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[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]

This is a good summary.  They just offer different experiences and pick students who can succeed based in different criteria.  The experience is not for everyone.  I appreciate the reading list provided.  I've met many, many private school kids who must have read those books.  I agree that those children would not like Blair SMAC.  The parent that listed those books also would not appreciate SMAC.  That is the beauty of having options even within MCPS.

The PP does make an excellent point that there are many valedictorians in private schools who do not 'test well'.  I've heard this complaint from private school parents when it comes time for them to apply to college.  This also reinforces the notion that private school's pick on much more than test scores versus Blair's SMAC (and RM's IB program) where the average SAT scores hover above 750.  
  
 - Blair SMAC parent.  [/quote]

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