Anonymous wrote:Thread is more than a year old....

Yet, someone revives it...so obviously it is still relevant?

Thread is more than a year old....

Anonymous wrote:All the programs are great. Depends on where your child's interest lies.

Poolsville SMACS is the same as Blair SMACS - very good for a child whose brain is wired towards very rigorous Math, Science and Computer Science.

Poolsville Humanities is the same as Blair Humanities. Creative thinkers, writers will thrive here...Science and Math courses are also rigorous (at par with all other HSs in MCPS ) but not as rigorous as SMACS.

Poolsville Global Ecology (only program countywide) - called the "happy Magnet" - A huge number of field trips, in fact a lot of the teaching happens outdoors...a good emphasis on both Science and Humanities...Let your kid go here if this kind of OUTSIDE THE BOX experience appeals to him/her. And they do not have allergies or are not squeamish about nature...These kids go out on field trips come rain or hail...

RM IB - ahhh...what can I say about this program...the toughest Magnet...very-very hard...lots of writing and analysis...Before choosing it - think carefully about your end goal - understand what you are committing towards - weigh carefully..THERE ARE MANY REASONS NOT TO PICK IT - and all of them are valid.

There is however only one reason to pick RM IB program - your kid will get an education like nothing you have imagined. They will become excellent writers and thinkers - and will get as complete an education in Sciences and Humanities and Language Arts as possible. And once they finish their HS, you can rest assured that they will do well in college no matter what subject they pick. They will never ever have to work this hard in Academics...

see correction in bold

All the programs are great. Depends on where your child's interest lies.

Poolsville SMACS is the same as Blair SMACS - very good for a child whose brain is wired towards very rigorous Math, Science and Computer Science.

Poolsville Humanities is the same as Blair Humanities. Creative thinkers, writers will thrive here...Science and Math courses are also rigorous (at par with all other HSs in MCPS ) but not as rigorous as SMACS.

Poolsville Global Ecology (only program countywide) - called the "happy Magnet" - A huge number of field trips, in fact a lot of the teaching happens outdoors...a good emphasis on both Science and Humanities...Let your kid go here if this kind of out of the box experience appeals to him/her. And they do not have allergies or are not squeamish about nature...These kids go out on field trips come rain or hail...

RM IB - ahhh...what can I say about this program...the toughest Magnet...very-very hard...lots of writing and analysis...Before choosing it - think carefully about your end goal - understand what you are committing towards - weigh carefully..THERE ARE MANY REASONS NOT TO PICK IT - and all of them are valid.

There is however only one reason to pick RM IB program - your kid will get an education like nothing you have imagined. They will become excellent writers and thinkers - and will get as complete an education in Sciences and Humanities and Language Arts as possible. And once they finish their HS, you can rest assured that they will do well in college no matter what subject they pick. They will never ever have to work this hard in Academics...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:wootton, whitman and churchill are considered the better HS.

All are pretty competitive academically (lots of AP's, high sat scores etc)

you can't go wrong academically with any of them.

it might be a little easier to find a lower cost house in wootton than the other two districts

You are comparing apples and oranges. It may be that Wootton, Whitman & Churchill are considered the better high schools. But OP isn't really asking about high schools; she is asking about a high school compared to a competitive-admission magnet program. The RM IB program (not RM itself, but the IB program) is an extremely selective, very rigorous program that is likely superior to the experience available at these high schools. IMO anyone who is qualified and admitted should GO and not miss out on that experience.

I have a child at a Whitman feeder middle school and another at the math/science magnet at Takoma Park MS. The magnet child is getting a superior middle school experience, hands-down, than the one that the well-regarded Whitman feeder MS child is. No question at all - and notwithstanding that one child is at a reputedly "better" school.

OP, go for it.

Totally agree with this. I have one child in a very "desirable" middle school and one in a middle school magnet. The education the magnet chid is getting is just far superior to anything the regular middle school kid is getting. It's actually enfuriating -- there's no reason they couldn't provide this kind of interesting, stimulating and enriched content to the regular MS kids. A lot of it is faster paced, etc., but the actual interesting content could be suitable for any MS kid and would provide a lot more engagement and interest.

IMO, any magnet is better than the regular curriculum and choosing the regular curriculum, even at one of the "W' schools, is not the better choice, particularly if you have a student whose ability allows them admission to all the magnets.

I went to RM IB (graduated mid 1990s). IB was useful if you wanted to be a fine arts, European history, or foreign language major; it really didn't offer much opportunity if you were primarily interested in science, engineering, computer science, or math. Whitman and Churchill kids seemed to have a much easier time getting into Harvard-Yale-Princeton, though there may have been some legacy advantage there. Part of the issue was that there was so much competition for grades at RM that someone who went to RM IB could easily have been a valedictorian at, say, Magruder.

The kids I know who went to Whitman or Churchill are now mostly doctors, surgeons, and professors. The kids I know who went to RM--though brilliant--mostly went on to unremarkable careers tangentially related to social studies, liberal arts or fine arts. I suspect that what happened was that those fields offered little opportunity.

I hope to send my kid to Churchill and would choose it over RM's IB.

Anonymous wrote:I have a similar situation. My DC got into RM IB and Poolesville's math/science and humanities programs. We are trying to decide which of the 3 programs to choose. I looked at Poolesville's website and they mention that Poolesville is the best high school in Maryland and #64 in the US as per Newsweek magazine. Somewhere else I saw that the math/science program at Poolesville is the same as Blair's program and that the humanities program is similiar to RM IB program. We are not sure which one to choose. All all these programs are not very far from us.

If you want a high school where your child will fit right in and be educated in a small town choose Poolesville. Its a small school, the teachers know everyone's name, and there is a lot of individual attention.

On the other hand do not be influenced by Newsweek's rating or Matthews in the Post. They are frauds. Their "rankings" are based on how many students take AP classes vs. the number in the student body. Its impossible to say that any school is #12 or #76542.

I have a similar situation. My DC got into RM IB and Poolesville's math/science and humanities programs. We are trying to decide which of the 3 programs to choose. I looked at Poolesville's website and they mention that Poolesville is the best high school in Maryland and #64 in the US as per Newsweek magazine. Somewhere else I saw that the math/science program at Poolesville is the same as Blair's program and that the humanities program is similiar to RM IB program. We are not sure which one to choose. All all these programs are not very far from us.

I am also confused as to what the real issue is. RM IB is a great program and highly selective. My DC knows some kids in it (from the Whitman and Churchill clusters) who love it. And who play sports at the school and presumably do other extracurriculars. If you are going to move anyway why not just move near RM? Seems silly to pay a premium to live in Whitman or Churchill clusters if you aren't going to use the school.