Anonymous wrote:

+100.

However, if u decide to go in...go in with a lot of prep in the summer, and a team of tutors to see him through. Get the team in place WAAYYYY before the kid joins Blair. Seriously...this is the best advice I can give to anyone going to Blair, Poolsville or RM.

+ points of the program - an almost athletic dedication with which the top guys work for the Science, Math, Robotics competition.

Reasons to not go in the program - Your kid could graduate with tough courses in his home school and a 4.0 GPA...something that the magnet schools don't give to most kids in the program.


So - what is the end goal? If it is to get into Ivy...maybe a home school is better...and if it is to survive Ivy...magnet is better.

Tough call!

The goal in my household has always remained for my children to seek the best and most challenging education at each developmental stage (elementary, middle, and high schools). Pure and simple. This makes our decision making uncomplicated. We like it that way.

That's ours too. And so it was RMIB. Baptism by fire and all that, but no regrets.

+100.

However, if u decide to go in...go in with a lot of prep in the summer, and a team of tutors to see him through. Get the team in place WAAYYYY before the kid joins Blair. Seriously...this is the best advice I can give to anyone going to Blair, Poolsville or RM.

+ points of the program - an almost athletic dedication with which the top guys work for the Science, Math, Robotics competition.

Reasons to not go in the program - Your kid could graduate with tough courses in his home school and a 4.0 GPA...something that the magnet schools don't give to most kids in the program.


So - what is the end goal? If it is to get into Ivy...maybe a home school is better...and if it is to survive Ivy...magnet is better.

Tough call!

The goal in my household has always remained for my children to seek the best and most challenging education at each developmental stage (elementary, middle, and high schools). Pure and simple. This makes our decision making uncomplicated. We like it that way.

Anonymous wrote:Some students are more prepared than others to handle the workload. Preparedness starts in elementary and middle school -- and not upon admission to a high school magnet program in math and sciences (les jeux sont faits).

+100.

However, if u decide to go in...go in with a lot of prep in the summer, and a team of tutors to see him through. Get the team in place WAAYYYY before the kid joins Blair. Seriously...this is the best advice I can give to anyone going to Blair, Poolsville or RM.

+ points of the program - an almost athletic dedication with which the top guys work for the Science, Math, Robotics competition.

Reasons to not go in the program - Your kid could graduate with tough courses in his home school and a 4.0 GPA...something that the magnet schools don't give to most kids in the program.


So - what is the end goal? If it is to get into Ivy...maybe a home school is better...and if it is to survive Ivy...magnet is better.

Tough call!

See http://silverchips.mbhs.edu/story/12272: Finally, Junior Marie-Therese Burton concluded the Town Hall with a question regarding county Magnet teachers. “It seems that the Magnet is becoming assimilated with the rest of the school. I would like you to address how the Magnet will be preserved as a special program,” she said.
Dr. Starr emphasized that the county cannot change magnet program structure. “I will not and cannot be changing the Magnet structure. I have not diminished [nor] increased magnet programs.”

Only the top third to half get into top schools. 40 percent go to umd though some are due to money. Do not send your child to Blair to get into top schools unless you are highly confident they will be top third. However, if you are looking for the best science and math and comp sci high school education, this is a good place, especially for computers and physics.

In the magnet, kids differentiate themselves by getting Intel scholarships, winning math or robotics competitions, and such. I also know at least one athletic recruit from the magnet to an ivy.

Anonymous wrote:please reply to this question...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The list of colleges attended by magnet graduates is impressive. Do only the top magnet students get admitted into the ivys/top colleges? Since many of the students who are not in the top of the class in the magnet program would likely have been in the top of their class in their home school, would they have gotten into a better college if they stayed in their home school? Do many of the magnet students receive academic scholarships not based on family income? (Are all academic scholarships based on income/networth?)

Define "top magnet students" or "top of the class in the magnet program."

I graduated from MBHS with a class rank in the 20s and got into Yale/Stanford/Penn while many magnet classmates above me (with equivalent SAT scores) did not. Plural of anecdote is not data, but just saying that you can have very good-but-not-perfect grades at Blair and still do well in college admissions.

please reply to this question...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The list of colleges attended by magnet graduates is impressive. Do only the top magnet students get admitted into the ivys/top colleges? Since many of the students who are not in the top of the class in the magnet program would likely have been in the top of their class in their home school, would they have gotten into a better college if they stayed in their home school? Do many of the magnet students receive academic scholarships not based on family income? (Are all academic scholarships based on income/networth?)