When do kids find out about TJ?

[Anonymous]

My 8th grade son’s best friend is applying and while he will be happy for him, he will be so sad to not have him at his high school next year. Wondering when kids find out if they got in or not.

[Anonymous]

By end of April.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 8th grade son’s best friend is applying and while he will be happy for him, he will be so sad to not have him at his high school next year. Wondering when kids find out if they got in or not.

Generally speaking, admissions decisions are released on a Friday afternoon sometime between late March and the end of April. If there are no interruptions in the process, it tends to skew toward the early side of that timeframe, with the last weekend of March and the first two weekends of April being the most common.

[Anonymous]

DS is a freshman at TJ.

Last year, the problem-solving essay / test was administered on 2/3 and the first-round admission email arrived on 4/12.

[Anonymous]

What does the recent DOE letter mean for TJ admissions and additional experience criteria?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What does the recent DOE letter mean for TJ admissions and additional experience criteria?

What is the DOE letter? Link please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is a freshman at TJ.

Last year, the problem-solving essay / test was administered on 2/3 and the first-round admission email arrived on 4/12.

Is it 2 weeks to decide?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does the recent DOE letter mean for TJ admissions and additional experience criteria?

What is the DOE letter? Link please.

“A letter from the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights was sent to the departments of education in all 50 states, according to the Department of Government Efficiency.”

Letter: https://www.ed.gov/media/document/dear-colleague-letter-sffa-v-harvard-109506.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What does the recent DOE letter mean for TJ admissions and additional experience criteria?

It means it’s a good thing that the admissions process changed several years ago. Even if somehow this letter creates change, that change is going to be administered by today’s FCPS superintendent and school board, which is different from the folks who implemented the current process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a freshman at TJ.

Last year, the problem-solving essay / test was administered on 2/3 and the first-round admission email arrived on 4/12.

Is it 2 weeks to decide?

IIRC, yes - last year it was 2 weeks.

Also: please please please do not force your child to attend TJ if they do not want to go. My son knows several ninth graders who are miserable because their parents forced them to choose TJ. Let your child guide the choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a freshman at TJ.

Last year, the problem-solving essay / test was administered on 2/3 and the first-round admission email arrived on 4/12.

Is it 2 weeks to decide?

IIRC, yes - last year it was 2 weeks.

Also: please please please do not force your child to attend TJ if they do not want to go. My son knows several ninth graders who are miserable because their parents forced them to choose TJ. Let your child guide the choice.

Translation: "There's a good chance my kid ends up on the waitlist because they attend Carson or Longfellow or Rocky Run or Stone Hill. Please turn down your offer of admission so that my kid has a better shot."

You're going to start seeing a ton of these posts at this time of year - and remember: your kid can always go back to their base school if TJ isn't the right fit, but they can't decide that their base school isn't challenging enough three weeks in and get your offer to TJ back.

Regretting the choice to try TJ after a few weeks is fixable - regretting the choice not to isn't and you'll be saddled with that for the rest of your parenting life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a freshman at TJ.

Last year, the problem-solving essay / test was administered on 2/3 and the first-round admission email arrived on 4/12.

Is it 2 weeks to decide?

IIRC, yes - last year it was 2 weeks.

Also: please please please do not force your child to attend TJ if they do not want to go. My son knows several ninth graders who are miserable because their parents forced them to choose TJ. Let your child guide the choice.

Translation: "There's a good chance my kid ends up on the waitlist because they attend Carson or Longfellow or Rocky Run or Stone Hill. Please turn down your offer of admission so that my kid has a better shot."

You're going to start seeing a ton of these posts at this time of year - and remember: your kid can always go back to their base school if TJ isn't the right fit, but they can't decide that their base school isn't challenging enough three weeks in and get your offer to TJ back.

Regretting the choice to try TJ after a few weeks is fixable - regretting the choice not to isn't and you'll be saddled with that for the rest of your parenting life.

lol. Nice try. My son is already a freshman at TJ and is my youngest. Why would I care? And why does everyone ascribe nefarious motives to posts in the AAP forum?

I do care about the kids forced to live out their parents’ dreams vicariously, however. Some of those kids will have breakdowns and/or drop out; that is not healthy for TJ (nor the child).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does the recent DOE letter mean for TJ admissions and additional experience criteria?

It means it’s a good thing that the admissions process changed several years ago. Even if somehow this letter creates change, that change is going to be administered by today’s FCPS superintendent and school board, which is different from the folks who implemented the current process.

Karl Frisch is just as bad if not worse than Ricardy Anderson.
Michelle Reid is much better than Scott Brabrand.

If it comes down to losing funding, I think they might re-implement the test while keeping the 1.5% rule.
As long as there is a robust merit filter of some sort, I think you can use geographic diversity without pissing people off too much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a freshman at TJ.

Last year, the problem-solving essay / test was administered on 2/3 and the first-round admission email arrived on 4/12.

Is it 2 weeks to decide?

IIRC, yes - last year it was 2 weeks.

Also: please please please do not force your child to attend TJ if they do not want to go. My son knows several ninth graders who are miserable because their parents forced them to choose TJ. Let your child guide the choice.

Translation: "There's a good chance my kid ends up on the waitlist because they attend Carson or Longfellow or Rocky Run or Stone Hill. Please turn down your offer of admission so that my kid has a better shot."

You're going to start seeing a ton of these posts at this time of year - and remember: your kid can always go back to their base school if TJ isn't the right fit, but they can't decide that their base school isn't challenging enough three weeks in and get your offer to TJ back.

Regretting the choice to try TJ after a few weeks is fixable - regretting the choice not to isn't and you'll be saddled with that for the rest of your parenting life.

DP.

I have had kids at TJ and have one there now and is fixable but there is an emotional toll to going back to your base school.
Going to TJ doesn't require a kid that is overjoyed to be going there but it does require a pretty high degree of ability and work ethic.
The workload difference is not trivial.
And the number of kids that are struggling has increased substantially.

The kids at the top are still at the top but the students are more stratified. The kids at the bottom are pretty much stuck there. So if you do decide to go back, don't sit on it hoping things will turn around. It only gets harder as you go along. If you think Algebra 2 is hard as a freshman then precalc as a sophomore is going to be even harder and calculus (a graduation requirement) might drown you. None of the other classes are easy either. Even gym has graded exams that you can fail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a freshman at TJ.

Last year, the problem-solving essay / test was administered on 2/3 and the first-round admission email arrived on 4/12.

Is it 2 weeks to decide?

IIRC, yes - last year it was 2 weeks.

Also: please please please do not force your child to attend TJ if they do not want to go. My son knows several ninth graders who are miserable because their parents forced them to choose TJ. Let your child guide the choice.

Translation: "There's a good chance my kid ends up on the waitlist because they attend Carson or Longfellow or Rocky Run or Stone Hill. Please turn down your offer of admission so that my kid has a better shot."

You're going to start seeing a ton of these posts at this time of year - and remember: your kid can always go back to their base school if TJ isn't the right fit, but they can't decide that their base school isn't challenging enough three weeks in and get your offer to TJ back.

Regretting the choice to try TJ after a few weeks is fixable - regretting the choice not to isn't and you'll be saddled with that for the rest of your parenting life.

lol. Nice try. My son is already a freshman at TJ and is my youngest. Why would I care? And why does everyone ascribe nefarious motives to posts in the AAP forum?

I do care about the kids forced to live out their parents’ dreams vicariously, however. Some of those kids will have breakdowns and/or drop out; that is not healthy for TJ (nor the child).

DP, some people really think you have ulterior motives and others are defensive of any criticisms of the new admissions process. And saying that we are admitting unqualified students is a criticism. it is the main criticism. With that said, I think a lot of kids who were pressured by their parents to go to TJ are very happy there. TJ has always been full of kids who would rather coast at their base school but went to TJ because their parents pressured them to go.