Cobb County provides special transportation for all magnet students. At the beginning of each school year, a roster is sent to Transportation, and they create routes and pick-up locations based on the population. Locations are typically drug store, fast food restaurant, gas station, or grocery store parking lots. Read more on this website http://www.cobbk12.org/centraloffice/transportation/busroutes.aspx
Historically we have found that the qualities that best determines a student’s success in this program are persistence and curiosity. Does your child ask questions and wonder why things are the way they are and how things work? Does your child enjoy reading? Does your child look for solutions to puzzles and problems? If so, that’s great! How does your child handle setbacks? When the academics become challenging persistence is essential! Added to curiosity, there must be an interest in academics and motivation to get the job done. We have seen several perfectly capable students who choose not to do the work because they are either uninterested or unmotivated. Intelligence without interest and motivation is not a great fit for an academically challenging program. Another quality your child needs to possess is organization. Magnet students balance quite a bit, and while disorganized students may not necessarily have a difficult time, they will certainly be at a disadvantage. Finally, successful magnet students have a thirst for knowledge. They are more than successful honors or gifted students; they have a passion for learning and are excited by challenges. Successful magnet students have big dreams and will allow nothing to stand in their way.
One common misconception about the Magnet program is that it is merely a continuation of the gifted or higher level middle school classes. This is not the case. The Magnet program is designed to offer rigorous course work in preparation for college and beyond. Some classes, such as the Advanced Placement and Post AP courses, are designed to be equitable to college level courses. Therefore, higher level learning is expected. While some classes are designed to not be overly difficult, others are rather challenging. It is therefore expected for students to study when appropriate, and often it will be necessary for students to prepare heavily for exams.
The biggest adjustment for kids moving from middle to high school is the adjustment to the work load and the necessity for studying differently- truly learning how to comprehend (not memorize) content. Many bright middle school students rarely found it challenging in middle school to earn A’s. That’s not the way it is in the magnet program at KMHS. Students must adjust to studying nightly and not procrastinating. There are short, medium, and long-term assignments that students have to keep up with. Second to the learning how to they learn, magnet students learn to work in groups- to assist and learn from others. Great minds come together to learn more and comprehend at a more advanced level .
Magnet students are expected to come into the program ready for a challenge. Expectations are high from the beginning as in having to maintain a B average in math and science courses. All magnet freshmen will be in the same English/Technology course all year, but may have different math and science classes depending on the highest math level completed in middle school; electives may also differ between students.
This is a common question at any high school, especially in the Magnet program, but the answer from all colleges is simply: take the most challenging courses available, especially in an academic area that you particularly wish to continue studying in college. Along with each student’s application, every college receives a Magnet profile. These high school profiles include what classes are available because colleges value this information. For instance, if a student applies to an engineering school, colleges look at the transcript to see if that student enrolled in the most challenging math courses available, regardless of the grade earned in the course. Colleges review grades, but more importantly, they like to see students who are willing to challenge themselves and demonstrate a balance between academics and other interests.
At KMHS, students who elect to take more challenging coursework are rewarded with an extra .5 or 1 quality point which is added to the 4 point GPA scale. Any advanced placement class receives a full quality point. For instance, if a student receives a ‘B’ in an AP course, a 4.0 is included in that student’s cumulative GPA for that class. Most, but not all, honors classes receive an extra .5 quality and therefore a ‘B’ in an honors class contributes 3.5 to the cumulative GPA.
Many colleges alter a student’s GPA to fit their admissions formula because of GPA calculation variations between school districts. For instance, some school districts use a 4-point scale, some a 7-point, some use numerical (100 point) GPAs, and there is variation in quality point application. As a result, some, but not all, colleges choose to recalculate applicants GPAs. Additionally, colleges may recalculate GPAs differently, but many schools remove any qualities points added to a class and then recalculate GPAs on a 4-point scale. The importance of rigorous class work, such as AP and honors classes, is not removed from the admissions process; it is simply included elsewhere. Colleges look closely at the specific classes a student takes and look favorably upon those that take the most challenging classes available. Therefore, the Magnet program students are encouraged to enroll in challenging courses, especially in areas that particularly interest the student and may become future college routes.
Just enough to make procrastination a problem. If you are not able to balance your time well, you will find the homework load difficult. The amount of homework will vary daily; it is important to not only complete homework, but also review and and study content. How much homework will have is not the question to ask; the question is rather, how seriously are you willing to take the homework- can you turn off your cell phone, and only use the computer when necessary for the assignments? With technology (cell phone, video game, social media, etc.) distractions, 30 minutes of homework may take 2-3 hours!
The freshman and sophomores years of the Magnet program are the most difficult and therefore are accompanied by the most homework. Fortunately, scheduling for these two years has some flexibility and therefore the amount of homework in largely in each student’s hands. For instance, a student who chooses to enroll in four academic courses in one semester will have more homework than a student who chooses to enroll in a non-academic elective. Beyond sophomore year, the schedules are highly specialized and therefore have varying degrees of difficulty and amounts of homework, but generally students find junior and senior years to be less stressful than the first two.
The Advanced Scientific Internship course is required for the completion of the Magnet Program. All magnet students complete the course in their senior (12th grade) year. The student must successfully complete two AP math/science courses in addition to the core Magnet math and science courses in order to be able to participate in the Internship program. Each student is responsible for arranging his/her internship as well as transportation to and from the internship site each day. The student is also responsible for the expenses of appropriate clothing, food, and transportation. The purpose of the internship is to allow students to experience a work field of interest related to math, science, or technology. Gaining everyday real-life experience in a particular field allows students to determine whether or not they would like to pursue a career in that area. Internship experience enhances the student’s Advanced Scientific Research, which is semester-long research related to the student’s internship.
Support! Besides being one big family full of kids who share the same interests, experiences, friends, and help strategies, the magnet program is a direct link to the Magnet Coordinator and the Magnet Counselor. From magnet treats to magnet scheduling, to magnet trips, there are numerous activities and “perks” offered to “official magnet students” that are not offered to the rest of the student body.
A social life and involvement in extracurriculars are very common themes among magnet student! More important, being involved beyond academics is essential to reduce stress! The key is balancing difficult classes and other activities. Ask other students about how much time activities really take so that you can make intelligent decisions. Finally, while we all might like to do everything, be realistic about how many activities you should try at one time, keeping in mind the academic requirements of the Magnet Program.
The magnet program is only separated during special magnet classes, which normally comprise between one and two periods of the day, depending upon the schedule. Any other classes are open to the entire student body, and therefore are not separated.
In conversations with admissions representatives around the country, especially here in Georgia (Georgia Tech and UGA), we have learned that taking rigorous courses means a great deal in the college admissions process. They would rather see students challenging themselves than sitting back and taking the easy route. Additionally, we include a letter of explanation with a full explanation of our program.
Please go to the academic policy page for specifics, but basically, according to Cobb County policy, if you are zoned for KMHS and leave the magnet program for whatever reason (voluntarily or involuntarily) within the first three years, you are moved from the magnet “house” to the general KMHS population and are assigned a new guidance counselor to assist your scheduling needs. If you are zoned for another high school and leave the magnet program for whatever reason, you may apply to the principal for an administrative transfer to remain at KMHS. The form can be found on the CCSD website. If you return to your home school, you will follow the GHSA rules for transfer. This generally means that for extracurricular activities, students will lose a full year of eligibility because when you come to KMHS as a freshman, this is considered your “home” school, and if you leave, you then become technically a transfer student to your zoned high school. The bottom line is that it is in the best interest of students (and parents) to make wise choices in the beginning; however, we understand full well that life happens, so we are here to help if difficult decisions have to be made.
The Cobb County policy for transfers is very clear. If you are currently a student at a Cobb County magnet school, you are eligible to apply for transfer to another magnet program as a rising sophomore (if you applied to and were accepted into that program in 8th grade), but approval must be secured from the Magnet Coordinators of both the sending and receiving school. Students currently enrolled in a Cobb County school housing a magnet program may also apply for admissions as rising sophomores, i.e. KMHS rising sophomores may apply to our magnet program, but they may not apply to any other magnet program in the county. This application will be considered by the special transfer admissions committee (the KMHS Assistant Principal for Curriculum, the Magnet Coordinator, and the Magnet Guidance Counselor). Because magnet students are accelerated in both math and science, this transfer is often impractical. Students from out of district who are moving to Cobb County may apply for admission as a sophomore also, but the same issues arise when considering if they might be able to complete the program in light of the acceleration. The Coordinator will conference with all students and parents who are considering such transfers, and the Guidance Counselor will carefully scrutinize the student’s transcript to assess the practicability of the transfer before presenting the case to the transfer admissions committee.