at the "school at a glance" pages on MCPS's website, you can compare numbers like percentage of students taking the SAT and average SAT scores by school, county, and nationwide, % and # of graduates scoring 3 or higher on AP tests, and other data. The progress report cards are extremely outdated but you can compare (at least as of 2017) the cohort graduation rate as well.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Reading everything here with interest. My DC has also gotten into CAP but from a non-magnet middle school. PP said that their DD has 2 hours of homework/night. Do others find something similar? Just weighing the extra period with my DC's ADHD and commute time and the stamina to handle a huge homework load daily. Thanks.


Assuming they take 7-8 classes, that is 30 minutes per class, so that sounds reasonable. You need to ask your child.


Blair has block scheduling, so kids have 5 classes a day, with one a 90-minute double period and the others 45 minutes apparently (if I'm understanding the website correctly). I wish there was more information clearly laid out on the CAP website about this.


Yes, they have an A and B schedule. The two 45 minute classes meet every day (both are CAP classes in 9th) and the other six alternate and meet for 90 minutes.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Reading everything here with interest. My DC has also gotten into CAP but from a non-magnet middle school. PP said that their DD has 2 hours of homework/night. Do others find something similar? Just weighing the extra period with my DC's ADHD and commute time and the stamina to handle a huge homework load daily. Thanks.



Yeah, I would love to know what's the homework differential between CAP and Whitman (if honors class, etc.). For example, if CAP is 2 hours of homework every night, what would it be like at Whitman, for example?

Homework load is so kid-dependent. One of my kids handled 5 APs (with As and 5s) both Jr and Sr years and never spent much time on homework. Other had much less rigorous classes but took much more time to do less homework.


Don't expect a light HW load at Whitman in all honors/AP classes. Also, the same sort of group of quirky kids exists at every school, you just have to find them.

Probably, at a big school, but they don't always find each other. A lot of kids who find their quirky group at Eastern or CAP did not really find their group at their previous schools. It's really a special group of kids.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP, we've been having the same debate at our house, although in our case it's a different W school vs. CAP. DD also got into RMIB but won't be going there (which is 100% fine with us). We have two older kids, one of whom went to the home W HS and one of whom went to RMIB, so we have those experiences for comparison.

DD is super into drama/theater, as are all of her Eastern friends, so she wants to go to CAP. My spouse and I have been discussing a lot and basically we decided that it's got to be our choice, not her choice, both for family reasons and based on our evaluation of what's best for her. Here's why we have decided she can't go to CAP:

1) CAP has a great program that's a continuation of Eastern (and really Barnsley as well since that's more of a humanities focus), but we are concerned about the quality of the rest of the classes outside CAP, given non-magnet Blair (which admittedly we have no experience with) vs. WJ. I want her to be able to take AP classes in 9th grade (AP Government), and I want her to have a strong all-around education, not simply a specialty in humanities that is most apparent in the first two years and then tapers off in junior/senior years.

2) The length of the school day (eight periods) and the length of the commute are huge factors. She's on the bus at 7 am and doesn't get home until 4:30 pm as it is (and that is the same bus schedule she'd have next year). With eight periods, that's a lot less time for extracurriculars, downtime, family time, and sleep, all of which are important. I can't find what time the activity buses run, but we aren't on a magnet activity bus route for Eastern and I don't think we'd be on one for Blair.

3) I am tired of not having a parent community to exchange favors and information with. Given the distances, there's no one to carpool with for afterschool activities. There aren't any parents I can rely on to exchange favors when there's a time crunch.

4) Relatedly, the logistics of getting her to/from school are too much for us. With traffic (and there's almost always traffic) it's 25-30 minutes each way. My spouse and I are working from home still but that's not going to last forever -- we can't just get over there to get her quickly on a moment's notice.

5) DD went to Barnsley ES before Eastern, so has been out of the neighborhood friend loop since 4th grade. None of her Barnsley friends went to Eastern, and none are going to the home HS. It's really becoming problematic because every get-together is a schlep, as all her friends are in Silver Spring. That's two hours of driving round-trip for us as her parents. She's lonely on weekends because there's no one local to hang out with. She suffers from some social anxiety, too, so is always reluctant to be the one to initiate a hang-out.

6) We know our home high school. It's a happy, well-run place and it's 600 kids fewer than Blair. Our older kid had a great experience there. DD has been out of the loop with her friends from elementary and the neighborhood, but still knows a lot of them and will reconnect and/or make new friendships. Our DD can put together a rigorous, challenging program and have a lot more time in her day both for school and for extracurriculars at the home HS.

7) We let our other kid go to RMIB -- it was her choice even though we weren't thrilled about it. We have experienced some of the issues above, and it's also been a brutal program both on its own merits and because of the pandemic. It's cost a lot in terms of time, stress, pressure, anxiety, etc. We are not happy that we're making this decision for our youngest instead of letting her make it for herself, but we're much more aware now of the impacts to our whole family of one kid going to a magnet program.

So that's where we are. Reading your posts, I'd say there's no compelling reason for your kid to go to CAP for some of the same reasons we have.




Seriously. Keep in mind that magnet classes are only half the schedule for all the magnet kids. The other periods, they are in classes with the rest of the student body, and thus there is obviously a very high achieving cohort in the non magnet classes too. And Blair has a ton of very bright, hardworking kids in its general population, and so many class options. The school is also very well-run, and made to feel smaller than it is. I’m not sure your middle to upper middle class kid is going to have a significantly different academic experience in the non magnet classes at Blair vs. Whitman.
Anonymous
What does “CAP” mean?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:What does “CAP” mean?


Communications Arts Program @ Blair. A magnet humanities/media program targeting kids who live in DCC or have attended a DCC middle school.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:We have loved all the classes Blair has to offer (I have a magnet kid) but lots of CAP friends, and classes outside the CAP & magnet are really good too. Plus a million clubs. CAP kids can take magnet classes in 11/12.


Do CAP kids have to get special approval to take the magnet classes in 11/12? My DS is considering the CAP at Blair vs home school that has a strong signature humanities/arts program. But he’s also a strong STEM kid so having the option to take some of the SMAC magnet classes would be a bonus.
Anonymous
As long as they have pre rec’s and there is space. A fair amount of CAP kids take some.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Reading everything here with interest. My DC has also gotten into CAP but from a non-magnet middle school. PP said that their DD has 2 hours of homework/night. Do others find something similar? Just weighing the extra period with my DC's ADHD and commute time and the stamina to handle a huge homework load daily. Thanks.



Yeah, I would love to know what's the homework differential between CAP and Whitman (if honors class, etc.). For example, if CAP is 2 hours of homework every night, what would it be like at Whitman, for example?

Homework load is so kid-dependent. One of my kids handled 5 APs (with As and 5s) both Jr and Sr years and never spent much time on homework. Other had much less rigorous classes but took much more time to do less homework.


Don't expect a light HW load at Whitman in all honors/AP classes. Also, the same sort of group of quirky kids exists at every school, you just have to find them.


I'm sure you can get a fine education at Whitman, but they lack the depth of offerings of Blair because it's not only a large school but hosts 2 magnets.
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