Getting into Takoma Park Middle School's magnet as a boy

[Anonymous]

Sorry, didn't mean to sound elitist at all. Of course, kids whose parents aren't college-educated deserve that chance, too. And plenty of them are just as smart but don't have the family support of the affluent ones. But you all know that already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When my daughter was applying to Eastern and TP magnets a few years ago, directors at both open houses said there was slight gender preference, as all the parents in our area already knew. We live in SS but were zoned for SSIMS, where my daughter eventually went to continue French Immersion and get those h.s. credits. She lost out on Eastern and TP. If your child's home middle school is Eastern or TP, you have some advantage, as every parent in our area knows. Also, it's important to point out that there are many, many, many kids who deserve to be in these magnets who don't get in. At the open houses, we were told that the folks reading the applications did it all in ONE DAY. Each had a stack to read and put his/her top choices in a pile. Those got passed around, kids got picked. It's incredible that they would even admit this -- not too bright for magnet teachers! By contrast, the high school magnets - Blair, CAP, RM's IB -- take weeks to choose their students. We knew several top applicants to MS magnets who didn't get in and several who got in but were certainly not as deserving as the former. We knew several who got in and deserved it. It's kind of a crapshoot for all bright kids, unless yours is truly exceptional. My girl didn't make it, but she just got into CAP (only DCC kids apply to that) and the wait pool for RM's IB, where 900 kids applied from all over the county and 110 were picked with 100 on wait list. The school told me that wait pool kids are not ranked and that they reevaluate each app before picking from the pool. Now that's an impressive admittance procedure. No gender pref., no school pref. So, please, please don't worry if your kid misses out on middle school magnets. HS magnet directors roll their eyes and scoff when you ask if the magnet middles are feeders into the magnet HS. Just give all of them a shot, and don't let your children feel they are not as bright and deserving as you know they are just because they didn't get in. In this area, you can't possibly be fair with so few slots in these programs. There are too many super bright kids with well educated and often driven parents. All those kids deserve a rigorous, challenging, creative educational experience, and it's sad that the county just doesn't have the resources for it.

I agree with this.

But.

Why has this thread been revived?

[Anonymous]

so what's TPMS like for all the kids NOT in the magnet program?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Me too! (OP here)

His exact questions to MCPS were "Does MCPS take the gender or socioeconomic status of the student applicant into account in admission decisions for TP or Eastern's Middle School application programs?" And same question but does MCPS take into account the "FARMS rate (or other socioeconomic indicator) of the home/sending middle school."

This was the response--to both questions: "MCPS can consider this information but this information cannot be the reason for inviting or not inviting a student."

So, I offered to ask for some real-life answers from real-life people on this list serve.

Gender and race are not permissible considerations for admission to these magnets. This is well-settled law after the Eisenstein case. I have heard many MCPS staff involved in the magnet administration or application process say this. More girls apply to Eastern and more boys apply to Takoma, but MCPS is not allowed to even out the genders in the admissions process. Thus, a higher percent of the entering class is female at Eastern, and a higher percent of the entering class at Takoma is male.

Unlike race and gender, socioeconomic status is not a protected status in the law, and so schools can make decisions on this basis. The "choice" magnets like Loiderman explicitly use socioeconomic status as part of the decision-making process.

Eastern and Takoma, if they do it, are not explicit about it. But, all magnet programs (HGCs and Takoma and Eastern) have long said the magnet programs exist to serve students whose needs could not otherwise be met in their home school. Thus, if you are a very advanced academic learner and come from a high-FARMS rate school where no advanced math is offered and where there is no peer group for an advanced World Studies or English class, then you might be favored (as long as you meet other criteria like testing and recommendations) over a similarly situated child whose home school would offer advanced math and/or reading. The competitive magnets also clearly try to accept a few students from each school in the cluster, thus favoring socioeconomic status to some degree (although this is not apportioned on an individual basis necessarily).

[Anonymous]

How much juggling and stress MCPS parents have to go through to provide for their kids appropriate education! Would not it be nice if the required GT services were available in all the home schools in MCPS, so that parents did not have to do so much planning?

Plan to show up at the GT forum on March 22 at Magruder HS. See thread http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/221871.page for details.

Post your comments and questions at GTA site http://www.gtamc.org/2012-gt-forum before hand.

[Anonymous]

TPMS and Eastern applicants are so competitive that their test scores are just a baseline, to make sure they can manage the work. The rest has to do with extracurriculars, essays, and teacher recommendations. With that many applicants, it is likely that the top 300, not just the top 100, could succeed in the program. They're also looking for self-starters, very focused people, creative/artistic, leadership. They're looking for a good mix of kids that have included student body president of their 1200-kid elementary school, MD/DC/VA rugby champions, kids who have lived all over the world, kids who have danced with conservatories when they were 8 or 9, people who make it into All County orchestra--3 years earlier than their peers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When my daughter was applying to Eastern and TP magnets a few years ago, directors at both open houses said there was slight gender preference, as all the parents in our area already knew. We live in SS but were zoned for SSIMS, where my daughter eventually went to continue French Immersion and get those h.s. credits. She lost out on Eastern and TP. If your child's home middle school is Eastern or TP, you have some advantage, as every parent in our area knows. Also, it's important to point out that there are many, many, many kids who deserve to be in these magnets who don't get in. At the open houses, we were told that the folks reading the applications did it all in ONE DAY. Each had a stack to read and put his/her top choices in a pile. Those got passed around, kids got picked. It's incredible that they would even admit this -- not too bright for magnet teachers! By contrast, the high school magnets - Blair, CAP, RM's IB -- take weeks to choose their students. We knew several top applicants to MS magnets who didn't get in and several who got in but were certainly not as deserving as the former. We knew several who got in and deserved it. It's kind of a crapshoot for all bright kids, unless yours is truly exceptional. My girl didn't make it, but she just got into CAP (only DCC kids apply to that) and the wait pool for RM's IB, where 900 kids applied from all over the county and 110 were picked with 100 on wait list. The school told me that wait pool kids are not ranked and that they reevaluate each app before picking from the pool. Now that's an impressive admittance procedure. No gender pref., no school pref. So, please, please don't worry if your kid misses out on middle school magnets. HS magnet directors roll their eyes and scoff when you ask if the magnet middles are feeders into the magnet HS. Just give all of them a shot, and don't let your children feel they are not as bright and deserving as you know they are just because they didn't get in. In this area, you can't possibly be fair with so few slots in these programs. There are too many super bright kids with well educated and often driven parents. All those kids deserve a rigorous, challenging, creative educational experience, and it's sad that the county just doesn't have the resources for it.

All middle school students get high school credits for high school-level classes.

The HGC applicants are also reviewed and chosen in one day. I don't have a problem with this, don't know why you do. The truth is that the majority are kicked out immediately because test scores are too low - so their applications are not even read. The remaining, top-test-scores students are then evaluated. I can easily see how this could be done efficiently in one day.

[Anonymous]

My daughter had scores right at the average of the accepted students but was rejected by the meganet. The reason was that they don't not accept too many, no more than 5/6, students from one middle schoo cluster! That means if you live in one of the middle school with a lot of highly archived students, your dear DC has to be better than the average accepted students.

[Anonymous]

I was just looking online for the middle school magnet application form and couldn't get it from the MCPS website - probably because the deadline has already passed for this year, but I'd be interested in taking a look to get a sense of what my son will need to do when he applies. I'm discouraged to hear that something like 800 kids apply for 100 slots each at TPMS and Eastern. My kid has good "G+T" level test scores and good grades, but it sounds like that's no guarantee. Does anyone whose kid got in have any advice about what the evaluators are considering and what my kid needs to show them to prove he could do the work? I would not be happy with our home middle school and believe the magnets would be great for him (although I realize there are many qualified kids).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was just looking online for the middle school magnet application form and couldn't get it from the MCPS website - probably because the deadline has already passed for this year, but I'd be interested in taking a look to get a sense of what my son will need to do when he applies. I'm discouraged to hear that something like 800 kids apply for 100 slots each at TPMS and Eastern. My kid has good "G+T" level test scores and good grades, but it sounds like that's no guarantee. Does anyone whose kid got in have any advice about what the evaluators are considering and what my kid needs to show them to prove he could do the work? I would not be happy with our home middle school and believe the magnets would be great for him (although I realize there are many qualified kids).

My three kids have attended MCPS MS magnets.

I am pretty sure that the first line of evaluation is the test itself, so of the 800 kids who apply, I'm guessing that about half are kicked out of the pool right off the bat just based on their too-low test scores. After that, the reviewers look at the teacher references, grades, essays. (Frankly I suspect the application essays count for very little.) If your kid is wait-listed, you should also bear in mind that some kids are admitted to both magnets (and can only attend one, obviously), so once they make their choice it reduces the count even further and opens up options for wait-listed kids.

Like you, we were not happy with our home school, and so we created Plan B as part of our magnet application process. For all three kids we submitted applications to other, non-competitive magnets (Loioderman, Parkland) and to private schools so that if they were not admitted to the magnets, they would have other options.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the insights!

[Anonymous]

anybody know- what is tpms like for students who are NOT in the magnet program?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:anybody know- what is tpms like for students who are NOT in the magnet program?

Yes! My DS is an 8th grader in the regular program at TPMS and it has been a great experience, socially and academically. Bright, nice kids abound. Great extra-curricular activities--my kid is in the ski club which goes skiing every weekend in winter.

My only beef is the science instruction is not so great for non-magnet kids. But otherwise, the school is fantastic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:anybody know- what is tpms like for students who are NOT in the magnet program?

There are many opportunities for TPMS kids who aren't in the magnet program. After 6th grade, a few magnet kids drop out because of the rigorous workload. Every year, a few non-magnet prior applicants get invited into the magnet program for 7th and 8th grade. Even if they don't get invited, the atmosphere is great. English, World Studies, Gym, and Electives are mixed, so everyone can make friends. It may slightly depend on social group your child is in, though. If they're in those groups of students who aren't bright and are infamous for doing rather school inappropriate things, then they may not be approached by anyone other than people into those things, which tend not to be magnet students. However, clubs and get togethers outside of school are definitely a way to be integrated into both parts of the school.

[Anonymous]

[b]As a takoma park student myself id like to mention that the things you are saying are not correct, they dont trim off half of the 800 applicants ( in my case 1200). what happens is they trim off 3/4 of it and the rest is on grades and reports, and the 25 cluster students really arent fair because they get a free spot even if they cant do log(10) in 6th grade like the other real applicants. Id also like to point out that all the kids that left the magnet or got C's or D's in classes were non magnets proving they shouldnt get a free spot because they bring down the average of the magnet as a whole.