We have three children at Seneca Valley. It’s awful. Only one of the three is happy there and that is bc that child is a three season athlete with incredible coaches. Nothing to do with actual school day. For the sake of your child, do not even consider. For those mentioning Clarksburg - our oldest graduated from there. Fabulous school then. Not hearing good things lately. Rather than AP/IB I recommend attending home school for 2 years and then early college at MC junior and senior year. 60 guaranteed credits at graduation assuming student earns As or Bs - much more than any AP or IB course load could ever provide. Early college is free!

teluguru wrote:Created new post for more visibility I need help in deciding IB at Watkins vs Poolsville Humanities. I saw everyone appreciating RM IB program but see very less about watkins mill IB as almost like non-existent. My kid more interested towards medicine so computer science or tech courses is not that priority

Update : we live in clarksburg damascus is home scool got clarksburg ( cosa ) also but they are not offering any advance courses in clarksburg

How is this a question - Poolesville

Anonymous wrote:

teluguru wrote:Created new post for more visibility I need help in deciding IB at Watkins vs Poolsville Humanities. I saw everyone appreciating RM IB program but see very less about watkins mill IB as almost like non-existent. My kid more interested towards medicine so computer science or tech courses is not that priority

Update : we live in clarksburg damascus is home scool got clarksburg ( cosa ) also but they are not offering any advance courses in clarksburg

We went with PS Humanities.

Good Luck.

Anonymous wrote:I have had three different friends with kids that started at at Watkin’s and left or are planning on leaving due to safety concerns. Their kids have loved the academics but ultimately the number of fights, lock downs, school culture, etc. proved to be too much of a distraction/concern.

These parents and families need to tell the BOE and MCPS leadership that they are leaving Watkins Mill for these reasons. I also encourage them to tell the press. Leaving silently is how MCPS and the BOE get away with pretending to not know that schools like WM are unsafe and scary for students.

I have had three different friends with kids that started at at Watkin’s and left or are planning on leaving due to safety concerns. Their kids have loved the academics but ultimately the number of fights, lock downs, school culture, etc. proved to be too much of a distraction/concern.

teluguru wrote:Created new post for more visibility I need help in deciding IB at Watkins vs Poolsville Humanities. I saw everyone appreciating RM IB program but see very less about watkins mill IB as almost like non-existent. My kid more interested towards medicine so computer science or tech courses is not that priority

Update : we live in clarksburg damascus is home scool got clarksburg ( cosa ) also but they are not offering any advance courses in clarksburg

We went with PS Humanities.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

teluguru wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP.

Poolesville is #1 in MCPS and Maryland and #140 in the Nation.

Yes, it's a long drive, so either stay at Clarksburg or buckle down. That's a personal decision for your kid.

Whomever says Watkins Mill or Seneca Valley is a good idea is shilling you.

This is one of the criteria for me leaning towards Poolsville. Does studying in high ranking HS benefit during college admissions ?

No. And it can be harder to get into very selective schools because your are competing directly with other talented kids in the school.

Poolesville is only high ranking because half the school is magnet kids. When you skim the top talent from other schools and then base ranking on number of AP courses, of course the school looks good on paper. I had a kid in Global and a kid in SMCS. The teachers were just as average as teachers elsewhere in MCPS (one or two were great, most good, are pretty bad).

I'm the one who posted the #1 Poolesville ranking.

Read this person's post. "I had a kid". "Teachers were just as average as teachers elsewhere." Whomever posted this is blowing smoke and my guess is working for the County Council or MCPS Central Office trying to downplay how badly MCPS academices have tanked in recent years under McKnight and the current Central Office.

There are 25000 High Schools, and ranked HS one of many factors if you're looking for a good college since your kid may be able to leverage magnet or dual enrollment easier than at your current school. Again, I would recommend either stay at your home school or Poolesville. Good luck!

The one who’s blowing smoke here doesn’t have a kid at Poolesville and is clearly an MCPS hater bringing irrelevant info into this conversation. My kids graduated 2018 and 2022. Their experiences are still relevant and the teachers haven’t changed since then. I got a firsthand look at the lack of actual instruction in the SMCS program during the virtual year. I also have neighbors who went to Watkins Mill IB and their kids really enjoyed the program.

There are at least two posters on this thread with negative actual experience at PVHS. OP can decide which information is more important - numbers on paper or actual experience.

Very true.

But don't you think that mirrors what all schools were dealing with during the pandemic? Virtual was suboptimal overall. But there's a general shift that has happened - from lecturing/explaining to facilitating consumption of academic videos/texts and setting up practice.

We are not in virtual anymore, but I have noticed my youngest in 6th (AIM) is basically teaching herself nowadays. The teacher assigns some videos, some Khan Academy, some IXL etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

teluguru wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP.

Poolesville is #1 in MCPS and Maryland and #140 in the Nation.

Yes, it's a long drive, so either stay at Clarksburg or buckle down. That's a personal decision for your kid.

Whomever says Watkins Mill or Seneca Valley is a good idea is shilling you.

This is one of the criteria for me leaning towards Poolsville. Does studying in high ranking HS benefit during college admissions ?

No. And it can be harder to get into very selective schools because your are competing directly with other talented kids in the school.

Poolesville is only high ranking because half the school is magnet kids. When you skim the top talent from other schools and then base ranking on number of AP courses, of course the school looks good on paper. I had a kid in Global and a kid in SMCS. The teachers were just as average as teachers elsewhere in MCPS (one or two were great, most good, are pretty bad).

I'm the one who posted the #1 Poolesville ranking.

Read this person's post. "I had a kid". "Teachers were just as average as teachers elsewhere." Whomever posted this is blowing smoke and my guess is working for the County Council or MCPS Central Office trying to downplay how badly MCPS academices have tanked in recent years under McKnight and the current Central Office.

There are 25000 High Schools, and ranked HS one of many factors if you're looking for a good college since your kid may be able to leverage magnet or dual enrollment easier than at your current school. Again, I would recommend either stay at your home school or Poolesville. Good luck!

The one who’s blowing smoke here doesn’t have a kid at Poolesville and is clearly an MCPS hater bringing irrelevant info into this conversation. My kids graduated 2018 and 2022. Their experiences are still relevant and the teachers haven’t changed since then. I got a firsthand look at the lack of actual instruction in the SMCS program during the virtual year. I also have neighbors who went to Watkins Mill IB and their kids really enjoyed the program.

There are at least two posters on this thread with negative actual experience at PVHS. OP can decide which information is more important - numbers on paper or actual experience.

Very true.

Anonymous wrote:On SV - this is not a real medical program - in the sense that it's not going to make acceptance into any medical school easier. It more gets you ready to be a medical tech. What it *would* be good for is gauging interest in the subject (as would Gaithersburg's program) which is really valuable in and of itself. And of course would help you with getting decently paid work straight out of high school- in case you want to work through college.

The rankings are a little bit misleading, because they really focus on average SAT score and number of APs completed. Being a school where 2/3 are magnet kids, would of course make Poolesville stand out. But if you look down the list, you see other high SES schools like Whitman and Churchill, and River Hill in Howard County high on the list.

My kid will be at Poolesville, and she chose humanities over the other two programs, because she wants to go to law school. We also don't have a long commute. But I think anyone going to any magnet school assuming it's going to improve your chances of getting into a selective college needs to have their expectations reset. That's just not going to happen. But the cohort idea is nice, and the smaller school suits some kids better (definitely better for my kid).

Also - and this may not matter to you if your kid is science oriented, but the middle school English/humanities program was terrible. I mean it's a complete embarrassment, and literally making our children stupider by the day. I regret not sending my kid to MLK because those kids were definitely reading harder text and doing more complicated research. Meanwhile, there's a fair bit of differentiation available in math, at most middle schools. I did not want my kid to take honors English for all in 9th and 10th again which is what it would have been at the home school. I really think as a whole reading and writing is the weak spot in the secondary school curriculum in mcps. Meanwhile you have 15-20% of the class taking Multivariate Calc in 12th at even our home school!

I never implied that a high school medical program would make getting accepted to medical school easier. Anyone who thinks this is naive.

On SV - this is not a real medical program - in the sense that it's not going to make acceptance into any medical school easier. It more gets you ready to be a medical tech. What it *would* be good for is gauging interest in the subject (as would Gaithersburg's program) which is really valuable in and of itself. And of course would help you with getting decently paid work straight out of high school- in case you want to work through college.

The rankings are a little bit misleading, because they really focus on average SAT score and number of APs completed. Being a school where 2/3 are magnet kids, would of course make Poolesville stand out. But if you look down the list, you see other high SES schools like Whitman and Churchill, and River Hill in Howard County high on the list.

My kid will be at Poolesville, and she chose humanities over the other two programs, because she wants to go to law school. We also don't have a long commute. But I think anyone going to any magnet school assuming it's going to improve your chances of getting into a selective college needs to have their expectations reset. That's just not going to happen. But the cohort idea is nice, and the smaller school suits some kids better (definitely better for my kid).

Also - and this may not matter to you if your kid is science oriented, but the middle school English/humanities program was terrible. I mean it's a complete embarrassment, and literally making our children stupider by the day. I regret not sending my kid to MLK because those kids were definitely reading harder text and doing more complicated research. Meanwhile, there's a fair bit of differentiation available in math, at most middle schools. I did not want my kid to take honors English for all in 9th and 10th again which is what it would have been at the home school. I really think as a whole reading and writing is the weak spot in the secondary school curriculum in mcps. Meanwhile you have 15-20% of the class taking Multivariate Calc in 12th at even our home school!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

teluguru wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP.

Poolesville is #1 in MCPS and Maryland and #140 in the Nation.

Yes, it's a long drive, so either stay at Clarksburg or buckle down. That's a personal decision for your kid.

Whomever says Watkins Mill or Seneca Valley is a good idea is shilling you.

This is one of the criteria for me leaning towards Poolsville. Does studying in high ranking HS benefit during college admissions ?

No. And it can be harder to get into very selective schools because your are competing directly with other talented kids in the school.

Poolesville is only high ranking because half the school is magnet kids. When you skim the top talent from other schools and then base ranking on number of AP courses, of course the school looks good on paper. I had a kid in Global and a kid in SMCS. The teachers were just as average as teachers elsewhere in MCPS (one or two were great, most good, are pretty bad).

I'm the one who posted the #1 Poolesville ranking.

Read this person's post. "I had a kid". "Teachers were just as average as teachers elsewhere." Whomever posted this is blowing smoke and my guess is working for the County Council or MCPS Central Office trying to downplay how badly MCPS academices have tanked in recent years under McKnight and the current Central Office.

There are 25000 High Schools, and ranked HS one of many factors if you're looking for a good college since your kid may be able to leverage magnet or dual enrollment easier than at your current school. Again, I would recommend either stay at your home school or Poolesville. Good luck!

The one who’s blowing smoke here doesn’t have a kid at Poolesville and is clearly an MCPS hater bringing irrelevant info into this conversation. My kids graduated 2018 and 2022. Their experiences are still relevant and the teachers haven’t changed since then. I got a firsthand look at the lack of actual instruction in the SMCS program during the virtual year. I also have neighbors who went to Watkins Mill IB and their kids really enjoyed the program.

There are at least two posters on this thread with negative actual experience at PVHS. OP can decide which information is more important - numbers on paper or actual experience.

Anonymous wrote:DP.

Poolesville is #1 in MCPS and Maryland and #140 in the Nation.

Yes, it's a long drive, so either stay at Clarksburg or buckle down. That's a personal decision for your kid.

Whomever says Watkins Mill or Seneca Valley is a good idea is shilling you.

I mentioned Seneca Valley because OP said kid is interested in medicine and is also inquiring about IB. Seneca has both a medical program and IB; so why are you saying this is a bad recommendation?

Anonymous wrote:

teluguru wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP.

Poolesville is #1 in MCPS and Maryland and #140 in the Nation.

Yes, it's a long drive, so either stay at Clarksburg or buckle down. That's a personal decision for your kid.

Whomever says Watkins Mill or Seneca Valley is a good idea is shilling you.

This is one of the criteria for me leaning towards Poolsville. Does studying in high ranking HS benefit during college admissions ?

No. And it can be harder to get into very selective schools because your are competing directly with other talented kids in the school.

Poolesville is only high ranking because half the school is magnet kids. When you skim the top talent from other schools and then base ranking on number of AP courses, of course the school looks good on paper. I had a kid in Global and a kid in SMCS. The teachers were just as average as teachers elsewhere in MCPS (one or two were great, most good, are pretty bad).

I'm the one who posted the #1 Poolesville ranking.

Read this person's post. "I had a kid". "Teachers were just as average as teachers elsewhere." Whomever posted this is blowing smoke and my guess is working for the County Council or MCPS Central Office trying to downplay how badly MCPS academices have tanked in recent years under McKnight and the current Central Office.

There are 25000 High Schools, and ranked HS one of many factors if you're looking for a good college since your kid may be able to leverage magnet or dual enrollment easier than at your current school. Again, I would recommend either stay at your home school or Poolesville. Good luck!

Op, if I was completely honest…instead of focusing on phs humanities…I would tell your child To attend your local hs, take strong ap and good course selection, get good grades, be in the top of the class there and you will have a better chance of getting to a more competitive college than attending phs. Your commute will be less and you will have an overall healthy and happy child, with friends close by. Bc attending phs sometimes friends are sometimes located 30 mins away from each other, driving them to all these places gets exhausting after a while.

Anonymous wrote:

teluguru wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP.

Poolesville is #1 in MCPS and Maryland and #140 in the Nation.

Yes, it's a long drive, so either stay at Clarksburg or buckle down. That's a personal decision for your kid.

Whomever says Watkins Mill or Seneca Valley is a good idea is shilling you.

This is one of the criteria for me leaning towards Poolsville. Does studying in high ranking HS benefit during college admissions ?

No. And it can be harder to get into very selective schools because your are competing directly with other talented kids in the school.

Poolesville is only high ranking because half the school is magnet kids. When you skim the top talent from other schools and then base ranking on number of AP courses, of course the school looks good on paper. I had a kid in Global and a kid in SMCS. The teachers were just as average as teachers elsewhere in MCPS (one or two were great, most good, are pretty bad).

I agree. I have also two children, one in smcs and one in global. The teachers are average in global. But the teachers are downright sadistic and lack any empathy in the smcs program, they hardly teach and expect the kids to learn everything on their own. This school year in fact three students from the current freshman class have left the program. Also, looking at the last couple of year of graduates from poolesville, most have attended umcp.