This bothers me..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:38 to a welder's school like VPI is not that impressive, is it?

LOL, you mean 38 out of 480 chose an in-state school is a bad thing? Not everyone can afford out of state. These acceptances are amazing: https://fcps.tjhsst.edu/coursemgmt/media/300/resource/TJ%20Profile%202015-16%20online%20hq.pdf

But at the end of the day, sometimes $$.

179 / 480 went to instate. 38% - same %age as any other high school in FCPS region.

Virginia -->
William and Mary
George Mason
James Madison
UVA
Virginia Commonwealth
Virginia Tech

http://thebullelephant.com/college-destinations-for-tjhsst-class-of-2015/

----

Not arguing with that. But, the QUALITY of the acceptance list is not the same. Many parents also value the education their kids received during the 4 years at TJ. If your end game is the college name, then you don't understand that this is a long journey and their kids received a very unique education.

Its disappointing when parents I know questioned our decision to send our child to TJ since they would "still end up at good state schools like UVA as their base school friends." Seriously, I'm not interested in "gaming" the system and my child's college acceptances are not for you to judge. The reason TJ was right for our family included 1000 reasons. Do you need to break others down to feel good about your base school? I'm not disparaging your choice to stay at the base.

South Lakes (with IB) sent 35 to UVa last year. I find that impressive.
https://www.restonnow.com/2015/05/29/heres-where-south-lakes-hs-seniors-will-head-next-fall/

So how many applied, how many were accepted and how many enrolled? We know those numbers for TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:38 to a welder's school like VPI is not that impressive, is it?

As a Tech alumnus, I can assure you, I was not taught to weld. I was taught astrophysics, quantum mechanics, solid earth geophysics, vector calculus, partial differential equations. I was able to parlay my Tech experience into a PhD at the top institute in the nation (also with tech in its name, but Cal not Va). And my tuition at Tech was a fraction of a "top" university, so I graduated debt free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are simply making things up when you claim TJ was built to challenge bored under-performers. It wasn't. It was built for two reasons. First, the county politicians at the time - largely Republicans - wanted a "tech" school that would reinforce the message that Fairfax County was open for business for any company willing to relocate to office parks in Chantilly, Reston and Tysons. Second, FCPS had excess capacity in eastern Fairfax, so it was either going to close one of Annandale, Jefferson or Stuart, or open a magnet there. At the time, FCPS was still overwhelmingly white, so there was no expectation that Asians already familiar with cut-throat admissions to secondary schools would flock there and dominate the school. But they did, so depending on the day of the week FCPS is either proud of having the top high school in the country or embarrassed that its flagship school has demographics that look nothing like the county in which it is located.

I was there when it was approved; I spoke before the school board. I was questioned on the lack of challenges; how one one day, my Algebra II teacher called home to 1) report that I was underperforming in class because of missed homework assignments (got A's on the test), and at the same time I scored the highest in the school on a math assessment, and I was going to be invited to go to states....How the curriculum was crushing my enthusiasm for science.

When include HW on the grade, you punish the truly brilliant kids. For me, it was just busy work. I would do the work until I understood the process. But, when 25% of your grade is homework, then 100% on tests and 0 on homework gives a C. That is how I got a C in Algebra II-Trig.

If you couldn't be counted on to complete homework at a base school, why would they believe you could keep up with the work at TJ? Sorry, but there's a LOT of busy work that goes with being an employee, a spouse, a parent... Welcome to life.

I am 53 years old. I know about life. I did what was required to learn the material. I continued that approach in college, and went from a C student to an A student. TJ was not created to get your snowflake into a better college. It was created so that the best and brightest Science and Math minds in the school system would have a place to reach their potential. So they would not be held back by the confines of a typical classroom. In my case, I was helping teachers design new curricula using computers while barely passing the class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are simply making things up when you claim TJ was built to challenge bored under-performers. It wasn't. It was built for two reasons. First, the county politicians at the time - largely Republicans - wanted a "tech" school that would reinforce the message that Fairfax County was open for business for any company willing to relocate to office parks in Chantilly, Reston and Tysons. Second, FCPS had excess capacity in eastern Fairfax, so it was either going to close one of Annandale, Jefferson or Stuart, or open a magnet there. At the time, FCPS was still overwhelmingly white, so there was no expectation that Asians already familiar with cut-throat admissions to secondary schools would flock there and dominate the school. But they did, so depending on the day of the week FCPS is either proud of having the top high school in the country or embarrassed that its flagship school has demographics that look nothing like the county in which it is located.

I was there when it was approved; I spoke before the school board. I was questioned on the lack of challenges; how one one day, my Algebra II teacher called home to 1) report that I was underperforming in class because of missed homework assignments (got A's on the test), and at the same time I scored the highest in the school on a math assessment, and I was going to be invited to go to states....How the curriculum was crushing my enthusiasm for science.

When include HW on the grade, you punish the truly brilliant kids. For me, it was just busy work. I would do the work until I understood the process. But, when 25% of your grade is homework, then 100% on tests and 0 on homework gives a C. That is how I got a C in Algebra II-Trig.

If you couldn't be counted on to complete homework at a base school, why would they believe you could keep up with the work at TJ? Sorry, but there's a LOT of busy work that goes with being an employee, a spouse, a parent... Welcome to life.

I am 53 years old. I know about life. I did what was required to learn the material. I continued that approach in college, and went from a C student to an A student. TJ was not created to get your snowflake into a better college. It was created so that the best and brightest Science and Math minds in the school system would have a place to reach their potential. So they would not be held back by the confines of a typical classroom. In my case, I was helping teachers design new curricula using computers while barely passing the class.

You are characterizing TJ's mission to suit your personal profile. It wasn't created to challenge students who would be held back in a typical classroom. It was created as a marketing tool for Fairfax County when Jack Herrity was rolling out a welcome map to real estate developers and companies looking for lower-tax business locations.

The vast majority of TJ students would have done fine in a typical classroom, and TJ's admissions policies do very little to identify the students like you once were. If they don't have excellent grades in middle school, they won't make the cut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

South Lakes (with IB) sent 35 to UVa last year. I find that impressive.
https://www.restonnow.com/2015/05/29/heres-where-south-lakes-hs-seniors-will-head-next-fall/

So how many applied, how many were accepted and how many enrolled? We know those numbers for TJ.

does it matter ? It just says, that going to a normal high school also guarantees students to get to top in state schools..

Think about how many high schools are in FCPS, if they all combine and count how many went to UVA, then that would be more than TJ..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:38 to a welder's school like VPI is not that impressive, is it?

LOL, you mean 38 out of 480 chose an in-state school is a bad thing? Not everyone can afford out of state. These acceptances are amazing: https://fcps.tjhsst.edu/coursemgmt/media/300/resource/TJ%20Profile%202015-16%20online%20hq.pdf

But at the end of the day, sometimes $$.

179 / 480 went to instate. 38% - same %age as any other high school in FCPS region.

Virginia -->
William and Mary
George Mason
James Madison
UVA
Virginia Commonwealth
Virginia Tech

http://thebullelephant.com/college-destinations-for-tjhsst-class-of-2015/

----

Not arguing with that. But, the QUALITY of the acceptance list is not the same. Many parents also value the education their kids received during the 4 years at TJ. If your end game is the college name, then you don't understand that this is a long journey and their kids received a very unique education.

Its disappointing when parents I know questioned our decision to send our child to TJ since they would "still end up at good state schools like UVA as their base school friends." Seriously, I'm not interested in "gaming" the system and my child's college acceptances are not for you to judge. The reason TJ was right for our family included 1000 reasons. Do you need to break others down to feel good about your base school? I'm not disparaging your choice to stay at the base.

South Lakes (with IB) sent 35 to UVa last year. I find that impressive.
https://www.restonnow.com/2015/05/29/heres-where-south-lakes-hs-seniors-will-head-next-fall/

Thats impressive.. Thats from south lakes ? Wow..


College of William and Mary, 8
George Mason University, 26
Virginia Commonwealth University, 32
Virginia Tech, 51
University of Virginia, 35

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

South Lakes (with IB) sent 35 to UVa last year. I find that impressive.
https://www.restonnow.com/2015/05/29/heres-where-south-lakes-hs-seniors-will-head-next-fall/

So how many applied, how many were accepted and how many enrolled? We know those numbers for TJ.

does it matter ? It just says, that going to a normal high school also guarantees students to get to top in state schools..

Think about how many high schools are in FCPS, if they all combine and count how many went to UVA, then that would be more than TJ..

For TJ, UVA is a safety school, for SL, it's the dream school!

[Anonymous]

What an obnoxious post. I hope you aren't a TJ parent. My kid is a rising 9th grader there and I hope I don't encounter this attitude too much. I posted earlier that she is going because she likes math and science and wants to be around hard-working, academic-minded peers. Not because we have elite college plans. We have no interest or financial ability to pay for those. UVA would be wonderful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What an obnoxious post. I hope you aren't a TJ parent. My kid is a rising 9th grader there and I hope I don't encounter this attitude too much. I posted earlier that she is going because she likes math and science and wants to be around hard-working, academic-minded peers. Not because we have elite college plans. We have no interest or financial ability to pay for those. UVA would be wonderful.

You get hard working math and science students in all high schools.. dont under rate other high schools in FCPS.. after till middle school your child was part of normal schools in the region..

[Anonymous]

I'm sure there are hard-working math and science students throughout but the course offerings at TJ are really unique. My kid's face was so lit up when she looked at the course catalog.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What an obnoxious post. I hope you aren't a TJ parent. My kid is a rising 9th grader there and I hope I don't encounter this attitude too much. I posted earlier that she is going because she likes math and science and wants to be around hard-working, academic-minded peers. Not because we have elite college plans. We have no interest or financial ability to pay for those. UVA would be wonderful.

What is obnoxious about the statement? It is a simple fact since about half of the TJ graduating class gains admission to UVA. Some people think UNC, UMD, Texas etc. are safeties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What an obnoxious post. I hope you aren't a TJ parent. My kid is a rising 9th grader there and I hope I don't encounter this attitude too much. I posted earlier that she is going because she likes math and science and wants to be around hard-working, academic-minded peers. Not because we have elite college plans. We have no interest or financial ability to pay for those. UVA would be wonderful.

What is obnoxious about the statement? It is a simple fact since about half of the TJ graduating class gains admission to UVA. Some people think UNC, UMD, Texas etc. are safeties.

Over 1000 students from Fairfax County were admitted to UVa last year. 630 accepted.

http://research.schev.edu/enrollment/b8_admissions_locality.asp

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What an obnoxious post. I hope you aren't a TJ parent. My kid is a rising 9th grader there and I hope I don't encounter this attitude too much. I posted earlier that she is going because she likes math and science and wants to be around hard-working, academic-minded peers. Not because we have elite college plans. We have no interest or financial ability to pay for those. UVA would be wonderful.

What is obnoxious about the statement? It is a simple fact since about half of the TJ graduating class gains admission to UVA. Some people think UNC, UMD, Texas etc. are safeties.

It's obnoxious because it suggests there is just one bucket for all TJ students and another one for all South Lakes students.

There are South Lakes students for whom UVA might well be their safety school (as it was for me, coming out of another FCPS high school, years ago), and TJ students who would like to go to UVA but are turned down.

[Anonymous]

Good grief people. We have no idea why people make the college choices they do. "Prestige" is not the only metric. Finances, majors, distance, etc., all come into play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good grief people. We have no idea why people make the college choices they do. "Prestige" is not the only metric. Finances, majors, distance, etc., all come into play.

As do grades and SAT scores.
I mean, if your SAT isn't around 2,000 admission to UVa. is unlikely regardless of "Finances, majors, distance, etc."