Top Tier Boarding school vs. TJ

[Anonymous]

And some turn down TJ for top privates. Goes both ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And some turn down TJ for top privates. Goes both ways.

And some turn down TJ for assigned home public school. Goes in many different directions. I don't think it proves anything.

[Anonymous]

Any kid who would leave STA or NCS or Sidwell for TJ would be an odd duck, so not normal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I went to an ivy with these kids and have worked with a few since and haven't observed that boarding school kids are particularly equipped to deal with anything outside of a pretty narrow set of experiences. Third and fourth generation wealth is not going to run the world. They may make a shit ton of money at Lazard freres, but who cares? They are sheltered, naive...and arrogant and over-confident. (Bunch of posts in this thread confirm it!) Good thing they have money to fall back on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And some turn down TJ for top privates. Goes both ways.

And some turn down TJ for assigned home public school. Goes in many different directions. I don't think it proves anything.

That all proves different strokes for different folks.

[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.

WTF is St. Paul's? Never heard of it.

[Anonymous]

Zuckerberg went to Exeter. Just saying.

[Anonymous]

"WTF is St. Paul's? Never heard of it."

Google is your friend. Also re boarding school, if you don't get it, you don't get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"WTF is St. Paul's? Never heard of it."

Google is your friend. Also re boarding school, if you don't get it, you don't get it.

After the whole senior salute thing, no way. Actually I am curious about the gender balance at TJ. How does it affect social dynamics at the school?

[Anonymous]

One prep school thing to do is row crew. What does TJ have? An excellent crew roster. Another prep school thing? Tennis. What does TJ have? The best tennis players in the state. Golf? Same. How about Model UN? Possibly the best HS Model UN in the country. Percentage of NMSF is highest in the country. Most of the kids get gold medals on national language exams. Plus they are all good at science and math - and some are well beyond that. Not a bad place and not all kids there are unusual except in their intelligence. There are a lot of nice, polite, typically acting and looking kids who would do great anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One prep school thing to do is row crew. What does TJ have? An excellent crew roster. Another prep school thing? Tennis. What does TJ have? The best tennis players in the state. Golf? Same. How about Model UN? Possibly the best HS Model UN in the country. Percentage of NMSF is highest in the country. Most of the kids get gold medals on national language exams. Plus they are all good at science and math - and some are well beyond that. Not a bad place and not all kids there are unusual except in their intelligence. There are a lot of nice, polite, typically acting and looking kids who would do great anywhere.

TJ's swim team is very good, Quizbowl team placed second nationally and has very strong debate teams that regularly beat top private teams in DC area tournaments. They win the most scholastic writing awards from the area as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"WTF is St. Paul's? Never heard of it."

Google is your friend. Also re boarding school, if you don't get it, you don't get it.

Ok so it's a BS. But why is it in the same sentence as Exeter? I went to HYP and know many people from Exeter, Choate, PA, etc. Never heard of St. Paul's before that post. Reminds me of the ridiculous UMD vs Stanford post.

[Anonymous]

I didn't go to BS or HYP and have heard of St. Paul's (or SPS) as a top New England boarding school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One prep school thing to do is row crew. What does TJ have? An excellent crew roster. Another prep school thing? Tennis. What does TJ have? The best tennis players in the state. Golf? Same. How about Model UN? Possibly the best HS Model UN in the country. Percentage of NMSF is highest in the country. Most of the kids get gold medals on national language exams. Plus they are all good at science and math - and some are well beyond that. Not a bad place and not all kids there are unusual except in their intelligence. There are a lot of nice, polite, typically acting and looking kids who would do great anywhere.

TJ's swim team is very good, Quizbowl team placed second nationally and has very strong debate teams that regularly beat top private teams in DC area tournaments. They win the most scholastic writing awards from the area as well.

I used to work for an organization that put on a quiz bowl yoke thing for HS students. The TJ kids were soooo arrogant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"WTF is St. Paul's? Never heard of it."

Google is your friend. Also re boarding school, if you don't get it, you don't get it.

Ok so it's a BS. But why is it in the same sentence as Exeter? I went to HYP and know many people from Exeter, Choate, PA, etc. Never heard of St. Paul's before that post. Reminds me of the ridiculous UMD vs Stanford post.

Then, clearly you were not in Cottage, Skull and Bones or the Porcellian club b/c that's where the St. Paul's kids are likely to be found at P, Y, or H. It's a very good school but with the reputation of being the school for the bluest of blue bloods.

The top boarding schools are usually referred to by the acronym HADES = Hotchkiss, Andover, Deerfield, Exeter, St. Paul's.