Top Tier Boarding school vs. TJ

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hesitant to weigh in here since this thread has devolved, but I haven't seen anyone mention the actual value and benefits of the BS education. I went from a top public high school, all AP classes, to Andover and the difference was astounding - not just the grade level/difficulty but the enthusiasm and depth. Reading Shakespeare outside with a class of 12 on a beautiful New England spring day is memorable to me even with my 25th reunion coming up. Yes I got into HYP, and I found it a lot easier than my roommates who had not gone to prep school because I had already experienced a soul-crushing amount of homework at Andover, but the depth of study and the way we were pushed to learn and explore and think, not just study and memorize, was remarkable. My kids are in elementary school still but I have them at a progressive school in the hopes that they will learn to love learning, not just learn how to learn.

I agree with this completely, but TJ is very good in its way too -- for STEM.
It's a silly argument really. I will say, however, that for Indian families in NOVA TJ is the holy grail.

[Anonymous]

Your Andover description may be a distinctively private school experience, but class size, location, text, and workload aren't a boarding school-specific phenomenon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ is great, but the alumni network for a top-tier BS is much bigger and more connected throughout the US. I've got kids at a big 3 and I've heard some of the high net worth people chatting about Andover and Exeter goings-on (they're alums). I expect TJ alums may do that but the network is probably much smaller. I'd also be interested in what the TJ alum participation % is at TJ (i.e., if donations are accepted from alums or what the percentage is of alums who return for TJ reunions). That would give some indication of how important the alumni network is considered to be among alums -- what the value is among TJ alums of being a fellow TJ alum. Top tier BS's have insanely high loyalty and participation numbers that are the envy of private day schools --- 40+ percent donate annually to their school.

From what I have seen, about 90-95% of the TJ graduates join TJ Alumni Association and many return and visit the school during Thanksgiving break/winter break. Many TJ grads go into hi-tech, IB, quantitative trading firms (quants), medicine and surprising numbers go into law (patent law) and most of their professional contacts appear to be fellow TJ grads. You can't discount these bright TJ grads as the world becomes even more technologically oriented and AI/machine learning creeps into almost everything. Next 10 years will be interesting to see whether TJ grads make lasting contributions.

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your Andover description may be a distinctively private school experience, but class size, location, text, and workload aren't a boarding school-specific phenomenon.

True, although there are plenty of other things about BS that are unique - like at Andover you had to be in your dorm or a 'place of study' (library, lab, or assigned activity) from 8-10 pm, which created much more collaborative learning than in day schools - like college study groups - and integrated learning assignments, like a when we watched 'Apocalypse Now' one night at my English teacher's house while we were reading Heart of Darkness - very interesting discussions... Anyway, I am in no way a booster and I'm not itching to send my kids there. For all the talk about blue blood contacts, I don't think I'm in touch with very many fellow PA grads, and there are also things that are kind of disturbing about the social scene at BS. But the actual unique gifts of a BS education seem to have gotten lost in this thread with everyone talking about how it is all about the network.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ Class of 2016 has students going to Harvard (6), MIT (13), Williams (1), Caltech (3), Harvey Mudd (1), Stanford (7), Berkeley (12), Chicago (13), Michigan (11), Brown (3), USAF (1), USCG (1), Carnegie Mellon (23), Penn (7), Yale (7), Dartmouth (4), Georgia Tech (6), Duke (8), Columbia (9), Cornell (8), Princeton (6), Olin (2), Wellesley (1), Swarthmore (3), Georgetown (5), Vanderbilt (3), Washington U. (2), Purdue (8), Rose-Hulman (2), Rennslauer (6), Rochester Tech (4). That is about 40% of the class of something like 457.

Another 1/3 go to UVA (81), W&M (32), or VA Tech (35).

Others go to places like NYU, UCLA, IU, Notre Dame, Colby, Bowdoin, VCU (6), JMU (3), George Mason (11), U of Colorado, Reed, Oregon State, Miami, USC, schools abroad, Richmond, Case Western, Penn State, GW, Syracuse, Rutgers.

A sizable number of TJ students end up at VA state universities. My kid can accomplish this from a regular/good/run-of-the-mill VA public high school. What's all the fuss?

better education at TJ is the fuss

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ Class of 2016 has students going to Harvard (6), MIT (13), Williams (1), Caltech (3), Harvey Mudd (1), Stanford (7), Berkeley (12), Chicago (13), Michigan (11), Brown (3), USAF (1), USCG (1), Carnegie Mellon (23), Penn (7), Yale (7), Dartmouth (4), Georgia Tech (6), Duke (8), Columbia (9), Cornell (8), Princeton (6), Olin (2), Wellesley (1), Swarthmore (3), Georgetown (5), Vanderbilt (3), Washington U. (2), Purdue (8), Rose-Hulman (2), Rennslauer (6), Rochester Tech (4). That is about 40% of the class of something like 457.

Another 1/3 go to UVA (81), W&M (32), or VA Tech (35).

Others go to places like NYU, UCLA, IU, Notre Dame, Colby, Bowdoin, VCU (6), JMU (3), George Mason (11), U of Colorado, Reed, Oregon State, Miami, USC, schools abroad, Richmond, Case Western, Penn State, GW, Syracuse, Rutgers.

A sizable number of TJ students end up at VA state universities. My kid can accomplish this from a regular/good/run-of-the-mill VA public high school. What's all the fuss?

better education at TJ is the fuss

Makes no difference in the end. TJ kids will work for BS kids... That's life, people.

[Anonymous]

Not in the companies that TJ grads have started. There's an article about one in this chain. You can google for others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not in the companies that TJ grads have started. There's an article about one in this chain. You can google for others.

Young people set up companies all the time. You don't have to be TJ grads to set up companies. And many start-ups fold within a few years... I wouldn't get too excited.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not in the companies that TJ grads have started. There's an article about one in this chain. You can google for others.

Young people set up companies all the time. You don't have to be TJ grads to set up companies. And many start-ups fold within a few years... I wouldn't get too excited.

But TJ grads are generally smarter than average, received a uniquely challenging education in math & science and has TJ alumni network.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not in the companies that TJ grads have started. There's an article about one in this chain. You can google for others.

Young people set up companies all the time. You don't have to be TJ grads to set up companies. And many start-ups fold within a few years... I wouldn't get too excited.

But TJ grads are generally smarter than average, received a uniquely challenging education in math & science and has TJ alumni network.

yeah, sure. if you say so...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not in the companies that TJ grads have started. There's an article about one in this chain. You can google for others.

Young people set up companies all the time. You don't have to be TJ grads to set up companies. And many start-ups fold within a few years... I wouldn't get too excited.

But TJ grads are generally smarter than average, received a uniquely challenging education in math & science and has TJ alumni network.

When TJ produces Gates-like, Zuckerberg-like, or win a Nobel prize, come talk to us. Until then why don't you STFU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Despite all of the accolades for TJ as a great public school, this thread suggests to me that the TJ parents are wildly insecure try hards. Listen guys - TJ is a cram school for Asain math and science kids. That's great. They test well, it's a very good education.

Exeter and St. Paul's and the other truly world class boarding schools are on another stratosphere.

Success in this country is not based on your SAT score.

Exactly!!

To make it to the true top in this country, this world, you need very specific social skills and leadership skills and that's what these TJ folks don't get. Life is not a meritocracy no matter how much immigrants and the granola types like to believe it is. At a certain point, it's all about who you are, who your connections are, where you went to schoo and sorry but, a free STEM-centric school in NOVA, even the "best" one in the country, isn't going to get most people even close to that world. There are exceptions, there are always exceptions, but the road to the top is rigged with societal pitfalls and social booby traps to catch up and ruin the kind who come from places like TJ. It's ugly but it's true. Your kid will have a much better shot if she or he learns this by going to school at a top Boarding school or Sidwell or STA/NCS type of top day school where they get schooled in it. I don't think it's necessarily right but I know it's true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It tickles me to see the BS crowd putting TJ down as a niche school full of strivers. Your kids couldn't/wouldn't make the cut, so you bought their way into a good private school. But don't put down people with abilities that your kids don't have.

And I thank God for that. I would not want a TJ kind of kid. I'm happy to have a kid who will fit in at any BS or top private day school in the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not in the companies that TJ grads have started. There's an article about one in this chain. You can google for others.

Young people set up companies all the time. You don't have to be TJ grads to set up companies. And many start-ups fold within a few years... I wouldn't get too excited.

But TJ grads are generally smarter than average, received a uniquely challenging education in math & science and has TJ alumni network.

When TJ produces Gates-like, Zuckerberg-like, or win a Nobel prize, come talk to us. Until then why don't you STFU.

Gates and Zuckerber excelled at Math & CS (among others) but both were Aspies especially Gates lacking social talents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It tickles me to see the BS crowd putting TJ down as a niche school full of strivers. Your kids couldn't/wouldn't make the cut, so you bought their way into a good private school. But don't put down people with abilities that your kids don't have.

And I thank God for that. I would not want a TJ kind of kid. I'm happy to have a kid who will fit in at any BS or top private day school in the country.

Not mutually exclusive -- some leave top privates for TJ. I know a few in my DD's class.