Anonymous wrote:My DC did not find the Eastern workload too bad. He did have a lot of reading, but loved the research paper that comprises a big part of the work load in 7th grade. The big shock was when he went to a well known private for high school. He had always gotten straight As and As were MUCH harder to get in private school. The work load of his high school is truly crazy... equal to RMIB, or even more. It's too much. I will say the writing and research skills he learned at Eastern have been very helpful in high school.

based on real experience or your gut feeling?

I can't believe you think Eastern (even the magnet) is less diverse than any private. Wow.

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Anonymous wrote:My DC did not find the Eastern workload too bad. He did have a lot of reading, but loved the research paper that comprises a big part of the work load in 7th grade. The big shock was when he went to a well known private for high school. He had always gotten straight As and As were MUCH harder to get in private school. The work load of his high school is truly crazy... equal to RMIB, or even more. It's too much. I will say the writing and research skills he learned at Eastern have been very helpful in high school.

Why did he switch to private?

He switched to private for high school. To be accurate he got straight As most terms at Eastern but once or twice he got one B in something. The main reason for the switch was social. He didn't feel in had many peers in middle school. His high school is more diverse ( there are quite a few kids like him on FA) than the MCPS magnet programs, the classes are smaller, and despite the heavy workload the scheduling works out better for several of his extracurricular interests. Private schools can admit, as most colleges do, based on the "whole person", so they can look beyond test scores. He loves his new school, but still has fond memories of the teachers and programs at Eastern.

Anonymous wrote:My DC did not find the Eastern workload too bad. He did have a lot of reading, but loved the research paper that comprises a big part of the work load in 7th grade. The big shock was when he went to a well known private for high school. He had always gotten straight As and As were MUCH harder to get in private school. The work load of his high school is truly crazy... equal to RMIB, or even more. It's too much. I will say the writing and research skills he learned at Eastern have been very helpful in high school.

Why did he switch to private?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC did not find the Eastern workload too bad. He did have a lot of reading, but loved the research paper that comprises a big part of the work load in 7th grade. The big shock was when he went to a well known private for high school. He had always gotten straight As and As were MUCH harder to get in private school. The work load of his high school is truly crazy... equal to RMIB, or even more. It's too much. I will say the writing and research skills he learned at Eastern have been very helpful in high school.

It is not that easy to get As in the magnet classes at Eastern - I don't think more than 10% of the students have straight As every single quarter over their three years.

In any given quarter only about 11% of the entire student body (including non magnet) has straight As at Eastern. Rare to have straight As for all 12 quarters.

Anonymous wrote:My DC did not find the Eastern workload too bad. He did have a lot of reading, but loved the research paper that comprises a big part of the work load in 7th grade. The big shock was when he went to a well known private for high school. He had always gotten straight As and As were MUCH harder to get in private school. The work load of his high school is truly crazy... equal to RMIB, or even more. It's too much. I will say the writing and research skills he learned at Eastern have been very helpful in high school.

It is not that easy to get As in the magnet classes at Eastern - I don't think more than 10% of the students have straight As every single quarter over their three years.

My DC did not find the Eastern workload too bad. He did have a lot of reading, but loved the research paper that comprises a big part of the work load in 7th grade. The big shock was when he went to a well known private for high school. He had always gotten straight As and As were MUCH harder to get in private school. The work load of his high school is truly crazy... equal to RMIB, or even more. It's too much. I will say the writing and research skills he learned at Eastern have been very helpful in high school.

There is a special full day IB orientation day on the Wednesday before school starts for RM IB

No 'orientation' after acceptance until the summer. Both schools have a 'math camp'

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I'd be curious to know who says it isn't too bad. I know kids who are juniors and seniors in the Blair magnet right now who still shudder when they talk about their 7th grade year at Eastern. And say the workload at Blair is more balanced in comparison.

As for my kid, oh yeah, she did the work, and not me. But it was me getting up at 1:00 in the morning to find that she was still up working on homework after I told her to be in bed by 11:00. So in some ways, it did affect me – and our whole family a lot of nights.

Magnet program (MS and HS both) is a family commitment. Make sure you understand that before committing.

+1,000

Even the HGC is a family commitment.

+1. It has to be the choice of the student and the commitment of the whole family.

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Anonymous wrote:We're having a tough time deciding between Eastern and Takoma Par for DD, especially since Takoma has cancelled their orientation meeting.

Why did they cancel?

The meeting was scheduled for Tuesday night, but got cancelled because of schools being closed. TP has decided not to reschedule.

We missed the open house in the fall, figured we would have an opportunity to visit if DD got in. DD is into both humanities and math/science and especially programming.

Will they have orientation for kids that accept? Home schools have multiple opportunities for kids to go there before classes start next year.

That is great to know PP. I wish they would tell you that somewhere. Another ?? for how RMIB is run. I will call the office

Because you get a better idea of how it runs. RM does not offer it like Blair, but you can request it (we did when our kid had trouble choosing).

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if RM IB allows kids to shadow before making a decision?

You mean like following a student all day? I don't think so. They have an open house where incoming kids visit IB classes but I don't know if they offer one-on-one. Is that an important aspect of your decision making process? I am just curious but why?

Does anyone know if RM IB allows kids to shadow before making a decision?