Transfer from TJ to Base HS?

[Anonymous]

DS is a sophomore at TJ and we are encouraging him to move back to base school. His grades in Freshman year were ok ( 2 B+'s and rest A's) but this year he is struggling. e.g. He is getting a B in Chemistry even after spending quite a bit of time on it ( and he tells me many of his classmates are doing worse than him).

Even though he is enjoying the overall TJ atmosphere and the learning opportunities, the overall the ratio of grades to effort is too small and not appear to be worth it. He has limited time for sports etc.

Maybe TJ is not for him? So we were thinking of moving back to base school while his grades ( and confidence) are good. Base HS is pretty good and has most of the courses he was planning to take

Any advice from parents who might have been in this situation? How will this look on the college applications?

[Anonymous]

Wait, you think a B at TJ is bad?

What does your son want? It is his life. He is old enough to make this decision.

If you want the highest GPA, sure, switch. But if you want the most academic opportunities, stay. By junior/senior year TJ has a ton of courses the base school doesn't offer.

[Anonymous]

Not OP - but do colleges regard a B at TJ as something equivalent to a A at a non TJ HS?

I think they would prefer a mostly A's student from a regular HS to a mostly B's student from TJ - assuming the same courses are taken

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not OP - but do colleges regard a B at TJ as something equivalent to a A at a non TJ HS?

I think they would prefer a mostly A's student from a regular HS to a mostly B's student from TJ - assuming the same courses are taken

No they consider a B a B

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is a sophomore at TJ and we are encouraging him to move back to base school. His grades in Freshman year were ok ( 2 B+'s and rest A's) but this year he is struggling. e.g. He is getting a B in Chemistry even after spending quite a bit of time on it ( and he tells me many of his classmates are doing worse than him).

Even though he is enjoying the overall TJ atmosphere and the learning opportunities, the overall the ratio of grades to effort is too small and not appear to be worth it. He has limited time for sports etc.

Maybe TJ is not for him? So we were thinking of moving back to base school while his grades ( and confidence) are good. Base HS is pretty good and has most of the courses he was planning to take

Any advice from parents who might have been in this situation? How will this look on the college applications?

Still very early in the going this year. Seek out supports from Student Services and from older students where they might be needed. There has been a recent transition in leadership in TJ Student Services that should result in a more support-focused environment.

What sports does DS play? Most sports at TJ are fairly supportive when it comes to academics also.

[Anonymous]

What does your son want? Low grades at TJ will definitely hurt college admissions but that is not the primary reason to leave.

[Anonymous]

#1 criterion for him is T30-50 type college. OOS is ok. we are full pay

so dont want a bunch of Bs to blow up his chances

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:#1 criterion for him is T30-50 type college. OOS is ok. we are full pay

so dont want a bunch of Bs to blow up his chances

Then he will be fine.

[Anonymous]

fine moving back to base?

[Anonymous]

You need to let him make this choice.

And listen to him, don’t try to convince him to your perspective.

Put yourself in his shoes - he has worked hard and has done well. Not perfect, but well. What message will be to him if he is forced/talked into changing schools and peer groups because he has a B. It will tell him that failure is anything less than perfect and could cause him to start down a path of toxic perfectionism. Grit? Yeah, he will struggle with that forever.

If he wants to leave and you want him to leave, fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need to let him make this choice.

And listen to him, don’t try to convince him to your perspective.

Put yourself in his shoes - he has worked hard and has done well. Not perfect, but well. What message will be to him if he is forced/talked into changing schools and peer groups because he has a B. It will tell him that failure is anything less than perfect and could cause him to start down a path of toxic perfectionism. Grit? Yeah, he will struggle with that forever.

If he wants to leave and you want him to leave, fine.

This is a great perspective and message.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is a sophomore at TJ and we are encouraging him to move back to base school. His grades in Freshman year were ok ( 2 B+'s and rest A's) but this year he is struggling. e.g. He is getting a B in Chemistry even after spending quite a bit of time on it ( and he tells me many of his classmates are doing worse than him).

Even though he is enjoying the overall TJ atmosphere and the learning opportunities, the overall the ratio of grades to effort is too small and not appear to be worth it. He has limited time for sports etc.

Maybe TJ is not for him? So we were thinking of moving back to base school while his grades ( and confidence) are good. Base HS is pretty good and has most of the courses he was planning to take

Any advice from parents who might have been in this situation? How will this look on the college applications?

Your student is not alone, and it is not his doing specifically and not yours either. This is the result of admitting students on a linguistic essay instead of using a rigorous math & science based STEM entrance criteria. Most students applying have a near 3.94 or 4.0 GPA, but there is objective measure who is getting admitted and who is excluded.

To better understand the issue, let's narrow our discussion to Asian American students. Out of 1580 Asian American applicants, 330 were admitted in 2027. There is no way to determine and state that all the 330 admitted are the top performing and advanced in math & science among that their racial pool. An Asian American student's admission is based on a random probability of 330 out of 1580, which is 1/5. Consequently, the 330 admitted Asian American students encompass a diverse range of academic proficiency levels, with 110 being at an A level, 110 at a B level, and the remaining 110 at a C level, when evaluated relative to a true STEM-based advanced math and science test.

Currently there is no way for an Asian American parent or any other race parent to know if their child's admission is based on the A, B, or C level of relative proficiency, UNTIL they enter TJ and find out through their freshman year grades, which is what you are noticing. You and your son NOW know that his middle school readiness and first year performance places him in the middle 1/3rd of the class. He is not alone, but he has a lot of work to do to get into the top 1/3rd of his class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a sophomore at TJ and we are encouraging him to move back to base school. His grades in Freshman year were ok ( 2 B+'s and rest A's) but this year he is struggling. e.g. He is getting a B in Chemistry even after spending quite a bit of time on it ( and he tells me many of his classmates are doing worse than him).

Even though he is enjoying the overall TJ atmosphere and the learning opportunities, the overall the ratio of grades to effort is too small and not appear to be worth it. He has limited time for sports etc.

Maybe TJ is not for him? So we were thinking of moving back to base school while his grades ( and confidence) are good. Base HS is pretty good and has most of the courses he was planning to take

Any advice from parents who might have been in this situation? How will this look on the college applications?

Your student is not alone, and it is not his doing specifically and not yours either. This is the result of admitting students on a linguistic essay instead of using a rigorous math & science based STEM entrance criteria. Most students applying have a near 3.94 or 4.0 GPA, but there is objective measure who is getting admitted and who is excluded.

To better understand the issue, let's narrow our discussion to Asian American students. Out of 1580 Asian American applicants, 330 were admitted in 2027. There is no way to determine and state that all the 330 admitted are the top performing and advanced in math & science among that their racial pool. An Asian American student's admission is based on a random probability of 330 out of 1580, which is 1/5. Consequently, the 330 admitted Asian American students encompass a diverse range of academic proficiency levels, with 110 being at an A level, 110 at a B level, and the remaining 110 at a C level, when evaluated relative to a true STEM-based advanced math and science test.

Currently there is no way for an Asian American parent or any other race parent to know if their child's admission is based on the A, B, or C level of relative proficiency, UNTIL they enter TJ and find out through their freshman year grades, which is what you are noticing. You and your son NOW know that his middle school readiness and first year performance places him in the middle 1/3rd of the class. He is not alone, but he has a lot of work to do to get into the top 1/3rd of his class.

The bolded sentence is where you went off the rails. Nothing you stated after that point has any value or legitimacy because the premise was so flawed as to be unusable.

The italicized sentence is also problematic - technically true, but not of the value that I think you would want it to have in the argument for a few reasons:

1) It has never been a part of the TJ Admissions Office's directive to identify the "top performing and advanced" students in math and science. I challenge you to prove otherwise, since you are asserting positively (if obliquely) that such a directive would have ever existed in the first place.

2) There's also no evidence that the "top performing and advanced" students have EVER been admitted through any previous process - you merely believe that they have because along a couple of axes, previous classes have had narrowly more advanced students. Can you state categorically that the essay component (and even the teacher recommendation component) of the previous admissions process didn't eliminate some, and perhaps even many, of the "top performing and advanced" students?

3) I'm quite curious to know where you saw that 1580 applicants in the 2027 pool were Asian. I don't think that's been publicly released anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is a sophomore at TJ and we are encouraging him to move back to base school. His grades in Freshman year were ok ( 2 B+'s and rest A's) but this year he is struggling. e.g. He is getting a B in Chemistry even after spending quite a bit of time on it ( and he tells me many of his classmates are doing worse than him).

Even though he is enjoying the overall TJ atmosphere and the learning opportunities, the overall the ratio of grades to effort is too small and not appear to be worth it. He has limited time for sports etc.

Maybe TJ is not for him? So we were thinking of moving back to base school while his grades ( and confidence) are good. Base HS is pretty good and has most of the courses he was planning to take

Any advice from parents who might have been in this situation? How will this look on the college applications?

If it is AP chem "B" may be fine. I hear AP chem is hard and most kids do it as Junior/Senior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a sophomore at TJ and we are encouraging him to move back to base school. His grades in Freshman year were ok ( 2 B+'s and rest A's) but this year he is struggling. e.g. He is getting a B in Chemistry even after spending quite a bit of time on it ( and he tells me many of his classmates are doing worse than him).

Even though he is enjoying the overall TJ atmosphere and the learning opportunities, the overall the ratio of grades to effort is too small and not appear to be worth it. He has limited time for sports etc.

Maybe TJ is not for him? So we were thinking of moving back to base school while his grades ( and confidence) are good. Base HS is pretty good and has most of the courses he was planning to take

Any advice from parents who might have been in this situation? How will this look on the college applications?

Your student is not alone, and it is not his doing specifically and not yours either. This is the result of admitting students on a linguistic essay instead of using a rigorous math & science based STEM entrance criteria. Most students applying have a near 3.94 or 4.0 GPA, but there is no objective measure who is getting admitted and who is excluded.

To better understand the issue, let's narrow our discussion to Asian American students. Out of 1580 Asian American applicants, 330 were admitted in 2027. There is no way to determine and state that all the 330 admitted are the top performing and advanced in math & science among their racial pool. An Asian American student's admission is based on a random probability of 330 out of 1580, which is 1/5. Consequently, the 330 admitted Asian American students encompass a diverse range of academic proficiency levels, with 110 being at an A level, 110 at a B level, and the remaining 110 at a C level, when evaluated relative to a true STEM-based advanced math and science test.

Currently there is no way for an Asian American parent or any other race parent to know if their child's admission is based on the A, B, or C level of relative proficiency, UNTIL they enter TJ and find out through their freshman year grades, which is what you are noticing. You and your son NOW know that his middle school readiness and first year performance places him in the middle 1/3rd of the class. He is not alone, but he has a lot of work to do to get into the top 1/3rd of his class.

Ironic, aren't advanced african americans or latino students also getting negatively affected within their pool? With GPA rendering itself as a non-factor and no objective evaluation, the top one-third of African American applicants have no means to demonstrate their advanced math and science skills, making it impossible to distinguish themselves from the bottom one-third of African American applicants. Absence of an objective evaluation negatively impacts students of all racial backgrounds.