Official TJ Admissions Decisions Results for the Class of 2025

[Anonymous]

Wrong. It started after and Brabrand himself invoked George Floyd during a town hall as the impetus for changing TJ admissions to admit more URMs.

[Anonymous]

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That’s all your guys’ wishful thinking that the new process picked the raw talents. But, it was totally WRONG!! In our middle school, none of the kids who were picked by FCPS regional office to take Algebra 1 at middle school in their 6th grade were admitted to TJ this year. The number of those kids is very small. While, the ordinary kids in our middle school were admitted this year. Among those admitted kids, one Asian girl started to prep since her 4th grade and her mom sent her to English and Math enrichment classes on weekdays and weekends. the idea that the new process gets rid of prep kids is totally WRONG!

It blows me away how many people on this board don't understand how logic works - and I'm never sure if it's just genuine ignorance or purposeful misrepresentation of the argument.

The new admissions process wasn't intended to "get rid of the prep kids". It was to reduce the influence of prep in the selection process. There's a key difference there.

The ubiquity of the TJ prep industry means that you're going to have some kids who get in who have done extensive and expensive prep - that's unavoidable. The point is to significantly reduce the number of kids who get in BECAUSE of that prep.

It's also super-presumptuous of you to refer to the kids who got in as "ordinary" and to base your entire evaluation of TJ-worthiness as a function of math level.

I believe you've overcorrected here. The primary driver behind the new admissions process was to increase the population of underrepresented students of color. Which..oh I dunno... seems to be a bit racist by definition.

Incorrect, it was to reduce the number of students being admitted from wealthy schools because of expensive prep classes. Race isn't a consideration. That would be illegal.

Someone pinch this fella. A simple web search (which I did) will reveal the County's desire to "increase the population of underrepresented students of color".

[Anonymous]

I think it's wonderful the county values diversity. And it's laudable that they wish to increase the number of underrepresented minorities however there isn't really much they can do about it directly given that admissions are race blind. . The small changes they made to admissions seems to be fairer to less affluent areas that don't invest as heavily in prep.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Yep. That’s right. Because it is not the end of the world. Whatever the admission change, it will be OK.

This isn't super complicated.

The old process produced the #1 public high school in America, as adjudged by several news outlets. Why? Because those outlets based their ratings largely on test scores like the PSAT, SAT, ACT, and AP exams, and TJ's admissions process has always consistently overselected for performance on standardized tests like the SHSAT, Quant-Q, and ACTs.

TJ's high rankings came not from anything that the school itself was doing, but rather from the county's priorities with respect to the admissions process. Require excellent test taking skills as a condition of admission, and it should come as no surprise that TJ's average SAT score is usually in the 1500s. I'm not especially brilliant, but I got into TJ many years ago on my excellent test-taking skills (honed by my parents' efforts over many years) and got into an excellent college largely on the strength of an SAT score in the mid-1500s. My excellent test-taking skills have been largely useless over the rest of my career, as they are for essentially everyone once they finish with schooling.

It's important to distinguish between test-taking ability and ability to contribute to an educational environment. TJ - like any elite educational environment - delivers a stronger product when the students in the classrooms are dedicated to working together in an environment of collaboration rather than competition. Literally anyone who has any recent experience at TJ - not parents, I'm talking about people who are actually in the classroom - knows that TJ's biggest problem is the toxic competition and comparison between the students.

It's not unheard of for competition to be non-texic and constructive - in fact, at the highest levels of competition this will typically be the case. It's also not unheard of that a person gets high test scores only because they have strong underlying problem-solving skills, because that's what tests are sometimes designed to measure.

Anonymous wrote:
And please, spare me the "dog whistle" comments on the word "toxic". Try to follow the logic - TJ's racial composition is a function of the old admissions process, and the toxic environment is a function of the old admissions process, but the toxic environment is NOT a function of the racial composition. It's ALWAYS going to be hyper-competitive when you have a process that paints a picture of the ideal student and then incentivizes and rewards parents for turning their kids into their closest approximation of that ideal student. Yes, TJ is 70% Asian, but that's not why it's a toxic environment. It's toxic because too many of the students have the same goals, backgrounds and priorities, and that's a direct function of the old admissions process.

I mean, "hey yo, nothing racist about me. I just think that when there are too many Asians in one place - and by 'too many' I mean about as many as there used to be Whites - that's way too toxic. Now put down your dog whistles, I've got the moral high ground here."

Anonymous wrote:
The biggest factor in the education experience at TJ is not and has never been the level of advancement of the students - it's their commitment to contributing to a positive learning environment. And honestly, that's why the only thing you really need to do to improve the process is to reintroduce the teacher recommendation, narrowly tailored to allow the teacher to evaluate not only the student's readiness for TJ, but also their ability and desire to create value for their fellow students when compared to other applicants. Teachers can tell you whether or not a kid can hack it far better than an exam can. And yeah, it's subjective - but so is everything else in life. Students would be well-served by getting better at subjective evaluations - and you'll probably start seeing TJ students get into better colleges as a result.

The simple act of eliminating the exam removes an occluding factor when evaluating these students. For too long, test-taking ability has been conflated with academic ability, and we're finally starting to move away from that old and flawed mindset. TJ has been well behind the curve when it comes to that shift, but it's nice to see FCPS finally joining the leading edge.

I agree about recommendations. As for tests being old and flawed... maybe I'm cynical, but I've seen too many Karens over the years who like to convince kids that being smart is abnormal, and who would use any opportunity to tear down advanced education if there was nothing objective to use to hold them accountable.

[Anonymous]

So I’ve heard that the vast majority of kids in the incoming class at TJ have completed Geometry in 8th grade. So much for the people claiming that “everyone they know” got in with only Algebra under their belt. And I’ve heard there is a very significant cohort that took Algebra II in 8th. So, maybe they didn’t randomly admit a bunch of barely competent kids. Maybe they are just not that into your kid?

[Anonymous]

Hey the afghan refugees are coming. In 5 yrs their kids will work hard, prepare and take away TJ slots. Best to make sure these new Asians are also kept away by keeping the admissions test cancelled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That’s all your guys’ wishful thinking that the new process picked the raw talents. But, it was totally WRONG!! In our middle school, none of the kids who were picked by FCPS regional office to take Algebra 1 at middle school in their 6th grade were admitted to TJ this year. The number of those kids is very small. While, the ordinary kids in our middle school were admitted this year. Among those admitted kids, one Asian girl started to prep since her 4th grade and her mom sent her to English and Math enrichment classes on weekdays and weekends. the idea that the new process gets rid of prep kids is totally WRONG!

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Anonymous wrote:Those posters who try to make a case that there's such a thing as "truly gifted" and "truly deserving of a gifted education" despite having shown little interest in honing their STEM skills during their elementary school years have obviously never worked with STEM kids and have no clue what they're talking about.

By the time children are 11 or 12 years old those who are active in STEM (particularly in Math) have far outpaced those who are not; and whatever degree of innate giftedness (a vague and elitist concept, btw) really doesn't matter and shouldn't matter. Nobody gives a crap about potential at this age anymore, it's the record of engagement and academic success that matters. As it should.

That's why TJ's change is so disturbing.

Going to build on some of the other responses to this nonsense.

One of the reasons that the changes at TJ are so important is the disincentivizing of extreme advancement in math for its own sake.

You can talk to any of the math teachers at TJ and they will tell you that there are far too many kids who are artificially advanced in math at the expense of a foundational understanding of core concepts. Sure, there are a few truly exceptional kids out there who really belong in, say, Calc BC or beyond in 9th grade - but for every one of those at TJ, there are 10-20 kids who have been made to appear to be one of those kids and are in way over their heads as a result.

"Honing their STEM skills". Give me a break. I've watched students develop an excellent STEM skill set for decades at TJ - kids that walked in as excellent students across the board but without a specialized set of "STEM skills" and discovered their passion for a specific STEM field while they were there - or (gasp) decided that their world-class STEM education was best leveraged in politics, or economics, or teaching, or any number of other tremendously important disciplines. This is why the freshman year includes Design and Tech and Research Statistics.

I agree that "innate giftedness" is pretty much BS, but there is a lot to be said for one's ability to contribute to the academic environment above and beyond just being hyper-advanced. And yeah, that's a subjective metric, but you know what? Every aspect of the rest of their adult lives will be centered around subjective evaluations, from team and club selections to college admissions to dating to job applications. And the world is trending further toward that direction as corporate cultures change.

Adapt or perish.

Subjective math. Yes of course. Adapt and perish is more like it.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people are obsessed with math advancement as the end-all-be-all of STEM aptitude. It's just not. There are so many factors that are far more important to and predictive of eventual success in STEM - like grit, determination, intellectual curiosity, and (perhaps most importantly) genuine passion for the subject matter.

And that genuine passion a) can and most frequently is acquired in high school and college and b) too often at TJ is manufactured by parents.

1. Math advancement is not end all be all of STEM aptitude. It is an important factor.
2. You are just stating the obvious. Of course grit, determination is important. And passion as long as it translates to work. I am passionate about playing the guitar but I don't practice doesn't cut it.
3. Agree that all parents can push too although I don't know what genuine passion is.

If your intention is to push some kids are unidimensional stereotype, shame on you.

I've been around TJ for long enough to know what I'm talking about. But - and this is important - the idea of the STEM "passion" being manufactured by parents is by no means limited to the Asian-American community at TJ. It goes across racial lines at the school and is a function of an admissions process that, in the past, deeply incentivized parents to make their children fit into a very narrow picture of what constitutes a potentially successful TJ student.

You can feel free to make this about Asian parents all you want - I'm not doing that. My point is that by and large, legitimate non-manufactured passion in STEM is not something that's measurable or identifiable in students who are 11 or 12 years old except in very rare instances, and as such trying to identify it at that age will create harmful unintended consequences like the ones that we've witnessed in Northern Virginia over the past dozen years, where you have tons of kids who are quitting activities that they genuinely enjoy in pursuit of the golden TJ ticket.

We need to STOP incentivizing behavior that pushes kids into narrow fields at such young ages. Parents can still do it if they want - their kids are theirs to parent as they so choose - but that behavior should not confer an advantage in any admissions process.

So the old process was bad (despite all the smart people at TJ) and new process great. Got it. What did the old process measure? And what does new process measure?

People at TJ didn't design the old process - the admissions office did, based on the directives that they got from the school board and the FCPS policies regarding TJ. So literally no one at TJ was involved with creating either the old admissions process or the new one. (I've said it before - if you're going to throw down with me, you'd better know what you're talking about)

The old process attempted to measure "academic achievement" by (in addition to their transcript) putting the kids through a three-section, three-hour exam that was unlike anything they would have encountered in their middle school careers - unless their parents had exposed them to it in another forum, usually at great cost in terms of hours and financial layout.

It also attempted to measure "passion for STEM" by having the students respond to a few essay questions and a problem-solving essay - which the new process also does. I will admit that, not having seen the questions on the new SIS sheet, I don't know how that piece is different from what it was before, and because of the intentional opacity of the admissions personnel and office, I don't know precisely how they've changed what they're looking for.

I will also say - as I've said previously - that I think that removing the teacher recommendations was a mistake. Even though these are subject to some level of bias, it is only the classroom teacher who can really provide a window into the student and the totality of their contributions to the academic environment.

I am quite certain that a re-engineered recommendation form, designed to take no more than 5-10 minutes to complete and purpose-built to for teachers to compare their students to one another, in addition to the option for teachers to write at length either positively or negatively on behalf of 5 students each, would accomplish what needs to be accomplished in this area and would go a long way toward identifying the students for whom TJ makes the most sense without overburdening the teachers at traditional TJ feeders.

Ok. So

Old process = academic achievement test +gpa + essays to show interest+ teacher recommendations.

New process = lottery after gpa criteria + essays to show interest + experience factors to demonstrate adversity.

Yeah?

There is no lottery aspect to the new process. Students are evaluated first against one another within their own school to satisfy the geographical representation requirements, and then against the rest of the population for unallocated seats.

Imagine, she actually did Math and Science since grade 4. These uppity, toxic kids and their parents. Such shameful behavior. We have to put better negative screens next year. Maybe if the essays demonstrate too much interest in math and science, we give them negative points.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So I’ve heard that the vast majority of kids in the incoming class at TJ have completed Geometry in 8th grade. So much for the people claiming that “everyone they know” got in with only Algebra under their belt. And I’ve heard there is a very significant cohort that took Algebra II in 8th. So, maybe they didn’t randomly admit a bunch of barely competent kids. Maybe they are just not that into your kid?

Do you have a source or citation for that? I'd love to see the data on the math level of the admitted kids.

[Anonymous]

My son completed Algebra 2 as did all his friends.

TJ is turning out to be a fabulous experience as we have already completed week 1. Nothing but positive things to say about the principal, teachers and curriculum!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son completed Algebra 2 as did all his friends.

TJ is turning out to be a fabulous experience as we have already completed week 1. Nothing but positive things to say about the principal, teachers and curriculum!

Very good. Utopia. Do you think your son would have got in if admissions test was not removed?

[Anonymous]

+1. TJ continues to be great. Let's focus on other issues.

Anonymous wrote:My son completed Algebra 2 as did all his friends.

TJ is turning out to be a fabulous experience as we have already completed week 1. Nothing but positive things to say about the principal, teachers and curriculum!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wrong. It started after and Brabrand himself invoked George Floyd during a town hall as the impetus for changing TJ admissions to admit more URMs.

Is the tinfoil hat cutting of the blood supply to your brain again?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son completed Algebra 2 as did all his friends.

TJ is turning out to be a fabulous experience as we have already completed week 1. Nothing but positive things to say about the principal, teachers and curriculum!

And the environment already seems much healthier than years past.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son completed Algebra 2 as did all his friends.

TJ is turning out to be a fabulous experience as we have already completed week 1. Nothing but positive things to say about the principal, teachers and curriculum!

Very good. Utopia. Do you think your son would have got in if admissions test was not removed?

I know my DD would have. I was relieved that removal of the test did not seem to prevent the admissions committee from identifying exceptional talent. I must admit when the test was cancelled I thought my child's chances of getting in were in real jeopardy. I have to assume many parents are feeling the same way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son completed Algebra 2 as did all his friends.

TJ is turning out to be a fabulous experience as we have already completed week 1. Nothing but positive things to say about the principal, teachers and curriculum!

And the environment already seems much healthier than years past.

You'll just keep repeating yourself ad nauseum because the ends justified the means for you.