Reply to HS Magnet Applications Open and....

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Still no cogat this year?  
I do worry some of these kids are going to get themselves into a program they can’t handle. Blair and RMIB are not joke, work wise.  My kid had to figure out what a cogat was, take it, do the essays herself, etc….if she couldn’t manage all that, not sure how she’d be handling the IB there. [/quote]

Meanwhile other parents will hire a prep company to help them write their kid's essays.[/quote]

What percentage of these essays are actually written by the kids?[/quote]

I suspect maybe 10% of the essays were written by kids without help. I'm curious as to what percent were professionally written with the help of prep companies and how this nonsense effects selection.[/quote]

Let's be clear - these are not essays (at least last year's). They are short answer and one larger paragraph. I was surprised at how minimal they were - more appropriate for a 3rd grader getting into CES at 4th, IMO.[/quote]

Except it’s much easier to write a two page essay than to write an equally effective one that’s 250 words. The challenge is writing concisely.[/quote]

If a kid applying to a magnet is challenged by writing a concise and clear 250 word personal narrative "essay" in 8th grade, MCPS has a big problem!  Kids are not dumb, we are making it happen.  [/quote]

I don't think anyone is arguing that it is "challenging" to write a 250 word essay, but I do think the move to a shorter essay may be a necessary concession to a broader screening process. MCPS does not want a "first past the post" magnet admissions process that relies solely on grades and test scores, so they also ask for information on extracurriculars and a personal essay. But, if they want to really look at each kid, they can't have the essays be 5 pages long. So, applicants get to share both their awards/accomplishments/extracurriculars but also something about why they would like to attend a criteria-based program. That seems good to me. [/quote]

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