Not race.

They see gender and cluster.

You sound really triggered. Did your child come from a high FARMS school with low scores or something?

Last year some posters insisted repeatedly despite all the evidence otherwise that selection committees had info on kids’ racial background and used that to make decisions. Despite the fact that it was made very clear that names and race/ethnicity was not info available to the selection committee. This year some posters are insistent that there are quotas for certain schools or that the social economic background or your middle school is relevant. It’s not. It is unknown to the selection committee. There is no wiggle room here, that’s fact. It was also discussed ad nauseum and accepted last year, if you want to search, but I encourage anyone who thinks this might be the case to call MCPS and ask them before perpetuating this falsehood.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD always had MAP-M above 97th percentile, recently 98-99 (260+ score), and her MAP-R was at best 94th percentile (last score was 245). Applied to Blair and to RM and Kennedy IB. Got into both IBs but not into Blair. She is happy, I am utterly confused (not disappointed / complaining, just kind of “this doesn’t make sense” confused).

My guess is that more people with high MAP-M applied this year to Blair, than high MAP-R applied to RM. Also it may be (and it looks like) that your DC's scores in both cases are quite close to decision range.

You may be right! Another option that came to my mind was that essay matters more than we think.

Makes it even weirder for me that she was not even waitlisted or “wait pooled” for Blair, just straight “not selected”… as I said, she didn’t even want to go all that much, but as someone previously involved in selection / admissions, the logic escapes me. Especially since Blair likely skews boys (so she should have an advantage) and RMIB skews even or girls (so she should be at a disadvantage).

280+ for girls, 300+ for boys. 260 is way too low.

Interesting; this contradicts the 283 or 273 median that was quoted by posters above, as well as some scores from past admission threads.

That said, even if we accept the lower 273 median for Blair, I am curious how she got into RMIB not sure what the acceptance rate for Blair is, but for RMIB it’s ~12-13% and I have to believe that there were people with higher scores in the mix.

I guess that’s for low FARM schools. High FARM schools have significantly lower thresholds.

Stop it. This isn’t considered for high school. In fact the selection process is SCHOOL BLIND.

That's not true. They work hard to get a representation from all feeder schools. They have said this repeatedly. This is why for this year's 9th you're not getting all the TPMS kids who presumably tested at the top a few years ago and I'm guessing more than half still test at the top but only about 40% admitted.

It is true. Write to Mr O or the other coordinators and find out. They brag that they have representation from many schools but they absolutely do NOT know which school you attended. STOP spreading this BS, it’s untrue and it’s unfair to confuse people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS got into SMCS for next year with a MAP-M 273. Mid-SES home school. We know kids with much higher scores who didn’t get in and all of these kids have straight As so no doubt that activities and essay are key.

Your home school counts a whole lot, and could count more than activities and essays. Kids with low scores are inevitably coming from high or mid-SES schools.

NO IT DOES NOT. Stop with this. Pay attention to what the coordinators actually say about the selection process. It is very clear and well known that the selection process is school blind. They do not know which school your child attended unless they mention it in the essay/prompts.

This is not the middle school magnet selection. High school selection is completely different.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD always had MAP-M above 97th percentile, recently 98-99 (260+ score), and her MAP-R was at best 94th percentile (last score was 245). Applied to Blair and to RM and Kennedy IB. Got into both IBs but not into Blair. She is happy, I am utterly confused (not disappointed / complaining, just kind of “this doesn’t make sense” confused).

My guess is that more people with high MAP-M applied this year to Blair, than high MAP-R applied to RM. Also it may be (and it looks like) that your DC's scores in both cases are quite close to decision range.

You may be right! Another option that came to my mind was that essay matters more than we think.

Makes it even weirder for me that she was not even waitlisted or “wait pooled” for Blair, just straight “not selected”… as I said, she didn’t even want to go all that much, but as someone previously involved in selection / admissions, the logic escapes me. Especially since Blair likely skews boys (so she should have an advantage) and RMIB skews even or girls (so she should be at a disadvantage).

280+ for girls, 300+ for boys. 260 is way too low.

Interesting; this contradicts the 283 or 273 median that was quoted by posters above, as well as some scores from past admission threads.

That said, even if we accept the lower 273 median for Blair, I am curious how she got into RMIB not sure what the acceptance rate for Blair is, but for RMIB it’s ~12-13% and I have to believe that there were people with higher scores in the mix.

I guess that’s for low FARM schools. High FARM schools have significantly lower thresholds.

Stop it. This isn’t considered for high school. In fact the selection process is SCHOOL BLIND.

That's not true. They work hard to get a representation from all feeder schools. They have said this repeatedly. This is why for this year's 9th you're not getting all the TPMS kids who presumably tested at the top a few years ago and I'm guessing more than half still test at the top but only about 40% admitted.

Anonymous wrote:DS got into SMCS for next year with a MAP-M 273. Mid-SES home school. We know kids with much higher scores who didn’t get in and all of these kids have straight As so no doubt that activities and essay are key.

Your home school counts a whole lot, and could count more than activities and essays. Kids with low scores are inevitably coming from high or mid-SES schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD always had MAP-M above 97th percentile, recently 98-99 (260+ score), and her MAP-R was at best 94th percentile (last score was 245). Applied to Blair and to RM and Kennedy IB. Got into both IBs but not into Blair. She is happy, I am utterly confused (not disappointed / complaining, just kind of “this doesn’t make sense” confused).

My guess is that more people with high MAP-M applied this year to Blair, than high MAP-R applied to RM. Also it may be (and it looks like) that your DC's scores in both cases are quite close to decision range.

You may be right! Another option that came to my mind was that essay matters more than we think.

Makes it even weirder for me that she was not even waitlisted or “wait pooled” for Blair, just straight “not selected”… as I said, she didn’t even want to go all that much, but as someone previously involved in selection / admissions, the logic escapes me. Especially since Blair likely skews boys (so she should have an advantage) and RMIB skews even or girls (so she should be at a disadvantage).

280+ for girls, 300+ for boys. 260 is way too low.

Interesting; this contradicts the 283 or 273 median that was quoted by posters above, as well as some scores from past admission threads.

That said, even if we accept the lower 273 median for Blair, I am curious how she got into RMIB not sure what the acceptance rate for Blair is, but for RMIB it’s ~12-13% and I have to believe that there were people with higher scores in the mix.

300 plus is not accurate for boys. Not even a little. Plenty of boys accepted in the 280s and some below.

They’re probably from low or medium FARM schools.

Just stop. Stop. You are perpetuating misinformation. The poverty level is the middle school is absolutely irrelevant and not considered.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD always had MAP-M above 97th percentile, recently 98-99 (260+ score), and her MAP-R was at best 94th percentile (last score was 245). Applied to Blair and to RM and Kennedy IB. Got into both IBs but not into Blair. She is happy, I am utterly confused (not disappointed / complaining, just kind of “this doesn’t make sense” confused).

My guess is that more people with high MAP-M applied this year to Blair, than high MAP-R applied to RM. Also it may be (and it looks like) that your DC's scores in both cases are quite close to decision range.

You may be right! Another option that came to my mind was that essay matters more than we think.

Makes it even weirder for me that she was not even waitlisted or “wait pooled” for Blair, just straight “not selected”… as I said, she didn’t even want to go all that much, but as someone previously involved in selection / admissions, the logic escapes me. Especially since Blair likely skews boys (so she should have an advantage) and RMIB skews even or girls (so she should be at a disadvantage).

280+ for girls, 300+ for boys. 260 is way too low.

Interesting; this contradicts the 283 or 273 median that was quoted by posters above, as well as some scores from past admission threads.

That said, even if we accept the lower 273 median for Blair, I am curious how she got into RMIB not sure what the acceptance rate for Blair is, but for RMIB it’s ~12-13% and I have to believe that there were people with higher scores in the mix.

I guess that’s for low FARM schools. High FARM schools have significantly lower thresholds.

Stop it. This isn’t considered for high school. In fact the selection process is SCHOOL BLIND.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD always had MAP-M above 97th percentile, recently 98-99 (260+ score), and her MAP-R was at best 94th percentile (last score was 245). Applied to Blair and to RM and Kennedy IB. Got into both IBs but not into Blair. She is happy, I am utterly confused (not disappointed / complaining, just kind of “this doesn’t make sense” confused).

My guess is that more people with high MAP-M applied this year to Blair, than high MAP-R applied to RM. Also it may be (and it looks like) that your DC's scores in both cases are quite close to decision range.

You may be right! Another option that came to my mind was that essay matters more than we think.

Makes it even weirder for me that she was not even waitlisted or “wait pooled” for Blair, just straight “not selected”… as I said, she didn’t even want to go all that much, but as someone previously involved in selection / admissions, the logic escapes me. Especially since Blair likely skews boys (so she should have an advantage) and RMIB skews even or girls (so she should be at a disadvantage).

280+ for girls, 300+ for boys. 260 is way too low.

Interesting; this contradicts the 283 or 273 median that was quoted by posters above, as well as some scores from past admission threads.

That said, even if we accept the lower 273 median for Blair, I am curious how she got into RMIB not sure what the acceptance rate for Blair is, but for RMIB it’s ~12-13% and I have to believe that there were people with higher scores in the mix.

RMIB looks at MAP R more than MAP M. It’s harder to get high percentiles for MAP R. Blair looks at MAP M. But most kids at low FARM schools have higher than 260 MAP M.

According to one of the coordinators, the selection committees no longer get both sets of MAP data. Blair gets only MAP-M and RM gets only MAP-R. This is the second year with limited data - that’s going to affect both programs and the number of kids in some of their advanced courses.

Very odd to me that, if RMIB is the well rounded experience that everyone is saying in both language arts and math/science, that RMIB wouldn’t look at math scores.

RMIB does get MAP M as well as R. CAP only gets MAP R, Blair magnet only gets MAP M.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Typically, kids with high MAP-R have decent (if not great) MAP-M. MAP-R is a hard test. Kids that are really into Math (and yes, prep), can get really high MAP-M scores. It is really hard to prep for MAP-R; its a function of comprehension and reading habits developed over years. Bunch of text out there describing this phenomenon.

So if RMIB is looking at MAP-R specifically, it does make sense given the holistic nature of the program. Its also a good indicator that the kids have high probability of having good enough MAP-M to be successful in STEM based portion of IB as well.

Do you have any links about this phenomenon? I find this very interesting. My daughter went from 7th grade fall map r of 253, winter 257, and spring 261. And then in fall of 8th, she dropped back to 252. In winter of 8th, she got a 247. She never did prepare for it but I don't understand how she could have had such a huge comprehension decrease like that.

Similar to my daughter actually..she basically stayed static over 3 years 248 in grade 6, 250 in grade 7, 252 in grade 8. Meanwhile she went from 245 in map-m in grade 6 to 275 in grade 8. We did no prep (she was just in the AIM-Algebra-Geometry) for either.

To me this indicates how piss poor the middle school English curriculum is than anything else.

Anonymous wrote:Typically, kids with high MAP-R have decent (if not great) MAP-M. MAP-R is a hard test. Kids that are really into Math (and yes, prep), can get really high MAP-M scores. It is really hard to prep for MAP-R; its a function of comprehension and reading habits developed over years. Bunch of text out there describing this phenomenon.

So if RMIB is looking at MAP-R specifically, it does make sense given the holistic nature of the program. Its also a good indicator that the kids have high probability of having good enough MAP-M to be successful in STEM based portion of IB as well.

Do you have any links about this phenomenon? I find this very interesting. My daughter went from 7th grade fall map r of 253, winter 257, and spring 261. And then in fall of 8th, she dropped back to 252. In winter of 8th, she got a 247. She never did prepare for it but I don't understand how she could have had such a huge comprehension decrease like that.

Typically, kids with high MAP-R have decent (if not great) MAP-M. MAP-R is a hard test. Kids that are really into Math (and yes, prep), can get really high MAP-M scores. It is really hard to prep for MAP-R; its a function of comprehension and reading habits developed over years. Bunch of text out there describing this phenomenon.

So if RMIB is looking at MAP-R specifically, it does make sense given the holistic nature of the program. Its also a good indicator that the kids have high probability of having good enough MAP-M to be successful in STEM based portion of IB as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD always had MAP-M above 97th percentile, recently 98-99 (260+ score), and her MAP-R was at best 94th percentile (last score was 245). Applied to Blair and to RM and Kennedy IB. Got into both IBs but not into Blair. She is happy, I am utterly confused (not disappointed / complaining, just kind of “this doesn’t make sense” confused).

My guess is that more people with high MAP-M applied this year to Blair, than high MAP-R applied to RM. Also it may be (and it looks like) that your DC's scores in both cases are quite close to decision range.

You may be right! Another option that came to my mind was that essay matters more than we think.

Makes it even weirder for me that she was not even waitlisted or “wait pooled” for Blair, just straight “not selected”… as I said, she didn’t even want to go all that much, but as someone previously involved in selection / admissions, the logic escapes me. Especially since Blair likely skews boys (so she should have an advantage) and RMIB skews even or girls (so she should be at a disadvantage).

280+ for girls, 300+ for boys. 260 is way too low.

Interesting; this contradicts the 283 or 273 median that was quoted by posters above, as well as some scores from past admission threads.

That said, even if we accept the lower 273 median for Blair, I am curious how she got into RMIB not sure what the acceptance rate for Blair is, but for RMIB it’s ~12-13% and I have to believe that there were people with higher scores in the mix.

RMIB looks at MAP R more than MAP M. It’s harder to get high percentiles for MAP R. Blair looks at MAP M. But most kids at low FARM schools have higher than 260 MAP M.

According to one of the coordinators, the selection committees no longer get both sets of MAP data. Blair gets only MAP-M and RM gets only MAP-R. This is the second year with limited data - that’s going to affect both programs and the number of kids in some of their advanced courses.

Very odd to me that, if RMIB is the well rounded experience that everyone is saying in both language arts and math/science, that RMIB wouldn’t look at math scores.