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

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Thank you so much for such a detailed description. I have heard from past students parents that the internship that the students are required to do between junior and senior, is a process solely the responsibility of the Student and the staff/teachers have very limited resource and guidance on how to obtain these internships and that it is a very stressful time for the students. That some students email upwards of 100 professors and internship opportunities. At the acceptance meeting/open house they made it sound like they will guide the students completely, the teacher even said “we will lead them like a horse leading them to water” something similar to that. . What has your experience with that been with your Daughter?

Also how was making friends, was it an easy process, I know that the prgm has less girls, has making friends been an issue for your daughter. Does she hang out with the school friends outside of school ie prom/homecom8ng/sleepovers/malls? Just curious how the friendships go beyond the classroom and clubs. Thank![/quote]

I have a current junior going through this right now and it IS extremely stressful. What I’ve learned is most kids get internships though family connections. Dad works at NIH and agrees to take an intern if his friends in a different lab will offer his son a spot. This sucks for families like mine who do not work in STEM fields nor have connections that do. The teachers send out announcements about highly competitive programs looking for high school interns, including some that have an interest in Blair magnet students in particular, but the competition for those is intense. The research class doesn’t start until this semester and while they are working on resumes and cover letters in that class it’s TOO LATE for many of the competitive internships which had deadlines in December, Jan or Feb.

Essentially it is student driven and kids with family connections are at a HUGE advantage. School help has been limited. My kid did tell me that apparently 2-3 seniors didn’t have an internship last year and the school didn’t find out until a few weeks ago. [/quote]

Echo this. DD got an update on an internship application today - apparently she’s one of 1300 being considered![/quote]

Wonder what will happen when there a 5 programs.  Maybe the research project will be discontinued.  Now kids that do not find an internship usually end up working with a UMD prof.   Blair has lots of connections.[/quote]

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