Official TJ Admissions Decisions Results for the Class of 2025

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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I think a lot of people believe that the kids who win these competitions on a regular basis for TJ are the ones who are at risk of not getting into the school - and hundreds of parents believe their kids to be those kids because they won some first prize at some local competition somewhere. (You'll also get dopes who come on here pretending that their kid was a national level award winner who didn't get offered - take that nonsense with a grain of salt. Those kids got in.)

I've asked this numerous times, and the people on your side keep dodging the question. Exactly how are they identifying the academic superstars from just middle school GPA and one essay? Many of the middle schools will have more than 1.5% of the honors/AAP kids receiving 4.0s. How can they tell the difference between somewhat above average kids and the truly elite ones? The current application process is too scant for the top notch kids to shine.

I'm in this boat - DC is still several years removed from applying to TJ, but I'm worried that TJ admissions will be the same kind of nightmare as AAP. DC got into AAP L4 on the basis of exceptionally high (unprepped) test scores, but their AART didn't like them so it wasn't a shoo-in. In school, we'd always see straight 4's in the objective subjects, and 3's in subjective ones like gym, art, etc. I'm really worried when I hear "experts" with loads of "experience" try to straight-face me that GPA plus the holistic wisdom of the school system is enough to figure out if my kid is an academic superstar.

Gym and art grades probably have more to do with your kids' ability/effort there and that it doesn't correlate well with other academic skills, not because they are subjective. They are at expected level in those classes, not advanced. And there are no "objective" subjects. (I say this as a scientist). That said, I agree the new TJ admissions process needs refining.

I'd agree with you if the kids weren't online last year and I hadn't seen what the classes looked like. Ability and effort was not the issue.

Well art and gym are almost impossible to do on-line--you can't assume it's anything like normal. But you said your kids "always" got 3s in them. I know my kid is great at Art, weak in Gym, excellent in academics, okay in music and you know what--the grades consistently reflect their strengths/skills in those areas pretty accurately.

Ok, but agree to disagree. Let's just say that we have some strong artistic types from a part of the family tree who are affronted by the grade. They see a consistent grading bias rather than a consistent evaluation of strength. It doesn't help when you ask the teacher and they can't give you an unambiguous rationale for the grades.

My DH is an artist, and he disagrees with the FCPS grading because they don't use enough of their subjective judgment actually. They tend to have specific criteria that is more about following directions and artistic concepts than creativity: -e.g. if they're teaching landscape drawing one of the rubric checks are like whether kids a) did the brainstorming sheet and created 3 different compositions --3 pts. b) created a landscape drawing with a foreground, middle ground and background, 3 pts, etc. But they do it because parents want them to justify their grades and it's really clearcut. The actually projects they do and teacher support can be quite strong and creative--esp once they get into MS and HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
They probably wrote about it in their essays - which are fairly easily fact-checked these days.

I thought the essay was about solving a math problem, not open ended to talk about whatever you want.

There were multiple essays. They found most of the top kids for sure. A few may have been missed but that happens every year no matter what process they use.

Okay. That makes me feel much better about the process. I thought it was just GPA and one math problem solving essay, which could easily miss the top 10 in state Mathcounts and the AIME qualifiers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
They probably wrote about it in their essays - which are fairly easily fact-checked these days.

I thought the essay was about solving a math problem, not open ended to talk about whatever you want.

There were multiple essays. They found most of the top kids for sure. A few may have been missed but that happens every year no matter what process they use.

Okay. That makes me feel much better about the process. I thought it was just GPA and one math problem solving essay, which could easily miss the top 10 in state Mathcounts and the AIME qualifiers.

That's right. No scope for exaggeration in an essay. Or rather that's the point. Get in the subjective flowery essay people that and definitely don't do an objective test that gets the serious people. I can just say I love math and science. Don't need to pass a pre-req to show I can do it. Less work for everyone now! That makes me feel so much better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Well art and gym are almost impossible to do on-line--you can't assume it's anything like normal. But you said your kids "always" got 3s in them. I know my kid is great at Art, weak in Gym, excellent in academics, okay in music and you know what--the grades consistently reflect their strengths/skills in those areas pretty accurately.

Ok, but agree to disagree. Let's just say that we have some strong artistic types from a part of the family tree who are affronted by the grade. They see a consistent grading bias rather than a consistent evaluation of strength. It doesn't help when you ask the teacher and they can't give you an unambiguous rationale for the grades.

My DH is an artist, and he disagrees with the FCPS grading because they don't use enough of their subjective judgment actually. They tend to have specific criteria that is more about following directions and artistic concepts than creativity: -e.g. if they're teaching landscape drawing one of the rubric checks are like whether kids a) did the brainstorming sheet and created 3 different compositions --3 pts. b) created a landscape drawing with a foreground, middle ground and background, 3 pts, etc. But they do it because parents want them to justify their grades and it's really clearcut. The actually projects they do and teacher support can be quite strong and creative--esp once they get into MS and HS.

If you've been able to get that kind of info out of your art teacher, you're doing way better than us!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Well art and gym are almost impossible to do on-line--you can't assume it's anything like normal. But you said your kids "always" got 3s in them. I know my kid is great at Art, weak in Gym, excellent in academics, okay in music and you know what--the grades consistently reflect their strengths/skills in those areas pretty accurately.

Ok, but agree to disagree. Let's just say that we have some strong artistic types from a part of the family tree who are affronted by the grade. They see a consistent grading bias rather than a consistent evaluation of strength. It doesn't help when you ask the teacher and they can't give you an unambiguous rationale for the grades.

My DH is an artist, and he disagrees with the FCPS grading because they don't use enough of their subjective judgment actually. They tend to have specific criteria that is more about following directions and artistic concepts than creativity: -e.g. if they're teaching landscape drawing one of the rubric checks are like whether kids a) did the brainstorming sheet and created 3 different compositions --3 pts. b) created a landscape drawing with a foreground, middle ground and background, 3 pts, etc. But they do it because parents want them to justify their grades and it's really clearcut. The actually projects they do and teacher support can be quite strong and creative--esp once they get into MS and HS.

If you've been able to get that kind of info out of your art teacher, you're doing way better than us!

We just want subjectivity! Process is for fools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
They probably wrote about it in their essays - which are fairly easily fact-checked these days.

I thought the essay was about solving a math problem, not open ended to talk about whatever you want.

There were multiple essays. They found most of the top kids for sure. A few may have been missed but that happens every year no matter what process they use.

Okay. That makes me feel much better about the process. I thought it was just GPA and one math problem solving essay, which could easily miss the top 10 in state Mathcounts and the AIME qualifiers.

That's right. No scope for exaggeration in an essay. Or rather that's the point. Get in the subjective flowery essay people that and definitely don't do an objective test that gets the serious people. I can just say I love math and science. Don't need to pass a pre-req to show I can do it. Less work for everyone now! That makes me feel so much better.

You don't know how admissions works apparently. Let the professionals handle this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
They probably wrote about it in their essays - which are fairly easily fact-checked these days.

I thought the essay was about solving a math problem, not open ended to talk about whatever you want.

There were multiple essays. They found most of the top kids for sure. A few may have been missed but that happens every year no matter what process they use.

Okay. That makes me feel much better about the process. I thought it was just GPA and one math problem solving essay, which could easily miss the top 10 in state Mathcounts and the AIME qualifiers.

That's right. No scope for exaggeration in an essay. Or rather that's the point. Get in the subjective flowery essay people that and definitely don't do an objective test that gets the serious people. I can just say I love math and science. Don't need to pass a pre-req to show I can do it. Less work for everyone now! That makes me feel so much better.

You don't know how admissions works apparently. Let the professionals handle this.

I hope it is not just professional manipulation to achieve a certain end result.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
They probably wrote about it in their essays - which are fairly easily fact-checked these days.

I thought the essay was about solving a math problem, not open ended to talk about whatever you want.

There were multiple essays. They found most of the top kids for sure. A few may have been missed but that happens every year no matter what process they use.

Okay. That makes me feel much better about the process. I thought it was just GPA and one math problem solving essay, which could easily miss the top 10 in state Mathcounts and the AIME qualifiers.

That's right. No scope for exaggeration in an essay. Or rather that's the point. Get in the subjective flowery essay people that and definitely don't do an objective test that gets the serious people. I can just say I love math and science. Don't need to pass a pre-req to show I can do it. Less work for everyone now! That makes me feel so much better.

You don't know how admissions works apparently. Let the professionals handle this.

I hope it is not just professional manipulation to achieve a certain end result.

Ya, my kid knew they had no hope at being admitted so they made up all these outlandish accomplishments in their essay and the crazy thing is they got in!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
They probably wrote about it in their essays - which are fairly easily fact-checked these days.

I thought the essay was about solving a math problem, not open ended to talk about whatever you want.

There were multiple essays. They found most of the top kids for sure. A few may have been missed but that happens every year no matter what process they use.

Okay. That makes me feel much better about the process. I thought it was just GPA and one math problem solving essay, which could easily miss the top 10 in state Mathcounts and the AIME qualifiers.

That's right. No scope for exaggeration in an essay. Or rather that's the point. Get in the subjective flowery essay people that and definitely don't do an objective test that gets the serious people. I can just say I love math and science. Don't need to pass a pre-req to show I can do it. Less work for everyone now! That makes me feel so much better.

You don't know how admissions works apparently. Let the professionals handle this.

I hope it is not just professional manipulation to achieve a certain end result.

Ya, my kid knew they had no hope at being admitted so they made up all these outlandish accomplishments in their essay and the crazy thing is they got in!

It's not about just getting in. If you are not really who you say you are, you will fail once you are in. Liars fail pretty quickly too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:at a school like TJ. I object to processes that water down the standards in an effort to "increase URMs" that instead make it easier for mediocre white kids to beat more advanced Asian kids for spots at TJ.

Does the per school quota improve chances for white kids as well? Are there schools that are almost entirely white in Fairfax, with few Asians?

I have no idea what the numbers are, but I'd assume that high percentages of the Asian population are clustered around a few schools. If that's true, then the answer would be yes, once you dampen the impact of those few schools. Especially since Whites are a privileged majority, so they'd have the advantage for the top 1.5% in a school if they aren't beaten out by someone else.

East Asians - or at least the ones generally interested in TJ - are relatively well distributed around the area.

South Asians who have gone to TJ traditionally have been highly concentrated to Carson and Rocky Run in Fairfax and Stone Hill, Mercer, and Lunsford in Loudoun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
They probably wrote about it in their essays - which are fairly easily fact-checked these days.

I thought the essay was about solving a math problem, not open ended to talk about whatever you want.

There were multiple essays. They found most of the top kids for sure. A few may have been missed but that happens every year no matter what process they use.

Okay. That makes me feel much better about the process. I thought it was just GPA and one math problem solving essay, which could easily miss the top 10 in state Mathcounts and the AIME qualifiers.

That's right. No scope for exaggeration in an essay. Or rather that's the point. Get in the subjective flowery essay people that and definitely don't do an objective test that gets the serious people. I can just say I love math and science. Don't need to pass a pre-req to show I can do it. Less work for everyone now! That makes me feel so much better.

You don't know how admissions works apparently. Let the professionals handle this.

I hope it is not just professional manipulation to achieve a certain end result.

Ya, my kid knew they had no hope at being admitted so they made up all these outlandish accomplishments in their essay and the crazy thing is they got in!

It's not about just getting in. If you are not really who you say you are, you will fail once you are in. Liars fail pretty quickly too.

But only after they've done the damage for someone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
They probably wrote about it in their essays - which are fairly easily fact-checked these days.

I thought the essay was about solving a math problem, not open ended to talk about whatever you want.

There were multiple essays. They found most of the top kids for sure. A few may have been missed but that happens every year no matter what process they use.

Okay. That makes me feel much better about the process. I thought it was just GPA and one math problem solving essay, which could easily miss the top 10 in state Mathcounts and the AIME qualifiers.

That's right. No scope for exaggeration in an essay. Or rather that's the point. Get in the subjective flowery essay people that and definitely don't do an objective test that gets the serious people. I can just say I love math and science. Don't need to pass a pre-req to show I can do it. Less work for everyone now! That makes me feel so much better.

You don't know how admissions works apparently. Let the professionals handle this.

I hope it is not just professional manipulation to achieve a certain end result.

Ya, my kid knew they had no hope at being admitted so they made up all these outlandish accomplishments in their essay and the crazy thing is they got in!

False flag

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
They probably wrote about it in their essays - which are fairly easily fact-checked these days.

I thought the essay was about solving a math problem, not open ended to talk about whatever you want.

There were multiple essays. They found most of the top kids for sure. A few may have been missed but that happens every year no matter what process they use.

Okay. That makes me feel much better about the process. I thought it was just GPA and one math problem solving essay, which could easily miss the top 10 in state Mathcounts and the AIME qualifiers.

That's right. No scope for exaggeration in an essay. Or rather that's the point. Get in the subjective flowery essay people that and definitely don't do an objective test that gets the serious people. I can just say I love math and science. Don't need to pass a pre-req to show I can do it. Less work for everyone now! That makes me feel so much better.

You don't know how admissions works apparently. Let the professionals handle this.

I hope it is not just professional manipulation to achieve a certain end result.

Here’s the thing: literally no one benefits from a situation where huge numbers of students are admitted who have no business at TJ.

The people who are in charge of admissions at TJ have been for the better part of a decade now. They know what they’re doing. Everyone involved with this process knows that heads will roll if the Class of 2025 is an objective disaster. Cool your heels and wait and see what happens before you go crying that TJ will be ruined.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here’s the thing: literally no one benefits from a situation where huge numbers of students are admitted who have no business at TJ.

The people who are in charge of admissions at TJ have been for the better part of a decade now. They know what they’re doing. Everyone involved with this process knows that heads will roll if the Class of 2025 is an objective disaster. Cool your heels and wait and see what happens before you go crying that TJ will be ruined.

I'm picturing this comment to a backdrop of Native Americans being reassured by English settlers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
They probably wrote about it in their essays - which are fairly easily fact-checked these days.

I thought the essay was about solving a math problem, not open ended to talk about whatever you want.

There were multiple essays. They found most of the top kids for sure. A few may have been missed but that happens every year no matter what process they use.

Okay. That makes me feel much better about the process. I thought it was just GPA and one math problem solving essay, which could easily miss the top 10 in state Mathcounts and the AIME qualifiers.

That's right. No scope for exaggeration in an essay. Or rather that's the point. Get in the subjective flowery essay people that and definitely don't do an objective test that gets the serious people. I can just say I love math and science. Don't need to pass a pre-req to show I can do it. Less work for everyone now! That makes me feel so much better.

You don't know how admissions works apparently. Let the professionals handle this.

I hope it is not just professional manipulation to achieve a certain end result.

Here’s the thing: literally no one benefits from a situation where huge numbers of students are admitted who have no business at TJ.

The people who are in charge of admissions at TJ have been for the better part of a decade now. They know what they’re doing. Everyone involved with this process knows that heads will roll if the Class of 2025 is an objective disaster. Cool your heels and wait and see what happens before you go crying that TJ will be ruined.

I still like predictions and wagering myself. Let's see some real predictions on numbers of drop outs, average SAT scores, etc. There are so many know-it-alls on this forum, this should be entertaining.