Are magnets worth it for college admission?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is kind of ironic that this county's parents fight so hard to get into magnet high schools, have endless battles over admissions standards, which test to use or not, and then realize four years later that they've put themselves into a worse position than if they'd just let their kid be a great student at their home school.

Only do the magnet if it has something your kid can't get at the neighborhood school. Don't do it for "the cohort"

Not at all. My DC wanted and needed the Blair magnet classes, and excelled in them. It was a fantastic high school experience he would never have had anywhere else.

"Worse position"? In what way?

When 30-50 IB graduates from RMIB all apply to the same Ivies with the same high stats and ECs. All are qualified but there is no way Yale is going to take all of them but reject a similar cohort from another IB school in Deleware or Michigan

yes, this is part of the problem, and why I started the thread. They're all applying to the same top colleges, but those colleges don't want more than one or two from the same cohort. But, they are also super high achieving kids. So, it's disappointing for the ones that don't win the lottery. Yes, there are plenty of great schools to go around, but when you are in a tight knit cohort, it still is a very disappointing for those kids.

But, I do think that they will all go on to do well as they are all high achievers and used to rigor.

You know, no admissions officer has confirmed this urban myth, don’t you? Apparently parents have claimed this for decades but there isn’t much evidence to prove it.

+1

There is evidence that they want a broad mix of geography, but no evidence that they scrutinize at that level. In other words, they may only want a certain number of kids from MCPS, but they aren't looking at specific school or program and splicing that way.

Following up here, I haven't seen this linked so far in this post: https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/r-w/rmhs/ib/ib-colleges-20-22.pdf

If somebody really wants to do the work, they can compare this to the overall acceptance list on Bethesda Magazine or wherever. I would bet you'd find that the overall proportion of students admitted to top schools from the RMIB is significantly higher than that of non-magnets--thus indicating that they aren't "capped", or at least that any theoretical cap is much higher than for a non-magnet.

For example, 5 of ~130 were admitted to Harvard in 2022. What is the proportion at nonmagnets?

So, none of the 36 full BK attends UMD? Really?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is kind of ironic that this county's parents fight so hard to get into magnet high schools, have endless battles over admissions standards, which test to use or not, and then realize four years later that they've put themselves into a worse position than if they'd just let their kid be a great student at their home school.

Only do the magnet if it has something your kid can't get at the neighborhood school. Don't do it for "the cohort"

Not at all. My DC wanted and needed the Blair magnet classes, and excelled in them. It was a fantastic high school experience he would never have had anywhere else.

"Worse position"? In what way?

When 30-50 IB graduates from RMIB all apply to the same Ivies with the same high stats and ECs. All are qualified but there is no way Yale is going to take all of them but reject a similar cohort from another IB school in Deleware or Michigan

yes, this is part of the problem, and why I started the thread. They're all applying to the same top colleges, but those colleges don't want more than one or two from the same cohort. But, they are also super high achieving kids. So, it's disappointing for the ones that don't win the lottery. Yes, there are plenty of great schools to go around, but when you are in a tight knit cohort, it still is a very disappointing for those kids.

But, I do think that they will all go on to do well as they are all high achievers and used to rigor.

What a great resource - do that have it for the Blair magnets too?



You know, no admissions officer has confirmed this urban myth, don’t you? Apparently parents have claimed this for decades but there isn’t much evidence to prove it.

+1

There is evidence that they want a broad mix of geography, but no evidence that they scrutinize at that level. In other words, they may only want a certain number of kids from MCPS, but they aren't looking at specific school or program and splicing that way.

Following up here, I haven't seen this linked so far in this post: https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/r-w/rmhs/ib/ib-colleges-20-22.pdf

If somebody really wants to do the work, they can compare this to the overall acceptance list on Bethesda Magazine or wherever. I would bet you'd find that the overall proportion of students admitted to top schools from the RMIB is significantly higher than that of non-magnets--thus indicating that they aren't "capped", or at least that any theoretical cap is much higher than for a non-magnet.

For example, 5 of ~130 were admitted to Harvard in 2022. What is the proportion at nonmagnets?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is kind of ironic that this county's parents fight so hard to get into magnet high schools, have endless battles over admissions standards, which test to use or not, and then realize four years later that they've put themselves into a worse position than if they'd just let their kid be a great student at their home school.

Only do the magnet if it has something your kid can't get at the neighborhood school. Don't do it for "the cohort"

Not at all. My DC wanted and needed the Blair magnet classes, and excelled in them. It was a fantastic high school experience he would never have had anywhere else.

"Worse position"? In what way?

When 30-50 IB graduates from RMIB all apply to the same Ivies with the same high stats and ECs. All are qualified but there is no way Yale is going to take all of them but reject a similar cohort from another IB school in Deleware or Michigan

yes, this is part of the problem, and why I started the thread. They're all applying to the same top colleges, but those colleges don't want more than one or two from the same cohort. But, they are also super high achieving kids. So, it's disappointing for the ones that don't win the lottery. Yes, there are plenty of great schools to go around, but when you are in a tight knit cohort, it still is a very disappointing for those kids.

But, I do think that they will all go on to do well as they are all high achievers and used to rigor.

What a great resource! Do they have it for the Blair magnets too?



What a great resource - do that have it for the Blair magnets too?



You know, no admissions officer has confirmed this urban myth, don’t you? Apparently parents have claimed this for decades but there isn’t much evidence to prove it.

+1

There is evidence that they want a broad mix of geography, but no evidence that they scrutinize at that level. In other words, they may only want a certain number of kids from MCPS, but they aren't looking at specific school or program and splicing that way.

Following up here, I haven't seen this linked so far in this post: https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/r-w/rmhs/ib/ib-colleges-20-22.pdf

If somebody really wants to do the work, they can compare this to the overall acceptance list on Bethesda Magazine or wherever. I would bet you'd find that the overall proportion of students admitted to top schools from the RMIB is significantly higher than that of non-magnets--thus indicating that they aren't "capped", or at least that any theoretical cap is much higher than for a non-magnet.

For example, 5 of ~130 were admitted to Harvard in 2022. What is the proportion at nonmagnets?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is kind of ironic that this county's parents fight so hard to get into magnet high schools, have endless battles over admissions standards, which test to use or not, and then realize four years later that they've put themselves into a worse position than if they'd just let their kid be a great student at their home school.

Only do the magnet if it has something your kid can't get at the neighborhood school. Don't do it for "the cohort"

Not at all. My DC wanted and needed the Blair magnet classes, and excelled in them. It was a fantastic high school experience he would never have had anywhere else.

"Worse position"? In what way?

When 30-50 IB graduates from RMIB all apply to the same Ivies with the same high stats and ECs. All are qualified but there is no way Yale is going to take all of them but reject a similar cohort from another IB school in Deleware or Michigan

yes, this is part of the problem, and why I started the thread. They're all applying to the same top colleges, but those colleges don't want more than one or two from the same cohort. But, they are also super high achieving kids. So, it's disappointing for the ones that don't win the lottery. Yes, there are plenty of great schools to go around, but when you are in a tight knit cohort, it still is a very disappointing for those kids.

But, I do think that they will all go on to do well as they are all high achievers and used to rigor.

You know, no admissions officer has confirmed this urban myth, don’t you? Apparently parents have claimed this for decades but there isn’t much evidence to prove it.

+1

There is evidence that they want a broad mix of geography, but no evidence that they scrutinize at that level. In other words, they may only want a certain number of kids from MCPS, but they aren't looking at specific school or program and splicing that way.

Following up here, I haven't seen this linked so far in this post: https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/r-w/rmhs/ib/ib-colleges-20-22.pdf

If somebody really wants to do the work, they can compare this to the overall acceptance list on Bethesda Magazine or wherever. I would bet you'd find that the overall proportion of students admitted to top schools from the RMIB is significantly higher than that of non-magnets--thus indicating that they aren't "capped", or at least that any theoretical cap is much higher than for a non-magnet.

For example, 5 of ~130 were admitted to Harvard in 2022. What is the proportion at nonmagnets?

So, none of the 36 full BK attends UMD? Really?

Both of my kids attended UMD (one full, one partial bk) from MCPS magnet. We also know a bunch of their HS classmates w/ BK attended UMD.

[Anonymous]

https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/r-w/rmhs/ib/ib-colleges-20-22.pdf

Do they have this for the Blair magnets too? Such a great resource.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is kind of ironic that this county's parents fight so hard to get into magnet high schools, have endless battles over admissions standards, which test to use or not, and then realize four years later that they've put themselves into a worse position than if they'd just let their kid be a great student at their home school.

Only do the magnet if it has something your kid can't get at the neighborhood school. Don't do it for "the cohort"

Not at all. My DC wanted and needed the Blair magnet classes, and excelled in them. It was a fantastic high school experience he would never have had anywhere else.

"Worse position"? In what way?

When 30-50 IB graduates from RMIB all apply to the same Ivies with the same high stats and ECs. All are qualified but there is no way Yale is going to take all of them but reject a similar cohort from another IB school in Deleware or Michigan

yes, this is part of the problem, and why I started the thread. They're all applying to the same top colleges, but those colleges don't want more than one or two from the same cohort. But, they are also super high achieving kids. So, it's disappointing for the ones that don't win the lottery. Yes, there are plenty of great schools to go around, but when you are in a tight knit cohort, it still is a very disappointing for those kids.

But, I do think that they will all go on to do well as they are all high achievers and used to rigor.

You know, no admissions officer has confirmed this urban myth, don’t you? Apparently parents have claimed this for decades but there isn’t much evidence to prove it.

+1

There is evidence that they want a broad mix of geography, but no evidence that they scrutinize at that level. In other words, they may only want a certain number of kids from MCPS, but they aren't looking at specific school or program and splicing that way.

Following up here, I haven't seen this linked so far in this post: https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/r-w/rmhs/ib/ib-colleges-20-22.pdf

If somebody really wants to do the work, they can compare this to the overall acceptance list on Bethesda Magazine or wherever. I would bet you'd find that the overall proportion of students admitted to top schools from the RMIB is significantly higher than that of non-magnets--thus indicating that they aren't "capped", or at least that any theoretical cap is much higher than for a non-magnet.

For example, 5 of ~130 were admitted to Harvard in 2022. What is the proportion at nonmagnets?

The issue isn't whether RMIB students are more likely to go to top schools--certainly they are. The issue is whether those specific students have a better chance coming out of RMIB vs their home school. In my mind, almost all of the students admitted from RMIB should be admitted to a top school. Certainly there are a few kids who falter in HS. But by and large, these are the most talented kids in the county. So all of them are qualified for Ivy admission. If you compare them with kids from their same middle school who had similar profiles but chose to go to their home HS, I'd guess that the kids who opted out of the magnet do better in the college admissions game. They are big fish at their home school rather than of middling rank at RMIB. (I also think they are less prepared than RMIB students, but that isn't the question at hand.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is kind of ironic that this county's parents fight so hard to get into magnet high schools, have endless battles over admissions standards, which test to use or not, and then realize four years later that they've put themselves into a worse position than if they'd just let their kid be a great student at their home school.

Only do the magnet if it has something your kid can't get at the neighborhood school. Don't do it for "the cohort"

Not at all. My DC wanted and needed the Blair magnet classes, and excelled in them. It was a fantastic high school experience he would never have had anywhere else.

"Worse position"? In what way?

When 30-50 IB graduates from RMIB all apply to the same Ivies with the same high stats and ECs. All are qualified but there is no way Yale is going to take all of them but reject a similar cohort from another IB school in Deleware or Michigan

yes, this is part of the problem, and why I started the thread. They're all applying to the same top colleges, but those colleges don't want more than one or two from the same cohort. But, they are also super high achieving kids. So, it's disappointing for the ones that don't win the lottery. Yes, there are plenty of great schools to go around, but when you are in a tight knit cohort, it still is a very disappointing for those kids.

But, I do think that they will all go on to do well as they are all high achievers and used to rigor.

You know, no admissions officer has confirmed this urban myth, don’t you? Apparently parents have claimed this for decades but there isn’t much evidence to prove it.

+1

There is evidence that they want a broad mix of geography, but no evidence that they scrutinize at that level. In other words, they may only want a certain number of kids from MCPS, but they aren't looking at specific school or program and splicing that way.

Following up here, I haven't seen this linked so far in this post: https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/r-w/rmhs/ib/ib-colleges-20-22.pdf

If somebody really wants to do the work, they can compare this to the overall acceptance list on Bethesda Magazine or wherever. I would bet you'd find that the overall proportion of students admitted to top schools from the RMIB is significantly higher than that of non-magnets--thus indicating that they aren't "capped", or at least that any theoretical cap is much higher than for a non-magnet.

For example, 5 of ~130 were admitted to Harvard in 2022. What is the proportion at nonmagnets?

The issue isn't whether RMIB students are more likely to go to top schools--certainly they are. The issue is whether those specific students have a better chance coming out of RMIB vs their home school. In my mind, almost all of the students admitted from RMIB should be admitted to a top school. Certainly there are a few kids who falter in HS. But by and large, these are the most talented kids in the county. So all of them are qualified for Ivy admission. If you compare them with kids from their same middle school who had similar profiles but chose to go to their home HS, I'd guess that the kids who opted out of the magnet do better in the college admissions game. They are big fish at their home school rather than of middling rank at RMIB. (I also think they are less prepared than RMIB students, but that isn't the question at hand.)

As much as I love magnet programs and as much as I want to believe that, I am not sure if that's true. I highly doubt if my kids would've been able to achieve same achademic success w/o rigor of magnet program, dedicated teachers, and the environment that allowed kids to succeed without looking over their shoulders. Yes kids deserve credit but a lot of it comes from other factors - peers, teachers, rigor...etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is kind of ironic that this county's parents fight so hard to get into magnet high schools, have endless battles over admissions standards, which test to use or not, and then realize four years later that they've put themselves into a worse position than if they'd just let their kid be a great student at their home school.

Only do the magnet if it has something your kid can't get at the neighborhood school. Don't do it for "the cohort"

Not at all. My DC wanted and needed the Blair magnet classes, and excelled in them. It was a fantastic high school experience he would never have had anywhere else.

"Worse position"? In what way?

When 30-50 IB graduates from RMIB all apply to the same Ivies with the same high stats and ECs. All are qualified but there is no way Yale is going to take all of them but reject a similar cohort from another IB school in Deleware or Michigan

yes, this is part of the problem, and why I started the thread. They're all applying to the same top colleges, but those colleges don't want more than one or two from the same cohort. But, they are also super high achieving kids. So, it's disappointing for the ones that don't win the lottery. Yes, there are plenty of great schools to go around, but when you are in a tight knit cohort, it still is a very disappointing for those kids.

But, I do think that they will all go on to do well as they are all high achievers and used to rigor.

You know, no admissions officer has confirmed this urban myth, don’t you? Apparently parents have claimed this for decades but there isn’t much evidence to prove it.

+1

There is evidence that they want a broad mix of geography, but no evidence that they scrutinize at that level. In other words, they may only want a certain number of kids from MCPS, but they aren't looking at specific school or program and splicing that way.

Following up here, I haven't seen this linked so far in this post: https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/r-w/rmhs/ib/ib-colleges-20-22.pdf

If somebody really wants to do the work, they can compare this to the overall acceptance list on Bethesda Magazine or wherever. I would bet you'd find that the overall proportion of students admitted to top schools from the RMIB is significantly higher than that of non-magnets--thus indicating that they aren't "capped", or at least that any theoretical cap is much higher than for a non-magnet.

For example, 5 of ~130 were admitted to Harvard in 2022. What is the proportion at nonmagnets?

So, none of the 36 full BK attends UMD? Really?

Both of my kids attended UMD (one full, one partial bk) from MCPS magnet. We also know a bunch of their HS classmates w/ BK attended UMD.

https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/r-w/rmhs/ib/ib-colleges-20-22.pdf

That list someone posted shows a full 1/3 to almost 1/2 end up at UMD. I'm surprised, but not surprised at the same time. And a few get full BK.

I think they could give half of RMIB grads a full BK, but that would not be fair to other students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is kind of ironic that this county's parents fight so hard to get into magnet high schools, have endless battles over admissions standards, which test to use or not, and then realize four years later that they've put themselves into a worse position than if they'd just let their kid be a great student at their home school.

Only do the magnet if it has something your kid can't get at the neighborhood school. Don't do it for "the cohort"

Not at all. My DC wanted and needed the Blair magnet classes, and excelled in them. It was a fantastic high school experience he would never have had anywhere else.

"Worse position"? In what way?

When 30-50 IB graduates from RMIB all apply to the same Ivies with the same high stats and ECs. All are qualified but there is no way Yale is going to take all of them but reject a similar cohort from another IB school in Deleware or Michigan

yes, this is part of the problem, and why I started the thread. They're all applying to the same top colleges, but those colleges don't want more than one or two from the same cohort. But, they are also super high achieving kids. So, it's disappointing for the ones that don't win the lottery. Yes, there are plenty of great schools to go around, but when you are in a tight knit cohort, it still is a very disappointing for those kids.

But, I do think that they will all go on to do well as they are all high achievers and used to rigor.

You know, no admissions officer has confirmed this urban myth, don’t you? Apparently parents have claimed this for decades but there isn’t much evidence to prove it.

+1

There is evidence that they want a broad mix of geography, but no evidence that they scrutinize at that level. In other words, they may only want a certain number of kids from MCPS, but they aren't looking at specific school or program and splicing that way.

Following up here, I haven't seen this linked so far in this post: https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/r-w/rmhs/ib/ib-colleges-20-22.pdf

If somebody really wants to do the work, they can compare this to the overall acceptance list on Bethesda Magazine or wherever. I would bet you'd find that the overall proportion of students admitted to top schools from the RMIB is significantly higher than that of non-magnets--thus indicating that they aren't "capped", or at least that any theoretical cap is much higher than for a non-magnet.

For example, 5 of ~130 were admitted to Harvard in 2022. What is the proportion at nonmagnets?

So, none of the 36 full BK attends UMD? Really?

Both of my kids attended UMD (one full, one partial bk) from MCPS magnet. We also know a bunch of their HS classmates w/ BK attended UMD.

https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/r-w/rmhs/ib/ib-colleges-20-22.pdf

That list someone posted shows a full 1/3 to almost 1/2 end up at UMD. I'm surprised, but not surprised at the same time. And a few get full BK.

I think they could give half of RMIB grads a full BK, but that would not be fair to other students.

Where are you getting that? for 20222 33 attended, and 9 of them BK. That is out of 130 students. It isn't 1/3 and nowhere near 1/2.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is kind of ironic that this county's parents fight so hard to get into magnet high schools, have endless battles over admissions standards, which test to use or not, and then realize four years later that they've put themselves into a worse position than if they'd just let their kid be a great student at their home school.

Only do the magnet if it has something your kid can't get at the neighborhood school. Don't do it for "the cohort"

Not at all. My DC wanted and needed the Blair magnet classes, and excelled in them. It was a fantastic high school experience he would never have had anywhere else.

"Worse position"? In what way?

When 30-50 IB graduates from RMIB all apply to the same Ivies with the same high stats and ECs. All are qualified but there is no way Yale is going to take all of them but reject a similar cohort from another IB school in Deleware or Michigan

yes, this is part of the problem, and why I started the thread. They're all applying to the same top colleges, but those colleges don't want more than one or two from the same cohort. But, they are also super high achieving kids. So, it's disappointing for the ones that don't win the lottery. Yes, there are plenty of great schools to go around, but when you are in a tight knit cohort, it still is a very disappointing for those kids.

But, I do think that they will all go on to do well as they are all high achievers and used to rigor.

You know, no admissions officer has confirmed this urban myth, don’t you? Apparently parents have claimed this for decades but there isn’t much evidence to prove it.

+1

There is evidence that they want a broad mix of geography, but no evidence that they scrutinize at that level. In other words, they may only want a certain number of kids from MCPS, but they aren't looking at specific school or program and splicing that way.

Following up here, I haven't seen this linked so far in this post: https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/r-w/rmhs/ib/ib-colleges-20-22.pdf

If somebody really wants to do the work, they can compare this to the overall acceptance list on Bethesda Magazine or wherever. I would bet you'd find that the overall proportion of students admitted to top schools from the RMIB is significantly higher than that of non-magnets--thus indicating that they aren't "capped", or at least that any theoretical cap is much higher than for a non-magnet.

For example, 5 of ~130 were admitted to Harvard in 2022. What is the proportion at nonmagnets?

So, none of the 36 full BK attends UMD? Really?

That row only shows the scholarships. It isn't populated for attendance. 122 attended UMD over the three year span, inclusive of the BK scholars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/r-w/rmhs/ib/ib-colleges-20-22.pdf

Do they have this for the Blair magnets too? Such a great resource.

Bethesda beat publishes something similar for all Moco high-schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/r-w/rmhs/ib/ib-colleges-20-22.pdf

Do they have this for the Blair magnets too? Such a great resource.

Bethesda beat publishes something similar for all Moco high-schools.

It isn't the same. This link pulls out specifically magnet students. Bethesda beat does not pull the magnet students out of the Blair numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is kind of ironic that this county's parents fight so hard to get into magnet high schools, have endless battles over admissions standards, which test to use or not, and then realize four years later that they've put themselves into a worse position than if they'd just let their kid be a great student at their home school.

Only do the magnet if it has something your kid can't get at the neighborhood school. Don't do it for "the cohort"

Not at all. My DC wanted and needed the Blair magnet classes, and excelled in them. It was a fantastic high school experience he would never have had anywhere else.

"Worse position"? In what way?

When 30-50 IB graduates from RMIB all apply to the same Ivies with the same high stats and ECs. All are qualified but there is no way Yale is going to take all of them but reject a similar cohort from another IB school in Deleware or Michigan

yes, this is part of the problem, and why I started the thread. They're all applying to the same top colleges, but those colleges don't want more than one or two from the same cohort. But, they are also super high achieving kids. So, it's disappointing for the ones that don't win the lottery. Yes, there are plenty of great schools to go around, but when you are in a tight knit cohort, it still is a very disappointing for those kids.

But, I do think that they will all go on to do well as they are all high achievers and used to rigor.

You know, no admissions officer has confirmed this urban myth, don’t you? Apparently parents have claimed this for decades but there isn’t much evidence to prove it.

+1

There is evidence that they want a broad mix of geography, but no evidence that they scrutinize at that level. In other words, they may only want a certain number of kids from MCPS, but they aren't looking at specific school or program and splicing that way.

Following up here, I haven't seen this linked so far in this post: https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/r-w/rmhs/ib/ib-colleges-20-22.pdf

If somebody really wants to do the work, they can compare this to the overall acceptance list on Bethesda Magazine or wherever. I would bet you'd find that the overall proportion of students admitted to top schools from the RMIB is significantly higher than that of non-magnets--thus indicating that they aren't "capped", or at least that any theoretical cap is much higher than for a non-magnet.

For example, 5 of ~130 were admitted to Harvard in 2022. What is the proportion at nonmagnets?

So, none of the 36 full BK attends UMD? Really?

Both of my kids attended UMD (one full, one partial bk) from MCPS magnet. We also know a bunch of their HS classmates w/ BK attended UMD.

https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/r-w/rmhs/ib/ib-colleges-20-22.pdf

That list someone posted shows a full 1/3 to almost 1/2 end up at UMD. I'm surprised, but not surprised at the same time. And a few get full BK.

I think they could give half of RMIB grads a full BK, but that would not be fair to other students.

Where are you getting that? for 20222 33 attended, and 9 of them BK. That is out of 130 students. It isn't 1/3 and nowhere near 1/2.

I originally based it on 100 kids because 20 or so are from RM cluster, but I guess I should've used 120 kids total.

33 attended is about 1/3 for 100, but more like 1/4 for 120.

In 2020, about 51 kids went to UMD. So, maybe 40% out of 120.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. I think for our children magnets were absolutely worth it for college admissions.

The pathway for both of my kids -> PHS SMCS -> UMD. We are Asian-American first gen immigrants. Our kids chose STEM careers. Both had perfect stats in GPA and SAT, NMS, ECs, Internships and research papers etc. We knew that they would not get into top private schools based on the fact that many of their peers in PHS look and achieve like them.

Apart from that, they also did not apply extensively. They applied to 6 schools in all. Since UMD was in-state and great for CS, Physics and Math (both did double majors, both had Math in common), that was their lowest bar in terms of where they wanted to apply. This did not leave very many colleges for them that were ranked higher for these majors. This is not a drawback but a boon. Imagine having a college like UMD as your safety. To be honest, UMD was very much their dream school, target and safety all rolled in one.

Having done STEM research internships during PHS (It is a SMCS requirement) and having written a paper based on that - they also found it easy to get future internships @ UMD right from the get go. Having been through the rigor, pace, and curriculum of SMCS and having so many AP and post-AP credits transfer, allowed them to juggle two hard majors, internships, and socializing in college with ease. They watched many of their college classmates - either do very poorly in hard courses or study very hard to stay afloat or do well but without any outside interests. In other words, the training and exposure they got at PHS made college seem easy.

The kind of professional training that the SMCS teaches these students in terms of advocating for oneself, building a network of peers, acquiring skill sets, acquiring credentials, creating and seeking opportunities, time management and organization is invaluable for college and professional life. They also were hugely networked at UMD with other area students from DMV because they had either competed with them in other arenas or had crossed paths with them.

Last, but not the least - since they are already in-state in a public university and the cost is already low. Therefore, even a small merit aid usually covers a significant amount of tuition if not all. This merit $$$ was like a payday for the work that they did in magnet HS.

For us, magnet STEM schools was worth it for succeeding in college and professional life. It made the college admission process easy too.

Of course, I don't mean to be glib and say that it was all easy. To be in the magnet track meant that my kids were performing academically at very high levels from ES. They were acing all kinds of tests that was being administered by MCPS- Raven, TerraNova, MAPS - and tests like JHU-CTY outside of school.

They were consistent from K-12, and also worked hard to have a well rounded resume - ECs, volunteer work, competitions, honor societies, internships, research papers, no discipline issues, consistent performance, no absenteeism, juggling leadership responsibilities, self advocating etc.

This is my child's experience as well. Finishing up SMACs now with a UMd presidential scholarship and direct admit to CS. Will now be paying very low tuition for a top-ranked CS school.

I'd say the magnet helped a lot with UMd admissions. I am not sure helped elsewhere but will never know. I am sure my child does not stand out as much as they would at home HS. Also I do not think the school profile that gets sent to colleges does the magnet students any favors.

If you don’t mind, Could you elaborate on this further?

Sure. Still in the middle of college admissions since I have a current senior. I assume you are wondering about the shool profile comment. My understanding is that without a school ranking, some colleges will try to guess based on the GPA bands. For Poolesville, the top bands are 78% for unweighted GPA and 58% for weighted. So after 4 years of hard work and taking all the hardest math classes (functions etc), my 4.0 UW 4.7W GPA kid only appears to be in the top 58% of their class. UMd will understand this, but other schools may not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. I think for our children magnets were absolutely worth it for college admissions.

The pathway for both of my kids -> PHS SMCS -> UMD. We are Asian-American first gen immigrants. Our kids chose STEM careers. Both had perfect stats in GPA and SAT, NMS, ECs, Internships and research papers etc. We knew that they would not get into top private schools based on the fact that many of their peers in PHS look and achieve like them.

Apart from that, they also did not apply extensively. They applied to 6 schools in all. Since UMD was in-state and great for CS, Physics and Math (both did double majors, both had Math in common), that was their lowest bar in terms of where they wanted to apply. This did not leave very many colleges for them that were ranked higher for these majors. This is not a drawback but a boon. Imagine having a college like UMD as your safety. To be honest, UMD was very much their dream school, target and safety all rolled in one.

Having done STEM research internships during PHS (It is a SMCS requirement) and having written a paper based on that - they also found it easy to get future internships @ UMD right from the get go. Having been through the rigor, pace, and curriculum of SMCS and having so many AP and post-AP credits transfer, allowed them to juggle two hard majors, internships, and socializing in college with ease. They watched many of their college classmates - either do very poorly in hard courses or study very hard to stay afloat or do well but without any outside interests. In other words, the training and exposure they got at PHS made college seem easy.

The kind of professional training that the SMCS teaches these students in terms of advocating for oneself, building a network of peers, acquiring skill sets, acquiring credentials, creating and seeking opportunities, time management and organization is invaluable for college and professional life. They also were hugely networked at UMD with other area students from DMV because they had either competed with them in other arenas or had crossed paths with them.

Last, but not the least - since they are already in-state in a public university and the cost is already low. Therefore, even a small merit aid usually covers a significant amount of tuition if not all. This merit $$$ was like a payday for the work that they did in magnet HS.

For us, magnet STEM schools was worth it for succeeding in college and professional life. It made the college admission process easy too.

Of course, I don't mean to be glib and say that it was all easy. To be in the magnet track meant that my kids were performing academically at very high levels from ES. They were acing all kinds of tests that was being administered by MCPS- Raven, TerraNova, MAPS - and tests like JHU-CTY outside of school.

They were consistent from K-12, and also worked hard to have a well rounded resume - ECs, volunteer work, competitions, honor societies, internships, research papers, no discipline issues, consistent performance, no absenteeism, juggling leadership responsibilities, self advocating etc.

This is my child's experience as well. Finishing up SMACs now with a UMd presidential scholarship and direct admit to CS. Will now be paying very low tuition for a top-ranked CS school.

I'd say the magnet helped a lot with UMd admissions. I am not sure helped elsewhere but will never know. I am sure my child does not stand out as much as they would at home HS. Also I do not think the school profile that gets sent to colleges does the magnet students any favors.

If you don’t mind, Could you elaborate on this further?

Sure. Still in the middle of college admissions since I have a current senior. I assume you are wondering about the shool profile comment. My understanding is that without a school ranking, some colleges will try to guess based on the GPA bands. For Poolesville, the top bands are 78% for unweighted GPA and 58% for weighted. So after 4 years of hard work and taking all the hardest math classes (functions etc), my 4.0 UW 4.7W GPA kid only appears to be in the top 58% of their class. UMd will understand this, but other schools may not.

Different poster. This might as well have been in a different language. What do you mean by “GPA bands”? Can you explain to me like I’m an idiot?