<p>Only the Adcomm will see the Latino box checked on the application…so no ridicule. Yet it will likely give her a small bump.</p>
<p>How do you know that your daughter won’t thrive at the magnet?</p>
<p>When I was in the 8th grade, I was choosing between accepting an offer at the best magnet school in my state and staying as a scholarship student at my private school. One of the benefits to the private school, as I told my parents, was that I’d surely graduate as valedictorian.</p>
<p>I chose the magnet school, and four years later, I graduated as valedictorian with offers at each of Harvard, Yale and Princeton. This would not have happened had I stayed at my previous school - my new school challenged me and exposed me to a lot of new opportunities.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Even when they hear her speaking Spanish better than the Spanish teacher at school #1?</p>
<p>Magnet. Absolutely magnet. Do NOT sacrifice the quality of education so that she can POSSIBLY get valedictorian. </p>
<p>On another note, white Hispanic here with an Irish O’Irish name. I AM Hispanic and I am white- and I don’t let other people’s dirty looks tell me what I am and am not. (Actually, come to think of it, I’ve never gotten a dirty look- but I have been called a liar until I explain what Hispanic/Latino(a) actually means). If your daughter is Hispanic/Latina, and identifies with that, encourage her to continue self-identifying as that. People get over it- especially when you move out of a predominantly Latino(a) area like California. I lived with a host family in Costa Rica that was indigenous and somehow had a kid with platinum blonde hair. Things happen.</p>
<p>Oh, and she doesn’t have to tell anyone what box she checked if she doesn’t want to. The person admitting her won’t be looking at her at all- so no dirty looks.</p>
<p>I’ll be voter 15 for the magnet. Without a second’s hesitation. As a recruiter for a “top” school, I’d say: plenty of vals of under performing schools. Every year, they graduate a valedictorian. Where are they? </p>
<p>What makes you think that after 4 years in that environment, your DD won’t just opt for something “safe”? She’s bugged by people for her hair color. Can you imagine the sneers and jeers she’ll get if she says “I wanna apply to Columbia and Stanford”?</p>
<p>You want your DD to be somewhere where her peers and teachers push inspire and motivate her. Where she sees the norm is to be inquisitive and excellent. Her own self confidence will only grow and shine. Her own inquisitiveness will be heightened. THIS is the key to future college success – not making her the ill-fitting biggest fish in a small pond.</p>
<p>Definitely magnet. If she can’t manage that, she likely won’t be successful at highly competitive colleges. Remember that ivies, etc are a real reach for most kids. You need to think more about how she will look to a number of schools. Being in academically rigorous classes will help her critical thinking skills so much. Ask the guidance counselor at magnet school how many APs a year your D will have to take to get that “took rigorous course” notation on transcript - I’ll bet it’s not every class every year.</p>
<p>Also don’t give up identifying as Latino. D’s friend got a national merit Hispanic scholarship. He has red hair and freckles from Dad. Mom is Cuban.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes, you are wrong. Do not send her to the gang-ridden high school. That’s a really bad idea.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That’s just not true. My offspring’s high school alma mater is a NYC public magnet. From the class of 2013, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Columbia, Dartmouth, Brown, Penn, and Cornell each accepted more than 5 students. Add up the number of kids who are planning to enroll in those schools–i.e., without double counting anyone who got into more than one–and you’ve got just under 30% of the class. </p>
<p>Minority kids who excel in public magnets or at well known private high schools do particularly well in top college admission. Reality is that sometimes the kid who is valedictorian at a lousy high school just doesn’t have the writing and other skills needed to succeed at a top school, whereas a URM who is within the top 20% at Thomas Jefferson, Boston Latin, or Stuyvesant does. Colleges know that.</p>
<p>Moreover, kids who attend strong high schools usually get better
SAT, SAT II and AP scores than kids who attend weaker high schools.</p>
<p>Now, I’ll grant that if your kid ends up as the valedictorian of a minority high school vs. ending up in the bottom quarter of a strong magnet, she’ll have better options as val. Still, she may not have as good reading, writing, and mathematical skills. They matter for succeeding in college.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for all your replies. I got lots of really great advices.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot! I’ll think over the decision.</p>
<p>You’re welcome! Let us know what you decide.</p>
<p>I agree with all of the opinions above about sending her to the magnet school, if she wants to go, of course. She will get a good education, and she may very well thrive in an environment with academically focused peers, especially if she has friends that are going there as well. I took AP classes in high school that I swore I would never take, just because my friends were taking them. It may be beneficial to her to have a group of peers that are academically oriented. You would be surprised what kids can do when they are challenged.</p>
<p>And keep in mind that it’s not all academics that determine who goes to the top schools. Regardless of what school she goes to, being actively involved in activities that she loves or participating in extracurricular academic endeavors will be beneficial to her future college admissions.</p>
<p>Also, I agree with the others who say that going to the poorer school will likely not benefit her in the way you think it will. If she goes to a poor high school just for the chance of being valedictorian, she will likely be under prepared for colleges, especially the top programs. I went to school (a UC) with a girl who went to a disadvantaged school like the one you describe, where she was valedictorian (and she, by the way, didn’t get into Yale, so being valedictorian at a weaker school even when you come from a disadvantaged family, are an underrepresented minority, and take advantage of every opportunity may not be the boon that you think it is). She was a hard worker and definitely willing to put in the hours, but she was woefully unprepared for college work, despite having taken AP courses in high school. The level and amount of work was higher than she had experienced before, and she didn’t have any experience in many courses. When possible, she took the courses that were meant to prepare you for the introductory level courses, and even then, she struggled. This has nothing to do with her intelligence or work ethic–she just didn’t have the preparation in high school that other students did.</p>
<p>Send your daughter to a school where she will get a good education. She’ll thank you for it later.</p>
<p>Another vote for the magnet school option. You don’t mention what the specialty of the magnet is. My one caveat is that your D has to like the curriculum and be willing to be immersed in the school’s focus. </p>
<p>GPA shouldn’t be an issue. My D went to a magnet and almost certainly got lower grades there than she would have at the local public; but it didn’t matter because the rigor of the program was taken into account. Good grades at a magnet will enable your D to be as competitive in college admissions as top grades at a less rigorous school. Another advantage is that magnet schools have guidance departments that start preparing students early for testing, college admission strategies, etc. A final point: many magnet schools do not rank because the class size is small to begin with, there is little difference in caliber among the students, and the curriculum is similar all around. That takes some of the pressure off of worrying about GPA.</p>
<p>Over and over I see “rigor” as one of the top 3 benchmarks for colleges (grades and test scores being the other 2). I’d also choose the magnet.</p>
<p>And I wouldn’t get hung up on her attending an Ivy just because it’s an Ivy, either. The perfect school for her may be one of many other excellent colleges or universities. Presumably your D is now in 7th or 8th grade - who knows what will interest her, and what she will have a talent for, in 4-5 years? At least at the magnet she will be able to explore these things.</p>
<p>Its seems that OP is leaning toward the gang infested school as it would make her daughter appear superior by contrast.
If the school is actually gang infested, is it a safe place to attend? Does your D fit in with any of the groups in the school?
You mention she identifies Hispanic but looks white, will the Hispanic kids accept her? </p>
<p>My youngest attended a magnet high school in the inner city. They have some gang problems, but mostly affected african american males. 
Her school also did not have strong cliques and she had friends in several different groups, including the kids who went on to ivy league universities.( as it is the academic magnet for our urban district- she was in the top 30%, not the top 5%)
If she had stayed in her much smaller, less academic high school, she would have been in the top 10% of the class, but she would not have had the opportunity to take the AP and honors classes that prepared her for college level work.</p>
<p>Because her middle school teachers were discouraging me from sending her to the larger & rougher high school, I had to consider carefully what to do.( she was in resource & they didn’t think she would be able to transition)
I ultimately allowed her to chose her high school because I wanted her to be able to trust her own judgment.
In retrospect, I am happy that I gave her the choice.</p>
<p>The count has risen to 20-something votes for magnet; 0 for neighborhood; 0 for minority.</p>
<p>CC parents will uniformly (and predictably) opt for the most rigorous curriculum available.</p>
<p>Perhaps OP could find a National Education Association (NEA) web site that might recommend the neighborhood school while decrying the evils of magnets and charters. Or a social services web site that prefers the minority school in order to celebrate diversity and heritage.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>OP hasn’t said which her daughter wants to attend - that’s pretty important, IMO.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>OP apparently doesn’t live in a place where the predominantly minority neighborhood school is academically rigorous.</p>
<p>[The</a> New White Flight - WSJ.com](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113236377590902105.html]The”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113236377590902105.html)</p>
<p>I live in a large city where there are NO adademically rigorous neighborhood schools - predominantly minority or otherwise. To make matters worse, most kids from upper middle households test into a handful of selective enrollment high schools. The result is that there are few role models left behind for bright kids in neighborhood schools. It’s a vicious circle with few, if any, real solutions.</p>
<p>Thank you, for all your comments! </p>
<p>20 votes for magnet, 0 for low-performing school. Could you, please, explain me the reasoning. Why do you think magnet is better for <em>admittance</em> to a strong college? I understand that magnet gives education-knowledge-encouragement-rigor-prepares for college classes, etc. On the other hand, I look at the admission requirements and I think that colleges are looking for other things. </p>
<p>Yet, when I am looking again at the requirement for college admission, and they scream MINORITY school.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>GPA (easier to get good GPA in a minority school)</p></li>
<li><p>SAT (I don’t worry much about SAT, my D. is pretty good and she can study independently).</p></li>
<li><p>AP, Honors (if available). However, if AP and Honors are not available at HS, it’s OK.</p></li>
<li><p>Recommendation letters (probably, easier to get at the minority school)</p></li>
<li><p>EC (easier to get at the minority school, because D will have more free time).</p></li>
<li><p>Assays, personal story (minority school is a plus).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I know that I am looking stubborn. I do not disregard your advice; I want to make sure that I understand it correctly.</p>
<p>Several people mentioned that “colleges account for the rigors of magnet schools”.</p>
<p>Is it true, or is a an urban legend? </p>
<p>If AO compares 2 candidates, one from an inner city school with unweighted GPA 3.9, and another from a magnet school, with unweighted GPA 3.6 (plus, many AP classes) - who would get a spot? Let’s assume (for the sake of argument) that SAT score is the same.</p>