<p>For any of you who may be reading this and aren’t familiar with Montgomery County schools, they have a reputation for having uber competitive students and parents. I’m a graduate of Walt Whitman (subject of the “Overachiever” book), but moved out away after graduating. There is this pervasive culture that seems to emphasize pushing kids to their limit (and beyond) at all costs. For many parents and kids from other parts of the country, it would be a huge culture shock if you went to one of these schools. I’m glad I moved away from this insanity.</p>
<p>I can’t and won’t judge what is right for other families. Raising my son in VT, where there are very few options to our good old local public schools, no IB programs that I know of, only a few AP courses at our local high school, only one prep school within reasonable reach, my bright son and his friends were able to find or make challenge anyway and still get sleep. Had they been math geniuses, they might have had to go online or to UVM, our flagship for challenge in that area, but otherwise I witnessed the skill of his bright and dedicated teachers to bring out the best in their students. </p>
<p>I also saw my son and his friends challenging each other. For example, they formed a Philosophy Club where they met weekly to throw around ideas and it morphed into writing poetry that they performed at slams at a local Serbian restaurant. They read interesting books and talked about them. They all got into great colleges. Some areas of the country seem to have become academic pressure cookers.</p>
<p>Options is the best idea. Having a D that chose the rigorous academic course load at her school, I’m not against kids being challenged. Just by the sound of it, these magnets sound like they are pushing kids to a near breaking point. At the end are the kids really smarter, more knowledgeable than their elite peers from elsewhere?</p>
<p>Do the magnets in Montco requires standardized tests to get in?</p>
<p>My D always tested in the top 1% of any test she took and ultimately became one of 2 kids selected for an academic enrichment program. The program expanded to almost 20 students mid year because parents demanded their child be admitted to the program.</p>
<p>The issue is that most of those students dropped out of the program as time went on. It challenged my D who met all the standards for entry, what did it do for those students whose parents demanded that the school not just look at test scores? Did it just cause stress or was it beneficial? Idk.</p>
<p>Yes, there is a test for admission. There are also transcripts, essays (submitted with the app as well as one written on the testing day) and teacher recs. Sound familiar? :eek:
There are ~11,000 8th graders in MoCo. These days, about 1700 apply and about 300 total will join the Blair, RM and Poolesville magnets as freshmen (roughly 100 per program).</p>
<p>My older S ignored the competitive aspects and focused on what he wanted to learn. He was happier and more successful than we imagined possible.</p>
<p>I have several comments after reading this thread</p>
<p>OP- You say your D does not start to study until 8 pm. I think it would be prudent to reduce her ECs. It would give her a better chance to completely master the subjects she was being taught in school (necessary to be admitted to a top ranked college) and reduce her stress level and risk of burnout.</p>
<p>Do these magnet schools not allow the student to select their own course curriculum? If so then I would think that by carefully selecting courses to meet the interests and abilities of the student you would allow the student to both excel in the classroom while reducing the students stress level. I dont believe it is necessary for a gifted STEM student who wished to pursue an MD-PhD program to take all AP humanities in high school.</p>
<p>My older S ignored the competitive aspects and focused on what he wanted to learn. He was happier and more successful than we imagined possible. One of the best pieces of advice that I have seen on CC.</p>
<p>Swimkidsdad, at Blair, the kids go through an accelerated chem/bio/physics/earth science sequence, plus two years of programming, in freshman and soph years. Everyone in the program must get through Analysis I (BC Calc on steroids); this usually is completed by junior year, though there are different tracks depending on one’s math placement, so it is possible a magnet student may finish it in 9th or 12th. Usual track is the middle of junior year. They also take a two year R&E (research/engineering)class in 9th and 10th, which leads them to research design and the senior research paper. </p>
<p>The first two years are intense, but after that, the kids have a LOT of electives. Some kids we know did mathematical physics, some took every math course in the catalog, some took genetics and cell phys, some took fine arts, AP history courses, etc. The other nice part is that many of the advanced electives are one semester courses, so there is a lot of opportunity for exploration in other fields. (S1’s AP World History class led him to the philosophy club, which led him to choose a different college than what one might have expected, given his interests.) S1 really enjoyed his senior year. It was hectic, thanks to some external events, but it was not stressful. </p>
<p>The IB program kicks up a notch in junior year, and another notch in senior year. At RM, the program taught everything in IB format, and required the kids to take AP Gov’t as freshmen and AP USH as sophomores to prepare them for the intensity of the full IB curriculum. I will say that S2’s freshman pre-IB English was FAR more rigorous that S1’s junior year AP English Comp (the guys took those courses the same year, so I could see on a side-by-side basis what was expected and the accompanying grades). For S2, senior year was a pretty miserable slog; by the end, he was burned out.</p>
<p>
For the first sentence, this wasn’t really our experience, with our kids or with their friends. There was a lot of work, though, especially at specific crunch times. As for the second sentence, I don’t think IB made them smarter, but I do think the preparation for college was better than the typical high school experience here. It wasn’t so much better that I think somebody who goes to one of the non-magnet high schools doesn’t get good prep, but the magnets do provide something that the other high schools don’t. (This is, I guess, another version of the debate over whether its worthwhile to go to a highly selective college–for some kids, it is.)</p>
<p>Our experience with RM/IB is closer to EastCoast’s than Hunt’s kids. Long hours, not enough sleep, and never ending work. Those kids who graduate RM/IB with 4.0 (uw) GPA and not deprived of sleep are truly “gifted” kids, IMO. Sending two kids thru the program, I think I have seen less than 1/2 dozen kids like that.</p>