| Cold Spring HGC has two classes with 50 students. Only Silver Spring's HGCs has more then two classes per school. |
Yes (though this was an HGC that only had one class). |
The letter says 90th percentile for both language and math, and 73% of those accepted have a 4.0 GPA. It also says over 900 applied for 100 slots. |
Barnsley had 3 classes per grade. |
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There are 442 seats in HGCs in MCPS. This includes 124 seats in Fox Chapel and Clearspring (which would feed into Clemente) and 318 in the other HGCs which feed into Eastern and Takoma Park. I don't know how many Eastern and Takoma Park students attended HGCs but anecdotally I can tell you that nearly every child I know who attended a magnet middle school previously attended a HGC. |
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False for Takoma now.
Two years ago 3 kids were accepted from the SAME ES who were not in HGC. (First 2.0 wave) Same story last year from the same school. After MCPS switch to 2.0 in math and stopped acceleration beyond compacted, there is no difference between local kids and HGC kids for Takoma application. Writing is not required, there are many strong math kids who are good at math, logic and reading at local schools. HGC is not requirements to get good recomendations, participate in math and science competitions, do programming after school etc. Situation was very different prior to 2.0 impelemenation. At that point Takoma had mostly HGC kids. |
| Many, but not all students at HGC applied to MS Magnet. |
| For those of you waiting, the later letters don't mean rejection. We were one of the last families to get the letter last year and it was an acceptance. The delay is the post office. |
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How the rejection letter looks like? Does it say just flat out that kid
did not qualify AND that kid is Not wait- listed? Who is wait-listed basically? and when? Or is every kid automatically wait-listed? What score do you think you need to have for each of the category in order to have even a slim chance to get into Tacoma and Eastern? |
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What kids do after Takoma and Eastern?
Where do they go? What is the logical and reasonable next step for each of the path? I am thinking some Math-science oriented High after Takoma? Which one? And what about Eastern? It would not make any sense to go Math Science path after that would it? Also chances would be slim? Where kids go to college usually after Takoma and Eastern and what step in between? |
I have a 7th grader who got into both, & my 5th grader just got into both (phew). When 7th grader got in, we went to both info nights and then made "dates" w/ kids we knew at each program, took them out for hot chocolate & got more details. Some things that became important in my daughter's decision making were: block schedule vs regular (affects general schedule & # of electives), relative weaknesses of non magnet classes (& how we could augment), general school climate, types of projects they were doing, etc. It was helpful to consider the school's info and a kid's (& parent's) perspective who has been through it. My 5th grader will do the same -- go to the info nights and take older friends (& hopefully her sister!) out for a hot chocolate info date! Both programs are great. For us, it was important to see what resonates with the kids. I was surprised my 7th grader chose Takoma over Eastern, since she is all about writing, reading & theatre. But, her rational was that she could continue to do that independently, and she really wanted to explore computer science and science, since she hadn't had as much experience in those areas. She figured middle school was a good time to find out more. I agreed! Best of luck with a happy problem. Also, hope waitlisted people will take heart. Spaces will open up! |
That has not been my experience. While many students at the magnets are from HGCs, I know several students (at least 5 each program that I know personally) at both Takoma and Eastern who were not from HGC. |
Were your kids coming from Pine Crest/Oak View? |
| To parents whose kids weren't accepted to middle school magnets take heart, they are the toughest to get into as there are fewer spaces than HS. |
| I wanted to echo the 5:30 poster in saying to not despair if your kid is not in a middle school magnet. My DC didn't apply to the MS magnets, went to a home middle school school that was nurturing but not challenging, and now has gotten into RMIB and Blair CAP. I did supplement in middle school to make things more difficult, as the kid otherwise got 100% without trying and also without actually knowing the material in depth, which was not always easy, but DC is now in a great position for high school. |