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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Congrats.  My daughter is a senior in SMCS at Poolesville.  I can't speak to Blair program but I'm assuming that they are similar.  So, I'll just give you my thoughts based on the Poolesville program.  First, it's all about time management.  It's an eight period day.  Long days.  If your daughter can manage her schedule well, things will be fine.  My daughter gets up a little after 5A and gets home a little after 5P.  She also plays sports (those are really long days), coaches a 10U team and also is a theater kid.  Those can be really long days.  But, she found her tribe there.  An amazing group of nerd girls :) Wonderful kids. It can be competitive, but we've been hands off since she started CES in fourth grade.  It seems the kids who tend to be the most aggressive and competitive have really overbearing parents.  That's not a slight on the parents, just something we've noticed over the years.

That MAP score is great.  My daughter was in that ballpark and now she is doing multi-variable calculus.

Homework increases over the years.  Freshman year wasn't bad.  Senior year it's now about two hours a night.  I don't know if Blair follows the same program, but after 8th period there is a 'study hall' where kiddo can get a bunch of homework done before catching the 4:30 bus.  But now that spring sports have kicked off, she has to punt that to get to the field.

But the program has been amazing.  She's taken 15 APs with a WGPA of 4.88.  So, she'll likely start college as a second semester sophomore.  She applied to five schools and was accepted to all five.  Four of the five offered academic scholarships.  Two full rides and two 60% scholarships.   Maryland was the only one that didn't throw money at her.  Thankfully, that is by far the cheapest one :)

So, tldr; It's a lot of work, but it is very rewarding.  IMO.

[/quote]

I think the Blair program is more intense - please correct me of I’m wrong but at Poolesville isn’t magnet pre calculus over 4 semesters? At Blair it’s 3 semesters, or 2 if you are in functions. Most kids also accelerate in comp sci and Blair offers (now) more advanced electives. It is NOT an AP program though, most kids at Blair end up with 7-8 APs unless they ignore the magnet coordinators advice and instruction. [/quote]

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