No personal experience of BCC, but my aunt sent her three kids there. They graduated 3 - 10 years ago, and had very different personalities and needs (youngest was SN). Yet they all managed to be happy there, find their social and academic niche, and went on to an Ivy League university, UMD, and a Baltimore arts college respectively. One of them is an Eagle Scout. Oldest is getting her MBA after studying in Italy and working for the two Obama campaigns, second is creating his own wine business in Chile and third is still in college. They are well-rounded kids.

Anonymous wrote:I was also there 10+ years ago, so things may have changed. I was part of the IB program, so my experience was quite the opposite of lax/ kids with poor work ethics. I was very challenged, and actually though my freshman year of college was easier than my IB experience. There are some enrichment programs too, I participated in study abroad and still reflect on it fondly. The teachers were very available and invested in their students. I'd recommend it.

Another former BCC alum here (even older) -- the thing about BCC is that the incoming class is probably around 4-500 at least. Within each grade every year there is always a large group of kids (at least) 100 who have serious academic goals -- want to go to selective colleges, take a number of AP or IB classes and get involved in school activities. Beyond this, there is a significant group of kids who are still going to college, but maybe not such selective ones. And, like any school, there are a number of kids who have a lot of pressures that may prevent them from being so academic or active or well-behaved. And, again, like any large public high school, there are kids who are burnouts, substance abusers in the making, etc. If a child is unable to find a significant group of academically oriented kids, I would wonder if they are in the "wrong" classes. Are they taking all or mostly all honors classes? Any AP classes (well, no AP in 9th grade)? Are they in advanced math and language classes? If so, they should find a pretty well-behaved, studious (as studious as students can really be in HS) group of kids.

BCC is a fantastic school. I agree with the previous poster that if you have problems with BCC, there probably are too many public schools that would work for you. I live in the Whitman Cluster -- but hear nothing but good things about BCC. No school is perfect.

Anonymous wrote:Daughter met a girl visiting her school from BCC. Parents are pulling her out. She told DD that she can't stand the lax environment and poor work ethic of the kids. That surprised me because I thought it had a good reputation. Perhaps this girl is surrounded by the wrong crowd but her parents have agreed to any tuition to move her next year.

Odd, because the IB program would have been a choice. Unlike the RMIB program, which is by application, BCC's IB program is open to anybody with certain GPA.

I was also there 10+ years ago, so things may have changed. I was part of the IB program, so my experience was quite the opposite of lax/ kids with poor work ethics. I was very challenged, and actually though my freshman year of college was easier than my IB experience. There are some enrichment programs too, I participated in study abroad and still reflect on it fondly. The teachers were very available and invested in their students. I'd recommend it.

My 9th grader is there, and overall I've been very happy. He's a somewhat shy kid with anxiety, and I worried about the size of the place, but they do a great job of keeping an eye on kids who need it, and my son seems to have made strong connections and is doing well.

It is a good school academically and socially too. I would only be reluctant if your child is very shy or needs a more nurturing environment to feel secure and be successful. Otherwise, I'd strongly recommend it.

It has great college placement stats if the annual Bethesda mag sure is accurate. My neighbors and colleagues seem very happy there. My kids are younger, but we're generally really pleased with everything so far in MCPS.

I have a daughter at BCC and know lots of kids who go there or have gone there, and it is a terrific public HS. If your kids take the advanced classes, I think it is on par with most of the private schools. It is big but not for a public school, probably average size, but it seems very well run, the usual mix of fabulous and god awful teachers but it skews more towards the fabulous. And a nice mix of sports and extracurriculars -- some sports programs do very well (girls soccer traditionally, cross country) while football and basketball generally strengths. Good location makes it more interesting for the kids at lunch. All in all, if you have problems with BCC, there are not many public schools you are likely to find acceptable.

Anonymous wrote:Daughter met a girl visiting her school from BCC. Parents are pulling her out. She told DD that she can't stand the lax environment and poor work ethic of the kids. That surprised me because I thought it had a good reputation. Perhaps this girl is surrounded by the wrong crowd but her parents have agreed to any tuition to move her next year.

It sounds like they must have $37,000 or so available to them per year for the rest of HS, plus money for college, if they can do this.

Daughter met a girl visiting her school from BCC. Parents are pulling her out. She told DD that she can't stand the lax environment and poor work ethic of the kids. That surprised me because I thought it had a good reputation. Perhaps this girl is surrounded by the wrong crowd but her parents have agreed to any tuition to move her next year.

I went there 10 years ago, so this is dated and possibly useless. But I had some great teachers, and it's a diverse and accepting student body for the most part.

What's it like? Is it a good school? How would a somewhat quiet girl coming from a small school do? TIA