TJ admissions now verifying free and reduced price meal status for successful 2026 applicants

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Removing teacher recommendations is a massive red flag. The only reason to remove it was to make the process into a lottery.

One student who was caught cheating in Science Olympiad. Our team got penalized for it and that student was removed from the team for the state level competition. That student got in. Teacher recommendation would have been able to eliminate this.

The whole thing is so toxic. They should move to lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Removing teacher recommendations is a massive red flag. The only reason to remove it was to make the process into a lottery.

One student who was caught cheating in Science Olympiad. Our team got penalized for it and that student was removed from the team for the state level competition. That student got in. Teacher recommendation would have been able to eliminate this.

The whole thing is so toxic. They should move to lottery.

Some other counties do have lotteries for magnets. They determine which students are "qualified" and of the qualified students it is a lottery. Seems like a good way to eliminate some of those trying to game the system, while still maintaining high quality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Removing teacher recommendations is a massive red flag. The only reason to remove it was to make the process into a lottery.

One student who was caught cheating in Science Olympiad. Our team got penalized for it and that student was removed from the team for the state level competition. That student got in. Teacher recommendation would have been able to eliminate this.

What school is this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Removing teacher recommendations is a massive red flag. The only reason to remove it was to make the process into a lottery.

One student who was caught cheating in Science Olympiad. Our team got penalized for it and that student was removed from the team for the state level competition. That student got in. Teacher recommendation would have been able to eliminate this.

It’s a whole lot less fair than a lottery.

The essay exam given virtually without camera was basically an open invitation to cheat. Kids who prepped could easily have an essay ready to go for the standard questions or have another device nearby to Google how to answer the science question. From what I overheard in carpool, it sounds like plenty of kids googled brown/blue eyes genes.

FCPS knew that virtual school basically taught many kids how to cheat. The TJ admissions office was negligent to give the test in this manner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Removing teacher recommendations is a massive red flag. The only reason to remove it was to make the process into a lottery.

One student who was caught cheating in Science Olympiad. Our team got penalized for it and that student was removed from the team for the state level competition. That student got in. Teacher recommendation would have been able to eliminate this.

The whole thing is so toxic. They should move to lottery.

Some other counties do have lotteries for magnets. They determine which students are "qualified" and of the qualified students it is a lottery. Seems like a good way to eliminate some of those trying to game the system, while still maintaining high quality.

Or rethink TJ entirely and change it to an Academy. Allow any student to enroll in the post-AP classes that are not offered at the base schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Removing teacher recommendations is a massive red flag. The only reason to remove it was to make the process into a lottery.

One student who was caught cheating in Science Olympiad. Our team got penalized for it and that student was removed from the team for the state level competition. That student got in. Teacher recommendation would have been able to eliminate this.

The whole thing is so toxic. They should move to lottery.

Some other counties do have lotteries for magnets. They determine which students are "qualified" and of the qualified students it is a lottery. Seems like a good way to eliminate some of those trying to game the system, while still maintaining high quality.

Or rethink TJ entirely and change it to an Academy. Allow any student to enroll in the post-AP classes that are not offered at the base schools.

Won't happen. It's built as a high school and must continue to function as such. That building was just recently renovated at a cost of over $100M and would make absolutely no sense as an academy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Removing teacher recommendations is a massive red flag. The only reason to remove it was to make the process into a lottery.

One student who was caught cheating in Science Olympiad. Our team got penalized for it and that student was removed from the team for the state level competition. That student got in. Teacher recommendation would have been able to eliminate this.

The whole thing is so toxic. They should move to lottery.

Some other counties do have lotteries for magnets. They determine which students are "qualified" and of the qualified students it is a lottery. Seems like a good way to eliminate some of those trying to game the system, while still maintaining high quality.

Or rethink TJ entirely and change it to an Academy. Allow any student to enroll in the post-AP classes that are not offered at the base schools.

Won't happen. It's built as a high school and must continue to function as such. That building was just recently renovated at a cost of over $100M and would make absolutely no sense as an academy.

The only solution that is workable is turning it into a lottery. Too many people want to game admissions. Lottery is the only answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Removing teacher recommendations is a massive red flag. The only reason to remove it was to make the process into a lottery.

One student who was caught cheating in Science Olympiad. Our team got penalized for it and that student was removed from the team for the state level competition. That student got in. Teacher recommendation would have been able to eliminate this.

The whole thing is so toxic. They should move to lottery.

Some other counties do have lotteries for magnets. They determine which students are "qualified" and of the qualified students it is a lottery. Seems like a good way to eliminate some of those trying to game the system, while still maintaining high quality.

Or rethink TJ entirely and change it to an Academy. Allow any student to enroll in the post-AP classes that are not offered at the base schools.

Won't happen. It's built as a high school and must continue to function as such. That building was just recently renovated at a cost of over $100M and would make absolutely no sense as an academy.

The only solution that is workable is turning it into a lottery. Too many people want to game admissions. Lottery is the only answer.

Disagree. I am the most vocal pro-reform proponent on this board (apart from the nutjobs) and I reject the notion of a lottery. I believe there are genuinely a group of 50-100 students every year who wouldn't make sense at any high school other than TJ, and as we continue to reform the new admissions process, we need to make sure we are adding enough layers to the process to identify those kids.

But it's pretty obvious to any actual observer of the Northern Virginia academic community - and I mean the ENTIRE community, not just the Western Fairfax and Loudoun self-selected set - that beyond those 50-100, there are probably 1500-2000 kids who would be phenomenal at TJ. Many of those don't even apply, and we have to fix that. But of that additional group, it makes the most sense to have those students come from diverse backgrounds and bring diverse perspectives and talents.

It is important to the functioning of a high school - ESPECIALLY a high-achieving one like TJ - to prevent an environment where all 500 students in the class are trying to accomplish the same goal on the same path. THAT is the reason for the toxicity that has existed in TJ's past, and that LONG predates it becoming majority-Asian.

Read that again - TJ's historic toxicity IS NOT about its racial composition; it is about the fact that for too long there were too many students who all had goals and ambitions that were way too similar.

It matters far less for the strength of the TJ environment to have a few kids who score a few points higher on the SAT or a few kids who are a year more advanced in math than it does to have a few more kids who are invested in making the community a better place to go to school. The kid who creates beautiful art in the school's stairwells or runs for six touchdowns on the football field or can actually speak to what it's like to grow up in poverty does far more for the school than the one who takes us from 20 AIME qualifiers to 21. And that should be obvious to everyone.

At its core, TJ is still a HIGH SCHOOL. And it's fine if you don't understand what makes for a positive, memorable, transformative high school experience - many don't. But you need to get out of the way of those who do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Disagree. I am the most vocal pro-reform proponent on this board (apart from the nutjobs) and I reject the notion of a lottery. I believe there are genuinely a group of 50-100 students every year who wouldn't make sense at any high school other than TJ, and as we continue to reform the new admissions process, we need to make sure we are adding enough layers to the process to identify those kids.

It would be possible to have a hybrid system. Any kid who wishes to do so could fill out a comprehensive application, and then the TJ teachers could select among those kids the no more than 100 kids who absolutely need TJ. The rest of the spots could be filled by a lottery that includes the kids rejected in the first process and anyone else who wants to enter. I would increase the requirements to a GPA of 3.8 and all Honors to enter the lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Removing teacher recommendations is a massive red flag. The only reason to remove it was to make the process into a lottery.

One student who was caught cheating in Science Olympiad. Our team got penalized for it and that student was removed from the team for the state level competition. That student got in. Teacher recommendation would have been able to eliminate this.

The whole thing is so toxic. They should move to lottery.

Some other counties do have lotteries for magnets. They determine which students are "qualified" and of the qualified students it is a lottery. Seems like a good way to eliminate some of those trying to game the system, while still maintaining high quality.

Or rethink TJ entirely and change it to an Academy. Allow any student to enroll in the post-AP classes that are not offered at the base schools.

Won't happen. It's built as a high school and must continue to function as such. That building was just recently renovated at a cost of over $100M and would make absolutely no sense as an academy.

The only solution that is workable is turning it into a lottery. Too many people want to game admissions. Lottery is the only answer.

Disagree. I am the most vocal pro-reform proponent on this board (apart from the nutjobs) and I reject the notion of a lottery. I believe there are genuinely a group of 50-100 students every year who wouldn't make sense at any high school other than TJ, and as we continue to reform the new admissions process, we need to make sure we are adding enough layers to the process to identify those kids.

But it's pretty obvious to any actual observer of the Northern Virginia academic community - and I mean the ENTIRE community, not just the Western Fairfax and Loudoun self-selected set - that beyond those 50-100, there are probably 1500-2000 kids who would be phenomenal at TJ. Many of those don't even apply, and we have to fix that. But of that additional group, it makes the most sense to have those students come from diverse backgrounds and bring diverse perspectives and talents.

It is important to the functioning of a high school - ESPECIALLY a high-achieving one like TJ - to prevent an environment where all 500 students in the class are trying to accomplish the same goal on the same path. THAT is the reason for the toxicity that has existed in TJ's past, and that LONG predates it becoming majority-Asian.

Read that again - TJ's historic toxicity IS NOT about its racial composition; it is about the fact that for too long there were too many students who all had goals and ambitions that were way too similar.

It matters far less for the strength of the TJ environment to have a few kids who score a few points higher on the SAT or a few kids who are a year more advanced in math than it does to have a few more kids who are invested in making the community a better place to go to school. The kid who creates beautiful art in the school's stairwells or runs for six touchdowns on the football field or can actually speak to what it's like to grow up in poverty does far more for the school than the one who takes us from 20 AIME qualifiers to 21. And that should be obvious to everyone.

At its core, TJ is still a HIGH SCHOOL. And it's fine if you don't understand what makes for a positive, memorable, transformative high school experience - many don't. But you need to get out of the way of those who do.

+100000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Disagree. I am the most vocal pro-reform proponent on this board (apart from the nutjobs) and I reject the notion of a lottery. I believe there are genuinely a group of 50-100 students every year who wouldn't make sense at any high school other than TJ, and as we continue to reform the new admissions process, we need to make sure we are adding enough layers to the process to identify those kids.

It would be possible to have a hybrid system. Any kid who wishes to do so could fill out a comprehensive application, and then the TJ teachers could select among those kids the no more than 100 kids who absolutely need TJ. The rest of the spots could be filled by a lottery that includes the kids rejected in the first process and anyone else who wants to enter. I would increase the requirements to a GPA of 3.8 and all Honors to enter the lottery.

I could get behind a proposal like this one if and only if there was no differentiation between the top 100 and the lottery kids in terms of the way they were notified. FOIA might make this impossible, but it should never go public which students were selected as the top group and which were selected by the lottery - that would create more problems than it would solve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Removing teacher recommendations is a massive red flag. The only reason to remove it was to make the process into a lottery.

One student who was caught cheating in Science Olympiad. Our team got penalized for it and that student was removed from the team for the state level competition. That student got in. Teacher recommendation would have been able to eliminate this.

Anecdotes like this are meaningless. Anyone can make up stories that suport their agenda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Removing teacher recommendations is a massive red flag. The only reason to remove it was to make the process into a lottery.

One student who was caught cheating in Science Olympiad. Our team got penalized for it and that student was removed from the team for the state level competition. That student got in. Teacher recommendation would have been able to eliminate this.

Anecdotes like this are meaningless. Anyone can make up stories that suport their agenda.

It is a stupid anonymous forum with circle jerkers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Removing teacher recommendations is a massive red flag. The only reason to remove it was to make the process into a lottery.

One student who was caught cheating in Science Olympiad. Our team got penalized for it and that student was removed from the team for the state level competition. That student got in. Teacher recommendation would have been able to eliminate this.

The whole thing is so toxic. They should move to lottery.

Some other counties do have lotteries for magnets. They determine which students are "qualified" and of the qualified students it is a lottery. Seems like a good way to eliminate some of those trying to game the system, while still maintaining high quality.

Or rethink TJ entirely and change it to an Academy. Allow any student to enroll in the post-AP classes that are not offered at the base schools.

Won't happen. It's built as a high school and must continue to function as such. That building was just recently renovated at a cost of over $100M and would make absolutely no sense as an academy.

The only solution that is workable is turning it into a lottery. Too many people want to game admissions. Lottery is the only answer.

Disagree. I am the most vocal pro-reform proponent on this board (apart from the nutjobs) and I reject the notion of a lottery. I believe there are genuinely a group of 50-100 students every year who wouldn't make sense at any high school other than TJ, and as we continue to reform the new admissions process, we need to make sure we are adding enough layers to the process to identify those kids.

But it's pretty obvious to any actual observer of the Northern Virginia academic community - and I mean the ENTIRE community, not just the Western Fairfax and Loudoun self-selected set - that beyond those 50-100, there are probably 1500-2000 kids who would be phenomenal at TJ. Many of those don't even apply, and we have to fix that. But of that additional group, it makes the most sense to have those students come from diverse backgrounds and bring diverse perspectives and talents.

It is important to the functioning of a high school - ESPECIALLY a high-achieving one like TJ - to prevent an environment where all 500 students in the class are trying to accomplish the same goal on the same path. THAT is the reason for the toxicity that has existed in TJ's past, and that LONG predates it becoming majority-Asian.

Read that again - TJ's historic toxicity IS NOT about its racial composition; it is about the fact that for too long there were too many students who all had goals and ambitions that were way too similar.

It matters far less for the strength of the TJ environment to have a few kids who score a few points higher on the SAT or a few kids who are a year more advanced in math than it does to have a few more kids who are invested in making the community a better place to go to school. The kid who creates beautiful art in the school's stairwells or runs for six touchdowns on the football field or can actually speak to what it's like to grow up in poverty does far more for the school than the one who takes us from 20 AIME qualifiers to 21. And that should be obvious to everyone.

At its core, TJ is still a HIGH SCHOOL. And it's fine if you don't understand what makes for a positive, memorable, transformative high school experience - many don't. But you need to get out of the way of those who do.

Mostly agree with everything you wrote. If there 1000-1500 students who could benefit from programs like this and are willing then I think the county should rethink this. Turning admission into some Hunger Games experiment seems pointless and is not in any kids interest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Removing teacher recommendations is a massive red flag. The only reason to remove it was to make the process into a lottery.

One student who was caught cheating in Science Olympiad. Our team got penalized for it and that student was removed from the team for the state level competition. That student got in. Teacher recommendation would have been able to eliminate this.

The whole thing is so toxic. They should move to lottery.

Some other counties do have lotteries for magnets. They determine which students are "qualified" and of the qualified students it is a lottery. Seems like a good way to eliminate some of those trying to game the system, while still maintaining high quality.

If all they cared about was broader geographic representation, that might work. But that’s not what they are after, and they can’t get what they want with a lottery.