If my kid wants Wheaton engineering more than Blair but would take Blair if not offered Wheaton

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes of course, because what if he doesn’t get into blair?

My understanding is that Blair is harder to get into than Wheaton, so I am wondering if there is a chance he would get into Blair SMACS and not Wheaton Engineering?

Obviously I know he could get into neither.

— OP

+ 1 million
Wheaton engineering is much much easier to get in, kids who did not get in Blair go there

Not necessarily. It is a smaller program and is growing rapidly in appeal. The above view may have been true several years ago (my first chose Blair over Wheaton because she wanted a broader program), but Wheaton is on the rise, appealing to those with more focused or applied interests and has fewer seats.

As I said previously, I'd apply to both. Then, if kid gets into both, go to the admitted students' events and talk to current students. Program administrators can connect admitted students with current students if they don't know any or if they want more input.

It's not an opinion. It's just a fact. Blair is open to most of the county. Wheaton is open only to DCC kids. Many high achievers from the Churchill, BCC, Whitman districts and others areas are not allowed to apply to Wheaton so they apply to Blair making the competition really intense.

I don't have any knowledge of the Wheaton program so it may be great and I don't dispute that it's growing in popularity as you said, but the fact is getting admission to Wheaton versus Blair is not even comparable.

PP here. I never said opinion. I cited shifting/variable data. So, you can't say conclusively that Wheaton is "much, much easier to get into" than Blair or that admission is "not comparable." You just don't have that data set. That's all. All this talk downplaying Wheaton ( or SS MSs) sounds like W parents! The posturing is so unnecessary.

Though, I guess you could say "not comparable" in terms of subject matter because the kids interested in Wheaton will need to be interested in 1 of 2 specific subject areas, whereas kids interested in Blair would likely have a broader range of interests. These are 2 great programs -- Blair has a history of excellence and has a wider catchment. Wheaton has fewer seats (30 ea program) w/ a growing rep (it's a much younger program, only about a decade old). It's catchment is limited to DCC, but that would include out-of-bounds students already attending DCC MSs. Blair has a wider variety of STEM classes with greater depth in math, some sciences and comp sci. Wheaton is more subject focused and (at least for engineering) more applied in nature. My first (more all arounder) chose Blair over Wheaton, which was the right choice for them. My 2nd (more hands on) chose Wheaton over Blair which was the right choice for them.

I agree w/ others who advise to apply for both. Then, if kid gets in, find out everything you can from admitted events and current students to see which would be the best fit.

It is fair to say that the number of high achieving students in the lower half of the County is much, much larger than the number of high achieving students in the DCC. Look at any dataset from MCPS. It is farcical to believe otherwise.

[Anonymous]

This is why there's so much talk about equity and the achievement gap between the two parts of the county. This is why why MCPS redid all the elementary and middle school magnets based on SES and sending school and then later made them lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes of course, because what if he doesn’t get into blair?

My understanding is that Blair is harder to get into than Wheaton, so I am wondering if there is a chance he would get into Blair SMACS and not Wheaton Engineering?

Obviously I know he could get into neither.

— OP

+ 1 million
Wheaton engineering is much much easier to get in, kids who did not get in Blair go there

Not necessarily. It is a smaller program and is growing rapidly in appeal. The above view may have been true several years ago (my first chose Blair over Wheaton because she wanted a broader program), but Wheaton is on the rise, appealing to those with more focused or applied interests and has fewer seats.

As I said previously, I'd apply to both. Then, if kid gets into both, go to the admitted students' events and talk to current students. Program administrators can connect admitted students with current students if they don't know any or if they want more input.

It's not an opinion. It's just a fact. Blair is open to most of the county. Wheaton is open only to DCC kids. Many high achievers from the Churchill, BCC, Whitman districts and others areas are not allowed to apply to Wheaton so they apply to Blair making the competition really intense.

I don't have any knowledge of the Wheaton program so it may be great and I don't dispute that it's growing in popularity as you said, but the fact is getting admission to Wheaton versus Blair is not even comparable.

PP here. I never said opinion. I cited shifting/variable data. So, you can't say conclusively that Wheaton is "much, much easier to get into" than Blair or that admission is "not comparable." You just don't have that data set. That's all. All this talk downplaying Wheaton ( or SS MSs) sounds like W parents! The posturing is so unnecessary.

Though, I guess you could say "not comparable" in terms of subject matter because the kids interested in Wheaton will need to be interested in 1 of 2 specific subject areas, whereas kids interested in Blair would likely have a broader range of interests. These are 2 great programs -- Blair has a history of excellence and has a wider catchment. Wheaton has fewer seats (30 ea program) w/ a growing rep (it's a much younger program, only about a decade old). It's catchment is limited to DCC, but that would include out-of-bounds students already attending DCC MSs. Blair has a wider variety of STEM classes with greater depth in math, some sciences and comp sci. Wheaton is more subject focused and (at least for engineering) more applied in nature. My first (more all arounder) chose Blair over Wheaton, which was the right choice for them. My 2nd (more hands on) chose Wheaton over Blair which was the right choice for them.

I agree w/ others who advise to apply for both. Then, if kid gets in, find out everything you can from admitted events and current students to see which would be the best fit.

It is fair to say that the number of high achieving students in the lower half of the County is much, much larger than the number of high achieving students in the DCC. Look at any dataset from MCPS. It is farcical to believe otherwise.

I am certainly not saying anything to the contrary. Honestly, people her read in hyperbole in addition to talking in it!

What I am saying is that this program has fewer seats, has a unique focus and is becoming more known/desirable to many students. So I would not agree that it's "much. much easier" to get into.

[Anonymous]

Blair is county-wide; Wheaton is DCC-wide.

I had 2 kids go thru the Engineering program at Wheaton (we are zoned for Northwood) and they loved it. One went to College Park and the other to Penn State.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apply to both.

Then rank Wheaton first on the DCC ranking list and go to the engineering academy if he doesn’t get into the Wheaton magnet or Blair magnet.

My son is at the Wheaton engineering academy and likes it. I haven’t been able to figure out how much less challenging it is than the magnet. But I’m kind of glad he didn’t have to take AP Physics and Pre Cal as a freshman, which he would have had to do for the magnet

Pre Cal as a freshman is t totally accurate. Wheaton magnet kids take Pre Cal for all of 9th and 10th grades. It’s Algebra 2, trig and Pre Cal over two years but sequenced to correspond d better with their AP Physics 1 class and other magnet courses. So it’s called Pre Cal but it’s content isn’t only Pre Cal.

Pre calc = trig. Not called trig for years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Blair is county-wide; Wheaton is DCC-wide.

I had 2 kids go thru the Engineering program at Wheaton (we are zoned for Northwood) and they loved it. One went to College Park and the other to Penn State.

Blair is not county-wide. It pulls from 16 clusters, and Poolesville from the other 9.