Reply to Getting into Takoma Park Middle School's magnet as a boy

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Reply to "Getting into Takoma Park Middle School's magnet as a boy"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]THey implied at the orientation session that they do some gender balancing so probably a girl has a better chance of getting in because fewer girls apply.

However.  There are  800 applicants for 100 spots plus 25 additional spots that go to cluster kids.  So the odds are not high.  By all means apply but don't make it the only acceptable option.[/quote]

Odd, but at the Eastern Magnet meeting, I came away with the opposite impression -- that gender is not taken into account in the application process.  What was said was that more girls apply at Eastern, so more girls get into Eastern.  More boys apply to Takoma, so more boys get in to Takoma.  Both programs are unbalanced in terms of gender and this is something for the applicant to consider.  Gender can not be the basis for deciding to pick one child over another for a magnet slot.

Some other schools like Loiderman consider FARMS as part of the application, but not Takoma or Eastern.  FARMS can be considered because it is not an immutable characteristic, nor is poverty part of a protected class under discrimination law like race and gender can be.

What the Eastern magnet coordinator was saying was that the ratio of successful boys to boy applicants for Eastern is better because fewer apply, but that is not the same as saying their odds of getting in are better for boys.  There is no fixed number of slots for boys, so the overall accepted/applied ratio remains the same.

No other magnet programs balance for gender.  I have been told at other magnet meetings for the HGC that MCPS is prohibited from considering gender.  MCPS was hauled up to court in the Eisenberg case which, although it was about race and racial balancing, the logic probably applies to gender as well.  Denying a slot to a more-qualified female because there are already too many females in the program would be illegal.  Probably only in a situation in which one can argue that a male and female applicant are exactly equal, can the admissions decision tip in favor of the underrepresented group.  Thus, it is not "easier" to get in as a boy.

Really, if the child is at all interested, he should apply.  It's a waste of time to game out whether he has a better "chance" to get in.  Spend the time on ensuring that the application is good -- good teacher recs, good essays, good grades, good test scores.  You can apply to both Takoma and Eastern at the same time.  
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