Reply to Blair magnet planning for 11th/12th

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It seems like wasted opportunity to go to the magnet and then just take AP classes, which are available at most schools.  If you don't want magnet courses, why participate in the magnet?[/quote]

I am a magnet alum who (decades ago) opted for AP Physics instead of the magnet physics-based electives.   There are a few reasons I can remember. I had some friends who participated in an after-school club led by the teacher at the time or had taken the class previously that regarded the teacher highly (and he did end up having a positive lasting influence on me). My academic interests were wide-ranging and though I liked science, it wasn't my intended field of study in college and I wanted to AP out of intro science and labs. Most of all, I identified as a Blazer first and magnet student second, and expressly sought out to have a number of electives that would have mixed populations - AP Physics probably had one of the best mixes across magnet, CAP, and the catchment-based student bodies.

I never could have predicted at the time, but that class led to a friendship with a non-magnet student that by chance led to my summer job between graduation and going off to college. I returned to that same government job each summer and sometimes during the semester in undergrad, and my first year after that graduation. My time at that job instilled in me a passion for government service and have an incredibly rewarding and successful career (albeit not in a magnet field).

As to magnet participation. Of course that one class (nor the senior research project, which I also didn't do because the idea of building and racing a cardboard boat sounded way cooler) constitutes the entirety of magnet participation. I took magnet electives and non-magnet electives in similar measure. Beyond class selection, my most stereotypically magnet (at least for my time) attributes include being active and high placing on many math team and related competitions, and representing the county at the International Science and Engineering Fair. All of which is to say I don't think that one class choice was a wasted opportunity - I got a lot out of the magnet and the magnet got a lot out of me.

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