TJ vs Southlakes for UVA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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!

I don't know where my kid ended up in his TJ graduating class, but he finished with a 4.4 wGPA at TJ (albeit class of 2020). He got into UVa and W&M, but was shut out of most of the top tier SLACs he applied to (Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Carlton). He did get into Grinnell (with good merit), but ultimately picked W&M. He's about to graduate with degrees in CS and Mathematics. I'll echo earlier posters and say that I don't think TJ is particularly helpful from a college-admissions perspective, but it does (did?) provide a really good education. He has not found W&M to be very hard, and has done really well there.

I have another kid who turned down TJ and stayed at his base school to do the full IB program (in Arlington). He also seems to have gotten a really good education. His grades, scores, and EC's were all excellent, and he shot really high with his college apps. He did not get in to many places, but did get into Northeastern with excellent merit aid. He is very happy there and is doing well. He also reports that his HS education really prepared him well for college.

Is it typical now to apply to so many schools? Count 8 above. Is that more common now? Is it still $100 application fee/school or more? Less?

I think each of my kids applied to 8-10 schools. It think its less than $100 per school (including sending scores, as needed), but its not free. I think many kids apply to that many, and some do even more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are zoned for South lakes high, but DS got admitted to TJ and he accepted.

His dream is to go to UVA for computer engineering. Heard from some friends today that it might be easier to get admitted to UVA from South lakes than TJ because of the competition at TJ.

Is this true? Is he going to be better off at South lakes for UVA or Virginia Tech for computer engineering? Thanks!

It is well known that college admissions out of TJ is very difficult do to being compared to your peers as opposed to the larger NoVa pool of applicants. We sent our DC to TJ knowing it hurt college admissions but in our view it was a trade-off that was very worthwhile for the education and peer group that our base school would not have provided. Rejected by UVa with 4.3 wgpa and 1580 SATs for computer science. Attending U. Md. in the fall.

[Anonymous]

If your DS’s goal for high school is getting into UVA I think he would be better off going to South Lakes than TJ. It would be easier to get the crazy high GPA you need at South Lakes.

If your DS wants a solid STEM education and doesn’t care if his grades and class rank are lower I would say go to TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

FCPS does not publish class rank so I don't know how you'd know who the top 10 were.

There were 129 posts to the instagram 2024 acceptances page - about 550 kids in the class so nowhere near all of them.

Still, out of the 129, there were grads who went to MIT, Princeton, Yale, and UCLA. Doubtless if there were a top ten they'd be in it.

Another 16 went to UVA and 15 to Virginia Tech. Perhaps you could say 3% of the class went to UVA and 3% to VT?

2024 kids are still deciding - most colleges pushed the deadlines to May 15, at least. Instagram is far from complete, so the conclusions you are drawing are premature at best.
Also, please remember these are real high school students, many of whom are minors still, and did not asked to be called out on such a widely read, public message board.

They published their names and college destinations on a widely read public message board, idiot. They want people to know where they got accepted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Getting back to TJ v South Lakes- I am curious too, what is commute like to TJ?

Who can answer this without knowing where you live? Provide exact address and I’ll tell you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Getting back to TJ v South Lakes- I am curious too, what is commute like to TJ?

Who can answer this without knowing where you live? Provide exact address and I’ll tell you.

11400 South Lakes Dr, Reston, VA 20191

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Getting back to TJ v South Lakes- I am curious too, what is commute like to TJ?

Who can answer this without knowing where you live? Provide exact address and I’ll tell you.

At least an hour each way with drop off and pickup to/from the TJ bus pickup point. PIA overall. Only go if your kid really wants it. It is tough but college will be smooth sailing if they go do HS at TJ.

[Anonymous]

Our base HS bus ride is 40-45 minutes despite it being just a few miles away due to the bus driver shortage and the stops along the route. My other DC gets to TJ in about the same time from the bus depot. Sure I have to drive about 10 minutes to get to bus depot but the educational experience at TJ is outstanding.

[Anonymous]

South Lakes got accepted to UVA, but Anthropology major. TJ students likely apply to mostly competitive Stem majors, not to Anthropology.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:South Lakes got accepted to UVA, but Anthropology major. TJ students likely apply to mostly competitive Stem majors, not to Anthropology.

They don’t admit to major at UVA.