TJ vs Southlakes for UVA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ours had the same choice, opted to stay at base HS, and got into UVA (not CS though). Two of his close friends went to TJ, ED'd UVA and both rejected. Just an anecdote - obviously lots of TJ kids get into UVA - but I suspect it is easier from your base school if a VA public university is your goal. There is no definitive answer here because no one person can do both options and see the results. There will be better more interesting CS class options at TJ so if your kid goes there and does well they will probably be better prepared.

Thanks. Was your base SLHS too? How is the IB track?

I am not that PP but my DS is in the IB program at SLHS. What do you want to know about it? I'd say DS is working hard but is not overworked, and he's learning a lot. The amount of writing he has to do does not seem excessive to me contrary to what a lot of people say about IB.

He has friends who are graduating this year who are doing IB and got into UVA and VT.

As for "It’s easier to be at the top of the class and a perfect GPA from south lakes" - ok, yeah, TJ is a great school and you have to test to get into it, but I assure you there are plenty of smart kids at SLHS. South Lakes sends kids to top schools every year, including Ivy League, Carnegie Mellon, MIT, etc. Don't assume they're all dummies who can't compete with TJ kids.

Thank you! We are trying to decide amongst TJ vs moving to an AP school like Chantilly or Oakton vs staying put at SLHS. We have the financial means to move, but is it worth all the change and stress if SLHS IB can give him a comparable college outcome vs other higher rated FCPS schools.

SLHS IB full diploma is comparable to Chantilly / Oakton AP, if not better.

Ultimately, it’s your (and your DS’s) choice.

It’s not better, just more prescriptive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UVA website tells me they don’t have school specific quotas “While we do seek to maintain a 2/3 majority of Virginians in our student population, we do not have quotas for specific high schools, towns, counties, or regions.”

In 5-7 years from now, admissions should get significantly easier for in-state kids. Similar to UNC with nearly 50% acceptance rate for in-state, while under 10% for OOS. That is, unless UVA changes their admissions to accept more OOS students like Mich and the top UC's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is South lakes IB a good program? Is it a comparable school to Chantilly or Oakton for STEM oriented kids?

How do the college outcomes compare? My kid is hardworking and quite smart.

We are torn between moving to a different high school area vs staying put in SLHS. Thanks!

This entire thread makes me sad. Your 8th grader has a dream college and a major and isn’t even in high school yet. Move if you want a different neighborhood but please don’t do it because of college outcomes. You don’t know what your kid will want in 4 years. Don’t spend all of high school only focusing on UVA. Let him enjoy being a HS student. As you can see from here, many high stats kids from all schools are rejected since it’s a lottery.

You'll be sadder if your kid is a junior and you realized you sent him to the wrong high school.

The things the kid will need to do to "focus on UVA" are exactly the same things he'll need to do to get admitted to any selective college - that is, get good grades in rigorous courses. There is no harm in "focusing on UVA" in high school because if that doesn't pan out or the kid changes his mind, he will be well prepared to do something else.

There is no harm at all in having a dream college and a major picked out in high school. Kids today are way ahead of where I was in high school. I had no idea where I wanted to go or what I wanted to study until Fall of senior year. I enjoyed high school, but frankly my parents should have held my feet in the fire to work harder. Happily this did not matter because it was a lot easier to get into college back then. It is a different world now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is South lakes IB a good program? Is it a comparable school to Chantilly or Oakton for STEM oriented kids?

How do the college outcomes compare? My kid is hardworking and quite smart.

We are torn between moving to a different high school area vs staying put in SLHS. Thanks!

I have a kid at SLHS doing a full IB degree. Our experience has been positive and we are pleased with the IB program. One thing I’ve been super happy about is that the IB program has been excellent for writing. DS can push out a well written paper and is not at all phased when assigned a 1200 word essay.

I agree with the PP who said to choose what is best for your child now. I just want to let you know that staying at the base school is not such a horrible option.

Thanks for this information. We were dissuaded from pursuing the full IB because it was supposed to be a lot harder than AP schools to get a high GPA. Is this true in your experience?

My kid is in IB and I've never had a kid doing AP but I don't think it's hard to get a high GPA in IB if your kid is reasonably smart and does the work. IB tends to attract the kind of kid who can handle it.

The amount of work required to do "full IB" is not much more than required for partial IB. If you're going to do IB might as well go all-in.

[Anonymous]

TJ works only for the top 10%. For all the others its a struggle and schools like UVa and VT are out of reach.

Colleges look first at GPA. If it is not over 4.3 or so - you chances are hard

Getting a 4.3 at TJ is VERY HARD!

[Anonymous]

you have been warned!

[Anonymous]

4.3 at TJ is not the top 10%. More like top 1/4 or top 1/3.

[Anonymous]

So if 6OO TJ grads and reads general agreement that if under top 10 at TJ, more likely to not get into UVA and Tech, where are the other 500 TJ students going? And do the top 10 at TJ go to UVA or where do they go?

For SLHS, where do the top 10 there go? Is it the same as if at Chantilly or Oakton or Langley?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My TJ kid worked their butt off to be in top 10% of GPA and was rejected by UVA. They were accepted by a top10 national university and several SLACs though. If your kid’s goal is UVA, do not send them to TJ.

So does it seem to be that can get into higher out of state school from TJ than could from base?

[Anonymous]

100% South Lakes if UVA is the goal.

[Anonymous]

UVA is a reach from any FCPS school. I would not make the decision on going to TJ or not based on likelihood of a certain college acceptance. TJ offers courses and opportunities not available at base HS and will definitely be more prepared when they get to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So if 6OO TJ grads and reads general agreement that if under top 10 at TJ, more likely to not get into UVA and Tech, where are the other 500 TJ students going? And do the top 10 at TJ go to UVA or where do they go?

For SLHS, where do the top 10 there go? Is it the same as if at Chantilly or Oakton or Langley?

The top 10 go to MIT, Caltech, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Carnegie Mellon for tech, Duke, some to UVA for sure. But not a ton. Not if they can get aid or afford the others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So if 6OO TJ grads and reads general agreement that if under top 10 at TJ, more likely to not get into UVA and Tech, where are the other 500 TJ students going? And do the top 10 at TJ go to UVA or where do they go?

For SLHS, where do the top 10 there go? Is it the same as if at Chantilly or Oakton or Langley?

The top 10 go to MIT, Caltech, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Carnegie Mellon for tech, Duke, some to UVA for sure. But not a ton. Not if they can get aid or afford the others.

Actually, that's not true. Just because you're in the top 10% at TJ, you're not a shoe-in for those schools. It seems to have a lot to do with legacy or winning national-level academic competitions or something else extraordinary like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVa Engineering School is fairly small. Long ago, it was maybe 2000-2200 undergrads, now probably closer to 3000 (still small). You can look up the actual number. Engineering has its own undergrad admissions pool, which is separate from A&S, Architecture, Data Science and Nursing. Partly because of its small size, UVa SEAS admissions always has been competitive.

VT has a MUCH larger E School, purely as a size contrast.

UVA engineering stats/percent submitting are considerably higher than the College of Arts & Sciences.

My TJ daughter got into UVA engineering with 4.5 GPA and 1550 SAT.

Not sure if it is easier or harder than the College of Arts and Sciences. But one thing for sure is that UVA engineering is more generous to female students regarding scholarship opportunities.

[Anonymous]

go to south lakes

this isn't even a question