Anonymous wrote:I keep hearing, both on here and IRL, about Poolesville SMCS being soul crushingly hard on some kids who end up dropping out. But I also hear no one really drops out at Blair. What is the difference?

I would be curious to know this too

Anonymous wrote:I keep hearing, both on here and IRL, about Poolesville SMCS being soul crushingly hard on some kids who end up dropping out. But I also hear no one really drops out at Blair. What is the difference?

My kid graduated from Poolesville SMCS last year. There were 3 kids that dropped out along the way. The one I know of was was not a good fit since she did not like math.

My kid had a great experience. The long day made it tough for sports but the homework load was not bad ad all. My kid is/was a quick learner and worker so was a perfect fit. Loved the accelerated math pathway. Over pluses included small size of PHS and the SMCS peer group.

I think they really want everyone to take ap stat 11th grade to prepare them for the senior research project. That said, I think it would be hard to do AP Calculus B/C after a gap year from Pre calc since it builds on it.

I keep hearing, both on here and IRL, about Poolesville SMCS being soul crushingly hard on some kids who end up dropping out. But I also hear no one really drops out at Blair. What is the difference?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter got invited to the phs smcs program and we are still in the process of accepting or not.
I was wondering if any upperclassmen parent can answer a question. For the math pathway in the smcs program, is it possible to spread the math classes to one per year. It seems in junior year both ap calculus bc and ap stats is listed to be taken, is it possible to spread out the classes, ie take ap stat junior year and ap calc senior year.?

I know your child was invited but if you are concerned about the double math as a junior, SMCs is not the right path for your child. It’s an incredibly rigorous path. Don’t choose the path because your child was lucky enough to get in. It’s a really tough. We know several friends that have dropped out.

Oh come on. My child is not planning on doubling up in math and it's still the "right path" for them. Don't pay any mind to that comment. I do agree that is really rigorous and a lot of kids struggle with the amount of work more generally so I do agree that should be a consideration.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go the the link above and click on the SMCs certificate link.

Op here. Is the link you are referring to, the column table by grade with some shaded in pink?

Yes you have to click on SMCs certificate overview. I know it says 2021-2022 at the top but the program does not change (generally year over year).

Anonymous wrote:Go the the link above and click on the SMCs certificate link.

Op here. Is the link you are referring to, the column table by grade with some shaded in pink?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter got invited to the phs smcs program and we are still in the process of accepting or not.
I was wondering if any upperclassmen parent can answer a question. For the math pathway in the smcs program, is it possible to spread the math classes to one per year. It seems in junior year both ap calculus bc and ap stats is listed to be taken, is it possible to spread out the classes, ie take ap stat junior year and ap calc senior year.?

I know your child was invited but if you are concerned about the double math as a junior, SMCs is not the right path for your child. It’s an incredibly rigorous path. Don’t choose the path because your child was lucky enough to get in. It’s a really tough. We know several friends that have dropped out.

Op here, thank you for your feedback. We will keep this in mind.

Anonymous wrote:My daughter got invited to the phs smcs program and we are still in the process of accepting or not.
I was wondering if any upperclassmen parent can answer a question. For the math pathway in the smcs program, is it possible to spread the math classes to one per year. It seems in junior year both ap calculus bc and ap stats is listed to be taken, is it possible to spread out the classes, ie take ap stat junior year and ap calc senior year.?

I know your child was invited but if you are concerned about the double math as a junior, SMCs is not the right path for your child. It’s an incredibly rigorous path. Don’t choose the path because your child was lucky enough to get in. It’s a really tough. We know several friends that have dropped out.

Go the the link above and click on the SMCs certificate link.

NP. Are there any upperclass smacs parents or already graduated smcs parents that can answer, I believe there is a certificate that smacs kids receive? What are the requirements for this certificate?

In the curriculum pathway the classes in red are required. The others are more optional.

Yes as long as you take some kind of math all 4 years.

My daughter got invited to the phs smcs program and we are still in the process of accepting or not.
I was wondering if any upperclassmen parent can answer a question. For the math pathway in the smcs program, is it possible to spread the math classes to one per year. It seems in junior year both ap calculus bc and ap stats is listed to be taken, is it possible to spread out the classes, ie take ap stat junior year and ap calc senior year.?