Algebra 1 in 7th grade TJ app

[Anonymous]

My child got a A- in Algebra 1 in 7th grade. Is it OK for TJ app next year?

PS. We don't care if the child gets into TJ or not but just trying to understand the implications of a A-

[Anonymous]

Doesn't it depend on the school your kid is at?

[Anonymous]

It's totally fine.

[Anonymous]

If you are at one of the high admission middle schools an A- in Algebra probably won’t cut it.

[Anonymous]

The new lowered admissions standards allow a minimum of Algebra Honors even in 8th grade; your child will be fine to apply.

Even regular Algebra in 8th will meet school board’s new the minimum, if the middle school doesn’t offer honors Algebra.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child got a A- in Algebra 1 in 7th grade. Is it OK for TJ app next year?

PS. We don't care if the child gets into TJ or not but just trying to understand the implications of a A-

If your school sent more than 1.5% of its 8th graders to TJ then an A- will reduce but not eliminate your chances.

On the bright side, your high school is probably pretty good.

Your chances of getting into UVA or VT are probably better from your base school than from TJ.

With the new (almost random) process, the peer effect is very good at base schools. A lot of times the brightest kids don't get into TJ and there is a critical mass of highly competitive kids to form a peer group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's totally fine.

+1

Grades don't mean anything after you meet the eligibility requirements. They don't mean you'll be admitted and they won't keep you out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child got a A- in Algebra 1 in 7th grade. Is it OK for TJ app next year?

PS. We don't care if the child gets into TJ or not but just trying to understand the implications of a A-

If your school sent more than 1.5% of its 8th graders to TJ then an A- will reduce but not eliminate your chances.

On the bright side, your high school is probably pretty good.

Your chances of getting into UVA or VT are probably better from your base school than from TJ.

With the new (almost random) process, the peer effect is very good at base schools. A lot of times the brightest kids don't get into TJ and there is a critical mass of highly competitive kids to form a peer group.

This is nonsense, fyi. There is no more or less of a "critical mass" at base schools as there was under the old admissions process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child got a A- in Algebra 1 in 7th grade. Is it OK for TJ app next year?

PS. We don't care if the child gets into TJ or not but just trying to understand the implications of a A-

If your school sent more than 1.5% of its 8th graders to TJ then an A- will reduce but not eliminate your chances.

On the bright side, your high school is probably pretty good.

Your chances of getting into UVA or VT are probably better from your base school than from TJ.

With the new (almost random) process, the peer effect is very good at base schools. A lot of times the brightest kids don't get into TJ and there is a critical mass of highly competitive kids to form a peer group.

This is nonsense, fyi. There is no more or less of a "critical mass" at base schools as there was under the old admissions process.

NP, there are a number of schools that send the largest numbers of kids to TJ, while those numbers are still high, they aren't quite as high as they used to be, leaving more kids at the base school than before. Even if a few more leave for private than before, it's likely not nearly as many as the reduction in TJ transfers out of that school (that is, more kids remain at base than before).

In addition, the admissions are no longer quite as skewed towards those who are most advanced in math from a given school, so even if the number of transfers remained constant, there's a slightly higher mix of kids in the most advanced math classes (Geometry in 7th or 8th) than their used to be, since a few more of the outgoing TJ transfers from that school are now kids who wouldn't have taken Geo until 9th.

I'm not making any judgment call as to whether this is a good or bad thing, but clearly there is an effect of base schools having a larger cohort of the most advanced students than they did previously. Whether that delta is significant enough to constitute a "critical mass" is dependent both on school and one's opinion of what constitutes a "critical mass" in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child got a A- in Algebra 1 in 7th grade. Is it OK for TJ app next year?

PS. We don't care if the child gets into TJ or not but just trying to understand the implications of a A-

If your school sent more than 1.5% of its 8th graders to TJ then an A- will reduce but not eliminate your chances.

On the bright side, your high school is probably pretty good.

Your chances of getting into UVA or VT are probably better from your base school than from TJ.

With the new (almost random) process, the peer effect is very good at base schools. A lot of times the brightest kids don't get into TJ and there is a critical mass of highly competitive kids to form a peer group.

This is nonsense, fyi. There is no more or less of a "critical mass" at base schools as there was under the old admissions process.

NP, there are a number of schools that send the largest numbers of kids to TJ, while those numbers are still high, they aren't quite as high as they used to be, leaving more kids at the base school than before. Even if a few more leave for private than before, it's likely not nearly as many as the reduction in TJ transfers out of that school (that is, more kids remain at base than before).

In addition, the admissions are no longer quite as skewed towards those who are most advanced in math from a given school, so even if the number of transfers remained constant, there's a slightly higher mix of kids in the most advanced math classes (Geometry in 7th or 8th) than their used to be, since a few more of the outgoing TJ transfers from that school are now kids who wouldn't have taken Geo until 9th.

I'm not making any judgment call as to whether this is a good or bad thing, but clearly there is an effect of base schools having a larger cohort of the most advanced students than they did previously. Whether that delta is significant enough to constitute a "critical mass" is dependent both on school and one's opinion of what constitutes a "critical mass" in the first place.

Good points!

I think that critical mass is there at probably 2-3 schools. Not at our HS which would be among the top 6 high schools in FCPS. DC had a tough time finding that cohort at base HS but luckily has been able to get admission to TJ as a froshmore.

In an activity of extreme interest to DC, there were 2 more students who were interested but not deeply committed to that activity at base HS. At TJ, it is tough to qualify to be within the top 30 of that activity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are at one of the high admission middle schools an A- in Algebra probably won’t cut it.

You mean if the middle school is one of Rachel Carson, Rocky Run or long fellow, then it's very difficult to make it to TJ with an A- ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child got a A- in Algebra 1 in 7th grade. Is it OK for TJ app next year?

PS. We don't care if the child gets into TJ or not but just trying to understand the implications of a A-

The average GPA of admitted students has gone way up, so I think an A- could be close to disqualifying for general pool.
.3 points gone from the numerator vs a denominator of ???, how much has the GPA dropped?
If it is 48 denominator then that is just .01 so maybe not disqualifying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child got a A- in Algebra 1 in 7th grade. Is it OK for TJ app next year?

PS. We don't care if the child gets into TJ or not but just trying to understand the implications of a A-

If your school sent more than 1.5% of its 8th graders to TJ then an A- will reduce but not eliminate your chances.

On the bright side, your high school is probably pretty good.

Your chances of getting into UVA or VT are probably better from your base school than from TJ.

With the new (almost random) process, the peer effect is very good at base schools. A lot of times the brightest kids don't get into TJ and there is a critical mass of highly competitive kids to form a peer group.

This is nonsense, fyi. There is no more or less of a "critical mass" at base schools as there was under the old admissions process.

At some schools like carson, the number of admissions dropped 50% and the kids getting admitted weren't always the most competitive. At other schools like rocky run, a lot of the kids don't even bother applying as much as they used to. It's not like they are taking the same number of kids from each school as they used to and just mixing up who gets in.

[Anonymous]

An B in Algebra 1 at Carson is same as a A+ from Poe Middle, is what we were told if considering transfer. Why this difference?

[Anonymous]

Also how would the admitted student experience at TJ differ, for a student with A in Algebra 2 from Carson versus a student with A in Algebra 1 from Poe Middle?