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Regarding your questions about PISD's Health Sciences Academy.......
1. I'd ask other posters generally and Big G specifically to comment. Big G has an motivated kiddo in PISD now. My son was in PISD for about six weeks as a kindergartner in the middle '90s and he went to private schools after that. So my PISD knowledge isn't particularly strong.
2. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, however, it's important to get something out in the open and of course it's neigh to impossible for a kid to really know what s/he wants to study/do when so young. The PISD program is affiliated with Collin College and so far as I can tell a PISD HSA kid graduates with close to 50 college credits. For most anything related to medicine, save MD, DO and Ph.D medical researchers in the making the program likely makes unreserved sense. For the wannabe MD, DO and Ph.D kids the bio., math, chemistry and related courses through Collin College are almost certainly not going to be impressive down the line to admissions types at solid medical schools - Stanford, Duke, Washington University, Harvard, UTSW etc. and top DO schools like North Texas. My son had ~36 hours of math, bio and chemistry concurrent with high school mostly through Brookhaven. Luckily his undergraduate advisor at Baylor told him something like - you really need to re-take and ace all of these classes here. So he did. That logic was confirmed as accurate later when several medical school admissions types noticed that kiddo had re-taken those several classes and indicated that had been a wise decision.
3. Again assuming an MD, DO or a Ph.D is a likely tack all college credits ever attempted anywhere at anytime are most likely to be calculated into kiddo's GPA emblazoned onto his/her applications. That's germane vis a vis PISD's HSA.
Best of luck.
ETA -
If kiddo wants to be a doc/Ph.D I see three courses of action and all of them are viable.
1. Stay in PISD and make As in every class. Get into a solid pre-med tracking program and make As there too.
2. Go the HSA route and make As. Get into a solid pre-med tracking program and retake some or most of the hard science courses previously completed at CC/HSA. Try to have the second upper division bio chem. completed before kiddo's Jr. year.
3. Go the HSA route and once in a pre-med program tweak schedules such that kiddo is for sure done with the second upper division bio-chem and lab before s/he begins cramming for the MCAT.
Anyone whose kids are in any of the Academy Programs with Plano ISD please share your experience and anyone else who did not choose that path please share why you didn't .
I've heard good things about health and STEAM academies but no first hand experience. PISD is using corporate sponsors, hospitals, UTD, UTSW and tech companies for funding and internship programs so these are bound to establish themselves. International Baccalaureate World School is new but their program is more than a decade old and well established. Most of their students actually get their full IB diploma, unlike most IB programs in DFW area where only a small percentage makes it. It is a very rigorous and well rounded program. My daughter is in UTD's BS/MD program and she loved and loathed IB during high school but now considers it the best decision of her life to stick with the program. She was accepted in two Ivies and several top colleges but we not able to arrange funds for tuition. She took multiple AP tests like other IB fellows and most of them qualified for AP Scholar with distinction and distinguished achievement diplomas. She had to be very selective about her extra curricular activities and clubs as time is precious in IB. Estensive writing and liberal science focus helped her grow intellectually and high level science/math courses gave her good foundation for medical school. It was very much like a small school with access to all the resources that their big campus offered.
My youngest went to Plano West Senior High because he qualified for varsity tennis and preferred their social scene over Plano East. AP program provided him flexibility and easy balance though it is more a la carte and not well rounded. Only thing that we didn't like about Plano schools was guidance counsellors, they can do better. Overall, Plano West is an awesome school. He wasn't in top 10% but got in an honors program in UTA because they know that PWSH is a competitive school and anyone in their top 25% is as good or better than top 10% of most schools.
Anyone whose kids are in any of the Academy Programs with Plano ISD please share your experience and anyone else who did not choose that path please share why you didn't .
TIA.
The Academy Programs in Plano are great opportunities for the right kid. However, one thing to understand is that they are NOT super-competitive or extremely difficult to gain admission to.
This is a different situation than, say, Dallas ISD, where magnets like SEM or Booker T. Washington attract many, many more well-qualified applicants than they can possibly serve. This leads to a situation where the student body isn't just good, it's "The best of the best of the best".
Right now, pretty much any applicant meeting the listed standards can get into the IB program or the Health Sciences Academy. (STEAM Academy did have to turn away some qualified applicants this past year, but they were able to accomodate most of their applicants.)
Of the three, IB is the most academically rigorous, with an expectation that you are in the top 10-15% of your class coming in. That cutoff is high, but not ridiculous. Those students range from future Ivy kids to those that will miss the auto-admit standard for UT.
The STEAM Academy is purposely set up to accomodate a range of student ability. It is most certainly NOT a "brainiacs only" situation. Other considerations are the extensive use of project-based and cooperative learning, the de-emphasis of grades, and the lack of traditional extra-curricular activities. Some kids would love that kind of thing, others would hate it.
The Health Sciences Academy, again, isn't targeted at the highest level of student achievement. What it is, in practice, is a way to take mostly Collin College courses during the junior and senior years, and get you well on your way to completing one of Collin's many medical professional programs - CNA, Paramedic, etc. Now, you could also use the program to knock out most of an AA degree during your high school years, quickly finish up at Collin after HS graduation, then transfer elsewhere to take up a nursing program or a pre-med program.
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In summary, these are all interesting options. However, with the semi-exception of IB, these aren't intended for just "the cream of the crop". Conversely, if your kid isn't interested in attending one of these, that doesn't mean that he/she is a slacker.
PISD is plugging the academies pretty heavily. As a result, some parents are (incorrectly) seeing that as a situation where all the smart kids should be going to an academy. By extension, that would imply those left going to the mainstream schools are the not-smart kids. That's not the case. IMO, I'd say that a PWSH/PSHS/PESH schedule chock-full of AP classes is quite a bit more rigorous than what the STEAM or Health Sciences magnets are offering.
I have many friends whose children go to the STEAM academy and while they are happy about it , it has far too many issues. Because , it is only one interview and then a lottery , the school is left with a variety of students and unfortunately very few advanced teens. To give an idea , this year among the 9th graders , 65% of the students were on regular math and starting the year with Algebra 1( algebra 2 is taught on the second semester) Considering that the programs requires that the students take 6 levels of math and I think 6 levels of sciences , it is going to be tough for the regular kids.
Many of the projects are left in the hand of the students with very few supervision of teachers , and this is where the complains are high , half of the students do not do participate and do not do the work. The system is done in such a way that the students cannot do retake on test, and are not warned on their failling test , it is the politic of school . Last year at the end of the 9th grade , from 130 students , 30 were let go to return to regular school. At the end of this semester , many kids would have to leave the school as well. The talk right now is about at least 20 , probably more by the end of the year in 9th grade alone. This is a high percentage with a average of 110 kids per grade. The school should have had a high level at the StAR test , yet they failed compare to the 3 other high schools.
My friends are happy because their children are thinking out of the box , are organized and love small group projects . It works very much like homeschooling , with no proper classrooms ( the kids need to be used to work in a noisy environment) and few proper class teaching while learning doing projects. They have to work on their own. It is great for an alternative way of learning . But it far from be an advanced technical and pre engineering school like the the STEAM in Dallas.
From what I've heard is that PISD went easy on qualifying criterion because top students only come when a school is well established because their own schools are good so no need to experiment. PISD plans to change the criterion once it takes off. However, they do intend to make it more about aptitude then test taking to attract and cultivate curious minds. Good thing about being in PISD is that students can always go back to their home campus if an academy is not a good fit for them unlike DISD where crappy regular schools are the only alternative to magnet schools.
From what I've heard is that PISD went easy on qualifying criterion because top students only come when a school is well established because their own schools are good so no need to experiment. PISD plans to change the criterion once it takes off. However, they do intend to make it more about aptitude then test taking to attract and cultivate curious minds. Good thing about being in PISD is that students can always go back to their home campus if an academy is not a good fit for them unlike DISD where crappy regular schools are the only alternative to magnet schools.
But the return to a normal campus is very difficult since the curriculum is specifically designed for the school. The students do not earn credits until the end of 12th grade. Some of the classes are taught over many semesters , some are taught in one semester. Many kids are forced to retake some credits during the summer or entirely during the year if they failed at the academy. There is also no AP classes , and that alone is an issue to attract the better students. They can pass them separately but last year , most of the kids have failed to even get a 2 or a 3 in Human Geography.
Transfer is difficult during a semester. Most classes are transferable for 9-10th. This not AP oriented, GPA gaming program, it was tailored for STEM inclined and unconventional innovative minds. Tiger moms need to do proper research to avoid disappointments. OP, check out these links.
First of all a big thanks to EDS_ , Big G , SueLeee70 and Souleiado for all your posts. Really appreciate the time you all take to post such elaborate replies.
From what I gathered the kids who have taken Geometry in 8th grade can take Algebra 2 in 9th grade and so forth in the Academy Programs too. But as Big G mentioned it is not the best of the best. We felt that right away too.
And regarding extra curricular as my son plays tennis and he was in the JH in his previous school they did mention he can take Tennis as an elective in any of the Academy Programs too.
Please do share your thoughts/experience ..keep them coming Thanks !!
I guess once they'll graduate their first few batches and people will see that they are getting into colleges with good STEM and arts programs then they'll attract more top one percent students, which is very likely as those programs value portfolios, projects, research and ability to think out of the box. Health Academy had a head start like IB. Problem with PISD acadamies is tough competition from PISD's well established high schools that offer a great track record.
Last edited by SueLeee70; 12-04-2014 at 10:59 PM..
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Thanks !!
