2025 - TJ Admission Results Thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone heard about any case with any kids taking PreCalculus in the 8th grade? Did they get in, waitlisted, or rejected? What is the intake for such a rare case?

I don't know about that, but TJ is missing out on some of the most elite mathematicians in the area. The USA(J)MO awards came out. TJ had 9 awardees. The rest of Fairfax county had 5, including one kid who is a top winner and will be invited to MOP. Either the admissions process is missing out on some of the top kids in the entire country, or for whatever reason, some elite kids are no longer interested in TJ.

I don't understand the term of 'missing out'. What make it requires that all of the winner has to be from TJ, those 5 kids from other school could be not interested in TJ at the first place. They could be accepted but decline the offer. And what is wrong if an elite kids just not interested in TJ? You make it like every academic achievement outside TJ is just wrong and consider TJ failure, how?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone heard about any case with any kids taking PreCalculus in the 8th grade? Did they get in, waitlisted, or rejected? What is the intake for such a rare case?

I don't know about that, but TJ is missing out on some of the most elite mathematicians in the area. The USA(J)MO awards came out. TJ had 9 awardees. The rest of Fairfax county had 5, including one kid who is a top winner and will be invited to MOP. Either the admissions process is missing out on some of the top kids in the entire country, or for whatever reason, some elite kids are no longer interested in TJ.

I don't understand the term of 'missing out'. What make it requires that all of the winner has to be from TJ, those 5 kids from other school could be not interested in TJ at the first place. They could be accepted but decline the offer. And what is wrong if an elite kids just not interested in TJ? You make it like every academic achievement outside TJ is just wrong and consider TJ failure, how?

There's nothing wrong with elite kids not being interested in TJ. There is something wrong with elite kids who desperately wanted to attend TJ being rejected due to the somewhat random nature of the process. There is also something wrong with them having to deal with froshmore admissions when they should have been no brainer admits in the first place.

In the past, nearly all USA(J)MO awardees in the TJ catchment attended TJ. If 1/3 of the current "elite crop" of kids isn't interested in TJ, more power to them. We don't know if that is what is happening here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone heard about any case with any kids taking PreCalculus in the 8th grade? Did they get in, waitlisted, or rejected? What is the intake for such a rare case?

I don't know about that, but TJ is missing out on some of the most elite mathematicians in the area. The USA(J)MO awards came out. TJ had 9 awardees. The rest of Fairfax county had 5, including one kid who is a top winner and will be invited to MOP. Either the admissions process is missing out on some of the top kids in the entire country, or for whatever reason, some elite kids are no longer interested in TJ.

"elite" maybe a misused word in this context.
This was the whole point of TJ admission policy changes 4/5 years ago, intentionally not admitting some high-level math kids and left them at base high school, so that they don't have math course to take at 11/12 grade.
The class 2025 college admission results show these kids still get into ivies+ colleges even though they had to forego the opportunities taking higher level math courses only TJ provides.

[Anonymous]

Given that everyone is saying college outsxomew at base school is better than tj isn’t it good for these non tj top kids? It seems to be a win win situation for all concerned

[Anonymous]

Admissions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone heard about any case with any kids taking PreCalculus in the 8th grade? Did they get in, waitlisted, or rejected? What is the intake for such a rare case?

I don't know about that, but TJ is missing out on some of the most elite mathematicians in the area. The USA(J)MO awards came out. TJ had 9 awardees. The rest of Fairfax county had 5, including one kid who is a top winner and will be invited to MOP. Either the admissions process is missing out on some of the top kids in the entire country, or for whatever reason, some elite kids are no longer interested in TJ.

I don't understand the term of 'missing out'. What make it requires that all of the winner has to be from TJ, those 5 kids from other school could be not interested in TJ at the first place. They could be accepted but decline the offer. And what is wrong if an elite kids just not interested in TJ? You make it like every academic achievement outside TJ is just wrong and consider TJ failure, how?

There's nothing wrong with elite kids not being interested in TJ. There is something wrong with elite kids who desperately wanted to attend TJ being rejected due to the somewhat random nature of the process. There is also something wrong with them having to deal with froshmore admissions when they should have been no brainer admits in the first place.

In the past, nearly all USA(J)MO awardees in the TJ catchment attended TJ. If 1/3 of the current "elite crop" of kids isn't interested in TJ, more power to them. We don't know if that is what is happening here.

And what about the kids who desperately wanted to attend TJ but don't even bother to apply because TJ was barely accessible to them, or could not afford the prep. Just a reminder, 1/3 of TJ old acceptance was came from single test prep company, not to mention the other test prep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there is an entire class of Algebra II students at Carson?

There are two classes of Algebra two at Cooper

So basically attending a high SES school that offers more opportunities for enrichment gives students a big edge on TJ offers?

Apparently, they prefer wealth and access to opportunity over demonstrated ability through standardized tests because they think THAT'S where wealth makes a difference.

Wealth played a bigger factor getting into the pool in the first place.

If money plays a role in education, why can't FCPS(one of the richest counties in US ) provide more advanced STEM courses at a few more base high school? Why FCPS has to restrict the resources into one TJ, and play the political DEI game? Is it really that expensive to add a couple of more advanced Math courses, the online one will do.
Yet, all the FCPS parents and kids are being manipulated like 13 districts in the Hunger Games, speculating their ration of education resources and fight for a spot in TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone heard about any case with any kids taking PreCalculus in the 8th grade? Did they get in, waitlisted, or rejected? What is the intake for such a rare case?

I don't know about that, but TJ is missing out on some of the most elite mathematicians in the area. The USA(J)MO awards came out. TJ had 9 awardees. The rest of Fairfax county had 5, including one kid who is a top winner and will be invited to MOP. Either the admissions process is missing out on some of the top kids in the entire country, or for whatever reason, some elite kids are no longer interested in TJ.

I don't understand the term of 'missing out'. What make it requires that all of the winner has to be from TJ, those 5 kids from other school could be not interested in TJ at the first place. They could be accepted but decline the offer. And what is wrong if an elite kids just not interested in TJ? You make it like every academic achievement outside TJ is just wrong and consider TJ failure, how?

There's nothing wrong with elite kids not being interested in TJ. There is something wrong with elite kids who desperately wanted to attend TJ being rejected due to the somewhat random nature of the process. There is also something wrong with them having to deal with froshmore admissions when they should have been no brainer admits in the first place.

In the past, nearly all USA(J)MO awardees in the TJ catchment attended TJ. If 1/3 of the current "elite crop" of kids isn't interested in TJ, more power to them. We don't know if that is what is happening here.

Maybe you know some who applied, were rejected, and went on to do well on the USAJMO. I know kids who have that potential and didn't apply to TJ because they are not interested in attending TJ. I know kids who applied to see if they got in but have no interest in attending TJ.

The assumption on this board is that the 5 kids you mention were rejected from TJ and the truth might be something different. They could have decided not to go, they could have not wanted to go.

There are kids who could be in that boat who are rejected who wrote something on their essay that made it clear they don't want to attend TJ. The school is not going to share those essays with the parents so there is outrage that the student wasn't accepted. The kid who is applying and sitting the essay that writes they don't want to go or ust writes a crap essay is not going to tell their parents that they tanked the essay. They were most likely applying because their parents wanted them to and used the essay as a work around.

And maybe the kid who was late to Algebra 1 wrote a killer essay that shows a real passion for STEM but was a kid who wasn't math focused in ES, most kids are not academically focused in ES, and wasn't able to take Algebra 1 H until 8th grade. The essay shows a real interest and drive and they had an interesting approach to the math problem. Maybe the student is going to be int he top 10% of TJ but they really want to be there and challenged.

If you have a kid who really wants to take Geometry in the summer, then great, but Algebra 2 is not giving your child bonus points for getting into TJ. And if they want to do Mathcounts or Science Olympiad, great but it isn't a ticket into TJ. Maybe let the kids decide what they want to do and support them because they are interested instead of suggesting/compelling because you think it gets them into TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there is an entire class of Algebra II students at Carson?

There are two classes of Algebra two at Cooper

So basically attending a high SES school that offers more opportunities for enrichment gives students a big edge on TJ offers?

Apparently, they prefer wealth and access to opportunity over demonstrated ability through standardized tests because they think THAT'S where wealth makes a difference.

Wealth played a bigger factor getting into the pool in the first place.

If money plays a role in education, why can't FCPS(one of the richest counties in US ) provide more advanced STEM courses at a few more base high school? Why FCPS has to restrict the resources into one TJ, and play the political DEI game? Is it really that expensive to add a couple of more advanced Math courses, the online one will do.
Yet, all the FCPS parents and kids are being manipulated like 13 districts in the Hunger Games, speculating their ration of education resources and fight for a spot in TJ.

DEI game: TJ is predomently Asian. The admission changes barely moved the numbers on Black and Hispanic kids. The largest change was an increase in less well-off Asian kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone heard about any case with any kids taking PreCalculus in the 8th grade? Did they get in, waitlisted, or rejected? What is the intake for such a rare case?

I don't know about that, but TJ is missing out on some of the most elite mathematicians in the area. The USA(J)MO awards came out. TJ had 9 awardees. The rest of Fairfax county had 5, including one kid who is a top winner and will be invited to MOP. Either the admissions process is missing out on some of the top kids in the entire country, or for whatever reason, some elite kids are no longer interested in TJ.

I don't understand the term of 'missing out'. What make it requires that all of the winner has to be from TJ, those 5 kids from other school could be not interested in TJ at the first place. They could be accepted but decline the offer. And what is wrong if an elite kids just not interested in TJ? You make it like every academic achievement outside TJ is just wrong and consider TJ failure, how?

There's nothing wrong with elite kids not being interested in TJ. There is something wrong with elite kids who desperately wanted to attend TJ being rejected due to the somewhat random nature of the process. There is also something wrong with them having to deal with froshmore admissions when they should have been no brainer admits in the first place.

In the past, nearly all USA(J)MO awardees in the TJ catchment attended TJ. If 1/3 of the current "elite crop" of kids isn't interested in TJ, more power to them. We don't know if that is what is happening here.

And what about the kids who desperately wanted to attend TJ but don't even bother to apply because TJ was barely accessible to them, or could not afford the prep. Just a reminder, 1/3 of TJ old acceptance was came from single test prep company, not to mention the other test prep.

Math is something you can learn from anywhere, if your kids have an interest or the parents support and encourage their interest in STEM, they'll find resource to learn. There are plenty of free resources out on the internet, no matter it's Khan Academy or Schoolhouse. My DC's volunteer experience in tutoring on various free platform is often times either the kids don't have interest or the capability. FCPS should've done more STEM engaging efforts starting from kindergarten, not from hight school level (for math, it's too late unfortunately). It's easy to skip a level of math at the elementary level, but impossible at the high school level. The TJ admission policy changes was all a political performance . It does not benefit the under-prepared kids either, it backfires on them.

[Anonymous]

AMC 8 or 10 scores for anybody that DID get into TJ?

[Anonymous]

AMC 8 or 10 scores for anybody that DID get into TJ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AMC 8 or 10 scores for anybody that DID get into TJ?

Those are not public or a part of the application process, so I am not sure why they are important. There are kids who could do well on either of those tests who won't take them because they are not interested in math competitions. I get that people look at the high scorerers and ask why they are not at TJ. The answer could be that they didn't want to be at TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there is an entire class of Algebra II students at Carson?

There are two classes of Algebra two at Cooper

So basically attending a high SES school that offers more opportunities for enrichment gives students a big edge on TJ offers?

Apparently, they prefer wealth and access to opportunity over demonstrated ability through standardized tests because they think THAT'S where wealth makes a difference.

Wealth played a bigger factor getting into the pool in the first place.

If money plays a role in education, why can't FCPS(one of the richest counties in US ) provide more advanced STEM courses at a few more base high school? Why FCPS has to restrict the resources into one TJ, and play the political DEI game? Is it really that expensive to add a couple of more advanced Math courses, the online one will do.
Yet, all the FCPS parents and kids are being manipulated like 13 districts in the Hunger Games, speculating their ration of education resources and fight for a spot in TJ.

DEI game: TJ is predomently Asian. The admission changes barely moved the numbers on Black and Hispanic kids. The largest change was an increase in less well-off Asian kids.

Yep, because Asian earned their spots, like other races earned their spots in sports. The TJ admission policy changes has to intentionally lower the math level. The kids on lower math level won't be able to benefit from the advanced math/stem courses TJ provides, math level dictates how other STEM courses progress in sequence. It's impossible to skip math level on high school level no matter how hard you are willing to work. So the kids on lower level math in TJ will be the bottom of the class, no plot twist there. And the college OA compares the high school profile(all the courses it provides) and kids' courses taken, the conclusion would be the kids don't know how to take advantages of the resources the school provides, hence the kids won't be able to take advantage of the resources our colleges provide. This is why all the good colleges suggest the kids taking the most rigorous courses their high school provides. If the high school does not offer any AP courses, it's fine, OA takes that into consideration. But the high school like TJ offers all the fancy advanced STEM courese and the kids aren't able to take, OA thinks it's kids' capability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
AMC 8 or 10 scores for anybody that DID get into TJ?

My suggestion is not to mention about your math competition and awards in TJ application, the kid will get waitlisted/rejected for that.