Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is on waitlist of Cold Spring. His score is 141. Sigh.

WOW, 141 got waitlisted. I am wondering how much it needs to get into cold spring.

143 wait pool, cold spring
another friend, 142, cold spring, wait pool

That's crazy. Given the limited number of questions in the test, there is probably only one or two questions difference between those who got admitted and who got waitlisted.

Yep. The test this year is very trick to different kids abilities. That's why it was emphasized in the mail that test score is only one factor being evaluated and I sense it might be the least important factor.

What do you mean?

Data point, 97 percentile, MAP M 236, MAP R 223 rejected at fox chapel.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is on waitlist of Cold Spring. His score is 141. Sigh.

WOW, 141 got waitlisted. I am wondering how much it needs to get into cold spring.

143 wait pool, cold spring
another friend, 142, cold spring, wait pool

That's crazy. Given the limited number of questions in the test, there is probably only one or two questions difference between those who got admitted and who got waitlisted.

Yep. The test this year is very trick to different kids abilities. That's why it was emphasized in the mail that test score is only one factor being evaluated and I sense it might be the least important factor.

Anonymous wrote:

Totally hear you and agree about not getting too caught up in one decision.

However, I'm not looking at this decision from a "will my child get into college" perspective. I'm looking at it from a "will my child be bored for another 2 years at school because he is not in a cohort that allows him to learn at a fast enough pace."

Agree this! Does my DC get any benefit and learn anything for another 2 years at school?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anybody have scores for the new "home school" centers at Stonegate or Matsunaga (or maybe Piney Branch)? Curious how those compare to the other HGCs that pull from a much larger pool.

Matsunaga here. DS got selected in, his percentile rank is 99, the median is 87.

Interesting that the median is higher than that for the rest of the Fox Chapel schools combined (somebody posted that was 79). Sounds like the premise that there are enough kids to have a good school-only cohort at Matsunaga was reasonable.

Are these supposed to correlate with IQ scores? I really am surprised that over 60 kids are over 142 in just the Cold Spring area. That is insane! I have to imagine that test prep has to do something with it, but who knows? It was a different test this year. It really is a shame that every kid with 135 and up (in every area) cannot have a space. Clearly those children need a differentiated learning environment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is on waitlist of Cold Spring. His score is 141. Sigh.

WOW, 141 got waitlisted. I am wondering how much it needs to get into cold spring.

143 wait pool, cold spring
another friend, 142, cold spring, wait pool

Crazy. That's frustrating. Sorry PP.

After reading some of the posts it seams like "Highly Prepared" should be a better name for the "Highly Gifted" program. In case someone wonders why almost half of the HG ES kids don't make it to the HG MS program ...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is on waitlist of Cold Spring. His score is 141. Sigh.

WOW, 141 got waitlisted. I am wondering how much it needs to get into cold spring.

143 wait pool, cold spring
another friend, 142, cold spring, wait pool

That's crazy. Given the limited number of questions in the test, there is probably only one or two questions difference between those who got admitted and who got waitlisted.

Totally hear you and agree about not getting too caught up in one decision.

However, I'm not looking at this decision from a "will my child get into college" perspective. I'm looking at it from a "will my child be bored for another 2 years at school because he is not in a cohort that allows him to learn at a fast enough pace."

I hear you. I wish it wasn't all or nothing in this county. My older two kids spent most of 5th grade reading books from home even with the William and Mary reading circles, etc. But your elementary school has the compacted/accelerated math, right?

Anonymous wrote:

So you are saying the HGC kids ended up not being able to get into middle school magnet AS WELL as high school magnets? Is it burn out? It's a long road ahead. My kid just got accepted and I rather that he play not and worry about academics later. Would not prefer burn out.

NO! Just saying that I personally know kids who end up successful college graduates who follow all the paths:

Home School-->>Home Middle School-->>Home High School-->>Huzzah! College (everywhere from U of Maryland to liberal arts colleges to Big Ten schools to Ivy League)

Home School->>HGC Elementary School-->>Home Middle School-->>Home High School-->>Huzzah! College

Home School->>HGC Elementary School-->>Magnet Middle School-->>Home High School-->>Huzzah! College

Home School->>HGC Elementary School-->>Home Middle School-->>Magnet High School-->>Huzzah! College

Home School->>HGC Elementary School-->>Magnet Middle School-->>Magnet High School-->>Huzzah! College

etc. etc. etc.

We shouldn't be caught up in this *one* acceptance/rejection, because there are benefits and disadvantages to every situation. In the end, any parent who's bothering to come to this forum already has a kid who is lucky and likely to be on the right side of the achievement gap.

Totally hear you and agree about not getting too caught up in one decision.

However, I'm not looking at this decision from a "will my child get into college" perspective. I'm looking at it from a "will my child be bored for another 2 years at school because he is not in a cohort that allows him to learn at a fast enough pace."

So you are saying the HGC kids ended up not being able to get into middle school magnet AS WELL as high school magnets? Is it burn out? It's a long road ahead. My kid just got accepted and I rather that he play not and worry about academics later. Would not prefer burn out.

NO! Just saying that I personally know kids who end up successful college graduates who follow all the paths:

Home School-->>Home Middle School-->>Home High School-->>Huzzah! College (everywhere from U of Maryland to liberal arts colleges to Big Ten schools to Ivy League)

Home School->>HGC Elementary School-->>Home Middle School-->>Home High School-->>Huzzah! College

Home School->>HGC Elementary School-->>Magnet Middle School-->>Home High School-->>Huzzah! College

Home School->>HGC Elementary School-->>Home Middle School-->>Magnet High School-->>Huzzah! College

Home School->>HGC Elementary School-->>Magnet Middle School-->>Magnet High School-->>Huzzah! College

etc. etc. etc.

We shouldn't be caught up in this *one* acceptance/rejection, because there are benefits and disadvantages to every situation. In the end, any parent who's bothering to come to this forum already has a kid who is lucky and likely to be on the right side of the achievement gap.

129 rejected - Barnsley

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree, it should mostly be about the test. But sounds like test was shortened this year. Using teacher recommendations and grades is too subjective. Teachers at biased. And P grades are meaningless.

I disagree with you. One bad day and the kid is decidedly unqualified? My child has test anxiety and gets nervous in tests, I know it makes her grades suffer slightly but she's still very qualified. Also some parents do test prep, which may give them a somewhat false showing on a test. What if they do great on the test her can't hack it in the program because their parents can't give them prep on how to handle the classroom? It shouldn't be just one score.

You can't 100% prep for an IQ test. Life is about tests and performing. Should a gifted kid with ADHD who nails the test be left out because teachers don't care for him?

I disagree, it should mostly be about the test. But sounds like test was shortened this year. Using teacher recommendations and grades is too subjective. Teachers at biased. And P grades are meaningless.

OK, this is based on knowing middle-school teachers at magnet schools, but I'm guessing it applies here too.
It *is* mostly about the test in the sense that a kid below a minimum score doesn't even get their teacher recommendations or report cards evaluated. The committee just doesn't have time to bother digging deep if you get below a certain score, from what I've been told. Those kids are just sent a rejection letter. Way above that minimum score, the outliers (let's say above 145+ here, although I'm guessing) basically get auto-approved unless there's some figurative red flag in their file.

I disagree with you. One bad day and the kid is decidedly unqualified? My child has test anxiety and gets nervous in tests, I know it makes her grades suffer slightly but she's still very qualified. Also some parents do test prep, which may give them a somewhat false showing on a test. What if they do great on the test her can't hack it in the program because their parents can't give them prep on how to handle the classroom? It shouldn't be just one score.

Of course! I agree with this. In an ideal situation, there would be interviews as well, according to a teacher who has served on the committee. But, yes, that would cause even more biased judging. But in that teacher's mind, it all evens out -- the test on one end and the interview on another. There just isn't bandwidth/personnel/time for that. And there would always have to be a line below which they just don't consider the kid. If there is really an anomaly or problem, that can usually be figured out via the appeals process.

I'm not a fan of test prep, because then it's not an even playing field (not that it is to begin with but...). I know from taking one of my kids to sports practice at a private school that rents out space to a second-language school: every car in the parking lot (including mine) got papered with adverts for a test prep class/tutor in English and the second language.