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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][b]To the parents (and teacher) who said that the Blair acceptance was mostly based on test scores.  I'm wondering if you can articulate why you think so.[/b] Because I imagine that the kids with great test scores probably also had pretty good ECs and recs, and so it would be hard to isolate this factor as determinative just from anecdotal knowledge about who got in.   I actually agree with you, even though I know little about it as my kid was not at TPMS and I know few Blair SMAC kids, so I'm not arguing a point, I'm really just curious about how you know.[/quote]

The Blair SMAC magnet is purely an academic program offering higher-level learning and experiences to the county's most talented math and science students. I am sure that teacher recs matter, but ECs do not. They do not care if your kid is well-rounded. Of course, many are, but their violin skills did not get them into the program.

Now if you had one spot left in the class, and two kids with the exact same academic record, test scores and effusive recommendations, I don't know what the tie breaker would be. Maybe then.

[/quote]

I suspect it depends on the extra curricular.  I agree that being a great violinist probably won't have much chance on their test scores.  However, I think a kid with a STEM passion might garner closer attention.  If the kid likes to program video games, engineer things in the garage, wrestle with mathematical brainteasers, is a junior astronomer, or loves nature and has made a study of flora and fauna, etc.,  I think that might factor into the equation.

The Blair program is very demanding.  They need kids who are both highly capable and highly motivated to be there. [/quote]

If the kid doesn't score well on the test, none of that matters.[/quote]

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