Reasons why one would not accept TJ offer?

[Anonymous]

I understand every middle school will be given a few seats, but last year no one at our middle school accepted the offer. I could be mistaken, as I also heard one kid attended for a year, and returned to base high school. DC took the admissions test this month, and we think there is a good chance we will be made an offer. What I want to understand is why would one not accept a TJ offer? I hear everyone saying how much harder one has to study, but is it significantly more than what a student at base high school enrolled in all honors courses would need to study? How much time would be available to do sports? Trying to figure out if DC would be better off going to our high school with known friends and teammates, or tryout TJ, but definitely want to avoid the hassle of transferring if TJ isnt the right fit.

[Anonymous]

Terribly long commute on a bus both ways.

[Anonymous]

Not wanting to be surrounded by myopic students solely focused on grades. I’ve heard some white students say it’s too Asian.

[Anonymous]

Bad buses and no other transport options from parents available

[Anonymous]

We had a kid at a base school and one at TJ. The courses are taught to a much higher level at TJ and graded more harshly. There's much more homework and tests are harder. Our TJ kid was a NMSF and got 5s for every AP exam but was middle of the pack.

[Anonymous]

I have 2 kids there. Reasons not to take it would be the long commute or that you have your heart set on a spot at UVA. Better shot at your base school. It’s a rigorous place. Much less grade inflation than base schools. Tests are failed. Cs and Bs happen. But peer group is unmatched. Great place to go to school for kids who like to do hard things.

[Anonymous]

TJ is significantly and by a large margin much harder than base HS.

Experience of same kid at base HS and TJ. Kid moved to TJ in 10th grade.

At base HS, all homework is finished at school itself and child home by 3 PM. Absolutely no additional effort needed at home - child took 2 AP classes in 9th, even then school is pretty easy. Tests took maybe 15 minutes more of effort at home. Grade book frequently had 100+ scores out of 100 in many subjects because they give bonus points for some things.

At TJ, the amount of effort is lot more. 2-3 hours per day. Highly kid dependent but heard lot of classmates were spending a lot more time. Some courses are at the same level of rigor as college.

At base HS if you understand the content you are good for an A. At TJ, you need in depth understanding of the subject. So you need to be able to apply the concept in a different situation, so you need to understand it very thoroughly. About 20% of test questions are in this category.

At TJ you get a fantastic education. But when applying to colleges, it might be a slight disadvantage for the top colleges.

At base child's recommendations would have been off the chart. Child was able to get into a very selective program from base HS because one teacher wrote something like "never saw anyone like this in my 18 years of teaching...".

At TJ, same child would get a good recommendation but nothing like at base HS. In one activity child is in top 100 in nation but there is at least one child every two years who is in the top 10. So the recommendation letters would likewise be much less strong coming from TJ than at base HS.

For our second child we decided not to go to TJ.

TJ is the right place for child 1 but not for child 2.

[Anonymous]

My daughter applied on a whim and ultimately decided not to go because she wanted a more typical high school experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TJ is significantly and by a large margin much harder than base HS.

Experience of same kid at base HS and TJ. Kid moved to TJ in 10th grade.

At base HS, all homework is finished at school itself and child home by 3 PM. Absolutely no additional effort needed at home - child took 2 AP classes in 9th, even then school is pretty easy. Tests took maybe 15 minutes more of effort at home. Grade book frequently had 100+ scores out of 100 in many subjects because they give bonus points for some things.

At TJ, the amount of effort is lot more. 2-3 hours per day. Highly kid dependent but heard lot of classmates were spending a lot more time. Some courses are at the same level of rigor as college.

At base HS if you understand the content you are good for an A. At TJ, you need in depth understanding of the subject. So you need to be able to apply the concept in a different situation, so you need to understand it very thoroughly. About 20% of test questions are in this category.

At TJ you get a fantastic education. But when applying to colleges, it might be a slight disadvantage for the top colleges.

At base child's recommendations would have been off the chart. Child was able to get into a very selective program from base HS because one teacher wrote something like "never saw anyone like this in my 18 years of teaching...".

At TJ, same child would get a good recommendation but nothing like at base HS. In one activity child is in top 100 in nation but there is at least one child every two years who is in the top 10. So the recommendation letters would likewise be much less strong coming from TJ than at base HS.

For our second child we decided not to go to TJ.

TJ is the right place for child 1 but not for child 2.

This is true. TJ math curriculum and science curriculum even for required courses is not comparable to base schools. Kids get Cs in Calc BC at TJ and yet easily get 5s on the AP. In face I believe everyone got a 5 last year.

[Anonymous]

Still time for sports and after school activities. My junior does 2-3 hours of sports and then comes home for 2-3 hours of homework. Busy but very very possible. Harder with a long commute.

[Anonymous]

If instate college like UVA is a priority, have your child stay back at base school, take rigorous AP courses and with little extra effort they could get all As and be in the top 10% in the class.

If you dont care about in-state, but prefer TJ education, be ready to accept Bs and Cs, even with long nights. Just accept that there will be other kids with straight As and much more rigorous coursework.

[Anonymous]

Distance
Pressure
Lack of social life
No time for other activities
Difficult to get into MIT or other top tier engineering/science programs due to competition

[Anonymous]

I went to MIT then straight to grad school. By year 5 of being in pressure cookers I was cooked. Many if my friends at MIT arrived from elite schools also cooked. It's a lot. I don't want my kid burned out before he even gets to college.

[Anonymous]

My son turned it down (this was before the admissions change; he graduated in 2023). He knew he didn’t want to work that hard in high school. He still did great (is now at a T20) but didn’t have the pressure that comes with TJ.

[Anonymous]

We didn't believe our child would be in the top 10% or even the top 25% at TJ, so we declined the offer last year. Child was part of middle school math club, but there was significant gap between their math proficiency and that of students on the school's MathCounts team. We knew this gap would only be wider if our child were to attend TJ.