STA vs TJHSST

[Anonymous]

DS is a rising 8th grader at St. Albans. He’s shown a lot of interest in engineering & robotics. We’re wondering whether TJHSST is something worth considering. We live in McLean so he should be eligible. Anyone else been in a similar situation comparing TJHSST to a top private?

[Anonymous]

why not just apply and see what happens

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:why not just apply and see what happens

OP here. Feel like if TJHSST is the right decision, we should have DS work hard and prepare for the admissions process. Meanwhile, if it isn’t, just keep him going at STA

[Anonymous]

Google the writing prompts for the essays on the TJ test. Your kid will have to look up what the portrait of an FCPS student is to understand how to respond. It is not hard, per se, but it is tying in things like leadership, citizenship, and other such words to STEM. That is about all you need to prep. The rest of the application is have good grades and taking honors courses. Understand that there are around 2,250 kids applying for 500 seats and that over half of those seats are guaranteed to public school kids, so your child will have a reduced chance of being accepted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why not just apply and see what happens

OP here. Feel like if TJHSST is the right decision, we should have DS work hard and prepare for the admissions process. Meanwhile, if it isn’t, just keep him going at STA

That is a good way to think about it.

Another factor is where (roughly, not precisely or officially) DS would fall if there were class rank at StA vs at TJ. Bottom 50% of either school does not have identical college acceptances to the top 30% at either school. I know of several kids who attended TJ for 1 year, realized they were not top 30%, transferred back to their base FCPS HS and then were top 20% of class there. It was a smart move. They had great college options from rigorous STEM programs at widely recognized universities in part because they were top 20% at the HS they attended.

Also, college admissions for STEM usually want student to take the “most rigorous” STEM courses offered at that HS. If at TJ, most rigorous STEM is different (simply because TJ is larger, so it can offer more) than it would be at StA (simply because graduating class size is smaller).

I know of several other students at top 5/7 privates in metro DC who have had multiple really great STEM options. So merely being at StA does not close that doorway. Of course, student does need to seek rigorous at whichever school and study hard and get good grades (at any school).

[Anonymous]

I also would learn as much as you can about the culture at TJ to make sure it is a good fit. I know someone who went from private and the all-academics all the time focus and competitiveness of his fellow students isn’t a fit for him socially even though academically it is. It is perfect for some kids but if DS is happy socially at STA make sure he feels like TJ will also be a social fit.

[Anonymous]

From time to time I offer this great piece of advice from a friend who is an amazing private school administrator: When looking to switch schools, don’t focus only on the one aspect of school that might be improved by switching. Also consider all the other things, including those that are going well at your current school - don’t just assume all the good things will automatically be good at the new school

Is your son happy and doing well, does he have good friends and meaningful extracurricular activities?

[Anonymous]

I chose TJ over NCS two decades ago, though I was coming from FCPS and TJ therefore the more familiar path. No regrets. A few other things to consider:

1. Though the depth of science offerings will be higher at TJ, I think that math is comporable to what St Alban’s offers, and English and history will be much worse. In my time, TJ English was a joke—only three years required—and I fear it’s only gotten worse as the school has focused even more on math and science. There were some kids my year who had entered from private schools and found this to be frustrating.

2. Is your son good at proactively seeking out opportunities and advocating for himself? TJ is a big public school at the end of the day. I will say that I think these are hugely important life skills for kids to develop before college.

[Anonymous]

STA doesn't have the breadth of STEM classes that TJ has but their math and science classes are extremely strong. If your son takes the STA AP classes and math up to linear algebra and does well in them he will be competitive as a STEM major at any university in the country and will do extremely well once he gets there. I know several STA grads who are getting almost perfect grades as math or engineering majors at top10 universities. In terms of college placement, STA boys went to Harvard and Stanford last year as math majors and will go to MIT, Harvard etc to study STEM this year (just a few examples of many).

That all said, I agree with the others that it will really come down to culture. If your son wants to be in a coed school or have a broader range of STEM classes beyond just math and AP sciences then TJ might be the better choice. You really can't go wrong. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

We made this choice and chose STA for our son. We have found that the depth of math & science in the US is far greater than that at public schools, even magnet schools. More importantly, the language arts - history, English, foreign languages - are a gazillion times stronger. Most folks we know who actually pursued math and science as a career stressed to us the importance of the ability to communicate, a skill that they viewed as important as the math/science. Professionals also stressed that going to a great math and science HS would do nothing for your long term career - if you truly love those things, go to a great undergrad in math or science and most importantly, grad school. Putting our son in a math science box right now seemed silly to us. STAs got some brilliant kids — and you just need a handful on the math/science side to give your kid a cohort. STA has that in spades. Plus, class size, communication of teachers/admin, supporting all other aspects of your son lose at TJ. The culture of TJ is vastly different than STA; at STA the boys compete with other in the US but nothing at all like what happens to our friends with kids at TJ. Most smart kids at STA have a lot of different interest and opportunities and options. TJ is test factory driven and many students are there to get the very best scores possible. We were accepted at TJ and it was not a hard decision to turn down for STA. Do your homework, have your kid apply, but at the end of the day, talk to US math/science parents who can tell you about their sons experience. US is really different than lower school fwiw.

[Anonymous]

Have you considered Basis? It's ranked as one of the top privates in the DMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you considered Basis? It's ranked as one of the top privates in the DMV.

Not a good choice if you want a real high school experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We made this choice and chose STA for our son. We have found that the depth of math & science in the US is far greater than that at public schools, even magnet schools. More importantly, the language arts - history, English, foreign languages - are a gazillion times stronger. Most folks we know who actually pursued math and science as a career stressed to us the importance of the ability to communicate, a skill that they viewed as important as the math/science. Professionals also stressed that going to a great math and science HS would do nothing for your long term career - if you truly love those things, go to a great undergrad in math or science and most importantly, grad school. Putting our son in a math science box right now seemed silly to us. STAs got some brilliant kids — and you just need a handful on the math/science side to give your kid a cohort. STA has that in spades. Plus, class size, communication of teachers/admin, supporting all other aspects of your son lose at TJ. The culture of TJ is vastly different than STA; at STA the boys compete with other in the US but nothing at all like what happens to our friends with kids at TJ. Most smart kids at STA have a lot of different interest and opportunities and options. TJ is test factory driven and many students are there to get the very best scores possible. We were accepted at TJ and it was not a hard decision to turn down for STA. Do your homework, have your kid apply, but at the end of the day, talk to US math/science parents who can tell you about their sons experience. US is really different than lower school fwiw.

This. STA’s middle school math and science are notoriously weak at the moment. I can’t blame any parent for thinking of TJ as an alternative. However, the US is much stronger in both. It’s a shock to some kids but the brightest will roll with it and be fine.

We also thought about TJ but DS who is a STEM geek convinced our son that STA had more to offer in the US. It’s not just the ability to communicate, it’s the ability to think critically and creatively that’s going to be crucial for all fields going forward. AI will methodically eliminate jobs that don’t require critical thinking and creativity.

[Anonymous]

STA upper school academics are awesome: they dig deep into the material but not in a way that tears the boys down or makes them feel like it's impossible to succeed.

My son joined the class in 9th grade and we have been very happy. He is works very hard but is able to do well when he puts in the time. All the STA grads we know are thriving in top college programs including those who are in rigorous STEM majors at Ivies and similar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:STA upper school academics are awesome: they dig deep into the material but not in a way that tears the boys down or makes them feel like it's impossible to succeed.

My son joined the class in 9th grade and we have been very happy. He is works very hard but is able to do well when he puts in the time. All the STA grads we know are thriving in top college programs including those who are in rigorous STEM majors at Ivies and similar.

Have to disagree with you. Depends on the teachers they get. STA has a core cadre of excellent teachers. They also have bad ones in the mix.

Some STA teachers rejoice in feeding their own egos by refusing to give As no matter how brilliant the students or how superb their work. They delight in tearing the boys down. There are others who test on material they didn’t teach because they recycle tests from previous years. Still others are just bad teachers.