Profile of students accepted into selective magnet middle schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know of at least 8 jewish boys in my sons grade at TPMS. The overwhelming majority of kids are Asian.

Don't know what TPMS you are attending, but when I looked around my son's magnet class, I saw a pretty diverse group of kids with no one in the majority.
% of total population in DC and MD. If there are 8 jewish boys out of 125 at TPMS, that's only about 6% -- not overwhelmingly different from the general population.

As a non-Jew, I am always a little concerned about assertions of 'Jewish numbers'. I mean let's be real, you can't be sure by name or looks, so how do you know someone is Jewish and more importantly, why do you do you care?? Do you have beans in one pocket and move them to the other every time you spot one? Just so you know where they all are? I personally don't run around worried about too many Jews. But I guess if you think they're taking something FROM your entitlement and privilege then you gotta keep track.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The % of Asian (including Indian) kids at the TPMS magnet orientation was striking. I would have to say that it was 80-90%. I don't have any issue with it. Race/Sex/Religion should have zero to do with admissions to a competitive magnet program. My little Caucasoid is doing just fine and has got to know many nice kids.

They are not Asians or Spanish or Indians. They are first and foremost Americans. They are born and bred here. I am second generation Asian American and
my son is in TPMS. He is not Asian but American. They are there because their parents, like me, value education. Majority of their names may not be Smiths
or Rhodes but I can vouch you that they are all Americans who love their country. Any parent, irrespective of whether they are recent or old immigrant or
native American, who want their kids to thrive in an environment like TPMS, wouldn't hesitate to send their kids to magnet schools. I know our country will
continue to be in great hands.

I assure you the folks deciding the demographic make up are lumping your American kids in with the "Asians". They don't care if you 8th generation Chinese from California. You get that right? Either you're one of them or us, is how it works. There aren't any qualifiers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I second that test scores count a lot and cannot be too low on one section. DS was above the average admitted in Reading (1 point), way above the average in Math (5 points), and way below the average in Raven (5 points) and was rejected. I know he could have done well but there were more qualified kids, so fair decision. Tell you kid to keep up his energy for the entire test and do his best on each section and hopefully you will get a good representation of ability so the correct decision is made. Too bad there is not more space.

I know that a lot of kids got rejected because their Raven scores were below the median score (not average) of accepted students.

The median is an average.

[Anonymous]

My child had very high Raven, very high Math and below average reading.
Got accepted. However child was winner of some math competitions, had extremely high Map-M and had some very strong recommendations from different unbiased sources.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The % of Asian (including Indian) kids at the TPMS magnet orientation was striking. I would have to say that it was 80-90%. I don't have any issue with it. Race/Sex/Religion should have zero to do with admissions to a competitive magnet program. My little Caucasoid is doing just fine and has got to know many nice kids.

They are not Asians or Spanish or Indians. They are first and foremost Americans. They are born and bred here. I am second generation Asian American and
my son is in TPMS. He is not Asian but American. They are there because their parents, like me, value education. Majority of their names may not be Smiths
or Rhodes but I can vouch you that they are all Americans who love their country. Any parent, irrespective of whether they are recent or old immigrant or
native American, who want their kids to thrive in an environment like TPMS, wouldn't hesitate to send their kids to magnet schools. I know our country will
continue to be in great hands.

I assure you the folks deciding the demographic make up are lumping your American kids in with the "Asians". They don't care if you 8th generation Chinese from California. You get that right? Either you're one of them or us, is how it works. There aren't any qualifiers.

Same for African Anerican. Same scores on SAT and it's easier to get into a college if African American - even if you are only .25 percent black and 8th generation from California.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I second that test scores count a lot and cannot be too low on one section. DS was above the average admitted in Reading (1 point), way above the average in Math (5 points), and way below the average in Raven (5 points) and was rejected. I know he could have done well but there were more qualified kids, so fair decision. Tell you kid to keep up his energy for the entire test and do his best on each section and hopefully you will get a good representation of ability so the correct decision is made. Too bad there is not more space.

I know that a lot of kids got rejected because their Raven scores were below the median score (not average) of accepted students.

The median is an average.

Sorry you need to take a look into your math books.
Median is not average. Average in Mean. Median is center with half above and half below.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I second that test scores count a lot and cannot be too low on one section. DS was above the average admitted in Reading (1 point), way above the average in Math (5 points), and way below the average in Raven (5 points) and was rejected. I know he could have done well but there were more qualified kids, so fair decision. Tell you kid to keep up his energy for the entire test and do his best on each section and hopefully you will get a good representation of ability so the correct decision is made. Too bad there is not more space.

I know that a lot of kids got rejected because their Raven scores were below the median score (not average) of accepted students.

The median is an average.

Sorry you need to take a look into your math books.
Median is not average. Average in Mean. Median is center with half above and half below.

Does that mean that some kids who were accepted could have had their scores below the median in one or more section?

[Anonymous]

Both magnets look at the raven (IQ type) score, and I would assume the STEM program puts more emphasis on the math test and the humanities program looks more at the reading test and the writing essay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Sorry you need to take a look into your math books.
Median is not average. Average in Mean. Median is center with half above and half below.

One form of average is a mean. Another form of average is a median. That is why it's good to specify which average you are using.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Good students who are also involved in sports and/or other EC activities. Supported by parents. Some prepped at home, some at prep centers and some did not.,

I think majority were not a 100% sure that they would get in, because the competition is intense and those who did not get in were no less deserving of being in the program. So, I guess LUCK played a big role too.

I don't think extracurricular activities matter. At least they didn't stop my child who had no activities from being accepted.

The OP asked for the profile of the accepted students. It does not matter if EC was an admissions criteria or not (it was not), but, most kids I know in the MS magnet are super involved in some EC activity.

If we use your logic then the parental support, valuing academics and some kind of prep also does not matter - but it is in the profile of majority of the students accepted.

I just didn't want anyone to worry that if they had a kid who was otherwise qualified but didn't have extracurriculars that they would be at a disadvantage. Maybe most kids do but it doesn't mean it's considered much in admissions.