So torn about TJ advice to child

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Give it a try. If your child doesn’t like it, they can move to their base school sophomore year. It is a very unique educational experience and the peer group is great. Most are very active in clubs, sports and/or music.
- parent of two TJ alums who loved their time at TJ

Well, we thought the same way but then our kid refused to move back. I am just glad it will be over soon.

That's what I'm afraid of. I'd prefer to try the base school and if it's not working consider it.

Unless it’s changed with the admissions changes, there aren’t a lot of froshmore spots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Give it a try. If your child doesn’t like it, they can move to their base school sophomore year. It is a very unique educational experience and the peer group is great. Most are very active in clubs, sports and/or music.
- parent of two TJ alums who loved their time at TJ

Well, we thought the same way but then our kid refused to move back. I am just glad it will be over soon.

That's what I'm afraid of. I'd prefer to try the base school and if it's not working consider it.

This is a bad idea for a couple of reasons:

1) There's no guarantee at all that your child will get in on sophomore round. The application process is significantly different between the freshmen and sophomore round and there's likely a smaller percentage of applicants who are eventually admitted.

2) The freshmen year at TJ is designed specifically to onboard students into the research curriculum. The senior research projects are attainable goals, but are supported significantly by the introductory research that the students do as freshmen through the IBEST and RS1 curricula.

It's a good idea to apply as a sophomore if you didn't get in as a freshman (there's no replacement for the TJ experience), but there's not a whole lot of sense in declining the offer of admission as a freshman with the idea that "maybe we'll try it the next year".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many TJ students do a sport, instrument, and get good grades. What did your child think of the open house?

To be honest, he got spooked at the end when he saw the research posters by some of the kids that won awards. I tried to explain that's not freshman-level kind of work but I don't know that he really bought what I was saying. He has a friend already attending, the kids were all very nice, and he liked the gym facilities.

TJ alumna here (an old one ). I did mentorship my senior year at NIH and produced one of those 'scary looking' projects. I never did formal lab research again after TJ and am now a management consultant. One of my good friends did a laughable senior project in the Prototyping Lab where he 'tested the durability of lacrosse sticks' (read: got free gear and messed around with it with friends). That friend is now an MD/PhD anesthesiologist and professor. At the end of the day, TJ is still high school and no more predictive of future trajectories than any other school.

I had a really great experience at TJ, but it was well before test prep and cheating scandals took hold over the student body. I did have to choose between sports and theater (had done both in MS), but was able to take choir 3 of my 4 years (2 full years and 2 spring semesters) and played 2 or 3 sports each year. I took CS in summer school after 9th. It sounds like you have healthy expectations for your child and their high school career (wanting them to be well-rounded versus solely academic focused), so my advice for your kid would be to take the TJ spot, enjoy the cohort of smart and motivated kids and access to cool/innovative subject matter, and play their own long game in terms of interests and ambitions.

Thank you for your perspective!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Thank you for your perspective!

You replying to your own posts is quite amusing. Do you get paid for this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Thank you for your perspective!

You replying to your own posts is quite amusing. Do you get paid for this?

Wow, conspiracy theory much?! I did not reply to my own post. Ask the webmaster for IPs if you're concerned about sockpuppeting.

[Anonymous]

OP, I also went to TJ and currently have a first year in college and a sophomore in high school (neither of whom went to TJ). My concern with your child is the lack of self-motivation as that’s probably the #1 trait I’d attribute to success at TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I also went to TJ and currently have a first year in college and a sophomore in high school (neither of whom went to TJ). My concern with your child is the lack of self-motivation as that’s probably the #1 trait I’d attribute to success at TJ.

NP. Thanks for this. DC has applied and gotten in but he's certainly not one of the "top students". He's self-motivated in that he has taught himself a lot of things outside of school but finds most of his classes pretty boring and doesn't put much effort in them. Is TJ the right fit for him? Is any high school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I also went to TJ and currently have a first year in college and a sophomore in high school (neither of whom went to TJ). My concern with your child is the lack of self-motivation as that’s probably the #1 trait I’d attribute to success at TJ.

NP. Thanks for this. DC has applied and gotten in but he's certainly not one of the "top students". He's self-motivated in that he has taught himself a lot of things outside of school but finds most of his classes pretty boring and doesn't put much effort in them. Is TJ the right fit for him? Is any high school?

TJ can certainly be the right fit because there more areas to explore. If you get part way in and discover you don't really like science that much, fine, don't take AP science classes. Instead take AP humanities classes. There will be fewer kids in class with you, but the teachers will be interesting. There's the bajillion clubs linked to above and if you have enough kids with interest and a faculty sponsor you can start a new one. The senior research opportunities and tech labs are broad enough that you can pursue almost any interest through them if you're creative enough.

Besides needing self-motivation, the other big thing is that your kid has to be willing to take math through Calculus. Doesn't have to love every minute, but it is a graduation requirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I also went to TJ and currently have a first year in college and a sophomore in high school (neither of whom went to TJ). My concern with your child is the lack of self-motivation as that’s probably the #1 trait I’d attribute to success at TJ.

NP. Thanks for this. DC has applied and gotten in but he's certainly not one of the "top students". He's self-motivated in that he has taught himself a lot of things outside of school but finds most of his classes pretty boring and doesn't put much effort in them. Is TJ the right fit for him? Is any high school?

Boring as in he's acing them in his sleep? If so, yes TJ's the right spot.
Boring as in he just doesn't think they're interesting and doesn't get very good grades because he doesn't do his work? No, it will be a struggle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I also went to TJ and currently have a first year in college and a sophomore in high school (neither of whom went to TJ). My concern with your child is the lack of self-motivation as that’s probably the #1 trait I’d attribute to success at TJ.

NP. Thanks for this. DC has applied and gotten in but he's certainly not one of the "top students". He's self-motivated in that he has taught himself a lot of things outside of school but finds most of his classes pretty boring and doesn't put much effort in them. Is TJ the right fit for him? Is any high school?

I didn't go to TJ - I'm the OP that went to MIT. I wasn't the smartest kid at my high school, but I worked my a$$ off and was successful because I was more driven, won awards, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is currently sophomore at TJ. He is doing OK - but in all honesty, he is not really using the advanced classes and research groups.

Overall, I see nothing that he is getting incremental at TJ (based on his drive) - besides the pressure on grades.

If I had to do it again, I would keep him at base school ( which is what DC wanted to do in the first place )

Our base school has gone downhill in terms of academic rigor and grading. There is little structure to the classes anymore. Do you still say that even knowing the base schools have changed?

Good point. If I knew my base school had issues AND my kid could handle TJ - then TJ was the way to go. easy.

In our case, our base school (Chantilly HS) is pretty good but not hyper competitive like Oakton/Langley/McLean. So the base option would have been just fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Thank you for your perspective!

You replying to your own posts is quite amusing. Do you get paid for this?

Wow, conspiracy theory much?! I did not reply to my own post. Ask the webmaster for IPs if you're concerned about sockpuppeting.

We can see that you started multiple TJ related threads like this one with MIT nonsense, and almost all of the messages here are you replying to yourself. As amusing as it is, what are you hoping to achieve?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Thank you for your perspective!

You replying to your own posts is quite amusing. Do you get paid for this?

Wow, conspiracy theory much?! I did not reply to my own post. Ask the webmaster for IPs if you're concerned about sockpuppeting.

We can see that you started multiple TJ related threads like this one with MIT nonsense, and almost all of the messages here are you replying to yourself. As amusing as it is, what are you hoping to achieve?

Here's a good test - do you think that this message is sockpuppeted?

[Anonymous]

What your kid probably saw were senior research projects. Many, many kids at TJ play sports and do marching band. They do just fine, actually better in many cases, than the kids who don’t. TJ is a tough place but it doesn’t require you to forgo normal high school experiences. I’ve had multiple kids there. They play sports, play instruments, and do plenty of other teen things. Let your kid decide. It’s fine either way!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What your kid probably saw were senior research projects. Many, many kids at TJ play sports and do marching band. They do just fine, actually better in many cases, than the kids who don’t. TJ is a tough place but it doesn’t require you to forgo normal high school experiences. I’ve had multiple kids there. They play sports, play instruments, and do plenty of other teen things. Let your kid decide. It’s fine either way!!

The athletes at TJ are having PHENOMENAL college admissions success this year. More evidence that it's a tremendous place to play sports. And the teams are extremely competitive in the National District.