Reply to Blair SMAC vs strong private

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don't know much about privates, but DC is a Blair magnet graduate. The cons for Blair magnet is 1. very intense 4 years  2. disadvantaged college acceptance results
The pros: much better preparation for STEM related fields at college[/quote]

What do you mean by disadvantaged college acceptance results? Being in the Blair magnet puts you at a disadvantage compared to students who aren’t in a magnet? What are you saying??[/quote]
You compete against other students in your school/program for college admission to top schools. It doesn’t matter how amazing the kids are, colleges are only going to admit 2 or 3 from the same school (yes, MIT admits 6-7 from SMCS). Sometimes it’s hard for a kid to distinguish themselves when everyone is taking same classes, same ECs, same high scores. A kid doesn’t stand out in the cohort of 100 SMCS kids the same way they would in the top 10 at their home school.[/quote]

I see. So let me get this right. My kid, whose home school is Blair should turn down the magnet place because he’ll have a better chance for college applications if he’s in the general population at Blair not magnet. Did I get that right?[/quote]

Either way it's still a fish/pond question, honestly. Say your kid is at Whitman or BCC or Churchill -- he's still going to be at a disadvantage compared to someone from Nowheresville in a different state. Colleges are looking for well-rounded student bodies, not well-rounded students. They want kids from all 50 states, a diversity of areas within those states (say upstate NY vs. NYC), plenty of foreign countries, different races, socioeconomic backgrounds, etc. And they don't want to overrepresent even a strong program like Blair SMCS -- because as amazing as it is there are lots and lots of super-amazing public magnet HS around the country.

So have your kid take the magnet spot if that's what he wants to do, but start setting expectations for college now (if you haven't already done so or if you haven't had a kid go through the process recently, like in the last two years) because safeties have become targets and targets have become reaches for plenty of kids with perfect GPAs and test scores and strong ECs.[/quote]

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