Reply to Another article about the magnet programs in Washington Post

Forum Index » Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)

Reply to "Another article about the magnet programs in Washington Post "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous] [quote]

We are probably going to end up suggesting ds take this path from magnet MS - UMD for undergrad to save money for grad school.  How has it worked out for your kids and their peers?[/quote]

it is working out well for our two kids - both received full ride scholarships from umd. DC1 is getting his engineering phd (fully funded) @ "top 5" engineering school and DC2 wants to go to med school so we are saving 529 money for that purpose. DC2 will be able to come out of med school without debt/loan. i am 100% sure they couldn't do it without mcps magnet programs.

so, yeah, it's fine. kids always have to deal with "you worked that hard for umd?" or "you settled with umd?" comments but other than that it's all good. coming out of umd with high gpa is much harder than people think. [/quote]

What makes you certain that they couldn't do it without MCPS magnet programs?  You don't think they could have achieved the scholarships at UMD if they went to a non-magnet high school?  I'm not being snarky -- it's a great thing they've accomplished.  I just don't understand why they needed a magnet program to do it.[/quote]

I don't want to side-track this thread with my kids' story but I will answer your question. It is one family's experience - nothing more, nothing less. I believe in order to produce successful kids you need three factors - 1) kid who wants to try and do well; 2) school/program that provides challenges and support; and 3) the family that makes kid's education #1 priority. You need to have all three working together. It is a huge commitment from all involved - student/teaching staff/parents. Again, for my kids, the magnet program really pushed/encouraged them to go extra mile - day after day for 4 years. I really doubt they could have attained the same results from the home school. Maybe your kid can but not mine. Also, keep in mind, full ride at UMD is given to top ~1% of incoming applicants. Accomplishments of top 1% of applicant vs. top 2-3% is very small but, nevertheless, it's big enough for one kid getting full ride vs. second one getting significantly smaller scholarship. You will find out in a few years that the college app process is tough, getting merit money out of school is tougher, and getting significant money (full tuition or full ride) is very very very difficult. The magnet programs - whether you support it or not - provides that extra edge for certain high performing kids. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics