Good TJ Admission Preparation Tips
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Anonymous
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My DD is going to try out for TJ this year and I was wondering if there were any good tips, or ways to practice, that would help her with the prepping.
Also, I'm worried about the workload she'll get and the commute. Is there lots of work? And is there a bus she can take? Also she has lots of ADHD symptoms but has never been diagnosed. Will that be a problem? |
Anonymous
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The ADHD is required to be accommodated with an IEP or other federally mandated disability plan, IF she has been diagnosed.
However, accommodations only go so far. TJ is extremely demanding and very fast-paced; my son is a freshman there now and he made it through the now-highly competitive selection process at a big 3 feeder. He is doing well but he was surprised at the rigor and demands of TJ academics, compared to his very competitive middle school. He said many of his classmates from other middle schools are struggling. Are you certain TJ is right for your daughter? |
Anonymous
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Original Poster here,
So yes, my daughter has been prepping for TJ since she heard about it, she has straight A's, a high IQ, and is determined to get in, but I'm just worried about how she's going to manage everything, along with her extra curriculars (sport, service work, art). Do you guys have any organization and time-management tips? Those are the things she struggles the most with. I appreciate it, Thanks! |
Anonymous
OP Plz try to ignore most of the replies here. There are a few posters who are obsessed with posting the same arguments (“TJ top half is awesome, bottom half sucks, this means new process is terrible” and “TJ is so much better now; it used to be full of cheaters”). Both are equally tiresome and I haven’t met any of these loonies IRL in my interactions with other parents at TJ. To your questions - lots of kids do ECs at TJ. Honestly it is probably rare for a kid not to be involved in at least one decently time consuming EC. Plenty of them play a sport; sports environment is great as it’s not hyper competitive. DD in 11th has managed it by being really diligent with using bits of time. Bus ride can be a time for some work, during crunch weeks 8th period can be used. And the biggest thing has been that sue invests a fair amount of time each weekend in getting ahead so she doesn’t have a crushing amount to do on weeknights when she has her main EC. Your kid sounds like they are probably a good candidate for being up to and enjoying the challenge of the school. Good luck to her! |
Anonymous
I would focus on doing well in academics that are of interest to her. Whatever they may be. If even the thought of prepping comes to your mind, you are on the wrong track. We stumbled upon this approach by accident and I am so grateful that we never approached it with prepping in mind. For a while I thought this would put our child behind and we are ok with that. Instead, it turned out to be the right approach. Child very likely in the top 3-5% at TJ. We did focus on academics, just never Curie and Kumon, which are remedial and hurt a kid who is academically advanced more than they help. |
Anonymous
Take PE online summer after 8th grade. |
Anonymous
This is good advice for YJ and for every high school. |
Anonymous
+1 Very important! At least if your kid may want to do band/orchestra/theatre as it gets hard to squeeze in the extra TJ requirements otherwise. Also - Stay away from Spanish unless maybe you are starting at level 1. It is notoriously difficult compared to the other languages at TJ. I’m not sure if it is due to many kids coming in with shakier Spanish 1/2 prep from even good base schools vs what TJ teaches in 1/2 or if even level 1 is hard but most people view TJ Spanish as quite a hard course. Also - |
Anonymous
It happens every year when the TJ kids are selected and people realize that their kid got screwed. Like clockwork. |
Anonymous
| Test buying, wealthy feeders, Curie limited vocab poster has been through some crazy crap in life. |
Anonymous
TJ alumna here. To some extent, TJ is it's own time management tip, since you basically just have to handle it and there's not another option (besides starting to not do things). But also don't forget 8th period. Because of the clubs available at TJ, it may be that she ends up stopping her existing service work in favor of something very similar offered during 8th period, for example. Someone else mentioned squeezing things in whenever you can and I think that's key. But when you see literally everyone else around you doing it, it becomes routine instead of something you have to think about. Also just ignore everyone who wants to freak out about TJ admissions. Your family will do what's right for your kid in that regard and it'll be fine. I didn't touch a bit of test prep material and was easily in the top quarter of my class at TJ. |