Anonymous
Post 12/03/2025 13:13     Subject: Are magnets worth it for college admission?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:In terms of college admissions, it will depend on what the home school option is. Bright kids need a peer group to really get it going. And if that's not available at the local school, magnet is definitely the better option.

But if you are zoned in a high performing district with all the tracked and AP options, I don't see why anyone would chose a magnet. MIT and Stanford aren't taking more than a handful of students at best from any school, even the magnets.

As a parent, I would focus on peer group when deciding.




MIT accepted at least 8 from Blair and 3 from RMIB this past cycle. 0-1 students at other MCPS schools (mostly 0). I think for students gunning for MIT/CalTech/Harvey Mudd/CMU, the magnets do give a significant admissions advantage. Yale, Harvard, Penn, Duke, and Hopkins seem to favor the magnet programs, too. Stanford, Princeton, and Brown, less so. Not sure about Cornell, seems to vary by year.

It isn't easy to stand out with so many high-stats, competitive peers. I do consistently hear RMIB's focus on analytical writing is excellent preparation for college, but it is a very tough workload that typically doesn't allow the time for competitions etc. that Blair does so well.

I'm not sure you can attribute that to Blair. It's possible those kids would have been accepted at those schools had they stayed at their home schools. Blair's program drew those kids. I'm not seeing evidence that Blair turned what otherwise would have been UMD students into MIT students.


The problem is the home school turning a MIT student into a UMD student.

You can see the effect, ironically, at Blair SMCS, which is half magnet and half the standard low quality MCPS courses.

Anonymous
Post 12/02/2025 20:54     Subject: Are magnets worth it for college admission?
MIT admitted 11 from Blair last year.. and all 11 accepted.



Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:In terms of college admissions, it will depend on what the home school option is. Bright kids need a peer group to really get it going. And if that's not available at the local school, magnet is definitely the better option.

But if you are zoned in a high performing district with all the tracked and AP options, I don't see why anyone would chose a magnet. MIT and Stanford aren't taking more than a handful of students at best from any school, even the magnets.

As a parent, I would focus on peer group when deciding.




MIT accepted at least 8 from Blair and 3 from RMIB this past cycle. 0-1 students at other MCPS schools (mostly 0). I think for students gunning for MIT/CalTech/Harvey Mudd/CMU, the magnets do give a significant admissions advantage. Yale, Harvard, Penn, Duke, and Hopkins seem to favor the magnet programs, too. Stanford, Princeton, and Brown, less so. Not sure about Cornell, seems to vary by year.

It isn't easy to stand out with so many high-stats, competitive peers. I do consistently hear RMIB's focus on analytical writing is excellent preparation for college, but it is a very tough workload that typically doesn't allow the time for competitions etc. that Blair does so well.
Anonymous
Post 12/02/2025 20:11     Subject: Are magnets worth it for college admission?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:In terms of college admissions, it will depend on what the home school option is. Bright kids need a peer group to really get it going. And if that's not available at the local school, magnet is definitely the better option.

But if you are zoned in a high performing district with all the tracked and AP options, I don't see why anyone would chose a magnet. MIT and Stanford aren't taking more than a handful of students at best from any school, even the magnets.

As a parent, I would focus on peer group when deciding.




MIT accepted at least 8 from Blair and 3 from RMIB this past cycle. 0-1 students at other MCPS schools (mostly 0). I think for students gunning for MIT/CalTech/Harvey Mudd/CMU, the magnets do give a significant admissions advantage. Yale, Harvard, Penn, Duke, and Hopkins seem to favor the magnet programs, too. Stanford, Princeton, and Brown, less so. Not sure about Cornell, seems to vary by year.

It isn't easy to stand out with so many high-stats, competitive peers. I do consistently hear RMIB's focus on analytical writing is excellent preparation for college, but it is a very tough workload that typically doesn't allow the time for competitions etc. that Blair does so well.

I'm not sure you can attribute that to Blair. It's possible those kids would have been accepted at those schools had they stayed at their home schools. Blair's program drew those kids. I'm not seeing evidence that Blair turned what otherwise would have been UMD students into MIT students.

No, they wouldn't have been
Anonymous
Post 12/02/2025 19:29     Subject: Are magnets worth it for college admission?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:In terms of college admissions, it will depend on what the home school option is. Bright kids need a peer group to really get it going. And if that's not available at the local school, magnet is definitely the better option.

But if you are zoned in a high performing district with all the tracked and AP options, I don't see why anyone would chose a magnet. MIT and Stanford aren't taking more than a handful of students at best from any school, even the magnets.

As a parent, I would focus on peer group when deciding.




MIT accepted at least 8 from Blair and 3 from RMIB this past cycle. 0-1 students at other MCPS schools (mostly 0). I think for students gunning for MIT/CalTech/Harvey Mudd/CMU, the magnets do give a significant admissions advantage. Yale, Harvard, Penn, Duke, and Hopkins seem to favor the magnet programs, too. Stanford, Princeton, and Brown, less so. Not sure about Cornell, seems to vary by year.

It isn't easy to stand out with so many high-stats, competitive peers. I do consistently hear RMIB's focus on analytical writing is excellent preparation for college, but it is a very tough workload that typically doesn't allow the time for competitions etc. that Blair does so well.

I'm not sure you can attribute that to Blair. It's possible those kids would have been accepted at those schools had they stayed at their home schools. Blair's program drew those kids. I'm not seeing evidence that Blair turned what otherwise would have been UMD students into MIT students.


If you have a kid at Blair, you know their peers push each other well beyond what goes on elsewhere even if the elsewhere is intense. That makes a big difference.
Anonymous
Post 12/02/2025 15:56     Subject: Are magnets worth it for college admission?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:In terms of college admissions, it will depend on what the home school option is. Bright kids need a peer group to really get it going. And if that's not available at the local school, magnet is definitely the better option.

But if you are zoned in a high performing district with all the tracked and AP options, I don't see why anyone would chose a magnet. MIT and Stanford aren't taking more than a handful of students at best from any school, even the magnets.

As a parent, I would focus on peer group when deciding.

I agree. For us, it's not just the peer group but also how early my kid would have to wake up.

We like our kid's MS magnet and will continue there, but having to wake up at 6am is difficult. I know many middle schoolers have to do this, but I think sleep is essential, and it's almost impossible for us to get to sleep earlier than we do.

I don't want my kid to have to wake up even earlier to commute to a magnet (due to the even earlier HS bell time).


My DC wakes up at 6:50 am if I drive, or 6:35 am if I send them to the nearest bus stop. We are living in one of the Ws, and it's not a painful drive as Blair is adjacent to 495. The three-year driving experience to TPMS was way much more painful so I let my younger one stay with local MS.
For my DC, peer group was the most important reason for them to choose Blair, and the second reason was the strong curriculum.
Anonymous
Post 12/02/2025 15:44     Subject: Are magnets worth it for college admission?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm seeing some students from the various magnets not getting into the very top colleges. I'm wondering if the long bus ride, and work load are worth it now. Would it be better to stay at the home school and just focus on extra curricular activities? So many colleges now going test optional. Obviously you have to have the grades, but great grades from non magnets + great extra curriculars seem to be the way to go.

WDYT?


There are many excellent universities that are appropriate for magnet students. I don't see the point in just striving for the very top. Not going magnet and just taking a couple of levels of calculus and some AP science is fine too. Colleges like to see well rounded people, so those other electives and extra curricular activities mean something.

A high performer challenging themselves in a magnet is fine too. But certainly not the only path.




A kid in the top 5-10% at any MCPS HS, magnet or no, is going to have excellent outcomes. If kid is serious about STEM, there is nothing like the Blair curriculum, though there is also nothing like the competition there. If you can get a 4.0 at Blair and get national/international awards, high probability of Ivy admission. If a strong student, but not competitive at that level, probably better off staying at the home school and working on interesting ECs. Same with RMIB which, contrary to the stereotype, has lots of STEM kids too, though more kids applying to humanities or social science majors than Blair of course.
Anonymous
Post 12/02/2025 15:43     Subject: Are magnets worth it for college admission?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:In terms of college admissions, it will depend on what the home school option is. Bright kids need a peer group to really get it going. And if that's not available at the local school, magnet is definitely the better option.

But if you are zoned in a high performing district with all the tracked and AP options, I don't see why anyone would chose a magnet. MIT and Stanford aren't taking more than a handful of students at best from any school, even the magnets.

As a parent, I would focus on peer group when deciding.




MIT accepted at least 8 from Blair and 3 from RMIB this past cycle. 0-1 students at other MCPS schools (mostly 0). I think for students gunning for MIT/CalTech/Harvey Mudd/CMU, the magnets do give a significant admissions advantage. Yale, Harvard, Penn, Duke, and Hopkins seem to favor the magnet programs, too. Stanford, Princeton, and Brown, less so. Not sure about Cornell, seems to vary by year.

It isn't easy to stand out with so many high-stats, competitive peers. I do consistently hear RMIB's focus on analytical writing is excellent preparation for college, but it is a very tough workload that typically doesn't allow the time for competitions etc. that Blair does so well.

I'm not sure you can attribute that to Blair. It's possible those kids would have been accepted at those schools had they stayed at their home schools. Blair's program drew those kids. I'm not seeing evidence that Blair turned what otherwise would have been UMD students into MIT students.
Anonymous
Post 12/02/2025 15:40     Subject: Are magnets worth it for college admission?
Anonymous wrote:In terms of college admissions, it will depend on what the home school option is. Bright kids need a peer group to really get it going. And if that's not available at the local school, magnet is definitely the better option.

But if you are zoned in a high performing district with all the tracked and AP options, I don't see why anyone would chose a magnet. MIT and Stanford aren't taking more than a handful of students at best from any school, even the magnets.

As a parent, I would focus on peer group when deciding.

I agree. For us, it's not just the peer group but also how early my kid would have to wake up.

We like our kid's MS magnet and will continue there, but having to wake up at 6am is difficult. I know many middle schoolers have to do this, but I think sleep is essential, and it's almost impossible for us to get to sleep earlier than we do.

I don't want my kid to have to wake up even earlier to commute to a magnet (due to the even earlier HS bell time).
Anonymous
Post 12/02/2025 15:28     Subject: Are magnets worth it for college admission?
Anonymous wrote:In terms of college admissions, it will depend on what the home school option is. Bright kids need a peer group to really get it going. And if that's not available at the local school, magnet is definitely the better option.

But if you are zoned in a high performing district with all the tracked and AP options, I don't see why anyone would chose a magnet. MIT and Stanford aren't taking more than a handful of students at best from any school, even the magnets.

As a parent, I would focus on peer group when deciding.




MIT accepted at least 8 from Blair and 3 from RMIB this past cycle. 0-1 students at other MCPS schools (mostly 0). I think for students gunning for MIT/CalTech/Harvey Mudd/CMU, the magnets do give a significant admissions advantage. Yale, Harvard, Penn, Duke, and Hopkins seem to favor the magnet programs, too. Stanford, Princeton, and Brown, less so. Not sure about Cornell, seems to vary by year.

It isn't easy to stand out with so many high-stats, competitive peers. I do consistently hear RMIB's focus on analytical writing is excellent preparation for college, but it is a very tough workload that typically doesn't allow the time for competitions etc. that Blair does so well.