Anonymous
Post 07/30/2023 15:45     Subject: Blair for gifted kid, but not magnet
Anonymous wrote:Awesome. That sounds great. What are the best feeder elementary/middle schools for this kind of kid?


If you want them to go to Blair, then any elementary/middle in the Blair pyramid.

Also, there are smart kids at every school.
Anonymous
Post 07/30/2023 14:52     Subject: Blair for gifted kid, but not magnet
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Inherent disadvantage - perhaps - if they are looking to go to MIT - then the magnet kids will "likely" be the ones that take those slots. The non-magnet kids still get into great schools - Amherst, Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, etc. but they don't shine quite like the STEM kids who've gotten straight As and are finalists in the Intel competition.


This is wrong. Very smart non-magnet kids with impressive matriculations. And even in the magnet the kids PP describes are very few. Most magnet kids are not in that category, and now even less with the new magnet formulation that picked up a lot of kids who did not go to TPMS. By far the most popular college destination for magnet kids is UMD.

+1 I don’t know why many on dcum assume Blair magnet and W go to the top tier. Look at the data. Almost none get into the top tier—most go to UMD-type schools.


Except the actual data that's published shows that both Blair and Richard Montgomery too far better than the W's in terms of elite admissions.
Anonymous
Post 07/30/2023 14:51     Subject: Blair for gifted kid, but not magnet
Anonymous wrote:I am considering moving into the zone for Blair, but i am kind of worried about (and excited about?) the magnet dynamic. My kids are super smart, academic types—but so are lots of kids. If they don’t get into a magnet and they end up just attending Blair outside the magnet, is there a second-class citizen vibe? Will the nerdy smart kids they would normally like all be in the magnet, and they will be bummed? And then for college admissions, are they at an inherent disadvantage in this scenario? I LOVE the idea of the magnet options in mcps and the Blair zone, but I know that being smart is no guarantee you actually get in, and I don’t want them having a great experience to be totally on the line.



We moved here when one of my kids was in 9th grade so they didn't have a chance to apply through regular channels but we're at Blair. Ended up taking something like 3/4 of the magnet program while they were there and filling in with things that seemed equally good the rest of the time.
Anonymous
Post 07/30/2023 13:01     Subject: Blair for gifted kid, but not magnet
Awesome. That sounds great. What are the best feeder elementary/middle schools for this kind of kid?
Anonymous
Post 07/30/2023 12:33     Subject: Blair for gifted kid, but not magnet
Many magnet kids are not super wealthy and UMD gives them very generous aid. DD got free tuition (not free room and board) and turned down full pay at Cornell. Of course Cornell would have been an experience but at $80K a year? No could not justify it.

That said ...remember the magnet is only about half the day. For English, SS, language and electives kids are mixed in with the rest of the school so there is no second class citizen vibe.
Anonymous
Post 07/30/2023 12:28     Subject: Blair for gifted kid, but not magnet
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Inherent disadvantage - perhaps - if they are looking to go to MIT - then the magnet kids will "likely" be the ones that take those slots. The non-magnet kids still get into great schools - Amherst, Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, etc. but they don't shine quite like the STEM kids who've gotten straight As and are finalists in the Intel competition.


This is wrong. Very smart non-magnet kids with impressive matriculations. And even in the magnet the kids PP describes are very few. Most magnet kids are not in that category, and now even less with the new magnet formulation that picked up a lot of kids who did not go to TPMS. By far the most popular college destination for magnet kids is UMD.

+1 I don’t know why many on dcum assume Blair magnet and W go to the top tier. Look at the data. Almost none get into the top tier—most go to UMD-type schools.

(Almost none, meaning very few, to be clear)
Anonymous
Post 07/30/2023 12:27     Subject: Blair for gifted kid, but not magnet
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Inherent disadvantage - perhaps - if they are looking to go to MIT - then the magnet kids will "likely" be the ones that take those slots. The non-magnet kids still get into great schools - Amherst, Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, etc. but they don't shine quite like the STEM kids who've gotten straight As and are finalists in the Intel competition.


This is wrong. Very smart non-magnet kids with impressive matriculations. And even in the magnet the kids PP describes are very few. Most magnet kids are not in that category, and now even less with the new magnet formulation that picked up a lot of kids who did not go to TPMS. By far the most popular college destination for magnet kids is UMD.

+1 I don’t know why many on dcum assume Blair magnet and W go to the top tier. Look at the data. Almost none get into the top tier—most go to UMD-type schools.
Anonymous
Post 07/30/2023 12:03     Subject: Blair for gifted kid, but not magnet
Agree most magnet kids still go to College Park.

--magnet teacher at a DCC school
Anonymous
Post 07/30/2023 11:32     Subject: Re:Blair for gifted kid, but not magnet
Non-magnet students at Blair can take magnet electives (not the core magnet requirements), provided they’ve met the prerequisites and there is space in the class.
Anonymous
Post 07/30/2023 11:16     Subject: Blair for gifted kid, but not magnet
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Inherent disadvantage - perhaps - if they are looking to go to MIT - then the magnet kids will "likely" be the ones that take those slots. The non-magnet kids still get into great schools - Amherst, Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, etc. but they don't shine quite like the STEM kids who've gotten straight As and are finalists in the Intel competition.


This is wrong. Very smart non-magnet kids with impressive matriculations. And even in the magnet the kids PP describes are very few. Most magnet kids are not in that category, and now even less with the new magnet formulation that picked up a lot of kids who did not go to TPMS. By far the most popular college destination for magnet kids is UMD.


And always has been so quit the implication that it’s not as good as it was. BS.
Anonymous
Post 07/30/2023 10:50     Subject: Blair for gifted kid, but not magnet
Anonymous wrote:Inherent disadvantage - perhaps - if they are looking to go to MIT - then the magnet kids will "likely" be the ones that take those slots. The non-magnet kids still get into great schools - Amherst, Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, etc. but they don't shine quite like the STEM kids who've gotten straight As and are finalists in the Intel competition.


This is wrong. Very smart non-magnet kids with impressive matriculations. And even in the magnet the kids PP describes are very few. Most magnet kids are not in that category, and now even less with the new magnet formulation that picked up a lot of kids who did not go to TPMS. By far the most popular college destination for magnet kids is UMD.
Anonymous
Post 07/30/2023 10:44     Subject: Blair for gifted kid, but not magnet
Anonymous wrote:Nope - a fair amount of super-smart kids go to Blair that were in the highly-gifted programs through middle school and didn't get into the magnet programs and still chose to go to Blair - and still friends with magnet friends etc. No second-class citizenship - and your kids will likely get chance to take classes with the teachers that teach those classes (AP Classes etc.) in upper grades.


+1. Our experience exactly. It’s been great.
Anonymous
Post 07/30/2023 10:42     Subject: Blair for gifted kid, but not magnet
Inherent disadvantage - perhaps - if they are looking to go to MIT - then the magnet kids will "likely" be the ones that take those slots. The non-magnet kids still get into great schools - Amherst, Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, etc. but they don't shine quite like the STEM kids who've gotten straight As and are finalists in the Intel competition.
Anonymous
Post 07/30/2023 10:39     Subject: Blair for gifted kid, but not magnet
Nope - a fair amount of super-smart kids go to Blair that were in the highly-gifted programs through middle school and didn't get into the magnet programs and still chose to go to Blair - and still friends with magnet friends etc. No second-class citizenship - and your kids will likely get chance to take classes with the teachers that teach those classes (AP Classes etc.) in upper grades.
Anonymous
Post 07/30/2023 10:08     Subject: Blair for gifted kid, but not magnet
I am considering moving into the zone for Blair, but i am kind of worried about (and excited about?) the magnet dynamic. My kids are super smart, academic types—but so are lots of kids. If they don’t get into a magnet and they end up just attending Blair outside the magnet, is there a second-class citizen vibe? Will the nerdy smart kids they would normally like all be in the magnet, and they will be bummed? And then for college admissions, are they at an inherent disadvantage in this scenario? I LOVE the idea of the magnet options in mcps and the Blair zone, but I know that being smart is no guarantee you actually get in, and I don’t want them having a great experience to be totally on the line.