Middle school magnet waitlist

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to be clear, if there are 137 seats, they are only adding 25 (about one extra class). Eastern had 112 seats before. Also, I have heard a lot of people are getting both offers. It is starting to look intentional on MCPS’s part. Maybe to make to make the waitpool more predictable. You have to decline the other offer so there’s less likelihood of last minute changes, eg if your child really wanted STEM but got into Humanities first.

Oh wow. That makes a lot of sense.

So maybe there are 3 pulls - kids who are in both lotteries, and kids who are in one lottery only.

NP. My DC also got invites to both EMS (on Wed.) and TPMS (yesterday). DC feels torn having to choose one over the other, or neither.

Oops, I meant Tue. for EMS invite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eastern seems to be bursting at the seams. I don’t understand how they can add spots. That’s crazy.

Parent demand is the driver. Nearly any thread about the lottery includes a complaint there are so few seats.

They could easily add a 3rd or 4th stem magnet, and there would be plenty of kids up to the challenge able to fill those seats. Seems like a no-brainer and would make many parents happy, but the county is more focused on things like honors for all, bathroom security, and RJ than providing for the needs of all their students.

There are also students who excel in the humanities and need a challenge.

[Anonymous]

I like the way they are doing it this year with pulling a name from the lottery and then offering them all the magnets they qualify for until presumably the seats are filled in one or the other. At that point I guess they would just offer the one not filled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We received two emails directly to our email addresses (both parents), yesterday from Eastern and today from Takoma Park. Nothing has been posted anywhere in ParentVUE. We have until Monday to decide by filling out a google form.

Wow, that’s pretty insane luck to win the lottery for both schools on a waitlist round which has presumably way fewer seats bouncing around. We were lottery losers but have a few friends who accepted spots last year. The vibe we’ve gotten is the math/sci/comp sci is great at TKPK but the other courses not so great, same spiel but the reverse for Eastern, and the kids we know all had rougher social starts to middle school than the kids who matriculated to home school middle schools. Lots of HW at Eastern.

I have a kid at TPMS and do not agree with that assessment. The non magnet teachers are without exception excellent too.

Same and we've been really impressed with the overall quality of the school as a whole.

That’s great. It’s entirely possible the friends were trying to be humble/not brag to us since our child didn’t have luck with the lottery and theirs did.

It's a great program if you happen to get in but you could easily supplement to achieve comparable math and CS. Comparable science is less available to my knowledge.

The MCCPTA GEC FB group said that Takoma no longer offers a different science class. It is the same science class offered across MCPS, but it includes only kids in the magnet so probably is. a bit more rigorous. But it's no longer a separate curriculum. This is a real bummer for those of us with kids who really are into science.

That’s not correct. They follow the same curriculum but they go into it in more depth and they cover it quicker, adding additional content too. You need to get that corrected and stop spreading misinformation. Reach out to the magnet coordinator to get confirmation that this is true, but it’s a math science and computer science magnet so OF COURSE the science is more advanced. The course has a different title too, it’s “magnet science” not science. The only thing I’m seats if that’s changed is that the forensics project in 7th grade is no longer part of the magnet curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to be clear, if there are 137 seats, they are only adding 25 (about one extra class). Eastern had 112 seats before. Also, I have heard a lot of people are getting both offers. It is starting to look intentional on MCPS’s part. Maybe to make to make the waitpool more predictable. You have to decline the other offer so there’s less likelihood of last minute changes, eg if your child really wanted STEM but got into Humanities first.

Oh wow. That makes a lot of sense.

So maybe there are 3 pulls - kids who are in both lotteries, and kids who are in one lottery only.

NP. My DC also got invites to both EMS (on Wed.) and TPMS (yesterday). DC feels torn having to choose one over the other, or neither.

Oops, I meant Tue. for EMS invite.

DP - I know these things can happen, but I think it’s utter BS that kids can “win” both lotteries, when so many don’t even get one. That just sucks. Many kids, including my DD, were entered in both lotteries and selected from neither. That multiple people can be selected from both really needs to stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We received two emails directly to our email addresses (both parents), yesterday from Eastern and today from Takoma Park. Nothing has been posted anywhere in ParentVUE. We have until Monday to decide by filling out a google form.

Wow, that’s pretty insane luck to win the lottery for both schools on a waitlist round which has presumably way fewer seats bouncing around. We were lottery losers but have a few friends who accepted spots last year. The vibe we’ve gotten is the math/sci/comp sci is great at TKPK but the other courses not so great, same spiel but the reverse for Eastern, and the kids we know all had rougher social starts to middle school than the kids who matriculated to home school middle schools. Lots of HW at Eastern.

I have a kid at TPMS and do not agree with that assessment. The non magnet teachers are without exception excellent too.

Same and we've been really impressed with the overall quality of the school as a whole.

That’s great. It’s entirely possible the friends were trying to be humble/not brag to us since our child didn’t have luck with the lottery and theirs did.

It's a great program if you happen to get in but you could easily supplement to achieve comparable math and CS. Comparable science is less available to my knowledge.

The MCCPTA GEC FB group said that Takoma no longer offers a different science class. It is the same science class offered across MCPS, but it includes only kids in the magnet so probably is. a bit more rigorous. But it's no longer a separate curriculum. This is a real bummer for those of us with kids who really are into science.

That’s not correct. They follow the same curriculum but they go into it in more depth and they cover it quicker, adding additional content too. You need to get that corrected and stop spreading misinformation. Reach out to the magnet coordinator to get confirmation that this is true, but it’s a math science and computer science magnet so OF COURSE the science is more advanced. The course has a different title too, it’s “magnet science” not science. The only thing I’m seats if that’s changed is that the forensics project in 7th grade is no longer part of the magnet curriculum.

They did reach out and that’s what they were told. Confirmed by the school. The core curriculum has enrichment built in and that is the enrichment they do. That is only true for 6th grade class this year because that is where the new curriculum has been rolled out. But next year it will be 6th and 7th and the year after all three grades.

[Anonymous]

^^ And to be clear, it was confirmed by the Takoma magnet coordinator. There is still a benefit of being in the magnet program to be cohosted together, but the curriculum is not different for science (though it is different for math and computer science).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to be clear, if there are 137 seats, they are only adding 25 (about one extra class). Eastern had 112 seats before. Also, I have heard a lot of people are getting both offers. It is starting to look intentional on MCPS’s part. Maybe to make to make the waitpool more predictable. You have to decline the other offer so there’s less likelihood of last minute changes, eg if your child really wanted STEM but got into Humanities first.

Oh wow. That makes a lot of sense.

So maybe there are 3 pulls - kids who are in both lotteries, and kids who are in one lottery only.

NP. My DC also got invites to both EMS (on Wed.) and TPMS (yesterday). DC feels torn having to choose one over the other, or neither.

Oops, I meant Tue. for EMS invite.

DP - I know these things can happen, but I think it’s utter BS that kids can “win” both lotteries, when so many don’t even get one. That just sucks. Many kids, including my DD, were entered in both lotteries and selected from neither. That multiple people can be selected from both really needs to stop.

I see what you are saying. I think it's better for the kids who are picked because they get to choose and better for MCPS because the lottery goes faster and less kids moving from one program to another but worse for the kids who are not picked and possibly worst for those only in one pool. Anyone good at math?

There is no way all these kids getting 2 choices is random. Either MCPS is making a mistake in how they are doing the lottery or they are purposely letting kids who are in both pools choose. If the probability for certain groups is reduced by this change MCPS needs to explain why they did it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We received two emails directly to our email addresses (both parents), yesterday from Eastern and today from Takoma Park. Nothing has been posted anywhere in ParentVUE. We have until Monday to decide by filling out a google form.

Wow, that’s pretty insane luck to win the lottery for both schools on a waitlist round which has presumably way fewer seats bouncing around. We were lottery losers but have a few friends who accepted spots last year. The vibe we’ve gotten is the math/sci/comp sci is great at TKPK but the other courses not so great, same spiel but the reverse for Eastern, and the kids we know all had rougher social starts to middle school than the kids who matriculated to home school middle schools. Lots of HW at Eastern.

I have a kid at TPMS and do not agree with that assessment. The non magnet teachers are without exception excellent too.

Same and we've been really impressed with the overall quality of the school as a whole.

That’s great. It’s entirely possible the friends were trying to be humble/not brag to us since our child didn’t have luck with the lottery and theirs did.

It's a great program if you happen to get in but you could easily supplement to achieve comparable math and CS. Comparable science is less available to my knowledge.

The MCCPTA GEC FB group said that Takoma no longer offers a different science class. It is the same science class offered across MCPS, but it includes only kids in the magnet so probably is. a bit more rigorous. But it's no longer a separate curriculum. This is a real bummer for those of us with kids who really are into science.

That’s not correct. They follow the same curriculum but they go into it in more depth and they cover it quicker, adding additional content too. You need to get that corrected and stop spreading misinformation. Reach out to the magnet coordinator to get confirmation that this is true, but it’s a math science and computer science magnet so OF COURSE the science is more advanced. The course has a different title too, it’s “magnet science” not science. The only thing I’m seats if that’s changed is that the forensics project in 7th grade is no longer part of the magnet curriculum.

Really? My 8th grader loved the Forensics unit and took the Forensics elective this year. Why did they remove Forensics rom the 7th grade curriculum?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We received two emails directly to our email addresses (both parents), yesterday from Eastern and today from Takoma Park. Nothing has been posted anywhere in ParentVUE. We have until Monday to decide by filling out a google form.

Wow, that’s pretty insane luck to win the lottery for both schools on a waitlist round which has presumably way fewer seats bouncing around. We were lottery losers but have a few friends who accepted spots last year. The vibe we’ve gotten is the math/sci/comp sci is great at TKPK but the other courses not so great, same spiel but the reverse for Eastern, and the kids we know all had rougher social starts to middle school than the kids who matriculated to home school middle schools. Lots of HW at Eastern.

I have a kid at TPMS and do not agree with that assessment. The non magnet teachers are without exception excellent too.

Same and we've been really impressed with the overall quality of the school as a whole.

That’s great. It’s entirely possible the friends were trying to be humble/not brag to us since our child didn’t have luck with the lottery and theirs did.

It's a great program if you happen to get in but you could easily supplement to achieve comparable math and CS. Comparable science is less available to my knowledge.

The MCCPTA GEC FB group said that Takoma no longer offers a different science class. It is the same science class offered across MCPS, but it includes only kids in the magnet so probably is. a bit more rigorous. But it's no longer a separate curriculum. This is a real bummer for those of us with kids who really are into science.

That’s not correct. They follow the same curriculum but they go into it in more depth and they cover it quicker, adding additional content too. You need to get that corrected and stop spreading misinformation. Reach out to the magnet coordinator to get confirmation that this is true, but it’s a math science and computer science magnet so OF COURSE the science is more advanced. The course has a different title too, it’s “magnet science” not science. The only thing I’m seats if that’s changed is that the forensics project in 7th grade is no longer part of the magnet curriculum.

They did reach out and that’s what they were told. Confirmed by the school. The core curriculum has enrichment built in and that is the enrichment they do. That is only true for 6th grade class this year because that is where the new curriculum has been rolled out. But next year it will be 6th and 7th and the year after all three grades.

If that’s the case they need to tell the science teachers!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We received two emails directly to our email addresses (both parents), yesterday from Eastern and today from Takoma Park. Nothing has been posted anywhere in ParentVUE. We have until Monday to decide by filling out a google form.

Wow, that’s pretty insane luck to win the lottery for both schools on a waitlist round which has presumably way fewer seats bouncing around. We were lottery losers but have a few friends who accepted spots last year. The vibe we’ve gotten is the math/sci/comp sci is great at TKPK but the other courses not so great, same spiel but the reverse for Eastern, and the kids we know all had rougher social starts to middle school than the kids who matriculated to home school middle schools. Lots of HW at Eastern.

I have a kid at TPMS and do not agree with that assessment. The non magnet teachers are without exception excellent too.

Same and we've been really impressed with the overall quality of the school as a whole.

That’s great. It’s entirely possible the friends were trying to be humble/not brag to us since our child didn’t have luck with the lottery and theirs did.

It's a great program if you happen to get in but you could easily supplement to achieve comparable math and CS. Comparable science is less available to my knowledge.

The MCCPTA GEC FB group said that Takoma no longer offers a different science class. It is the same science class offered across MCPS, but it includes only kids in the magnet so probably is. a bit more rigorous. But it's no longer a separate curriculum. This is a real bummer for those of us with kids who really are into science.

That’s not correct. They follow the same curriculum but they go into it in more depth and they cover it quicker, adding additional content too. You need to get that corrected and stop spreading misinformation. Reach out to the magnet coordinator to get confirmation that this is true, but it’s a math science and computer science magnet so OF COURSE the science is more advanced. The course has a different title too, it’s “magnet science” not science. The only thing I’m seats if that’s changed is that the forensics project in 7th grade is no longer part of the magnet curriculum.

They did reach out and that’s what they were told. Confirmed by the school. The core curriculum has enrichment built in and that is the enrichment they do. That is only true for 6th grade class this year because that is where the new curriculum has been rolled out. But next year it will be 6th and 7th and the year after all three grades.

If that’s the case they need to tell the science teachers!

Because the science teachers definitely believe they are teaching this in more breadth and depth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We received two emails directly to our email addresses (both parents), yesterday from Eastern and today from Takoma Park. Nothing has been posted anywhere in ParentVUE. We have until Monday to decide by filling out a google form.

Wow, that’s pretty insane luck to win the lottery for both schools on a waitlist round which has presumably way fewer seats bouncing around. We were lottery losers but have a few friends who accepted spots last year. The vibe we’ve gotten is the math/sci/comp sci is great at TKPK but the other courses not so great, same spiel but the reverse for Eastern, and the kids we know all had rougher social starts to middle school than the kids who matriculated to home school middle schools. Lots of HW at Eastern.

I have a kid at TPMS and do not agree with that assessment. The non magnet teachers are without exception excellent too.

Same and we've been really impressed with the overall quality of the school as a whole.

That’s great. It’s entirely possible the friends were trying to be humble/not brag to us since our child didn’t have luck with the lottery and theirs did.

It's a great program if you happen to get in but you could easily supplement to achieve comparable math and CS. Comparable science is less available to my knowledge.

The MCCPTA GEC FB group said that Takoma no longer offers a different science class. It is the same science class offered across MCPS, but it includes only kids in the magnet so probably is. a bit more rigorous. But it's no longer a separate curriculum. This is a real bummer for those of us with kids who really are into science.

That’s not correct. They follow the same curriculum but they go into it in more depth and they cover it quicker, adding additional content too. You need to get that corrected and stop spreading misinformation. Reach out to the magnet coordinator to get confirmation that this is true, but it’s a math science and computer science magnet so OF COURSE the science is more advanced. The course has a different title too, it’s “magnet science” not science. The only thing I’m seats if that’s changed is that the forensics project in 7th grade is no longer part of the magnet curriculum.

Really? My 8th grader loved the Forensics unit and took the Forensics elective this year. Why did they remove Forensics rom the 7th grade curriculum?

I don’t know but my 8th grader was told last year that it was the last year they would do it for 7th graders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ And to be clear, it was confirmed by the Takoma magnet coordinator. There is still a benefit of being in the magnet program to be cohosted together, but the curriculum is not different for science (though it is different for math and computer science).

Huh? There was nothing about this during the admitted students presentation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We received two emails directly to our email addresses (both parents), yesterday from Eastern and today from Takoma Park. Nothing has been posted anywhere in ParentVUE. We have until Monday to decide by filling out a google form.

Wow, that’s pretty insane luck to win the lottery for both schools on a waitlist round which has presumably way fewer seats bouncing around. We were lottery losers but have a few friends who accepted spots last year. The vibe we’ve gotten is the math/sci/comp sci is great at TKPK but the other courses not so great, same spiel but the reverse for Eastern, and the kids we know all had rougher social starts to middle school than the kids who matriculated to home school middle schools. Lots of HW at Eastern.

I have a kid at TPMS and do not agree with that assessment. The non magnet teachers are without exception excellent too.

Same and we've been really impressed with the overall quality of the school as a whole.

That’s great. It’s entirely possible the friends were trying to be humble/not brag to us since our child didn’t have luck with the lottery and theirs did.

It's a great program if you happen to get in but you could easily supplement to achieve comparable math and CS. Comparable science is less available to my knowledge.

The MCCPTA GEC FB group said that Takoma no longer offers a different science class. It is the same science class offered across MCPS, but it includes only kids in the magnet so probably is. a bit more rigorous. But it's no longer a separate curriculum. This is a real bummer for those of us with kids who really are into science.

That’s not correct. They follow the same curriculum but they go into it in more depth and they cover it quicker, adding additional content too. You need to get that corrected and stop spreading misinformation. Reach out to the magnet coordinator to get confirmation that this is true, but it’s a math science and computer science magnet so OF COURSE the science is more advanced. The course has a different title too, it’s “magnet science” not science. The only thing I’m seats if that’s changed is that the forensics project in 7th grade is no longer part of the magnet curriculum.

Really? My 8th grader loved the Forensics unit and took the Forensics elective this year. Why did they remove Forensics rom the 7th grade curriculum?

This is a change beginning with 6th graders this year. They are no longer using their own curriculum. It’s a real shame but maybe a sign that the curriculum MCPS generally chose for science is good and has appropriately challenging enrichment opportunities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ And to be clear, it was confirmed by the Takoma magnet coordinator. There is still a benefit of being in the magnet program to be cohosted together, but the curriculum is not different for science (though it is different for math and computer science).

Huh? There was nothing about this during the admitted students presentation.

You should join the GEC FB page for more discussion.